Luke McCallin - The Man from Berlin

Tomic gave a small shrug and paused before answering. ‘I am not sure. Marija… she was complicated. I knew her ever since she was a girl. Even then, she could be difficult. We… you know of her work as a journalist?’ Reinhardt nodded, and Tomic continued. ‘We travelled with Verhein’s men for a while. The two of them began an affair. One day, though, Marija went away with some men from your Einsatzgruppen. She went to cover one of their actions. Me, and Jelic, we didn’t want to go, and we stayed behind. When she came back we knew there had been a problem. Something was very wrong between her and Verhein. They didn’t talk, and we went away the next morning. She wouldn’t say what happened.’

He paused and said something to Begovic, who poured him a cup of coffee. Tomic took it with fingers that trembled and lifted it to his lips. ‘She said nothing more about it until about two months ago. She found out Verhein was here, and she told me she was planning something, and she wanted me to help to preserve it…’ He looked down again, his face twisting as if around a memory he found particularly difficult. ‘I did not like it. I often argued with her, but I could refuse her nothing. Ever since she was a girl. But this time, I knew it was different.

‘There was that officer, the lieutenant. He was involved, and I did not know what or why. So, that Saturday, I set up the camera for her, and then I waited. I had a room in the shed in the garden.’ He took a quick sip of coffee before continuing. ‘But then I heard shouting. I went into the garden. The noise went away. I went back to my room. I waited. But then…’

‘How long did you wait?’

‘Some time. More than an hour.’ Reinhardt nodded for him to continue. ‘And so then I heard a shot. I heard her scream. I… was so scared, I did not dare to go up. I hid. Someone ran past me and jumped over the fence and into the fields. Another person chased him, then came back. I heard a car drive away. I waited, and then I went up. I found her dead. I took the film, and I ran.’ He spoke all this in a rush, Begovic frowning as he tried to keep up with the flow of words.

Tomic paused, and Reinhardt held up his hand. ‘Slow down, Mr Tomic, please.’

He nodded, then resumed, more slowly. ‘I hid in Ilidza the rest of that night, then I made my way into Sarajevo, to the studio. I waited for nightfall, then used the studio to develop the film. Then…’ He seemed to deflate, suddenly, as if he had reached the end of something.

‘Then he came looking for us,’ finished Begovic.

‘When you took the film, did you leave the padlocked door open?’ Reinhardt asked.

Tomic frowned as he tried to remember. ‘I don’t know. I think so. I was rushing to get out.’

So that explained how the killer knew of the film, and why he had turned the darkroom upside down looking for it. It also, Reinhardt realised, meant the killer would have had to have gone back to the scene as otherwise he – they, he now realised – could not possibly have known about it.

‘Tell me about Verhein. Did he come alone?’

‘I didn’t see. But he usually had a driver. An Asian,’ said Tomic, his two fingers pointing to his eyes. ‘Like a Mongol. Nasty. Devoted, like a dog, to Verhein.’

‘Anything else? Anything about what was planned for that night?’

‘You are judging her, aren’t you?’ Tomic looked between Reinhardt and Begovic. ‘You are.’ He looked down, looked far away. ‘Maybe… maybe I should tell you something about Marija, before you judge her.’

‘Mr Tomic,’ Reinhardt interjected. ‘It is all right. You don’t need to say anything.’

‘I do. Because you are judging. I can see it. And if you judge her, then you judge me. I knew her since she was a baby. I was a friend of Vjeko. Her father. We were in the first war together. The Austro- shy;Hungarian Army. I was… badly wounded. After the war, Vjeko took care of me. I started working for him. Then Marija was born. Such a lovely girl. But difficult!’ For a moment, a smile crept across Tomic’s face, a memory. Then it was gone.

‘When Marija’s parents divorced, Marija spent more time with her father than mother. Me and Vjeko raised her. He was a loving father, but he was tough. When she was sad, it was to me she came. Then Vjeko began getting more and more involved in politics. With the Ustase. The Ustase were not for me. Vjeko was my friend, but I could not follow him in that. But she loved her father. Very much. Marija was… pulled into that circle. She became a believer. The Ustase used her, as well. She was young. Beautiful. She had talent. But… she changed. She still seemed to be the same sweet girl, but I knew better. Inside, she was changing. She was becoming twisted. They were… not good men, some of them. I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t.’

He paused, his eyes still far away. ‘She began to take lovers. Older men. Men of experience, she called them. Once, she even tried to seduce me.’ He swallowed, looked down. ‘I could not. Not the daughter of my friend. And, in any case, I was not able. My… my wound,’ he said, his hands waved at his groin as he looked up at Reinhardt. Begovic caught his gaze as well, his face straight but his eyes sympathetic behind his glasses, and they seemed to be asking him how much more did he need to hear? ‘And anyway, despite everything, she was still a little girl. Despite the… the men. The drugs. The drinking. The politics. The… other things. When things got too much… when she was hurt, she would come to me. I tried to help her. Calm her. Sometimes… sometimes I could. Sometimes, I could not…’ He trailed off, stopped. ‘When I could not, then it was better not to be around her. But when the passions were spent, she would always need someone to turn to. To comfort her. And that person was me. And she was a little girl again.’

‘Mr Tomic. Do you have something you would like to give me?’

He nodded, reached into the bag at his feet, and pulled out a film case. He looked at it a moment, then handed it to Reinhardt. ‘You will see…’ he began, then stopped. He looked at Begovic, who waited for him to go on. ‘Never mind,’ he said. ‘Use it. Make sure… just make sure he pays for what he did to her.’

Reinhardt turned the film case over in his hands. ‘You have not watched it?’ Tomic shook his head. ‘Thank you,’ he said. He did not know what else to say.

Begovic spoke to Tomic, and then they stood up and Tomic left the way he had come, walking slowly, limping heavily. ‘What will happen to him?’ asked Reinhardt.

‘We will keep him safe,’ replied Begovic. ‘He is useful and sympathetic to us. Unlike Marija Vukic.’

‘She was no friend of yours?’

‘She was no friend of ours,’ Begovic repeated. ‘She was a monster, and I must confess I have a hard time seeing the little girl Tomic so clearly doted upon. What she wrote about us was one thing. What she did to some of us, what she incited her people to do through her films and her writings… you know, Topalovic was onto her. A couple of times he went to her house, trying to see how she might be got at. Funny, isn’t it, they got him for her murder and he was nowhere near her that time.’

The two of them were silent a moment. ‘You said you would tell me something of why you are helping me,’ said Reinhardt. Simo came back into the room and stood quietly by the door.

‘The Ottomans had a saying. Kuru agaca kan bulanmaz . Don’t sprinkle blood on a dying tree. It means, don’t do things which will serve you nothing. Like helping your enemies. But I will not lie to you, Captain. I think I will help you. And I think my helping you will assist me as much as you. If I am not wrong – and I do not think I am – you are a good man, and a good man deserves help. I wish to help you to find this murderer. It is the right thing you are doing, and helping a good man do the right thing cannot be bad. But also, I am a Communist. I am a Partisan, and a patriot. As such, I will confound and confuse the enemies of my country to the extent I can. This man you are after is a senior officer in your army. A general, no less. In helping you to investigate, possibly even arrest, this man, I cause disruption in your ranks. Perhaps just enough to throw off your attack against my comrades. Perhaps just enough to allow a few to escape who might otherwise have not.’ Begovic poured himself some coffee and looked Reinhardt in the eye. ‘So, Captain. You still wish to walk away with what Tomic left? You will do this deal with the devil?’