A Second Death by Graham Brack

Author:Graham Brack [Brack, Graham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781913028824
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2019-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

Rajka drove a vehicle that was definitely not police issue. Sleek, white and very foreign, it contained a number of enhancements that suggested to Slonský that the extras may have cost as much as the car. He was particularly impressed by the voice activated entertainment system, not that he wanted to use it. It was just that he had never come across anything before that did what you wanted as soon as you mentioned it. Except, now he thought about it, Navrátil.

Rajka’s car had at least six gears but not, it seemed, a brake. Either that, or Rajka was trying to avoid wearing it out with overuse.

‘Don’t you get a police issue car?’ asked Slonský.

‘I could,’ said Rajka, ‘but it’s important that people don’t immediately recognise the car as a police vehicle.’

Well, they’d never suspect this was one, thought Slonský. The chances are the Chief of the whole Czech police force doesn’t drive one of these.

‘But you’ve got a siren and lights,’ Slonský pointed out.

‘Yes, but concealed lights, not stuck on the roof like a normal police car. If I want to drive down the highway I can do so without attracting attention to myself.’

That struck Slonský as inherently unlikely. It reminded him of a prostitute he had once known who used to claim that she was “blending in” when she entered expensive hotels wearing an ocelot coat and no underwear.

Rajka turned right without any obvious signal and parked in exactly the same place as the getaway driver had eight years ago.

‘Aren’t you worried about being ticketed?’ asked Slonský.

‘No, because I’d tear it up and in any event there’s a sticker in the front window that tells those who need to know that it’s an unmarked police car.’

I never knew that, thought Slonský, who wondered what the point of doing that was, since it seemed to defeat the object of an unmarked police car if you then marked it in some way.

Rajka presented his credentials at the counter and asked to speak to the senior manager on duty.

‘He has someone with him,’ replied the assistant tentatively.

‘I’m sure he has. He’ll be a busy man. So am I. I can give him five minutes to wrap things up.’

Slonský turned over in his mind whether there was any semantic difference between the Rajka approach — “I can give him five minutes” — and his own — “Five minutes, then I kick the door in” — and decided they were broadly equivalent.

The assistant rushed away to consult the manager and soon returned to invite them to wait in the corridor outside the office.

‘He’ll only be a minute or two,’ she explained.

Slonský and Rajka sat on the indicated chairs.

‘Do you bank here?’ asked Slonský.

‘No,’ said Rajka. ‘I don’t go to banks that have a history of being robbed. What about you?’

‘No, I use the one nearest the office. Banks don’t fall over themselves to get my business.’

The manager emerged, ushering a woman in front of him who was still trying to put her coat on as he shook her hand.

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