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“And afterwards, I’ll have to speak to a sketch artist too,” I say.
Mark flashes me a questioning look.
“A woman was looking at me through the window while I was interviewing Tina’s sister,” I explain. “Much more intently than could be considered normal, given the situation, I thought.”
“As though she recognized you?” Mark asks.
“I’ve never seen her before, but, yes, it could’ve just been someone who knows my work,” I say. “But we should explore it, given that the taxi driver thinks it might have been a woman in that long black coat.”
“He said that?” Dino ask looking at us all with very wide eyes. “The guy I spoke to, the one in the Audi from the CCTV, also couldn’t be sure what sex the person he almost ran over was. But he thought it could’ve been a woman too. Something about the way she was running not being manly.”
Mark nods pensively. “Did you get a sketch?”
Dino shakes his head. “I couldn’t get him to do that. But he’ll look at a sketch if I bring it.”
“Good, we’ll take care of that later,” Mark says. “Let’s go then.”
It takes a couple more minutes to arrange an escort of six uniformed officers and explaining to them what we’re doing.
The night is almost impenetrably black as we crunch along the sidewalk towards the main road and pyramid where the killer we’re looking for might have been spotted.
I’m glad to be doing something. Moving, investigating, following the trail. Sitting around now would just make my guilt blacker.
Even my baby is sleeping calmly again. I’m doing the right thing, whether Mark agrees or not. This is a hunt I started, and I am the one who must see it through to the end.
* * *
MARK
The walk towards Zois Street isn’t long and takes us first past an area of old but newly renovated riverside mansions, followed by a complex of tall apartment buildings and finally a decrepit, abandoned commercial building after which the low mansions begin again. This is a nice, wealthy area of the city and a few of the mansions house embassies. It should definitely be safe to be out here at night. The rushing of the river and our footsteps on the snow are the loudest sounds, so I’m hoping the noise the taxi driver made woke some people.
I’d prefer Eva to have gone back to the apartment. But then again, I also feel best when she’s with me. If this freak is fixated on her, he could be anywhere.
Some of the cafes and businesses we passed had a few cameras mounted by the doors, but the residential houses did not. Zois street is lit, though dimly, and the first thing I notice is the bright white camera above the doors of the building right across from the narrow pyramid. It’s some sort of institute, and I really hope the camera isn’t just one of those dummy ones.
“Going by the taxi driver’s description, this is the spot where it happened,” I say as we stop by the side of the road.
The gouges in the black ice and sleet covering the asphalt where the taxi skidded and finally stopped are clearly visible.
Across the street from us is the low wall that encircles Križanke Park, which is basically a narrow walkway. Even in the dark, the old mansion overlooking the road looks like it’s in dire need of renovation. The windows are large though, and those on the first and third floors are lit up. We might be in luck.
“We’ll talk to the people living here,” I say to the others, then continue to direct two of the uniformed officers to take the river road, two to check the park and another two to come with Eva and me.
I also describe who and what we are looking for. Dino goes with the two that will scout out the river path, and Sojer with the two that enter the park.
“And keep an eye out for CCTV cameras,” I tell them. “We’ll try to get all the footage we can tomorrow.”
Everyone’s following my orders as though they’re used to me giving them, but I’m not really surprised at that. When I still worked for the military, I often had to work with local law enforcement and people I didn’t know well. The urgency of what we’re doing also lends the necessary authority to my voice. If we find this person tonight, then that’s it, case closed, no more running around in the dead of night, or in the snow and cold. Eva and I can just focus on fixing up our house and picking a name for our daughter. The way it should be.
The sidewalk is icy too, and the six narrow stone steps leading up to the park and the mansion we’re visiting first are downright treacherous.
The smell of damp mortar envelops me as soon as we’re standing by the garden gate of the mansion. It’s the smell of that can only develop after decades of wet and cold winters during which the house never could dry properly.
The small garden is overgrown and decrepit, which is obvious even with all the snow covering it. The tall double-sided metal gate leading into it is rusty, and its hinges groan as I try to open it, but it barely moves. A thick chain is stopping it and the opening I was able to make is barely wide enough for a cat to pass through, let alone a tall person. The spikes at the top of it make it impossible to climb over.
I direct the officers to shine their flashlights into the gloom anyway, which reveals a snow covered garden table and chairs and several mounds of stuff I can’t even begin to name. The snow on the ground is pristine and untouched. No one walked here tonight. The person we’re looking for isn’t hiding in this yard.
“The entrance of this building is probably from the other side,” Eva says, and I let her lead the way down the narrow, dark alleyway that leads to the Križanke Square. The cobbled path is in serious need of restoration, but at least it’s mostly free of snow and ice because the roofs of the two buildings to either side give it enough cover.
