The Namesake cab-3

by Conor Fitzgerald

  A sign for Lamezia Terme appeared, and Massimiliani slowed down. ‘I’m going to pull in just before the entrance road to Via dei due Mari. There should be a car waiting for me.’

  ‘Meaning?’

  ‘Meaning you can take this car, head across to the east coast, see if you can’t catch up with Hoffmann. There is an APB out on that camper. No reports of any sightings, though.’

  ‘You’re not going to the east coast to help me look for him?’

  ‘Of course not. The operations centre is in Reggio, but maybe I’ll see you in a few days in Polsi, just after the Ndrangheta holds its summit meeting.’

  ‘Polsi? The sanctuary itsel f?’

  ‘Yes, madness, I admit, and not my idea. It’s a new policy, a sort of annoy-the-fuckers-till-they-do-something-stupid policy. The authorities are holding a mass and then a celebration in Polsi, claiming back the sacred site for the forces of law and order, as it were. And it’s going to be done in front of some BKA observers, whom I’ll be looking after, and some German journalists. The police from Reggio Calabria and the Locride area are going to go to the same church used the day before by the Ndrangheta for its summit. All in dress uniform. The idea is to celebrate the Archangel Saint Michael, who’s the patron saint of the police and…’

  ‘Patron saint of the Ndrangheta. I never liked that coincidence,’ said Blume. ‘Who’s behind the idea?’

  ‘The questore of Reggio Calabria. He comes across as mild-mannered and reasonable but he’s a hard-nosed aggressive bastard.’

  ‘Good for him.’

  ‘Maybe,’ said Massimiliani doubtfully. ‘He went on TV and said the police weren’t going to share their patron saint with a bunch of cut-throats and bandits. He said it was time to reclaim the Madonna of Polsi from the criminal overlords. He’s got strong Catholic beliefs, the questore. If you ask me, he’s a bit too keen on the afterlife.’

  ‘He’s a hero,’ said Blume.

  ‘I thought you’d be a bit more cynical than that. Are you a big Catholic, too?’

  ‘No, but I like the idea of prodding the Mafia beast.’

  ‘First let’s see where that policy gets your German friend.’

  He pulled into a layby almost completely obscured by wild oats and reeds. He cut the engine and got out, coming round to Blume’s door. Blume shifted into the driver’s seat, which was unpleasantly warm and slightly damp. Massimiliani opened the passenger door and leaned in.

  ‘You have made some poor decisions, but you have good instincts, Blume. With a bit of training, and a bit of trust, we’d make a good team.’ He pointed down the road. ‘Go up the mountain to Gerace, down into Locri, head towards San Luca, Africo, Polsi, wherever you think Hoffmann went.’

  ‘If I take Via dei due Mari, maybe you could send a car over the mountain pass to the south…?’

  ‘Send a car over Aspromonte, from where, Reggio? It takes all day to get over that mountain, and our resources are deployed to the full. No, Blume, I am not helping the BKA any more than I have already. As for you, finish on your own what you started on your own, but don’t do anything that requires backup.’

  A siren suddenly whooped behind them. He looked in the rear-view mirror and saw an unmarked saloon car behind, a magnetic flasher stuck in its roof.

  ‘There’s my lift. We’ll be in contact soon.’

  Massimiliani slammed the door shut, and got into the car behind. Blume drove down the slip road and began to drive east.

  44

  Locri

  ‘Sicilian Pistachio,’ said Basile. ‘I think it’s one of my best. The nuts themselves come from Africa and are processed in China, when Sicily can be seen from the other end of this region, but that’s progress for you. I hope you understand my accent?’

  Konrad nodded. The ice cream stood untouched in a stainless-steel bowl in front of him, next to the torn image of the Madonna. ‘I am not hungry.’ He pushed the bowl away from himself and the Madonna. ‘You must understand that I am extremely nervous.’

  ‘Everyone here is nervous, Mr Hoffmann. In all my long years, I have never had such a strange request. In fact, it is so unprecedented that I do not know what to make of it. Could it be you came all this way to make fun of us simple southerners?’

