AFTER A SERIES OF TENSE phone conversations they finally agreed to meet at Kulturhuset. Nina Jay had refused to go to the police station and meeting at a café or similar place was inappropriate.
Javier found a secluded spot outside the library on the second floor where they could talk in private. He placed a blue folder and recording device onto the table.
He opened the folder and flipped through the pages. He felt well prepared. He knew all there was to know about Nina Jay, or at least he thought so.
Every few seconds he looked up and glanced over at the escalator.
Javier had waited impatiently for this day. He checked the time again. It was twelve minutes past ten. She was late.
At that moment he spotted a woman hurrying towards him. She moved as if she owned the world. He got up to greet her. She was approximately 1.80 metres, tall and slim and athletic looking.
She stretched out her hand. “Nina Jay,” she said, sitting down opposite him.
“Javier Mendez,” he replied.
The woman appeared disinterested.
“I don’t have much time, so let’s get this over with quickly,” she said stiffly.
Javier nodded slowly. “I’ll do my best.” He felt surprisingly awkward, taken aback by her behaviour. He observed her for a moment. She had green eyes and light brown eyelashes and eyebrows. Her reddish brown hair was swept back in a tousled ponytail, which was very becoming, and she wore long, heavy earrings.
Javier turned on the recorder and stated Nina Jay’s name, date of birth and other official information.
“Am I being accused of anything?” she interrupted.
“No. However, we do know about the blackmail.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Get to the point.”
“I will, if you’ll just allow me to finish…” he replied, forcing a smile.
Nina Jay sighed and crossed her arms and legs.
“How do you know Konrad Berg? Why was he trying to blackmail you?”
“My private life is none of your business! I really don’t need the cops butting in.”
“Mrs Jay, please understand that we know why he threatened you, but we want to hear your own version.”
She stared at Javier silently.
“Does your husband know that you were having an affair with Berg?”
“You mean my ex. I’m no longer married to that man.”
“When did you get divorced?”
“Six or seven months ago. What does it matter?”
“Was it because of Berg?”
“There’s one thing you’d better get straight! It wasn’t a love affair. It was just a fuck and nothing else. Anyway, I haven’t heard from the son of a bitch for more than a year.”
“Why did you stop seeing him?”
“Why do you think?” she replied with a sardonic smile. “You already seem to know all the answers.”
She’s a quick thinker and cold as ice, thought Javier as he leafed through the blue folder.
“You threatened Konrad Berg on the fifteenth of April last year,” he continued, watching her keenly.
She didn’t move a muscle.
“Did you spring into action then?”
“What the hell are you getting at?” she growled, only softening her tone when she noticed that people were staring at them.
She stood up abruptly. “Next time you want to talk to me you’ll have to contact my lawyer first. I really don’t have time for this nonsense.”
“Mrs Jay, I suggest we try and get this over with. After all, you did make the effort to come here,” said Javier, who by now had got the message loud and clear that Nina Jay was not a woman you could easily manipulate. Attempting to do so would only aggravate her further.
“I don’t have time to listen to your idiotic questions.”
“I’m convinced you have information that could help our investigation. That’s why I have to ask uncomfortable questions. Konrad Berg has been murdered and you might know something that can help nail his killer… even if you don’t think so.”
Nina Jay sat down again in silence.
Javier stroked his chin and glanced out of the window. He turned back to face her.
“I want to know how you threatened him. What made him so scared?”
Her eyes sliced right through him.
He waited. Maybe she would finally start to talk.
“The thing is, I…” she broke off and gulped. “The only thing I can tell you is that I had absolutely nothing to do with his death.”
“Do you have any idea who might have wanted him dead?”
“I asked myself that. There must be a lot of women who hated him.”
“Why?”
“He and his gang were into sex orgies.”
“Orgies?”
“Yes,” she replied slowly. “Orgies.”
“Could you be more precise? What kind of orgies?”
“According to him there were plenty of women willing to take part in group sex.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I have to ask… did you ever participate?”
“Now you’ve gone too far!” The colour rose in her face and a veil of perspiration glistened on her upper lip.
“Would you please just answer the question?” said Javier in the politest tone he could muster.
“Actually, the creep did ask me to join in once, but it was the first and last time. I slapped him so hard he almost fell over. He definitely got the message.”
A guy would be crazy to try and mess with her, he thought. He could imagine the power of her hands.
“Did he continue to blackmail you after that?”
She fell silent again. Javier waited.
“As I said, I have nothing to say. I didn’t kill him. If you don’t believe me I suggest we meet again at the police station – this time with my lawyer,” she said staring at the recording device.
Javier switched off the machine. “Off the record then?”
She drew a sharp intake of breath and her eyes darted about the room.
“Okay, off the record. I’m warning you I’ll deny everything if you ever mention this.”
Javier put his finger to his lips. “My lips are sealed.”
“You know who my ex-husband is?”
Javier nodded. Juri Sacharov was a member of a feared underworld gang. Compromising photographs of the type Konrad Berg had taken could easily have cost him his life.
“Konrad Berg threatened to send photos to my husband, pictures he had secretly taken of us together. If Juri ever found out he would have killed both of us.”
“What type of pictures?” asked Javier, feigning ignorance.
She glowered at him.
“You’ll have to use your imagination.”
“So, that’s not why you got divorced?”
“No, in that case I wouldn’t be here to tell the tale.”
“Did you ever meet any of Berg’s mates?”
“No I didn’t. That’s it, I’m not answering any more questions. I think we’re done now.”
She stood up and waved goodbye.