A chrome rail skirted the room, glass bricks beneath lit up. Felt like I’d stepped into the Billie Jean video as I paced the joint.
I touched the walls. Red suede. Then I saw it.
‘No way!’
Zalinskas had a wolf.
Sunk in the wall, like a giant fish tank, was a glass-walled cage. Inside, the wolf prowled back and forth, back and forth, raising its nose to the airholes and picking up a new scent.
I touched the cage. ‘You poor bastard.’
I wanted to find something to smash the glass, let the creature out. But I didn’t rate my chances against those fangs.
I felt appalled, shook my head, then a haughty voice cut the air, ‘He’s a killer, don’t you know. Canis Lupus!’ said Zalinskas.
I recognised him at once. He glided across the room towards me, wearing a black silk shirt, open at the neck. White, what can only be described as ‘slacks’ sat above a hint of belly. As he came closer I saw his shoes were white too, except for some snow leopard detailing. I’d seen something similar on punky brothel creepers, but these shouted a whole other message.
‘You like my companion?’
I kept a lid on my thoughts, I said, ‘He’s… impressive.’
Zalinskas liked that, smiled, a vicious barracuda smirk.
‘An amazing predator,’ his voice betrayed little of his Russian background, he’d had good voice coaches, I’d give him that, ‘almost six feet long, seventy kilograms.’
‘Not to be messed with.’
The smirk again. ‘Indeed.’ Zalinskas moved towards the glass cage, leaned forward. ‘Are you au fait with the pack mentality, Mr…?’
I let his question go unanswered. ‘Dury.’
‘The wolf has a highly developed social structure, Mr Dury. Only one dominant male — ’ he tapped the glass — ‘will ever be allowed to mate, he will always eat first, and all challengers to his dominance are banished or killed.’ Zalinskas ran a finger down the glass, then turned towards me.
‘Survival of the fittest,’ I said.
‘Quite.’
‘The strong preying on the weak.’
He flung back his head, laughed to the heavens. His teeth looked neat and straight, bone white. ‘Have you ever heard the howl of a wolf, Mr Dury?’
‘Close up? Can’t say I have.’
‘It’s not a warning to take lightly.’ He turned from me, took his hand along the rail for a few steps then raised both arms in the air. ‘A drink, I think. I believe we have a rather substantial win at my tables to celebrate.’
I followed Zalinskas to his desk; it had a black marble top, supported by giant bronze eagles, wings spread. Strange how all these petty despots like to surround themselves with this kind of symbolism. I imagined I’d seen him in some of those holiday snaps Adolf Hitler took after the Third Reich captured Paris — here’s me and Benny at the Eiffel Tower… the Arc de Triomphe…
Zalinskas held out a brandy glass, said, ‘Armagnac?’
‘I won’t say no.’
He swilled the liquid about in the glass, sipped.
I shot mine, handed over the chit. ‘About this.’
Zalinskas glanced at the piece of paper, I waited for an eyebrow to be raised. His face remained calm as he opened a drawer and handed over two banker’s rolls.
‘Should I check it?’ I said.
‘Don’t you trust me, Mr Dury?’
‘You might have given me too much.’
Zalinskas smiled, those teeth! I thought they must play havoc with the ultra-violet lights in his clubs, he said, ‘I don’t make mistakes.’
I trousered the cash. Now it was time to really start gambling. ‘Is that so?’
Zalinskas sat back in his chair, reached for the bottle and topped up our glasses.
I dived in. ‘I believe we have a common friend — sorry, had.’
‘Really?’
‘Billy Thompson.’
If Zalinskas changed his expression, I missed it.
‘Such a tragic soul,’ he said. He flipped the lid on a cigar box, took one and slid it towards me. ‘They’re Cuban.’
I closed the lid, ferreted for my tabs. ‘I smoke my own.’
‘As you wish.’
Clouds of smoke gathered between us. Zalinskas seemed content. If there was any enjoyment to be had in this situation, I wasn’t getting it.
‘Was certainly dramatic, the way Billy went,’ I said.
‘Such a loss.’
‘To whom?’
‘I’m speaking in general.’
‘What exactly did Billy do for you, Mr Zalinskas?’
‘He was what you might call a factotum.’
‘He certainly seemed to juggle a lot of jobs from what I hear.’
For the first time, his ice-cool appearance cracked. ‘Billy was ambitious, I like to reward such types.’
I stood up, helped myself to more Armagnac. ‘Good stuff this. I could see how a taste for the finer things might turn a young lad’s head — Was that it, Mr Zalinskas? Did Billy get greedy?’
‘I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. He was a valued employee, his death was a loss to all of us. Myself especially.’
I chanced my arm. ‘That’s not what I hear. Some say you had good reason to get rid.’ I moved over to the wall of monitors. ‘Quite a dust-up the pair of you had before his death. Did the cameras capture that?’
Zalinskas kept shtum. Rolled the glass between his palms.
I slammed my hand on the marble top. ‘Nothing to say?’
‘Calumnies are best answered with silence.’
‘Ben Johnson.’
‘You’re obviously an intelligent man. Why are you pursuing such rumours, such lies?’
I played him at his own game. ‘What’s a lie but a truth in masquerade?’ He looked up, obviously not a Byron fan.
He faced me, I thought he might crack, but then he smiled. ‘Dig away, Mr Dury. I can assure you there is nothing to implicate me in Billy Thompson’s death.’
‘Maybe not — but a little mud sticks, no? You’re already being dragged through the courts. Two cases would be very messy.’
‘A tenuous connection, don’t you think?’
His cockiness pressed on the bolts that held in my anger. I felt tempted to slap some information out of him, but he seemed too secure for that.
Zalinskas rose, moved back to the wolf. ‘You know, only the pack leader is ever allowed to raise pups,’ he said. ‘I can assure you, Mr Dury, I take my responsibilities to my pack very seriously.’
‘And when the time comes for the pup to challenge the leader, what happens then? Sorry, we’ve been there already, you explained. Of course. Look, Zalinskas, I know what kind of an outfit you run here. I know about Billy’s plans. I know about the…’
Zalinskas’ eyes widened. I had him where I wanted him, rattled. But I’d get no more from him, I knew that. The result I wanted depended on his next move outside this room. I’d made him sweat, now I needed to step back and observe.
