The European Enigma (LSD, #9)

1. The Albanian Acrobat

The Albanian Acrobat

The captain opened the door to the interrogation room. He made a brief gesture to the sergeant: come here; I want a full report.

The sergeant stood up, threw one last look at the tiny man on the other side of the table, and went outside to face the captain. Carefully, he closed the door behind him and brought the official salute; he knew the captain liked these military traditions; he saw them as signs of respect and professional dedication to the job.

"How's it going, sergeant?"

"He's slick as an eel in a bucket of snot, Sir."

"He doesn't want to cooperate?"

"Oh, he's cooperating well enough. He answers every question I ask him, but..."

The captain lost his patience: "But he doesn't confess?"

"He's convinced he's done nothing wrong, Sir. He wonders why we don't let him go."

"We don't let him go because we caught him red-handed, breaking at least twenty different laws. All you have to do is make him confess, put everything on paper, and let him sign it."

The sergeant didn't think it was that easy: "Perhaps you should watch the recordings, Sir."

"Perhaps you should get me a cup of coffee. If you can't interrogate a suspect and make him confess, at least getting coffee will be a task you should be able to execute correctly. Two sugars, no milk."

"Yes, Sir. At your orders, Sir."

"Is that video camera still recording?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Right. Watch the recordings later today and learn from me how to handle a case like this. And I like my coffee hot, so you better start running."

"Yes, Sir. At your orders, Sir." The sergeant started running.

The captain entered the room and closed the door behind him. He took his time to observe the suspect: a tiny man, hardly 50 kilos, a little smaller than the captain's teenage daughter. The man looked at his folded hands on the stainless steel table, timid, afraid perhaps, or at least intimidated. He gave no sign he'd noticed the captain's entrance.

After a knock on the door, the sergeant handed him a paper cup of hot coffee.

"Would you like coffee too, Mister Agolli?", the captain asked.

"No, Sir. Thank you for offering, Sir."

"Don't you like coffee?"

"I like coffee, Sir, but if I drink coffee now, I won't sleep tonight.", Mister Agolli answered.

"Would you like a lawyer, Mister Agolli?"

"No, Sir. I've done nothing wrong, Sir."

The captain strode to the chair on the opposite side of the table, placed his cup carefully, and sat down. He glanced at the notepad that the sergeant had left, took a sip, made a grimace, and shouted: "Where's the sugar, Sergeant?"

The door opened, the sergeant entered, put two bags of sugar and a plastic spoon on the table, muttered an excuse, and left.

"We're not making progress, Mister Agolli."

"I answered every question, Sir. I've done nothing wrong."

"That depends on the point of view. Mystery to me is something I can't see, but I can see you rather well. First, I'd like you to tell me about the woman."

Mister Agolli kept looking at his hands when he spoke. The captain took that as a sign of guilt.

"There's not much to tell, Sir. She offered me a job. I'm an acrobat, but the circus I worked for went bankrupt. I needed the money, Sir. There's not much work for jobless acrobats, Sir. She offered me a job."