CHAPTER NINETEEN
After a comatose night of rest in the Darklow Bridge Hotel Theo didn't intend wasting any time the following day. The Cash for Gold shop was a prominent local feature in the town and could be seen from the window of his hotel room looking down over the town’s main cross roads. The shop was prominent not because of any ostentation, but rather because any open business stood out on the half boarded up and derelict empty shell of Darklow Main Street. He awoke early and decided to go for a run to wake himself up before breakfast at the hotel. He was the only runner out and Main Street was deserted except for two forlorn and anxious looking individuals standing outside the offices of the local bank.
There is a sad story there. I wonder why they wait so long. Theo thought. He had seen them as he put his running gear on, and then they were there as he jogged past to look into the window of Sammy the Shark's Cash for Gold outlet. When he jogged past a second time he noticed the older of the two stare at him the whole length of Main Street. He felt a wave of empathy for some reason, although they did not look like beggars and did not ask him for money. The look in the man's eyes was like a glimpse into the gates of hell.
But he had more important things to do.
The opening hours of Darklow Cash for Gold were from 10.30am so he still had time to kill. He had a light breakfast, reviewed his plan for the day and then checked his voice mails There were three from unknown caller which he assumed were from his creditors. He deleted all three without listening to anything more than the introduction. He knew what the substance would be and did not have time for bankers and collection agencies today. There was a chance that here in this little lost town on the edge of Europe he would find a link to Elissa and that was all that mattered. She had been abducted almost a decade ago. Theo blamed himself. So did his brother and sister-in-law. They hadn't spoken to him since the initial investigation was closed. If there was a chance of finding a warm lead then his financial affairs could be sorted out later.
He watched from the breakfast room of the hotel as one large goon rolled up in front of the Cash for Gold and unlocked the shutters. He was thick set, bald and shaved with several necks rolled up above his jacket collar. Semi-detailed tattoos covered most of his face, neck and head. Some Chinese, some Thai but mostly just common gangland fare. A small queue of incongruous people had formed to the right of the entrance. It was miserable, if orderly. There were old and young, male and female. No-one wanted to be there. The goon didn't acknowledge them and they said nothing to him. After he entered the shop they just stood there. Were they even queuing for the Cash for Gold? There was nothing else in between that Theo could see. He took some pictures with his camera phone, then crossed the road and entered the narrow little premises that was the bane of Darklow's new debtor classes. As he went in, the first person in the queue, a small, shabbily dressed man, stopped him. There was a terrible smell of rotting seafood. Theo stepped back from him, but the smell only got worse.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"I go in to speak with him." Theo said.
"The end of the queue is back there."
"I did not know you were queuing for him. Why have you not gone in already?"
"He's not ready yet. He'll tell us when."
Theo checked his watch. It was 20 minutes to 11. The opening hours said 10.30am.
"I won't take up much of his time." Theo said. The man took a step back. "Suit yourself." It sounded like a warning.
Inside, the goon was seated, resting his fat elbows on the counter and preparing to sink his teeth into a sloppy breakfast roll. The smell of rotting seafood was intense. Theo nearly gagged. It wasn't the debtor outside but the big man in front of him. A tabloid newspaper lay open as reading material and as a safety net for the droppings of his massive sandwich. He glared at Theo.
"What the fuck do you want?"
"Are you Sammy?"
He took a wide, struggling bite from the bursting roll, forcing as much in as he could and began to chew. Chunks of meat splattered down onto the newspaper. He chewed slowly and stared at Theo, looking him up and down. All kinds of people came into the shop, people in rags, people in furs and designer clothes, local and foreign. Theo was only mildly different from the usual deadbeat.
"Get outside and wait like the rest of 'em until I tell you to come in."
"I need to talk to Sammy. It is about skin."
The thug sat up straight.
"You fucking wot?"
"I am interested in skin. That's all you need to know."
"I don't know what you are talking about mate. Can't you read? It's Cash for Gold, not a bleedin' butcher shop. Now fuck off."
Theo took a closer look at the goon's tattoos. There was a tiger, a 6 pointed star, a badly drawn Chinese tattoo meaning 'insane' although not the 'crazy' type of insane, rather just plain medically insane. Chinese tattoo artists have a lot of fun with uneducated westerners. Most disappointingly for Theo, the skin art connoisseur, this idiot had ACAB tattooed across his knuckles; All Coppers Are Bastards. Breathtakingly unoriginal, or could one say refreshingly retro? Only one tattoo was of real interest, the outstretched ends of a spider-web that extended around to his throat from the back of his neck. Theo had seen this marking before. Blood rushed to his throat, visions of Elissa as she was the afternoon before she disappeared flashed through his mind.
"Six years in prison. At least. A low level enforcer in the loan-shark trade, a thin disguise for the skin-trade. The Chinese character on your neck translates to English as 'retard' and on your knuckles you have ACAB?" Theo snorted his contempt. "I mean seriously, perhaps you should think of going into some other trade you low ranking, badly dressed, underpaid piece of shit. You think that cartoon tiger on your head makes you an 'enforcer'? Go get me your boss before I piss all over you. Tell him that Theo Petrakis from Europol is here and tell him not to fuck around."
