Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
“Okay, the suspect’s name is Tomica Vjeranovic. He’s a particularly nasty piece of work when you peel back the veneer of being the ‘gentleman burglar’ that he’s tried to conjure up for himself in those bloody letters.” Mirko paused, leafing through the file to find the suspect’s rap sheet. “Possession of firearms, numerous counts of theft, he’s held-up a few banks among other things… All that good stuff, you know, but this is the most high profile thing he’s done and I’m sure you are all absolutely aware why.” Mirko explained.
Things had moved incredibly fast once they had the still image of the suspect walking towards the museum the day of the heist. They had taken photos to the junkies in the Votavova neighbourhood and promised them cash in return for a name and several of them – all unprompted – had decided to give them the name Tomica Vjeranovic. Their desire for a fix outweighed any previous loyalty they may have had to the man. Some told of being friends with him in a previous life and confirmed the details about the squat he had mentioned in the letters he had sent to the Gazeta Mytanija. There had also been some tip-offs which were followed up and shown the still images and they threw up all manner of names too, but one came up time and time again: Tomica Vjeranovic. It had mostly been friends selling him out, Mirko had allowed himself a wry smile when their confirmations of his identity came in. It seemed as if this man had very few people who were prepared to remain loyal to him and keep quiet about his story.
“Where do we think he is guv’?” Came a question from a new face on the task force, Elvir. Elvir had worked in Thessia for years and Mirko knew him well. They had worked together on cracking a big drugs case which spanned four of Mytanija’s seven regions. Mirko had wanted to bring him in earlier, when he had first taken charge of the case, but he had been told to wait until they had a suspect before asking for help from other regions. As soon as they had the footage he had got on the phone to his friend and Elvir had only been too happy to come down the next day. It was a chance to work together again and perhaps more importantly a chance to play a part in the biggest crime story in Mytanija after the fall of Kalinina. Anyone in the Policija worth their salt would have agreed to come on-board in a heartbeat.
“Still in Esca somewhere Elvir.” Mirko replied, rubbing his eyes. “We don’t think he can have left. There’s been no record of him leaving via any airport and same with the ports.”
“Difficult to trust the ports though.” Elvir frowned.
“Aye. We know that all too well.” Mirko said. “But for now we have to assume he’s still here. A few of the junkies said that the last time they had spoken to him he seemed to think he’d be around for a while. Obviously it’s difficult to trust them too, but given what we know I think we have to proceed on the basis that he’s still in Esca.”
“Like a needle in a haystack.” Young Tomas muttered.
“Not quite.” Elvir said confidently. “We’ve found people in Thessia before with less information than this. And I’m sure I don’t need to remind you lot—”
“…that Thessia has a bigger population than Esca, yada yada yada, we know Elvir.” Mirko grinned, rolling his eyes as the task force let out a few well deserved laughs. There hadn’t been much laughter among them ever since they had started this investigation, it had been difficult and had put Dario Lajic out of his job leading it. He was still there, sour despite the recent breakthrough, but they all knew how difficult it had been.
“Look, all I’m saying is that we’ve found people with less information in an even bigger city than Esca.” Elvir smirked, Mirko would let it slide for now, they could all do with having fun made of them given how long it had taken to even get a suspect.
“It’s a good point though. We’ll have to strategize here, the government want the art found but we haven’t got an endless supply of resources to go and do house-to-house searches or anything like that so we need to be precise and work on the information we have to try and work out where he is before we start raiding places and tipping him off that we’re onto him.” Mirko was more serious now.
“I also think it’s really important that in public we don’t say we know who it is.” Dario piped up. Mirko didn’t like the fact he’d have to agree with his old rival, but they both knew that that was what they would have to do. If they gave the game away he’d be on the run and that could make things very difficult. It could make retrieving the artworks actually impossible. Who knew what he might do with them if he thought he was going to be caught.
“Yeah, good point Dario.” Mirko said, smiling warmly to mask the distaste he had towards Dario. “We can’t let this get leaked. The government want the art back and they want it back entirely undamaged. He might react to news of us being onto him by destroying the art, or he might try to sell it. If he goes on the run then we may never catch him, he could end up anywhere. We have to be really careful about all of that.”
“Have you told the airports and ports to be on the lookout for him?” Elvir asked.
“Yeah, we’ve given them orders to not allow him to fly or board any vessels. Naturally we don’t know what he’s going to look like if he tries to get out of the country – given his criminal past it’s likely he’ll know to try and change his appearance – but we’ve given them photos of the CCTV footage and various photos we have of him from previous arrests that we have on the national database.”
“I think it’s useful to remember that he knows Esca well and he seems to really have an affinity with the place because of all the various cultural institutions that are here.” Eva contributed for the first time. “He likes the capital and he’s wanted to be here. I’m not sure if he’ll leave all that easily.”
