Chapter 11 The Journey

11:10

Warsaw’s Central Station looked representative after Euro 2012 when millions had been invested in improving the city’s infrastructure. The stench of urine diminished, the old building was covered with new pieces of concrete and a monstrous white set of bridges and revolving stairs enhanced the communication between floors. Lena bought a cup of coffee in a nearby Costa Cafe and put a woolen cap on her head, as she was cold. They only brought a hand luggage with a few basic items necessary for travel. Robert made use of the time to call his ex-wife. He learned that she was happy and with the girls, they were planning holidays to the Canary Island - the place to which Robert had never taken them. To him, it was an epitome of boring sandy beaches and tourist resorts, but they didn’t understand his suggestions to go to the theater or opera. Or even spend some time in the Polish countryside, enjoying the simple (and cheap) pleasures of camping. So now the mother and girls were able to go and the information that daddy was going to Cracov was commented with a moaning and “boring...” sigh.

‘You should tell her that you’re going with a twenty-year-old lover. She would be jealous,’ Lena suggested, overhearing the kid’s sigh, ‘You’d sound less pathetic.’

‘And this lover is to be you? I’m afraid that she knows that I’m not into girls.’

‘Still. She makes you feel bad that you’re a bad father and a bad husband. You can make her feel bad that she’s a bad lover. You know, to make her see that you’re doing fine. It’s psychological.’

‘And what did you do when you found out that Gabriel is cheating on you?’

‘I got drunk, ate too much. And vomited.’

‘And you talk about psychology?’

‘I can talk. It doesn’t mean that I make use of all my pieces of advice.’

As soon as the train arrived, they stopped discussing their love life and entered their compartment. There had already been some old man sleeping inside, and just a minute after Lena and Robert got on, a woman with a six or seven-year-old girl came to join them on the way. Lena took her smart phone and, having located her headphones, she managed to turn on the music. Robert took a volume of Anna Karenina and started looking for the page he was on when he stopped reading. The old man woke up and smiled gently at the sight of the book. The woman took out some crayons and a coloring book and gave all those to her daughter. The girl sat close to a little folding table, which was right under the window, and used it as a base for drawing. Lena fell asleep. Robert fell into the literary world of the Russian romance.

The old train slowly moved from Warsaw to Cracov, from time to time revealing the beautiful hilly views of the Polish south.

After the second hour of the journey, Lena decided to go to the toilet. She stood up, asked Robert to keep an eye on her gadgets and left the compartment. She had to walk along the whole wagon to get to the end of it and find the toilet. It was occupied, so she stared for a while at the passing mountains. Finally, the door opened and she saw her university teacher emerging out of it. It was the same lecturer who not so long before behaved so emotionally at the mention of Tamka’s disappearance.

The woman was in a hurry and she didn’t recognize Lena. Lena could understand this, though. She didn’t look her usual self. Lena didn’t look good. She didn’t have any makeup. She tied her hair in a bun and she was wearing her oldest sweater just for the sake of it being the warmest of her clothing collection. She had those warm Emu shoes on her feet, and as far as they didn’t make her legs slim and attractive, they made her warm and at this time of the year, it was more than important.

At the same time, the woman looked different than what Lena remembered from her daily life at the university. Lena might not have recognized the woman in the dark street of Warsaw, but being so close to her, she was sure that it was her lecturer. During classes, the teacher wore very classic, modest and business-like outfits. It was her who tied her red hair in a bun and it was her who wore no makeup. She even conducted her classes as formally as it was possible to make her appearance resemble her style of teaching. Lena was, of course, bored during her classes, as she didn’t enjoy any translation techniques. Now, however, she was willing to admit that her lecturer - Izabella Kieliszek - looked better than ever. She was wearing a nice little black dress, high-heeled shoes, a red coat and a velvet scarf. Her face looked attractive with an addition of striking red lipstick and some black eyeliner. Her hair was loose and wavy. When she passed Lena, Lena sensed a pleasant wave of perfumes, creating around her a cloud of sex-appeal and seductive feminine charm.

Lena knew how it felt to look this good and how much more confident she herself felt when she took care of her appearance. When she got out of the toilet, she came back to the compartment and shared the news with Robert. He was actually surprised that they had company.

‘I wonder who actually travels on this train. Have you seen anyone else?’

Lena shook her head.

