“As you wish,” said Jimmy. “The car is outside if you want to go back. My friend and I were discussing Chinese agricultural policy. Seriously. I’ll come back later.”
Jimmy turned back to his new companion. Good for you, thought Berman, but I’m done. He wondered how much of what he was feeling was because of Pia or if it was because it was half past two in the morning. Berman had a sense that his feelings for Pia were not just carnal, otherwise he would have made sure he could possess her as soon as they had reached the vicarage. He wanted her recognition that he was a pioneer and that they could build this company together, with Berman at the helm and talented scientists like her alongside. The Chinese phase would be over soon, and there would be no more need for clandestine experimentation. It had been necessary to jump-start the program, to get the capital funding, but now everything was going to be aboveboard. Pia could take the NIH on a tour of Nano herself if that would placate her.
A new rhythm thudded its way into Berman’s head as the disc jockey started a new set. Berman could see that Jimmy wasn’t about to leave anytime soon, so he got up from the leather couch, thanked the man for the enjoyable day, and made his way through the crowd of pretty people toward the exit.
CHAPTER 57
Paul and George disagreed over whether they were likely to receive a visit from the police after their jaunt to Mariel Spallek’s home, and Paul took no pleasure in being proved correct. George had not dismissed Paul’s opinion out of hand, so the two men were able to agree on their story before Detective Samuels came around the evening following with a colleague he introduced as Detective Ibbotson. The four men got situated in Paul’s living room, with Paul and George on the couch and the two investigators on kitchen chairs facing them. The atmosphere was strained. Samuels started in.
“We can talk here, or we can talk more formally at the station tomorrow,” Samuels said. He was looking at Paul as the host, but George answered.
“We’re happy to talk here.”
“So where did you go after we talked yesterday?”
“We drove around, figuring what to do. I mean, we were worried about our friend and didn’t get much satisfaction from our visit to the police.”
“Sorry you feel that way, but we are still looking into the situation. Where did you drive to?”
“About one-thirty, we went out to Niwot. We found out that Pia Grazdani’s boss at Nano, Mariel Spallek, lived out there. We thought maybe she might be home and willing to answer some questions about Pia. We’re really kind of lost about what to do. But Mariel Spallek was not at home, so we went away, thinking we might return some evening.”
“You were out there around one-thirty,” said Samuels.
“Around then, yes,” said George, and offered no more. They had been at Niwot, but by one-thirty, he was in a cab on his way home.
“And you can confirm this,” Samuels said to Paul.
“Yes. I know the time, because I had to get to the hospital. I was late.”
“He drove in, I took a taxi. From Niwot.” George knew that if they checked, they would find that he had taken a taxi, but from a location that might require some explanation.
“Why did you take a taxi?”
“Paul had to get to work. I took a taxi from there rather than from the hospital. I was on my way back here.”
Samuels regarded the two men. He guessed they were being less than truthful, but in the grand scheme of things, did it matter that much. “So you rang the bell at Miss Spallek’s, and no one answered?”
“That’s right,” said George.
“Did you see anyone? Anyone that you might have thought didn’t belong in the neighborhood?”
“There was a car parked suspiciously on the same street.”
“Suspiciously how?”
“Well, not parked suspiciously, but parked in the street with two men sitting in it. It was just down the road from Mariel’s house. There were no other cars or people. It looked suspicious to us, and we talked about it.”
Paul nodded.
“Can you describe the car?”
“Dark blue,” said Paul. “Full-size sedan. American. Buick or something like that. I actually assumed it was a police car. It was kind of drab like that. No offense.”
Samuels looked at Paul, then at George. Very clever, he thought, and closed his notebook. This whole situation wasn’t worth his time. He knew that the police had gotten the tip from Nano, suggesting that Nano had had them under surveillance, possibly because they had tried and failed to get into their facility. Samuels had the gut sense that there was some weird romantic aspect to this story, but at that point he wasn’t going to speculate. The facts of the case were that someone, maybe the two sitting in front of him, had broken into Mariel Spallek’s apartment, but nothing had been stolen or damaged save for a pane of glass in a back door. More important, Mariel Spallek specifically declined to take the matter further when contacted, and the responding police officers hadn’t actually seen anyone, despite the clear evidence of a break-in.
“Detective Ibbotson, how about you head out to the car. I’ll be right out,” said Samuels. His partner nodded and left.
“I don’t know what’s going on here,” he said, “but my sense is that you guys need to cut out playing detective before you get yourselves in trouble. I know those security people at Nano, and they’re no fools. Next time you try a stunt like this, I hope they don’t get to you first.”
“That sounds like a threat,” said George.
“Actually, it isn’t. It’s a piece of friendly advice. Your girlfriend will come back, provided she wants to. That’s what happens in ninety-nine point nine percent of cases like this. If she doesn’t, then she won’t. But we have the facts as they exist, and we will continue to follow up on the case. We are in direct contact with the Nano human resources department. We have the woman’s description and photo. There was evidence that she had returned to her apartment after sending the text to you, Dr. Caldwell, along with the suggestion that she had driven east. We, of course, will be following up on that. So, fellows, cool it before you get arrested or hurt.”
Samuels got up and left.
“Funny they should know to come right after my shift finished,” said Paul after Samuels had walked out.
“Paul, I’ve been thinking. It’s pretty apparent we’re being followed by Nano, and the police are onto us, and we’re getting nowhere finding Pia. She’s gone, I’m sure of it. I don’t believe she drove east for a second. I think someone took her. I think it was Berman. And we don’t have the resources to find her.”
“So what the hell do we do? The authorities obviously aren’t listening to us.”
“When Pia was in trouble before, her father saved her. I think I have to ask for his help. I hate to do it, because he’s basically a gangster of the worst kind.”
“Her father? I didn’t know Pia had any family.”
“He’s a higher-up in the Albanian mafia organization in the New York metropolitan area. I have no reason to think he’ll even help, but he did the last time Pia got into this kind of trouble, which, I have to say, is remarkably similar in many respects to what’s going on now. She was kidnapped then, too. God, it’s as if she is a magnet for disaster.”
“Albanian mafia. Good lord! I think I saw a movie about them. Extremely violent.”
“The worst.”
“What’s the father’s name?”
“Burim Graziani or something like that.”
“Not Grazdani, like Pia.”
“He had to change his name for some reason.”