Dark Dreams (5 page)

Jana conceded. “The neighbors, her family, they would all blame her.”

“All of them,” her father agreed.

“But this isn’t justice,” Jana finally got out.

“Sometimes justice has to wait.” Her father pursed his lips. “Sometimes there is no justice.”

“I don’t like that.” Jana was furious at the thought of Sofia’s brutalizer walking around free after what he had done. “And I don’t accept it. Perhaps justice will have to wait, but just for a few days.”

Her father kissed her on the cheek. “Maybe more than a few days,” he offered. He saw the anger and disappointment on his daughter’s face. He tried to reassure her. “Things eventually work out,” he said. “He’ll be punished.”

“Of course, Father. But by whom?”

He shrugged, not knowing what to say.

“There must be someone,” Jana suggested.

She listened to her own words: there had to be someone.

That same day Jana began to search, first for the Zil.

The window will need repair, she thought, which meant it would be brought to the government auto repair area, the large facility where all of the ministries’ autos are brought for servicing. No one stopped Jana as she walked quickly and surely onto the lot, looking as if she had business there. Almost immediately she found the car; the workmen were just finishing the replacement of the rear window.

“A lovely car,” Jana admiringly told one of them. “I want to be a high government person when I grow up so I can have one of these. Who does it belong to?” Jana smiled sweetly.

“Kamin, the minister of the interior,” the man told her.

He’s in charge of the police, thought Jana. Her father had been right. Sofia would not have gotten justice. She smiled again at the workers, left the lot, and the next day, immediately after breakfast, went to the building housing the Ministry of the Interior. By this time, the car had to have been repaired and returned to the minister. A few minutes later, she saw the limousine drive up and the man get out of the car. There was no mistaking the same ugly mouth, the eyes. It was him! Kamin. And he had a bandage over his left eyebrow.

Sofia had hit him with the broken door handle, and hit him hard enough to require medical treatment. Yes, said Jana to herself, she was proud of Sofia.

Jana didn’t tell Sofia what she’d learned, or seen. Sofia had to recover. They both had to grow up, to be able to protect themselves. But there would come a time. Jana promised herself: they would be ready.

Three weeks later Sofia threw Jana a surprise un-birthday party, as she called it. It was not even Jana’s name day. How Sofia did it, rounding up all the kids that they both knew, and getting Jana’s mother to host it without telling Jana, was a feat that Jana never quite got over.

Birthdays, not to speak of un-birthdays, are not celebrated with much fanfare in Slovakia. But the kids who came even brought small presents. Sofia baked a cake, not the best cake in the world, but splendid-looking, and Sofia was Miss Personality at the party, organizing everything, making sure that all the things she had planned went well.

After the party, when most of the guests had gone home, Sofia kissed Jana on the cheek. It was her way of saying thank you for what Jana had done for her on that terrible day.

They remained the closest of friends. But, as with all friendships, the bonds fracture or strengthen, depending upon fate. Jana did not tell Sofia about her discovery of the identity of the rapist until a couple of years later, when they were in their teens. And it took a stressful event to make her divulge that information.

Jana and Sofia had gone to Bratislava’s main square, Hlavne Namestie, to visit the Christmas Fair. They had money to spend because they had been working, selling live carp for Christmas dinners from a temporary stand on Frantiskanska, near the main post office. Although the job hadn’t paid much, it had already provided Jana with a pair of shoes at a discount, and Sofia with a dress which she could not possibly have afforded otherwise. Each still had a few crowns left in her pocket. Sofia was dying to spend hers, and she had dragged Jana along to keep her company, all the while encouraging Jana to “live a little less like a timid old aunt,” to be audacious for once.

They wandered through the Christmas stands and, at Sofia’s insistence, each had a glass of spiced wine when a man had offered it to them. After they finished the wine, the man kept asking them what else he could buy them and, despite their efforts to shoo him away, kept following them, demanding more. Jana was embarrassed at what Sofia finally did to rid them of the fellow.

Talking in a loud voice so that everyone in the crowd around them could hear, she pleaded with the fairgoers to help them because a depraved man was following them. He had bought them wine and was trying to get “terrible” things from two innocent girls. It didn’t take long for the crowd to begin closing in on the man, throwing things at him, screaming imprecations, even calling for the police.

He fled.