The little girl was still drawing on the table beside the window. The old man fell asleep again. The mother took out her knitting set and started knitting a scarf. Lena put in her earplugs and ignored everyone else. Robert laid his book aside and got out of the compartment.

He was walking for some time until he found a ticket inspector.

‘Robert Rej. Warsaw’s Police Department. Have you checked the tickets yet?’

‘Not yet, I’m about to do this in a moment.’

‘Good. I have a favor to ask. Can you note down the names of the passengers who will have a travel discount due to being academic employees? I believe they have cheaper tickets.’

‘Yes, indeed. They have to show the proof of their academic occupation.’

‘Great. We’re currently conducting an investigation. It would help us immensely if you could provide some names. But I want you to be discreet.’

‘Of course.’

Robert returned to the compartment.

Half an hour later the ticket inspector knocked at their door and started checking the tickets. The little girl handed hers and her mother’s ticket, the old man unwillingly started looking for his ticket. Lena showed her student ID to confirm that she was still a student. And when the ticket inspector gave Robert his ticket back, he also, very discreetly, put inside a small piece of paper with something written on it.

Robert Rej smiled in understanding.

An hour later they arrived at Cracov.

The only logical thing to do at that time was to find out what Tamka might have been doing in Cracov over the last few years. The answers weren’t unfortunately written anywhere and Robert and Lena were left only with a piece of paper provided by the ticket inspector.

‘Do you know any of these people?’ Robert showed Lena the paper.

‘Not really. There’s this woman Kieliszek. The one I saw coming out of the toilet. I don’t know the rest. Maybe there’s really some conference in Cracov. They usually organize such things over the weekend.’

‘We should visit all universities, then.’

‘Don’t be silly. What do you have a phone for? We can check online.’

Lena took out her phone and started googling some data.

‘Today there’s something about old and recent funeral culture. And tomorrow about religion and culture in the digital media. Both at the Polish language department.’

Robert yawned.

‘Great. That’s our first stop.Any wishes?’

‘Yes. I’m hungry. I want some food.’

They took a break at the Galeria Krakowska and bought a small lunch. Meanwhile, Robert bought tram tickets and the map of Cracov, as he didn’t know the city so well.

After half an hour, they were heading towards the Polish Language department. There was something different in the pace of Cracov, which made Robert relax a little. Everyone in Warsaw rushed from home to work, from work to home, escaped the city on Friday evening, returned from weekend escapades on Sunday evening, with no time to think in between the race. Cracov inhaled a different air. And even though it was the air of smog, Lena with no makeup and Robert with a leisurely approach to life blended in perfectly with the city’s atmosphere, its charm, old streets, manor houses, and squares.

Polish language department was located in a beautiful, yellowish old building in the Kanoniczna Street with thick walls, high ceilings and ornamented windows. Just behind the entrance, there was a table by which sat two students checking in the participants of the conference. Robert approached the table. He took out the list.

‘Hello. I would like to receive some valuable pieces of information. Are these people signed as participants?’ he asked gently, smiling to the girl and showing her the ticket inspector’s piece of paper.

He was about to take out his police ID but that was unnecessary. The girl was apparently fond of Robert and without the slightest objection, she helped to find the names on the list.

‘I’m afraid, no one’s here. Maybe they take part in another conference.’

Robert stopped to think for a while.

‘Thank you,’ he said and approached Lena.

Just to make sure, they stayed at the conference lecture for some time but there was no sign of Izabella Kieliszek. Other names were for them as mysterious and anonymous as other members of University board. They didn’t even know who they were supposed to look for.

‘So what are we going to do?’

‘We will wait for the tomorrow’s conference. If they come, we will know why they came here in the first place. If not, we will know that they didn’t come to Cracov for academic reasons.’

‘And what are we going to do here for the rest of the day?’

‘Not much. I would like to visit Wawel and maybe this Rynek Underground museum, I heard it looks good.’

‘You must be joking. You are going to go to museums?’

‘Lena. Police work requires patience. Sometimes investigations drag for months.You need to learn how to spend time in a constructive way. A little bit of culture didn’t harm anyone.’

Lena shrugged. For years she was coming to Cracov, but she actually didn’t even once visit the Royal Castle. Gacek would rather take her to a pub, but she was sure he brought there also some other naive sets of girls.