Coming by Andrej Nikolaidis

Author:Andrej Nikolaidis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Coming
ISBN: 9781938103049
Publisher: Dzanc Books
Published: 2011-06-30T16:00:00+00:00

The fellow’s name was Lazar – I learned that from the Vukotićs’ neighbours. It was incomprehensible to me how a police force, even one as ignorant and apathetic as ours, could overlook such an important detail. They probably gave up on their work, which they were never terribly motivated about anyway, and laid down their batons and pistols to sit and wait like so many others. But not me: I, with my Protestant work ethic, have always felt lonely amidst Balkan irresponsibility and laziness.

So his name was Lazar and he worked for the Vukotićs as a caretaker. The neighbours weren’t able to tell me when the Vukotićs first employed him, nor where he originally came from. And they didn’t know, of course, where he’d gone after killing the family which had accepted him. ‘The Vukotićs led a secluded life: we didn’t feel welcome there, and so we never dropped in,’ they told me.

As soon as I found out about Lazar, every piece of the puzzle fell into place. The Vukotićs had opened up for him because they knew him. He robbed them because he knew the house: as caretaker he had access to every corner of every room. He’d probably discovered they had a safe while repairing the floorboards in the living room. It was presumably then that he conceived the crime he ultimately committed. Only one thing had me fazed: the safe which my son speaks about in his mails. Inspector Jovanović didn’t mention a safe when I bribed him to tell me everything he knew about the case. So now I phoned him. He answered, drunk and despairing.

‘Listen, mate, I think you forgot to tell me one important detail about the Vukotić murders,’ I reproached him. ‘Was there a safe at the house and had it been broken into?’

‘Yes,’ he mumbled and replaced the receiver.

Good, I said to myself: I have a suspect who had a motive. Now I just have to find the scumbag. The way things are going, I’ll still manage to get tanked up tonight.

The snow seemed to be falling more thickly now. A right bloody blizzard! Even with the high beam on, I could hardly see two metres in front of me.

Lines of refugees struggled past by the roadside. When the snow first came in June, people still hoped it was a practical joke of nature. But then the sea rose and carried away the joke. When day dawned, the foundations of the hotels and planned skyscrapers on Velika Plaža beach, hyped up to be a copy of the bluish, futuristic towers of Abu Dhabi, were under water. A few days later the sea swamped a village of weekenders up behind the beach. Ugly, illegally built houses sank in the swirling waters as the sea took over the responsibility of the building inspectorate. Whoever fled when the first waves were lapping their houses was able to take a few belongings with them. The optimists copped it bad, as usual: they’d thought the worst-case scenario

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