Theo ended with a smile. Although he was little more than half the size of Rafa, Sammy's main 'enforcer', he found it hilarious and exhilarating to threaten a thug twice his size just to see the reaction. Small man syndrome at its most exquisite.
Rafa looked momentarily shocked and outraged. Scandalized even. But then a grin came across his fat, pasty face.
"OK you fucking rodent. We'll see about you then."
He shouted into the back of the shop. As he turned his head a little more of the spider-web stretched around his fat neck.
"Sammy? Bloke name of Theo Petarkis or some such wants to see you. Europol he says."
"You are very kind." Theo added.
A voice came from the back room.
"Show him in."
"Be my guest." Rafa's face was plastered with a mocking grin. He was looking forward to this.
Theo walked carefully by him and found his way along a short dark corridor to Sammy's office. It must be a long walk for the innocent, Theo thought, for the penniless locals who have to come here and beg for extensions on their extortionate loans.
The office was squalid, dark, cluttered. Sammy sat behind a cheap desk wearing a shocking pin-stripe suit. His short black hair was greased back like a Hollywood wise-guy He was a big man, bigger than Rafa and muscular where Rafa was obese. His jaw was large and square and his tattoos more fine and intricate than those of his henchman. In the dark Theo was unable to make out much of the detail.
The big man motioned to the cheap plastic chair in front of his desk. Theo sat down while Rafa locked up the shop and took his place in the doorway directly behind him.
The seasoned policeman took a breath and felt the adrenaline flow. One way or the other there would be a conflict this morning. His luck and instinct were with him. Less than twenty four hours in Ireland and he was here, ready to harass the most evil and vile scum on the island. Sometimes even he believed the things some of the European press said about him. That he was an avenging angel, a super-cop who struck fear into the heart of organized crime.
While Theo seated himself Sammy took his time to examine him. Finally he leaned forward a little, bringing his large beaked nose and inked skin into the light and revealing the swirl of art that covered his face and neck.
Elissa. Theo thought. Had she also looked into these eyes? He took another deep breath. He would need to be calm, controlled, no matter what.
"Skin?"
Theo nodded.
"I should bury you right now in the fucking basement for even saying that word you fucking cunt."
Theo smiled.
"Who the fuck do you think you are mate? Making accusations like that. Taking fucking liberties."
Theo held up his two small, delicate hands to show he was unarmed before reaching into his inside pocket with fingertips to take out his ID.
Sammy squinted.
"Europol. Hahahaha. I thought I must've heard wrong. Now that's a fucking good one. Does anybody know you're here then? Is there anyone else? Hahah, oh my god."
"Mr. Shark ..."
"'Mr. Shark', oh fuck me, Mr. fucking Shark. Whatever next? You are going to make me shit myself, Mr...?"
"Petrakis."
"Petrarkis. Oh lovely, great, yeah. Greek then are we? I love Greece so I do. Sunny, cheap, all the kebabs you can eat. Lovely pussy as well. And so easy too. I try to get meself down there a couple of times a year at least. Shag a couple of the local birds, you know. Arse-hole sex is what I like, a bit dirty I know, but then, you lot invented bum-sex, init? Socrates, Plato, all that lot? Dirty buggers I know, but you can't blame 'em, can you? And anyway, most Greek birds don't mind a bit of that, now do they? Filthy lot they are, just the way I like 'em." He looked Theo directly in the eye. "Do you like arsehole sex Europol? With your Missus? Does she like it?"
Theo didn't reply.
"Oh, excuse me, your good lady wife may not even be Greek, how rude of me to make the assumption." He grinned. "Now then, what can I do for you Mr. Europol, International Secret bloody Service Agent?"
"I am here to investigate a crime."
"Now hold on just a minute there Agent Europol and again, please believe me when I say I don't mean to be rude, but do you even have jurisdiction? Since when does Europol send dwarfs, excuse me, I mean 'little people' like yourself, around Europe to ask perfectly honest business men like me stupid fucking libelous questions such as what you have just had the cheek to be asking me?"
"I haven't asked you anything yet Mr. Shark."
"Get out of it. Go on. I mean go. Now. While I'm feeling generous. You have no reason to be here, no reason to be harassing me. Now fuck off before I have to deal with you the old fashioned way for trespassing on my fucking property."
"Sammy, you can throw me out and then just wait for me to come back with the warrant and you will have to go through all the pain of cleaning up your little shithole shop and your home to hide whatever it is you need to hide, or you can just answer a few simple questions and I will be on my way."
There was no reaction from Sammy. But he did stop laughing.
"Now why don't you just relax? After all, I am just Europol. What harm can I do? I can't even arrest you, so why not just help me with my investigation and I will be on my way."
Sammy reconsidered for a moment. Killing a copper no problem, but burying a Europol agent maybe wasn't such a good idea after all, despite what he had been told. A few bogus answers to some general questions might be the end of it as far as his involvement was concerned. Just a right shame that after building up his network and business in Ireland for so long, pocketing all the local coppers and living a virtually anonymous life, now the eye of international crime investigation had him on radar again and in the form of this diminutive, cocky and altogether very annoying little Greek.
