Oh, that was three days ago, he wanted to travel to Krakow. He ordered me, to open the shop at least in the forenoon, and then he went without saying goodbye. You must know, he disappeared more and more often lately, and I was not exactly sad about it. Leo has a very lively temperament, if one of his fantastic plans bursts."
With a shy acting gesture Ms Oblonsky sat back her sunglasses. "You have a completely false picture of Leo. Believe me, he is a good man, even if it doesn't looks so."
"You must live with him." Herold grinned disarmingly and slowed down. He crossed the passage to the courtyard of the police headquarters and parked naughty the car at the reserved space of an officer, which owed him a small favor.
"So here we are at last." Michael undid the belt and nodded encouragingly at Ms Oblonsky.
“Yes, yes, honestly, even a few minutes ago, I do not bet a Groszy on it. But… I hope we come not too late. I do not want; that you are having troubles with the Commissioner, just because of me!"
"Do not worry about it. The Commissioner has closed me in his big heart for so many years."
"Oh, great love among men calms me always!"
"Very well, then at least, we're in the right topic. Let's talk about Lech Bronslav and Joseph Zcybulski."
"I'm sorry; I do not quite understand?"
"You did, believe me!" Herold locked the car and pointed to the double doors of the main building. "Have you not noticed, how much Leo has sought the favor of the two men? Lech Bronslav, girl! A beautiful woman he could not refuse anything! I think, this must be the main reason, why you have accompanied your husband to Lech!"
"Yeah, well, of course I know who Lech Bronslav is, but where is the relationship to my own problems?"
"Oh come on, Mrs. Oblonsky, really!" Michael Herold stepped aside and let her walk into the entrance hall. On the opposite wall hung several telephones and Herold slipped a coin in the first apparatus. "All I want is that you talk with Lech."
At the end of the telephone line persistently rang the dial tone and Michael grimaced. "Typical Lech, he searches his apparatus! As I know him, he has him probably buried under the mountains of newspapers on the floor."
"Yeah?" As usual, the eternally distrustful Bronslav answered not with his name.
"Hello Lech, Michael! Watch out, only very short!" With a few words Herold informed the old man about the events of the morning, and finished then determinedly the never ending tirade on the other of the line. "Now calm down! The woman is not responsible for the practices of her husband! So, speak with her, she keeps me namely for one of Kowalski's colleagues. Please Lech, this is not funny, you must talk to her! Yes Lech, whatever you want!"
Michael Herold rolled his eyes and handed Ms Oblonsky the phone. "It is about time that you learn the full truth. Talk with my old friend, he like your voice."
Leo's wife gave Michael an appraising look; he did not know to interpret, and pressed obedient the plastic shell to her ear. She listened attentively to the distant words and replied then with a quiet, controlled voice. Then the volume of the conversation significantly increased, and Ms. Oblonsky looked horrified to Michael. "By all the saints, how could I think so shamefully of you?"
In a spontaneous gesture she put her left hand on Michael's forearm. "What should I say? I'm so ashamed, I have completely misunderstood you! But now, Lech has opened my eyes. My God, if you had not been so brave! Who knows what these criminals might have done to me." Ms. Oblonsky voice trailed off, and a single tear ran down her cheek.
"It's all right, it's over. You have survived it." Michael took with gentle force the phone from her hand. "Come, I invite you to a strong coffee. Is that an offer?"
"Elzbieta! Please, call me Elzbieta! I am so glad that I finally know your true identity. Lech, he likes you very much, I heard it in the way he speaks respectful of you. And he advised me" - a silent smile lighted Elzbietas face - "to trust you. So, we drink a hot coffee, or it may also be a cappuccino?"
"I'm afraid; you overestimate the German police canteens, Elzbieta! Be glad, if the machine at least drips milk coffee in the cup."
Michael Herold led Elzbieta in the cafeteria located on the first floor and stood at the entrance with her. "Well, now you know why the citizen miss so much cops on the streets!"
With a vague gesture, he pointed at the prosaic room. "I'll get us the best coffee, that is here possible, and you can organize us a nice little free place."
"Oh, in organizing I'm since my youth a pro!"
“I believe that anytime!." Michael Herold lined up in the queue before the buffet and bought the promised drinks. He balances carefully the serving tray around the crowded tables, and looked then down on Ms Oblonsky. "Caution! The cappuccino is not particularly strong, but very, very hot!"
"Good! That awakes my spirit." Elzbieta looked at Michael unexpectedly seriously, and for a fleeting moment, her true colors shone through her mask of feigned carelessness.
"I'm very sorry about my derailment in the car. Honest! I know very well, that I have reacted hysterical! But that’s not the real me, and it has nothing to do with the attack in the video shop. For so many weeks scares me the feeling of an impending disaster; literally takes my breath away."
"Your Husband?"
“Yes, he has changed a lot in the last time. For several weeks, he speaks no longer with me! Not a single important word! And when I ask him about his new friends, he only lied to me, or tells me fairy tales.”
With a straight face Elzbieta sipped at the now cooled coffee and threw a challenging look at Michael. "Well, of course this is not unusual, but lately, he hides his deteriorating transactions before me. Oh, shit!"
Quietly sobbing, Elzbieta put down the cup, and stared at her trembling fingertips. "But why am I telling you all that? That’s not your ridiculous marital problems."
"I fear, I am more deeply entangled in them, as it is good for me."
"You just tell me that, to reassure me." With a sad smile Ms Oblonsky touched her wet cheek. "Sorry, I'm really not in a good mood right now. I must look horrible!!"
A small pocket mirror flashed in Elzbietas right hand, and softly sighing, she studied for a moment her face. Without any false modesty, she wiped her smeared mascara with a cloth and closed then the gold plated case. Hesitantly, she looked for a moment on the expensive-looking utensil and then said in a low voice: "Maybe you should form your own impression of Leo. Although, a photograph can often be deceive."
Elzbieta opened the back of the mirror and pulled out a passport photo. With two fingers, she handed it across the table, and Michael looked curiously at the unknown smart face.
"Check it for yourself." Elzbieta cleared her throat. "It is somehow indicative for Leo, that he learned French as his the first foreign language. He speaks therefore also German with a tiny French accent. You cannot imagine how proud he is, if many consider him as southerner. Should you even see his face, when a beautiful woman asks him: You are from the Cote d'Azur, dear sir?"
Michael Herold had no doubt over Leo's primary talents. With its tightly combed-back black hair, and dark stubble, he looked like the perfect prototype of the Latin lover. A real golden boy, whose seductive image Elzbieta surely caused a lot of pain
"Well, what do you say to the photo? Not at least an honest remark from a man for a man, or at least a polite phrase?"
Elzbieta pushed the Ray-Ban back in her hair and stroked gently with the index finger over the swelling under her left eye. "Okay, it's not necessary! I agree with you, that you despise Leo like all the other cowardly guys that beat their wives. Very honorable, but Michael, are you so much different? You surely know nothing of my existence, as you came in the video shop. So what are you hoping to find? Cheap sensations?”
Elzbietas perfectly painted lips showed the hint of a wry smile. "No, no, you must not reply! I know, you are not the Gandhi of Spandau; because, you have saved me only by