A Blind Eye: Book 1 in the Adam Kaminski Mystery Series (7 page)

T
he man
smiled
at each of them as he spoke, his teeth as straight and white as if he were auditioning for a toothpaste commercial. The meeting had started without them and Adam glanced around at the rest of the team as he slid into a chair, to see if they were as unimpressed as he was.

They were gathered in another large office. Minister Kapral sat behind his oak desk, his hands clasped in front of him on the gleaming wood surface. Only a pile of folders stacked neatly in his inbox gave any clue that he used this office for work. Angela, Jared and Ray were seated around the conference table with Chris but Adam and Sylvia grabbed chairs near the windows, so as not to cause any further disruption as they joined the group. The gray Warsaw sky hung heavy above them and Adam could see dark clouds on the horizon. More snow was on the way.

As far as Adam could tell, the rest of his team was hanging on Kapral’s every word. His English was perfect, with a slight British accent, and they peppered him with questions about how the Polish legislature worked and what his particular interests were.

“Well, of course it is slightly different from your American system. And many of us would like to veer more in the direction you have shown works so well,” Kapral was saying in response to a question from Angela.

Adam thought it was a somewhat aggressive question, challenging the high number of political parties active in Poland. A valid inquiry, but not an easy one to answer.

Kapral addressed her with diplomacy and grace. “But there are still many different voices that must be heard in Poland. We were kept quiet for so long, you understand. Now is our opportunity to make some noise.”

He pumped his arm as he spoke, like the master of a parade, and smiled engagingly.

“But eventually,” Kapral continued, “soon, I hope, we will settle into two, three or four major parties. Then we will be more in line with the US or the UK. I am confident of that.”

Watching Kapral’s eyes, Adam thought he recognized the same raw ambition he’d seen before on the streets of Philadelphia. He shuddered, but he knew the drill. He tried to put on what he thought was his most engaging smile. Kapral glanced at him with a questioning look and he reverted to a normal expression.

“I can tell you have high expectations of Poland’s future. Does that include the next generation? Do you know much about who Poland’s future political leaders will be?” Jared asked the next question.

Adam saw Angela glance at him out of the corner of his eye, but he avoided making eye contact.

“Ah, of course. Our future is bright because of these young people.” Kapral smiled once again. “Many of us here in the
Sejm
encourage young people to be interested in politics. We meet with them at their schools, we help them find work here in our offices. It is important we support these young men and women today, so they can lead us tomorrow.”

He inclined his head toward Sylvia. “And we encourage our staff always to look for ways of improving themselves, better educating themselves. For we are all students, in a way, are we not?”

“Do you have many young people on your staff?” Adam asked, as an image of Basia Kaminski floating in the Wisła came unbidden to mind.

“I have a few, yes…”

“How do you select…” Angela and Kapral spoke at the same time, then both paused and laughed.

“I’m sorry,” Angela said, “please, go ahead.”

“No,
Pani
, please, I am interested to hear your question.” Kapral invited her to continue.

“I was just going to ask how you select your staff. It must be very competitive, I’m sure. Does each office hire its own, or does the
Sejm
as a whole offer internships?”

Adam had been watching Angela as she asked her question and only turned to look at Kapral as she finished, so he almost missed the flicker of annoyance that crossed Kapral’s face. It came and went in the blink of an eye, replaced by Kapral’s easy smile once again. But Adam had seen it, he was sure.

“That is an individual decision,
Pani
Tarallo. I cannot speak for the
Sejm
in answering that question. We all have reasons for the choices we make.”

Angela frowned and looked as if she were about to say more when a light tap on the door interrupted them.

Without waiting for a response, a young man entered the office. Adam tensed when he recognized him as the man who had intervened in the scene with Łukasz earlier. The man nodded to the group, but didn’t speak to them. Instead, he leaned over Kapral, saying something in rapid Polish.

Kapral leaned back, tipping away from the young man but still listening intently to what he was saying. The rest of the group looked on in interest without understanding anything.

Finally, the young man stood and stepped away from the desk. Adam was expecting some sort of explanation, as Sylvia had graciously translated every interaction for them in their other meetings. Instead, Kapral simply nodded subtly at Malak.

Sylvia leaned toward the young man, as if to speak, but their eyes met and she stayed silent.