  ‘No.’ Konrad turned the card over. ‘This is Mr Megale’s signature.’

  ‘And this is the address Mr Megale gave you?’

  ‘Mr Basile’s Cafe Bar Gelateria, yes.’

  Basile shook his head in an elaborate display of amazement and disbelief.

  ‘I thought you would have the other half of the card, and that would be a sign of good faith,’ added Konrad.

  ‘Is that what Domenico said?’

  ‘No,’ admitted Konrad. ‘He never said who would have the other half.’

  ‘I understand you do not want to talk to me. Salvatore tells me you want to talk to Agazio Curmaci, who lives in Germany, where you are from. And he also tells me you are a policeman of some sort. If you wanted to talk to Curmaci, you could have arrested him there on false charges, which is the sort of behaviour we have come to expect from the authorities.’

  ‘I do not want to arrest him. I just want him to answer a few questions.’

  ‘I have to tell you I have no idea where Curmaci is at this moment. His son was in here the other day. Brave kid. But Agazio.. ’ Basile took the bowl of ice cream and tossed it into the sink. ‘It feels like we are all wasting our time.’

  ‘I am sorry if this is inconveniencing you.’

  ‘ Mah.’ Basile waved a generous hand.

  A spluttering noise followed by an engine roar caused Konrad to run to the door of the bar. ‘My Hymer. They’re stealing it!’

  ‘No one is stealing anything from outside my bar. It must just be the traffic police. You’re not allowed to park motor homes in the middle of the town. They’ll be taking it to a campsite for you. I’ll make sure you’re taken there after this.’

  ‘The traffic police don’t get in and drive away an illegally parked vehicle,’ said Konrad. ‘I have the keys here, so how did they start it?’

  Basile shook his head in disgust. ‘The traffic police are such busybodies, you wouldn’t believe it. Are you going out there to stop them?’

  Konrad stayed where he was.

  ‘Good. Now sit down, and let’s see if Curmaci turns up. I haven’t seen him myself in more than a year, and most people seem to be under the impression he is still in Germany, and won’t be making it down for the Feast of the Madonna tomorrow. So I will be surprised and delighted if he walks through that door.’

  ‘I’d like to wait here for him, if you don’t mind.’

  ‘Mind? Of course I don’t mind. This is where I live and work, and it’s cool and dry in here. Tell you what, I’ll shut up the bar, make sure no customers come in to disturb us!’

  Konrad surveyed the empty room. Even the wrinkled bald man who had been serving at the bar when he entered had vanished. It was just him and Basile. People were passing by in the square outside, but it was as if a force field was keeping them from coming in.

  Fifteen minutes later, seated across a table on which stood two empty and unused glasses, Basile said, ‘And do you mind me asking what you want to talk to Curmaci about?’

  ‘Private affairs.’

  ‘Ah.’

  ‘From long ago,’ added Konrad, a hint of apology in his tone.

  ‘Well, I go back a long way, too. Perhaps I can remember something that will help you and him resolve this?’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ said Konrad. ‘It’s not a pleasant business.’

  Ten minutes later, the door opened and four men came in. The last of them was Curmaci. Basile’s face registered no surprise at seeing him, but for the sake of consistency of tone, he professed astonishment. ‘Agazio! Your foreign friend here was right!’

  He stood up and went behind the bar. The three men and Curmaci himself were looking at the torn Madonna on the zinc counter. Konrad stood up, and walked over, and
leaned on the far end of the bar and watched from a safe distance. Everyone ignored him.

  ‘What can I get the gentlemen?’ asked Basile.

  ‘ Cafe corretto with a drop of Sambuco for me,’ said Curmaci, pulling out his wallet. The others all ordered coffee. Curmaci plucked out a 10-euro note and left it on the bar, where it went unheeded by Basile. Curmaci slipped two fingers into an inside fold of his wallet and pulled out a bent piece of thick paper, which he smoothed out on the counter and set beside the torn Madonna. The men looked at it and nodded.

