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“Listen, I know you don’t want to talk. But, you’re going to go to prison either way. How long you go away for and what you get charged with all depends on what you’re willing to give me. Today. Right now. If you don’t, I’m going to make sure that they try you for multiple counts of attempted murder of a police officer, prostitution, and narcotics. If you give me what I need, and it pans out, you may just live long enough to see the outside world again before you’re too old to enjoy it,” Detective Jason Knox said to the man sitting in an interrogation room at the 1st District headquarters.
The man, whom they already pinpointed as the leader of the motel operation, sat across from Jason with a cold gaze. He had been identified, via the passport the police found on the scene, as Vladimir Popov. One of the other suspects had already talked, giving nothing of substance, but he did admit that they all spoke English.
Still, Vladimir Popov said nothing.
“Fine, have it your way, Vlad. I’ll get one of your boys to talk, especially when I tell them that you’ll be taking the brunt of the charges as their leader. Hell, they might not even serve time if they flip. Hope you never treated any of those guys poorly…”
Jason began to walk away before Vladimir’s voice was heard for the first time since sitting down in the room.
“Nyet! No!”
“Excuse me? You having a change of heart?” Jason asked.
“Turn recorder off,” Vlad said as he nodded toward the device.
“You don’t get to make the rules, Popov. This isn’t Moscow.”
“Turn recorder off, and video too. I talk. Otherwise, no.”
Jason, against his better judgment, couldn’t resist finding out what Vladimir Popov had to say. He pressed stop on the audio recorder and powered the video camera off.
“You have one minute. Go.”
“Give me pen and paper,” Popov demanded in broken English.
Jason slid his notepad and pen across the table.
“Clock’s ticking, Vlad.”
“I give you this, you solve EPK murders. You drop attempted murder and narcotics charges,” Vlad said as he folded up the piece of paper he had just written something on.
“Vlad, I haven’t said anything about the EPK murders, so why are you offering that?”
“Cleveland Police don’t care about my business. Many of my customers are cops. Never had problem. Then today, SWAT comes. Why SWAT? For prostitutes? Nyet! You’re after something bigger. EPK kills Russian girls. We’re Russian. We have girls. You think it’s us. But, it’s not...”
“Okay, slow down, Vlad. That’s an awful lot of conclusions you’re trying to jump to...”
“Isn’t that what police do every day?” Vlad laughed.
“Ok, before I even entertain the thought that you know anything about the EPK case, you need to know that I can’t make the promises you’re asking for. But, if you do give me the EPK, I will do what I can to get the attempted murder dropped.”
“Do I have your word, Detective? If you break promise. People will find you. Your wife...” Vladimir said as he stared at the wedding ring on Jason Knox’s left ring finger.
“How do I know you won’t do that anyway?” Jason asked. This wasn’t the first, or last time, he had been threatened.
“Because I want to help you catch EPK. It’s personal.”
“Okay, but I need to know why you’d be willing to offer it up without a lawyer and so early in the process. To be honest, Vlad, I was planning on breaking you and your boys down for days, even weeks if I had to. Why are you willing to show me your cards now?”
“Because, today, we’re after same thing,” Vladimir Popov said as he slid the folded piece of paper towards Jason.
Jason slowly opened it up, and when he saw the name Vladimir Popov had written his stomach dropped.
“So, Detective… Do we have deal?” Vlad asked, coyly.
“Is this for real, Vlad? Because if this isn’t, I’ll make sure you die in prison,” Jason answered, clearly shocked by what he had just read.