Adam felt the slight toward Sylvia as if he had been slapped. His face grew warm and his grip tightened on the arms of his chair.

Malak immediately stood. “Ladies and gentlemen, you must excuse me. My apologies, I have much work to do today and I do not want to take up any more of your time with Minister Kapral or with visiting the
Sejm
.”

He walked around the room and shook hands with each of them as he spoke. Adam rose as Malak approached him but Malak simply patted him on the shoulder as he passed. Adam sat back in his chair. The young man, who had not been introduced, nodded and followed.

“What the hell just happened?” Adam kept his voice low as he leaned toward Angela. “Who was that asshole?”

“Calm down, cowboy.” Angela grinned but her eyes were questioning. “What’s got you so worked up?”

Adam’s brows knit together over his eyes as a dark shadow formed across his face. “I just don’t like getting the blow off like that, that’s all.”

“Uh-huh,” Angela leaned away from Adam, as if feeling the heat of his emotions. “You mean to you? Or to our good friend, Sylvia?” With that comment, Angela turned in her chair, leaving Adam staring at her back.

The change in atmosphere hastened the end of the meeting.

Sylvia stood. “I think we have taken enough of the minister’s time today.” She turned to Kapral. “Minister Kapral, thank you so much for answering our questions and speaking to us about the Polish political system. I am sure we have all learned much in this meeting.”

A
t first
,
Adam thought the committee must be on a break. From the public balcony, the room seemed as if it were in silence, the musty air heavy and still. A cough from below drew Adam’s attention down. He shifted forward just an inch or so to glance down, then slid back quickly into the safety of his seat. Almost all the carved wooden chairs on the floor below were taken.

“Sorry about earlier.” Adam leaned to his right to whisper in Angela’s ear. “I guess I overreacted a bit.”

“A bit?” Angela kept her attention focused on the people below them.

Adam shrugged, looking anywhere but down. “Yeah, anyway, sorry.”

He opened his mouth to say more when one of the ministers stood and strode to the lectern. The rapping of his gavel on the wooden surface filled the room, and those seated before him closed the document they had been reading and looked up expectantly.

A member of the legislature was invited to step forward to make remarks and Adam’s attention wandered as he listened to the steady stream of Polish. He leaned back toward Angela.

“I guess I just let my anger get the best of me sometimes, you know?” He glanced at her then looked away. “It’s kind of embarrassing.”

This time she looked at him when she responded. “As long as you don’t act on it.”

He grinned and shook his head.

“That was pretty intense, though. Seriously,” she added, emphasizing her point.

“I know.” He shrugged. “I’ve heard that before. But I don’t act on it. I mean, not rashly, anyway. I always stay in control.”

Angela nodded, her glasses slipping down her nose. “You were pretty quiet during our meeting with Minister Novosad. You didn’t say a word.” She turned to face Adam, examining him. “Not great for a cop, though, is it?”

Adam grinned again and tipped his head to the side. “Maybe that’s why I didn’t always want to be a cop.”

“Yeah? What did you want to be when you were growing up? A teacher?”

Adam laughed, and Sylvia looked over at them. Jared shushed loudly.

“Sorry,” Adam responded in a stage whisper, then lowered his voice again as he turned to Angela. “Ready for this? A forest ranger.”

“A forest ranger?” This time Angela laughed. “That’s what you wanted to be?”

“Sure, why not?” Adam smiled and shrugged, not covering up his dimples. “Who doesn’t want to be a ranger?”

“Well, me, for one.” Angela raised her eyebrows. “Did you join the Forest Service?”

Adam shook his head slowly and sighed. “Nah, I didn’t get that far. Just the Boy Scouts.”

“And there it is, of course you were a Boy Scout…” Angela nodded as she looked up at the ceiling. “I bet you were an Eagle Scout, weren’t you?”

Adam shrugged. “What’s wrong with that? And yes, as a matter of fact, I was.”

“Uh-huh.” Angela smiled as she shook her head. “That explains it.”

“Explains what?”

“Your approach to this trip, to your job. You want to do the right thing, you know? It’s just…” Her smile faded and her brows lowered as she shook her head, “I’m sorry, I don’t want to psychoanalyze you or anything.”

“No, go on.” He said the words easily, but felt his muscles tense in anticipation of what she might say.