“Well, he’ll want to get away surely. All criminals want to get away with their crimes.” Tomas said.
“Sure, but he’s said he sees this as not only a criminal act but almost as something performative. We can’t just discount that fact. We know he’s a thief and wants to profit from the paintings but he’s said all along that he’s making a bigger point than just trying to make some money.” Eva replied. A snort of derision emitted from Dario’s direction caused everyone’s eyes to shoot towards him.
“What?” He asked as his face dropped. “We can’t turn this into some sort of psychological bullshit. We have to act on the facts of the case and what we know about this guy. He’s been a thief all his life and he’s evidently profited from it pretty nicely, he goes on about the life he’s had if you want to discuss the stuff he’s said in those letters. All the nice clothing he’s been able to buy. He’ll sell those paintings and the cycle will continue if we let him.”
“I think the ground lies somewhere between those two.” Elvir chirped, just before Mirko was about to dive into the conversation again. Mirko thanked him in his head, he hadn’t wanted to give Dario any credit but they had to proceed on his basis and possibly add Eva’s into the equation later on for the public prosecutor. “We have to be careful that he’s not going to do something in Esca with these paintings, which is why it’s crucial we don’t let it leak that we know who he is. He might not have a plan to do something performative, but we can’t discount the fact he might if he knows we know who he is.”
“Yeah. I also think it’s pretty much certain he’ll be in Esca until either he has a plan on how to get out of the country with the paintings or he doesn’t have them on his person. We have to ascertain who he is working with. There’s no chance he’s doing this all alone, he’ll have to be living somewhere. Even neighbours for wherever he’s staying or somewhere he gets his bloody milk and bread. There’s someone in Esca that knows where this Tomica Vjeranovic is. We’ve got to find out who that is and then hopefully it’ll lead us to him and we can all go home very pleased with ourselves that we’ve finally done the job the Policija hired us to do. I want everyone on that until we’ve got the job done, understood?”
The response he had to that question was much more confident than the dull murmurs he’d received when he had first got on the case and when they were relying purely on tip-offs. There was new-found sense of purpose around the group and it looked like they were heading in the right direction. Tomica Vjeranovic would hopefully be in a cell very soon, Mirko would be a hero. That would be a good day.
“Look Vedran, I just need the things sold mate. I don’t care how you get them sold, but just find a buyer. The cops have me sweating out here, I’m pretty sure they must be onto me, seen loads more flying about Esca these past few days and there’s nothing else going on.” Tomica sounded worried. He was right to sound worried too, but he didn’t know that yet. The extra policemen and women he had seen around Esca were out there for a reason. He had assumed that someone had maybe tipped the Policija off, that they had seen the letters published in Gazeta Mytanija and had given him away. There would be money waiting for them and most of the people who he had been friends with needed money as a matter of urgency for one reason or another. Usually to fuel addiction to drugs, or to pay off a loan shark or some other outstanding debts. Tomica and those he had been friends with were unsavoury characters, or at least they would be to those who made-up ‘normal’ society. But the people who they owed money to or purchased gear off were even worse. They were the ones who usually got away with their crimes too.
“Look Tomica, you know what I said about this heist.” Vedran replied. He didn’t sound worried. But then he wasn’t in Mytanija at all. He was in Prahecq, the francophone country which had been a major site for Mytanar refugees during and after the Mytanar Conflict. Many Mytanars there led relatively normal lives, but others – like Vedran – formed part of that country’s dark criminal underbelly. Vedran acted as a bit of a fence, dealing in illicit items and stolen goods. He’d sell guns to one gang whilst arming the other; he’d put drugs grown in rural Swartaz onto the local Prahecqois market through Mytanar gangs back home; and perhaps most usefully for Tomica he would sell paintings to the rich and famous on the condition that there would be no route back to him once the money had changed hands. It was that kind of expertise and no questions asked attitude which he needed right now. “I said you should try to keep the amateur dramatics to a minimum and yet you have made a big song and dance about it. There’s people all over you there but imagine what the people here are like. They don’t pay that much attention to Mytanar news but snippets about the paintings have filtered through.”
“That’s not finding a solution for me though, Vedran.” Tomica protested.
“I know, but that’s not my problem, it’s yours.” Vedran replied, a harsh tone creeping into his voice. “Look, I agreed to try find a buyer for you. I’m still trying to do that but it’s going to take time. There’s a few who seem promising right now but they could easily back out if they feel the heat is too much on this.” He tried to explain in a calmer manner, but getting the message across to someone who was panicking was never an easy job.
“Come on mate, don’t be like that about it.” Tomica replied. “I know you’re doing all you can and I appreciate you working hard to get it done but you know how much I need the money. It’s double difficult for me to get out of the country when I still have them on my person.”