  ‘A perfect match, how about that!’ said Basile.

  Konrad knew then that he was going to die, and that he had known this from the start of his journey.

  Curmaci, finally acknowledging Konrad, motioned him over, and pointed at a seat. The other men disappeared into the kitchen. Basile remained behind the bar, at a discreet distance but not out of earshot from where Curmaci and Konrad were now seated.

  ‘ Wollen Sie lieber Deutsch sprechen? ’ began Curmaci.

  ‘As a matter of courtesy in my bar, could you please speak Italian,’ said Basile from behind the counter.

  ‘I beg your pardon,’ said Curmaci. ‘Konrad, your Italian is good, isn’t it?’

  Konrad nodded.

  ‘You have built up a file that could be very damaging for Megale and our operations in Germany, I believe? This is what Domenico Megale tells me.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And what would you like us to do about it?’

  ‘I want you to talk to me,’ said Konrad. ‘First we talk about what I want to talk about, then we talk about what you want to talk about. OK?’

  ‘That’s a roundabout but valorous way of putting it.’

  ‘Did you kill Dagmar?’

  ‘You don’t even give me her last name.’

  ‘I don’t need to, you know who I am.’

  ‘But if you put it like that, it sounds too intimate, like we are old friends. You, Dagmar and me. That’s not how it is, though.’

  ‘We are not friends, no.’

  ‘Good, that’s cleared that up,’ said Curmaci, with a quick glance at Basile who was quietly rearranging a stack of cappuccino cups balanced on top of the cream-coloured Gaggia espresso machine. ‘Her surname was Schiefer, and I shot her dead in 1993 in execution of a direct order from Domenico Megale, who went to prison as a result of her attempts to impress her superiors. Do you really want to hear this story?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Very well. She had gone to the Edeka supermarket near her house. Her parents’ house. She still lived with them. I remember she had chestnuts in her shopping. It’s funny the incidental details that come to mind even after so long a time. She had parked her bike in the car park, and we pulled up. Our driver, who didn’t even speak any German, started asking directions, she came over. I remember she had a big smile on her face. I got out the back, pushed her in. It was so easy, it almost felt like she climbed in willingly. Are you listening?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘We went north out of the city in the direction of the airport, then took a right towards Lintorf. We drove down Lintorfer Waldstrasse, which, as you know, is one of the few bits of countryside left around that area. We pulled in off the road, without even bothering to hide the car very much since it was not going to take long. She walked on her own two legs away from the car. I told her I wanted her to walk into the copse of black poplars beside the road, put her back against a tree trunk, then turn to face me, but I shot her in the back of the head as soon as she had taken her first two steps. It wouldn’t have made sense to have to carry the deadweight of the body all the way back from the trees, and doing it that way minimized her suffering and fear. Also there is always the chance of a lucky escape in such circumstances. She might have run.’

  Konrad put his head between his knees and retched, bringing up nothing. Basile courteously arrived with a glass of water, set it down before him, then retreated.

  ‘How many shots?’

  ‘Two. I don’t remember, to be honest. But it was always two. One to bring the person down, one to make sure.’

  ‘You didn’t give her a chance to prepare. She would have faced you.’

  ‘She prepared herself in the car. I could feel it. But even if she didn’t, it’s not my job to prepare people.’

  ‘You remembered the chestnuts. Did she mention my name?’

  ‘How would I be expected to remember a thing like that?’

  ‘You remembered the chestnut. Did she beg for her life?’

  ‘I can’t remember. Probably.’

  ‘Did she mention her parents?’

  Curmaci shrugged apologetically. ‘Again, I can’t remember. Parents, mothers in particular, children — if there are any — and God. These are common themes among victims.’

  Konrad straightened up. ‘And the body? Where is she?’

  ‘I didn’t oversee the disposal. Even if I knew, do you really want the details? They will have cut off the four limbs, dissolved her parts in acid, removed the teeth and bone fragments after three days, crushed them, tossed them into several skips. The liquefied body could have gone anywhere. There’s an industrial park near Neuss we used. It’s near the river. That’s where it will have been done.’