Afterwards, using their own money, they’d settled at a small table inside Meyer’s, ordered hot, thick chocolate to drink and two large pastries to go with the chocolate. Sofia did most of the eating.

It was hard for Jana to muster an appetite. Her stomach was still churning. Through her impetuous conduct, Sofia had involved Jana in a situation that neither of them should have been in. The first time it had happened, two years earlier, it resulted in the horrible assault on Sofia. Now, as a result of Sofia’s conduct, Jana had been forced to participate in an embarrassing incident.

Jana continued to be upset, reviewing her own behavior. After a few sips of the hot chocolate, she decided, between sips, that it was time to vent her simmering anger.

“If you weren’t my one true friend, I would kick you, and kick you hard, for what you put us through.”

Sofia wasn’t fazed.

“What sin did I commit? The man offered to buy us spiced wine. I like spiced wine; you like spiced wine. What was wrong with letting him buy us the wine? Nothing. We got the wine and he got the pleasure of buying two pretty girls glasses of wine. We even gave him pleasant conversation and our attention while we drank the wine.”

“Sofia, he expected more.”

“I didn’t tell him he could have more. He had no right to expect more.”

“Both of us knew that he would expect more.”

“Jana, if you felt that way, you didn’t have to drink the wine.” There was triumph in Sofia’s eyes. She had Jana, and she knew it. “As your one true friend, I’d like to point out that I acted in the best possible way for both of us. He was a pest, and becoming a worse pest. Even you’ll admit, he was uncomfortable to be around.”

“We didn’t have to get to that point, Sofia.”

“We did, after he wouldn’t leave us alone.”

“Sofia, we’re friends, but I won’t be put in that position again. It should never have happened.”

Sofia regarded Jana with a faintly disdainful look.

“You were never
put
in any position. I took responsibility for the man following us; I took the responsibility, and the action needed to get rid of him. Now, all I’m interested in is my pastry and chocolate.”

“I’m not going to be fobbed off that easily.”

“I’m not fobbing you off.”

“You have to listen to me.”

Sofia took another forkful of pastry, savoring the taste. “My mother tells me I won’t be able to eat like this when I get older, so I’m enjoying it now, while I can. You should enjoy yours.”

Jana pushed the remains of her dessert away. “I don’t want any more.”

“Don’t be this way.”

“I’m the one who began this talk by asking you not to act in a certain way. You refuse to listen.”

Sofia pushed her now-empty plate to the center of the table, where it touched Jana’s. “See, even our plates are friends.”

Jana persisted, wanting to make what she thought was an important point, so she raised the subject neither had talked about since the event that had occurred two years ago.

“Kamin, that’s the name of the man who did what he did to you in the car.”

Sofia’s widening eyes and mouth revealed the shock she felt.

“You know who he is?”

“I found out.”

“How did you find out?”

“I found his car. Then I found him.”

“When?”

“A day or so after.”

“You didn’t tell me? You should have told me.” Sofia’s mouth snapped shut. “You should have told me!”

“I
am
telling you.”

“
Then!
You should have told me then.”

“What would you have done if I told you then? Who would you have gone to? Your parents? You didn’t want them to know. You didn’t want your neighbors to know. You didn’t want any of our friends to know. Have you changed your mind? Do you want everyone in Bratislava to know? Are you going to tell them?”

Sofia’s body seemed to shrink into the seat. She looked down at the plates, wiping her hands with a napkin as if she were trying to scrub off deeply embedded dirt. When she put the napkin down, Jana thought she might be ready to listen.

“You let the man buy us the spiced wine; you walked up to that car. You’re right: the man who had bought us the wine had no right to expect anything more than to have us drink the wine, and maybe talk with him for a little while. It was just like the man in the car. He had no right to think that because you walked up to the car he was entitled to drag you inside and do those things to you. But some people do crazy things. They’ll abuse you if they can. So you can’t put yourself in a position where they can.”

Sofia straightened her shoulders, an angry, determined look on her face.

“I know people want things.
I
want things.
You
want things. We take chances to get them.”

Jana phrased her answer carefully.

“My father says that risks are a part of life. But the risks have to be thought out. You can’t just play with danger. If you do, the danger gets you. You have to weigh a negative outcome against a positive one, to decide if you want to chance it. You don’t take a risk just for the thrill of it.”

The two of them sat quietly for a long time. Jana was beginning to despair, fearing that she had gotten nowhere with Sofia until, at last, her friend nodded.

