‘I will tell you what I know,’ Antonescu said in the interview room. He did not have a lawyer with him.
‘We have always assumed you to be dead,’ Isaac said.
‘I am guilty of entering this country under a false name and with a false passport. I wish to return to Romania.’ The man spoke slowly and with great thought.
‘What other crimes are you guilty of?’
‘I have committed no other crimes in this country.’
‘Ion Becali has been charged with attempted murder. Nicolae Cojocaru is dead.’
‘That I know.’
‘How?’
‘It is on the news.’
‘Why have you come here?’
Isaac realised that his questions were inane, but he wasn’t sure what else to ask. Across the table from him and Larry was a savage killer, the man who had probably killed Cojocaru, almost certainly had murdered Ralph Begley, yet there was nothing to tie the man to the crimes. It was as if Antonescu was playing with them, but Isaac knew he was not. Antonescu was not an intellectual, not a strategist, but a man who thought a passport violation would get him transported out of the country.
‘There’s no reason for me to be here now.’
‘You came in illegally. Couldn’t you leave the same way?’
‘There are others who will not let me leave alive.’
‘Why? Because you have murdered for them? And what’s the truth with Sal Maynard?’
‘She was a decent person and I mistreated her.’
‘By making her go into Briganti’s?’
The man’s behaviour concerned Isaac and Larry. Antonescu had spent his life as a violent criminal, and now he was being circumspect and remorseful. It was an act, and it was convincing, and if the man’s history had not been well known, others might have been duped.
Isaac knew that whenever a villain was contrite, it meant something else. The man had said that others would not let him leave alive, but why?
‘Before we can help you, we need to know why they want you dead, and why did you return to this country illegally?’
‘I needed to make peace with Nicolae Cojocaru.’
‘A phone call would have sufficed. What happened at Ivanov’s place in France? You went in but never came out.’
‘I am out now, and I am willing to tell you what you need to know.’
‘The truth?’
‘All of it.’
‘Then let’s start with what happened in France.’
‘Cojocaru shot me.’
‘Why?’
‘Because Stanislav Ivanov wanted proof of his loyalty.’
‘An unusual way to test a person.’
‘Not with the Bratva. I cannot blame Cojocaru.’
‘Would you have done the same?’
‘With a gun to my head if I didn’t?’
‘That’s not an answer. I’ll repeat the question. Would you have shot Cojocaru if the positions had been reversed?’
‘Yes, and so would you.’
Isaac ignored the man’s attempt at justification. ‘Have you killed a man before?’
‘In self-defence.’
‘In England?’
‘Never. Nicolae Cojocaru was always careful to ensure that we trod lightly with breaking the law.’
‘Was the man importing drugs into this country?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then you are guilty of more than a passport violation.’
‘My job was to protect him, not to become involved in his business.’
‘Yet you stayed in France and now the man is dead. What do you say about this?’
‘I failed in my duty.’
‘And France?’
‘What could I do? I either sided with Ivanov or I was dead. Cojocaru would have taken the shot, and I would not have been wearing a bulletproof vest.’
‘Your story makes no sense,’ Larry said.
‘Then release me, and I will chance my luck on the street.’
‘Ivanov has not committed murder in this country. Why is your life in danger?’
‘If you guarantee that I will be protected and you will deport me to Romania, then I will tell you all.’
‘Including how you killed Marcus Hearne?’
‘I didn’t kill him and you can’t prove that I did.’
Isaac could see that they were hitting the proverbial brick wall. A conviction for Ion Becali was based on the testimony of an illegal migrant, not on forensic evidence. A smart lawyer would have argued that Ion Becali wanting to see Ivanov was not unreasonable and there was no proof that his intent had been murderous. Men such as Ivanov, men as rich as Midas, received requests all the time from people down on their luck.
‘Then who killed Hearne?’ Larry asked. ‘We can’t help you if you don’t cooperate.’
‘I was wrong to come in here. I want to leave this country; not admit to a murder I did not commit.’
‘Tell us about the meeting. What happened?’
‘I don’t know. I was not there.’
‘Let me come back to Becali. Did he kill Marcus Hearne?’
‘If I say he did, you will keep me in this country.’
‘As a witness.’
‘What life is that for me? I will be on the street and Ivanov will have me killed.’
After one hour of questioning, a break in the proceedings. Antonescu asked for a pizza, which was duly delivered to the police station. Isaac and Larry went back to Homicide, and Larry phoned Annie O’Carroll in Ireland.
‘What do you have?’ Larry said after he had updated her.
‘Unreliable witnesses, a possible man on Buckley’s street twenty minutes before he was shot.’
‘Possible?’
‘Someone was taking selfies with an iPhone. There’s a man in the background. The time’s right, but we can’t recognise him.’
‘Short, stocky?’
‘We’ve been through this before,’ the Irish police officer said.
‘Humour me.’
‘Very well. The man that we have is short, but we’ve been through the faces you sent before. Came up with nothing.’
‘Okay, try this. Blond, hair cut short, not as stocky as before.’
‘It’s probable, but it’s an image from an iPhone,