  ‘Are you telling me the truth?’

  ‘Does it sound like I am holding anything back?’

  ‘So there is no body and no resting place?’

  ‘No. You know how it is… Madonna mia, show some courage, Hoffmann. What sort of man weeps for news that is a generation old?’

  ‘If I would cry, but I am not, I would not be ashamed. I would be crying for the parents, too.’

  Curmaci glanced back at Basile, now straightening the packets of sugar and artificial sweeteners. ‘When he gave you that torn Madonna, did you think Old Megale was making a move against me?’

  ‘It is what I hoped, yes,’ said Konrad. ‘I promised him that if you were killed, I would destroy the evidence I have gathered, eliminate every trace of my investigation, and leave the police force.’

  ‘And you believed he would order that?’

  ‘I am an excellent investigator and I have a good mind. But sometimes hope obfuscates even a fine intellect. It did not occur to me until now that the torn Madonna will have been your idea. Megale is not so subtle. He is just an ignorant pig. I had hopes which were unrealistic.’

  ‘You realize I did not need to tell you anything? I did you a favour.’

  ‘You enjoyed the telling. You knew it would be a torture for me.’

  ‘Speaking of torture,’ said Curmaci, ‘how can you be persuaded to get rid of that evidence you have built up on money laundering?’

  ‘Not just that,’ said Hoffmann defiantly. ‘I know about your operations through Rotterdam into Duisburg. Plus several other things. Hotels in Provence, housing projects outside Dresden. I have a lot of stuff.’

  ‘What will it be: money to buy your silence; threats against people you love? You tell me, Hoffmann.’

  ‘I have no one. No family, no parents, no colleagues who are friends.’

  ‘ Frei aber einsam. What about Dagmar’s parents?’

  ‘You can’t hurt them any more.’

  ‘Well, that can be tested. But it seems to me the easiest thing to do would be for you to disappear, unless you can give me a better idea.’

  ‘I have sent the evidence to myself multiple times, including by parcel post to the office. If something happens to me, my colleagues will eventually get around to looking at my files. The same files are also attached to an email stored on a site called Time Cave. They’ll start arriving in various inboxes in the future unless I go to my account and cancel them from the outbox.’

  ‘You have everything covered.’ Curmaci stood up. ‘It seems the only choice we have is to let you go and hope for the best. If we do that, can we have your word that you will hold back on these revelations?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Konrad.

  ‘But you didn’t get the
revenge you were seeking, did you?’

  ‘At least I got some information.’

  Basile came out from behind the bar, and retrieved Konrad’s glass, and placed it out of harm’s way. The three men who had come in earlier emerged from the kitchen. Two stood behind him, Basile, Curmaci and the other in front.

  ‘I think your specialization in the Camorra has misled you, Hoffmann,’ said Curmaci. ‘But I don’t think even the feckless Neapolitans would allow you to come down from Germany, sit in the bar of a capo, and threaten the Society. But us? Have you even read anything about our history?’

  ‘I read a lot.’

  ‘You understood nothing, then. We always put honour before money. If you don’t understand the word “honour”, think of it as a willingness to invest in long-term reputation and goodwill at the cost of short-term benefits. That’s why the South Americans trust us so much. We will sever our own limbs rather than be seen to give in to threats. There are countless examples of us sacrificing huge business empires built up over years merely for the sake of reputation. You will have noted that fact while studying our Society?’

  Konrad nodded, unable to speak. He needed the water Basile had taken from him.

  ‘Your naivety is unbelievable.’

  Konrad put up no resistance as they steered him towards the kitchen. The temperature in there was cool and the air was scented with sugar and cleaning alcohol. The ice-cream makers looked like woodchip stoves, and they gleamed. A black rubber hose was attached to the tap above the double sink, and lay coiled on the white tiles that had recently been washed clean and were still slightly slippery. Not quite now, he thought. It would not be in this clean kitchen, the very place the boss himself worked.

  But once again, Konrad had misread the situation.

  45

  Gerace-Locri, Calabria