“All it takes is a politician with a Mytanar cleaner or an actor who gets their hair cut by a Mytanar barber and it falls apart. They either know too much about the origin of the paintings and it scares them off or they’re frightened because there’s a chance someone could see it and wonder how it’s got there. Nobody wants to be caught with those paintings. So it will take however long it takes.” Vedran said, a degree of finality laced across the final phrase.
“Okay man,” Tomica said with disappointment and resignation in his voice in equal measure. “What about getting me out? Have you spoke to those connections you have in shipping over there?”
“Aye. That will be no problem at all when the time comes. Like you say, the money is the key thing here, once they have that they’ll take you with them whenever you need.”
“That’s good. Hopefully the buyers pull their finger out and I can get out of here.”
“Have you given any thought to what you might do once you’re here?” Vedran asked. “You don’t want to get here just to be extradited back once the cops back home realise you’re here.”
“How would they do that? There isn’t any extradition laws between Mytanija and Prahecq.”
“There isn’t.” Vedran replied, chuckling slightly. “But there might be when they realise the guy who has pulled off the greatest heist in Mytanija has got away and is hiding in Prahecq. You know when that new election is finished the new government will want to act on this as best they can, get off to a good start and all that.”
“Aye, it’s a shame I’m looking to get out of Mytanija just as that Ana Mecava-Catic looks to be getting into power mate. She’s going to do a good job I reckon.” Tomica didn’t really deal with the issue. He didn’t want to think about that side of things too much. He was hoping he’d be out of Mytanija sooner rather than later and not have to worry about any reciprocal extradition arrangements at all.
“Ha! We wouldn’t have ended in as much bother as kids if those social programmes she’s talking about were in operation back then.”
“Nah, I’d probably be a doctor and you an engineer or something mate.” Tomica said. “That provisional government didn’t know its arse from its elbow.”
“Amen brother. Anyway, I hear Loronha is nice this time of year. Samba beats and sandy beaches what more could you ask for? Once I’m done with all this business I might move over there. I don’t speak a word of Loronhalense, but how hard can it be? We could retire over there you know.”
“I’ve not thought about it to be honest. Just get me out of Mytanija first eh? Small steps and all that.”
“Aye I know, but nothing wrong with big dreams either is there? What about Éléonore anyway? Would you be bringing her home with you?”
“I don’t know if she wants to go back to Prahecq mate. I suggested it to her and she just said not to make promises I couldn’t keep.” Tomica sighed. “I was being deadly serious though, I’d bring her with me if she wanted to come.”
“Is she still using gear?”
“Aye.”
“Fucking hell man.” Vedran replied. “Are you sure you want to be promising stuff like that to her? What about the prostitution? Surely you aren’t sticking with her if she’s carrying on with that.”
“She was still on the game a bit but she’s stopped now.” Tomica explained. “As long as she’s with me she’s no need to be doing that though. I reckon it’d be different if we were out of Mytanija.”
“I don’t know mate. Are you sure she’s not just using you for money? You’ll have to be careful.”
“I’m a big lad mate, I can deal with it. Anyway, I’ve got to go. Keep in touch and let me know what’s happening with those people who are interested. We’ve got to get the paintings shifted as soon as possible.”
“I know mate, I’m trying my best with it. Speak soon.”
MYTANIJA NATIONAL TEAM SELECTION FOR GAMES AGAINST AUDIOSLAVIA (H) AND NORTHWEST KALACTIN (A)
Goalkeepers: 1. Pedja Kasun (Ararat Severyan), 12. Lazar Obradovic (Liria Prizren), 23. Zafer Muminovic (Tekstil Ibon)
Defenders: 2. Srdan Vukovic (1896 Ebor), 3. Mojmir Anac (Olympic Thessia), 4. Kamil Jernejec (Olympic Thessia), 5. Petr Isaev (Crvena Zvezda); 13. Tihomir Feric (Atletik Thessia), 14. Niksa Obadko (Liria Prizren), 15. Grigorij Savicevic (Atletik Thessia), 16. Branko Nikolov (Liria Prizren)
Midfielders: 6. Alen Hrdaljko (CDSA), 7. Tahir Fejzuli (Atletik Thessia), 8. Dalibor Vlahovic (Ararat Severyan), 10. Jasno Odonelec (Atletik Thessia), 11. Boris Kalinic (Workers Union [EUR]); 17. Branko Brkljacic (Atletik Thessia), 18. Vilim Kupresak (Olympic Thessia), 32. Mateja Stojkovic (Ararat Severyan), 19. Brajko Gavrilovic (1896 Ebor), 20. Maks Shishkin (Energija-Nuklearna), 36. Kemal Gajic (Arka Snezhnaya)
Forwards: 9. Jezdimir Ocokoljic (Atletik Thessia); 21. Zlatan Andrijasevic (Atletik Thessia); 40. Dejan Zgela (CDSA)
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