“You always want to do the right thing, but sometimes it’s not so easy to know what the right thing is, is it?”

“Shh.” Ray stepped forward, between Angela and Adam. “Sylvia, what are they saying now?”

Before Sylvia could respond, a shout drew their attention to an area farther along the public balcony.

Łukasz Kaminski stood, his back to a wooden chair lying awkwardly on its side, the victim of whatever struggle Łukasz was engaged in with the uniformed guard facing him.

As Adam watched, the guard lunged, grabbing at Łukasz. Łukasz took a step back, seamlessly avoiding the tipped chair. The guard fell forward, calling out as his knee struck the heavy wood.

Adam tried not to grin. This wasn’t a funny situation. “What’s going on, can you tell?”

He looked at Sylvia, but she said nothing, just watched the scene unfold. The presentation from the committee floor continued, though two or three faces turned up to see what was causing the commotion.

Łukasz spoke to the guard. From where he sat, Adam heard nothing more than an angry hiss, though he wouldn’t have understood the words even if he were closer.

As he spoke, Łukasz swung his satchel over his shoulder and turned his back on the guard, moving toward the door at the back of the balcony. But the guard had regained his balance. He was heading for Łukasz and the look in his eye made it clear he wasn’t giving up.

Two quick strides brought the guard up behind Łukasz’s back. He pushed hard and Łukasz stumbled toward the door. Just as he reached it, a second guard came through, catching Łukasz before he fell, then swinging him out into the hall. The entire confrontation had taken less than a minute.

Sylvia coughed gently, bringing the group’s attention back to her. “Perhaps it is time we leave now, too.”

Angela looked at her like she was crazy. “What? What’s going on over there? Aren’t you curious to know?”

“It is not our business. We should not be involved,” Sylvia responded. “Come, let us leave now. We have a little bit of time before our next engagement, we can enjoy one of the cafes around the Old Town Square.”

Sylvia directed the group out to the waiting van, explaining she needed to run back upstairs for a minute to let her boss know they were leaving. Following Sylvia’s directions, Ray and Jared left the room.

Angela looked at Adam, but he simply shrugged and raised his eyebrows. “I don’t know any more than you do. But I admit I’m curious.”

A
dam jumped
as a hand fell on his shoulder. He turned but his retort was cut off by the sound of Łukasz’s voice.

“Cousin, there you are.”

Łukasz leaned into him, and over his shoulder Adam could see two burly guards moving in their direction.

“They want me to leave, cousin, but I told them I was waiting for someone. A stretch of the truth, perhaps, yet here you are, so perhaps I was telling the truth after all.”

Łukasz turned as he spoke, guiding Adam away from the building.

“What’s going on, Łukasz? Why do you need me?” Adam stopped walking and pointed toward the van waiting to whisk him off to the group’s next appointment. Chris had paused in the act of stepping into the van, turning to stare at Adam. “I have people I’m supposed to see.”

Łukasz glanced in the direction Adam had pointed, then turned to watch the guards who had stopped approaching but were still eyeing him cautiously.

“You must walk with me, Cousin Adam. We must walk away from this place, look casual.”

Adam paused for only a second. He saw Angela leaning out of the van and waving toward him. He thought about the meetings lined up for that afternoon. More politicians. More community groups. And less and less that he could contribute.

With a nod, he waved back at Angela and called out to her, “It’s okay, go ahead without me. I’ll meet up with you all later. I’m going to catch up a little bit with my cousin here.”

Łukasz turned, smiled and waved at Angela, then turned back to Adam with a grim face.

“We walk now.”

The two men walked down the drive away from the grand marble facade of the building, the guards watching them closely. They walked slowly, chatting about the weather and good places to visit in Warsaw.

Only once did Adam glance back. The guards had stepped back toward the building; one lit a cigarette. At Adam’s look, they both took a step toward them.

“He’s with me,” Adam called out, putting his arm across Łukasz’s shoulder and shaking his head. The guards stopped where they were, but did not step back.

As Adam turned away, his eye was caught by the movement of a curtain on the third floor of the building. The window was still now, but Adam was sure someone had dropped the curtain back into place when he or she stepped back from the window. Stepped back from watching him and Łukasz leave.

Was Sylvia concerned about him and keeping an eye on him? Or was someone else watching?