“Your father is right. I’ll try to consider the risk in the future, I promise you.”

Jana felt relieved and happy. It had been worth the effort. Now she had to give Sofia a little nurturing and confess her own inadequacy.

“I should also have considered the risk this time. I didn’t. So I’m sorry.”

Sofia gave Jana an impish smile. “There’s one thing I know, Jana.”

“What?”

“I’m still hungry, and there is still pastry left on your plate.”

Jana pushed her plate over to Sofia.

Sofia quickly finished the remainder of the confection. When she finally laid her fork down, she voiced one more thought.

“I’ll try to think about people, Jana. And men! I’ll be careful. But when I find the one I want, I’ll make him love me, not just
want
something from me. And I’ll love him back with everything I have.”

They finished their chocolate, paid the check, and left.

Chapter 6

J
ana was at the police academy, and Sofia was a teaching assistant at the university, when they next encountered Kamin. There had been a change in government, and the Velvet Revolution was imminent. It had taken Sofia and Jana a long time to become ready, emotionally, to confront Kamin.

Jana had a day off from the academy. She called Sofia, who was able to break away from her duties at the university. The two of them agreed to meet in Bratislava’s central square and to take a walk through the Old Town.

The Slovak government had decided to begin the resurrection of Bratislava after years of neglect first under the communists, and then under the Czech-dominated government in Prague. They had been even worse off, in a way, under the Czechs, who regarded their Slovak cousins as poor relations, as a drain on the country as a whole, as inferiors who deserved second-best when it came to the expenditure of tax revenues, and, of course, as undeserving of any say in the affairs of the country. So, with some regrets, particularly for the loss of Prague as their capital, the Slovaks had taken themselves out of their union with the Czechs. They now had their own country. Their own capital, Bratislava, had to be spruced up. Building reconstruction was going on everywhere.

Both women had been involved in brief affairs. Jana’s beau had not been serious enough; Sofia’s had been too serious. As they walked, the two young women were confessing to the awkwardness of breaking up with men. Eventually, they strolled into the area around the Primate’s Palace. A number of missing tiles were being reset on the mosaic of the tympanum on the roof, and, as they were looking up at the daring young men working on it, Kamin emerged and strode to a waiting car, passing as close to them as one could without touching.

Jana heard Sofia draw a breath, gasping. She followed Sofia’s eyes, and quickly broke out in a cold sweat. He was so close that through his cologne they could smell the body odor he was trying to conceal. The scar on his left eyebrow where Sofia had hit him with the window handle was still there. She had left her signature.

They watched Kamin’s chauffeur open the passenger door for him. Sofia came out of her shock with a start and began to walk toward the car, her fingers curved into talons. Jana grabbed Sofia’s arm, pulling her back, using a police hold on her arm, forcing her toward the opposite end of the square. Kamin was driven away without ever realizing that Sofia had been close.

Not that he would have known who she was. Sofia, a mature woman, was much different from the child who he had raped. But they both still knew him.

Jana ultimately felt it was safe to let Sofia go. Sofia pulled away, panting from exertion. She stared at the corner around which Kamin’s vehicle had disappeared, then swung around to face Jana, teeth bared, ready to fight her.

“You would have been beaten by the chauffeur if you had tried to attack Kamin,” Jana countered. “Or shot. These men have chauffeurs who double as armed bodyguards.”

Sofia’s fists began to uncurl. She took several deep breaths and her body began to relax. “I want to kill him. It’s the only way.”

“If you want to suffer afterwards, yes, that’s the way. However, that would be foolish and wasteful. I’ve seen the inside of prisons, Sofia. They’re not nice places to live in. You would surely go to prison if you killed him, no matter what he’d done to you in the past.”

“It wouldn’t matter.”

“It matters to both of us, Sofia. Neither of us wants our lives destroyed because of him.” She put her arm around Sofia’s shoulder, and they began to walk. It would only be a matter of time, Jana thought. Time and planning.

Unfortunately, their planning was put on hold. The next day, Kamin left the country. Rumors swirled through the media, some of them confirmed: he was a leader of organized crime; his wife had recently been killed in a vehicle collision and Kamin was suspected of murdering her; a large amount of money had been embezzled from the government and Kamin was believed to be the mastermind behind it; Kamin had fled because the tax police were after him. Investigations were commenced, none of which ever resulted in charges being filed.