‘But McNally wanted a piece of the action,’ Boyd said. ‘He knew Frank Phillips was pulling out of the deal so he muscled into the gap due to become vacant. Makes sense.’
‘Aided by Tracy Phillips. She planned for McNally to kidnap Maeve and demand money from Frank in return for his daughter. When we were in Malaga, Frank told us his family had been threatened. We should have pushed him then for more information.’
‘If Maeve was in danger he wasn’t going to tell us anything,’ Boyd said. ‘But I wonder what went wrong.’
‘Tracy had it all nicely set up, but McNally got greedy. Sold Maeve off to the doctor to get back at Frank Phillips and get into Gjergi’s good books.’
‘That’s why she came to the station urging you to find her.’
‘She knew McNally had double-crossed her, but she couldn’t say anything without implicating herself.’
‘And McNally became the Lipjan Twitter guy,’ Boyd said. ‘to ensnare Maeve.’
‘Yes. I think McNally’s actions motivated Gjergi to start killing the girls he stole organs from. It was an ideal way of framing Andri Petrovci for murder. His coup de grace was to be Petrovci finding Mimoza and Milot dead in a trench under a street.’
‘Mad bastard in his own insane world.’
‘And Chloe walked straight into it. She confided in Maeve about her self-harm and was targeted after Maeve’s abduction. I think in Gjergi’s warped mind he believed he was saving the girls he killed. But it was all motivated by revenge.’
‘Against Petrovci.’
‘Yes. Is he still here?’
‘With everything going on we never got to release him.’
‘We need to speak with him again,’ she said.
‘I think we do,’ Boyd agreed.
Eighty-Six
‘I remember now. Sometimes it like that. The blackouts first, then memory come back.’
‘What do you remember, Andri?’
Lottie sipped a mug of coffee brought in by Boyd. Andri Petrovci had declined the offer of a drink. The three of them sat at the steel table in the suffocating heat of the interview room.
Andri said, ‘I get headache. I leave apartment because man ring me. You ask what he say.’
‘Yes. We’ve checked all the phone records and you were called by the same number that contacted Jack Dermody and Eamon Carter.’
‘He say I never see my Mimoza again.’
‘Andri. I’m sorry to tell you but Mimoza is dead. She died fighting off a very evil man.’
He began to shiver. His hands quivered and he shook his head. ‘No! It not true.’
‘I’m afraid it is true.’
‘Why? Why this happen?’ After a moment he said, ‘This man, he say… I never see son again.’ Tears gathered at the corners of his pained eyes. Hastily he wiped them away and sniffed. ‘I not have son.’ Lifting his hands, pleading, he said, ‘Why he lie? Why?’
Lottie looked at Boyd.
‘But Andri—’ she began.
Boyd shook his head and mouthed, ‘Outside.’
They stood in the corridor.
‘I have to tell him about Milot.’ Lottie folded her arms and leaned against the wall.
‘At least wait until DNA confirms it or otherwise.’ Boyd paced in front of her.
‘But he’s the boy’s father. He needs to know.’
‘He’s a mental wreck, Lottie. How is he going to care for a little boy? Be realistic.’
‘We can’t not tell him.’
Back in the interview room, Lottie picked up her bag. She took out the photograph she’d found in Adam’s belongings and placed it on the table.
Andri pulled it toward him. ‘Where you get this? I take this photo. When I a boy. I remember. Why I never see it before?’
‘I’m not sure, Andri,’ Lottie said softly. She handed him the name badge Mimoza had brought her over a week ago.
Andri turned it over and over in his hand, tracing the tight green stitches marking out the name on the canvas. He looked up at Lottie and smiled through his pain.
‘Friend. Soldier friend. He good man.’
Tears spilled from Lottie’s eyes. ‘You knew Adam?’
‘Soldier friend, he give me this. He tell me, ever in trouble, come look for him. I give it to my Mimoza. I tell her look for him if anything happen to me. One day I come from work, she gone. Now she truly gone.’ He smiled sadly. ‘Soldier friend, I not forget him.’
‘Adam died nearly four years ago,’ Lottie whispered. ‘But he would have helped you.’
‘You help me. You believe me when I say I not kill girls. You help my Mimoza?’
Lottie shook her head. Tears dripped from the end of her nose to her chin and down on to her chest.
‘I tried, Andri, but not hard enough. I couldn’t save her.’ She glanced over at Boyd, and he nodded.
‘Andri, I’ve something to tell you. Something that will make you very happy.’
‘Nothing make me happy. My Mimoza gone.’
She choked back a sob. ‘Listen to me, Andri. You do have a son. He is a beautiful little boy. His name is Milot.’
Andri reached out and wiped the tears from her cheek. ‘You tell truth? I have a son?’
‘Yes, Andri, you have a son.’
And when Lottie looked at him, all the black pain had left his eyes, and he smiled.
‘I have a son.’
Kosovo, May 2011
Andri’s plain black suit had been hired. The collar of his shirt cut into his neck. Though his head was newly shaved and gleamed bright under the artificial lights, his eyes were dark with pain. He shifted on the chair and rubbed his hands together. He could feel someone watching him. Without turning round, he knew Gjergi Jashari was staring at him from the back of the packed courtroom. Seeking out his soul.
A hush descended as the defendant was led into court, followed by the judges taking their seats. Everyone rose and sat as directed.
Bracing himself for the trauma he would have to relive, Andri closed his eyes and remembered her eyes. The girl he’d met and loved. The girl someone had taken away from him. He would search the world for her. Once the trial was over.
But before proceedings could commence, a commotion from the dock caused a flurry of activity. Andri looked over. Old Gjon Jashari had crumpled over on himself, his head smashing against the floor. Both hands clutched his chest as the life shot out of him in a long, hoarse groan. The man who had taken life from others for tainted dollars left the world without paying for his actions.
As people ran and fetched and carried and shouted, Andri sat motionless and emotionless. He wouldn’t have to give his testimony. Maybe now he could begin his search for his beloved Mimoza.
As he sat there, above the commotion he heard a door bang shut. He turned around.
Gjergi was gone. He hadn’t waited to see if his father lived or died.
And Andri realised that Gjergi had only two goals in life. One was to follow in his father’s footsteps making money from illegal human organ harvesting; the other to make Andri Petrovci suffer.
Epilogue
31 May 2015
Four white coffins stood behind the brass altar gates of Ragmullin Cathedral for the prayer service.
Three of them bore names on copper plates. Kaltrina. Sara. Mimoza.