"Oh fucking hell. Go on then. Should be good for a laugh anyway."
Theo smiled. Small man syndrome. Always seemed to work with the big guys and Sammy was a large man.
"On June 17th, last Monday morning, the body of a male victim was found in the Sunnyvale estate. Do you know anything about this?"
"Fuck no."
The evening of the same day two local men in the estate were assaulted. Do you know anything about this?"
"No. Is that all?"
"There's more. Do you know what is the international trade in human body art?"
"Sadly, Mr. Europol, yes I have heard of this terrible scourge on those of us" He gestured to his own tattoos, "who chose to express ourselves artistically through skin-art."
"What do you know about it?"
"Nothing beyond what anybody else with absolutely no connection to that abhorrent trade would know." He smiled. "Now is that all Europol?"
"Agent Petrakis is the name Sammy and no, it is not all, not yet. Do you know anything about, how should I put it, the trade of loan-sharking here in Darklow?"
Sammy got to his feet.
"That's it. I've had enough, fuck off out it Petrarkis, I'm a busy man. I've answered your fucking questions and I've been polite to you, so now you just fuck off before I have Rafa throw you out."
Theo turned his head fractionally towards Rafa. "You mean this fucking idiot here?" He kept his head slightly turned to Rafa but his eyes remained on Sammy. "I'm not ready to go yet so you better make a choice about what you're going to do."
Sammy ground his teeth while his thoughts processed.
Europol.
If they knew who he was why didn't they just make an arrest right now? What about the phone call he had received. Don't worry about him they had said. You can get rid of him and there will be no repercussions.
He stared at Theo. He was still on his feet, hunched over his desk like a giant tattooed bulldog.
"How about it Sammy? If you have nothing to hide why would you want to cause a lot of trouble by throwing me out of here? Or even more foolish, attempting to assault me?"
Sammy was locked in indecision. Unusual for him. He didn't like it. He had already begun the process of calling in all his debts and squeezing his clients for every possible penny any of them could scrape together. Just in case he had to leave the country quickly.
"Come on Sammy. Don't be a fool. Just sit down and send this walking breakfast roll out to collect some debts for you."
The hulking figure sat back down and motioned for Rafa to leave them alone.
"You sure boss?" He asked.
"Go on Rafa, fuck off, you heard your boss. Get your stinking vagina out of here and wash or something, that smell is revolting to me."
Sammy smiled nodded his agreement and Rafa left, his nostrils flaring in exasperation, his spider web tattoo writhing back and forth as he shook his head in disbelief. Right in the centre of the web Theo noted the hieroglyphic eye. He was right. They were connected. He reassured himself of the location of his pistol and felt the familiar light pressure against his skin where his shoulder holster housed his loaded weapon. He had meant what he said to Melinda. There was no doubt that Gino Ngata would take life if he felt threatened and intangibles such as membership of the Gardai or even Europol were unlikely to prevent him.
"OK Europol, now you have my undivided attention. So what's the deal? What do you really want?"
It was Theo's turn to measure his thoughts.
"I do so hope you ain't gonna waste my time today Europol, I have a lot of loan-sharking to catch up on today, a lot of pensioners and single mums to intimidate if you don't mind, so let's have out with your special desire, whatever it is, and see if we can talk business. This is a safe space right here. Non-judgmental, whatever it is you want, we can talk."
"I don't have any business to discuss with scum like you Gino." The revelation of his identity sliced through Sammy. He fired air through his nostrils like a rhino on steroids.
"May I call you Gino?"
"You better have something very fucking good for me Europol. My patience is wearing very, very thin with you."
Theo worked hard to keep the smile from coming to his face. This was good. Make them angry, infuriate them and the game was already being played.
I'll find you Elissa, don't worry. I'm coming for you.
The thoughts flashed through his mind. He didn't want to admit to himself that body parts may be all that was left to bring home to the family of his brother. He knew he had no evidence but experience had taught him that sometimes he just needed to act and worry about the consequences later. This certainty, this essential lack of fear was the difference between him and a thousand other law enforcers.
"I don't care about your loan-sharking Gino."
"If you want me to listen at all Europol, I suggest you call me Sammy."
"I don't care about your skin-trade."
"You ain't got nothing have you?"
"I don't care about your human medical tissue trade."
Sammy was beginning to smile again.
"I don't even care about your pedophilia, your raping, your human trafficking or your police homicides."
"Ha, ha. You must want something very fucking rare indeed from me little policeman. Something very exotic. I can’t wait to hear this."
"There is one single thing I care about and if you can help me then all those other bad things will go away."
"Is that so?"
"Trust me. You have a very easy life here. If you want it to continue that way then you had better think about making me your new best friend forever."
"Oh had I then?"
"Tell me everything you know about the girl called Elissa?"
Sammy looked down at his two big hands spread out on the desk in front of him and said nothing.
"Think very carefully Gino, about what you say next, if you would like your tomorrow to be the same as today."
The Shark stared at his hands some more, took a deep breath and then raised his eyes to Theo. His face bore a huge wide grin.