Several minutes passed, then the door to their room opened. The main cop stood in the doorway, pointed at Alex, and gestured for her to follow him. She pushed herself off the desk she was leaning against and headed out. The other two girls started to fall in step behind her, but the cop barked at them and shook his head.
As soon as Alex was out, he shut the door.
The other cop was standing near the woman. She was a bit older than both men, perhaps in her forties, with a stern face that wasn’t helped by her pulled-back hair.
The cop led Alex to the third room, the smallest of the lot. He jutted his chin at the lone empty chair. Alex took the hint and sat.
As the stern-faced woman stepped inside, the cop closed the door, leaving his partner outside on guard duty. He and the woman stared at Alex for a long moment without saying anything.
Finally, Alex held out her hands. “Can I help you?”
The woman smiled humorlessly. “Your name, please.”
Alex was relieved that she spoke English. “Maureen Powell.”
“May I have your passport?”
Alex pulled her passport out of her pocket and handed it over. The woman examined it, then handed it to the man.
“Canadian, I see,” she said.
“Yes.”
“And you are in Ukraine for…?”
“Holiday.”
“Your entry stamp is from today. Good way to start trip, yes?”
“Not exactly.”
That smile again. “Please, tell us exactly what happened.”
Alex proceeded to describe the events as she’d witnessed them. She paused every now and then so that the woman could translate her response to the police officer. She was honest and straightforward, leaving nothing out.
“So you were trying to get back items for friend?”
“That’s correct.”
“I see.” A pause. “How long have you known friend?”
“We just met today.”
“Today?” the woman said, surprised. “You very nice to someone known to you only a few hours.”
“That kid tried to steal something. I don’t like it when someone takes something that’s not theirs. I don’t care if I’ve just met the victim or known her all my life.”
A sneer grew on the woman’s face. “So you are good person.”
“Maybe. Does it matter? Look, you’ve got the guy. He obviously had Romee’s passport and bag. Is there a problem?”
“He say he not know why you chase him. He say items you say he take, you have, not him.”
“Of course he does. Just talk to my friends. They saw him take it. There’s probably another half a dozen people wandering around the station who saw him do it. Do you guys have cameras? It has to be on video, too.”
“Talk your friends next.”
“But you talked to the kid first, huh? And you believe him?” Alex shook her head. “You know what? As far as I’m concerned, you can keep what he took. I’ve got a train to catch.” She rose to her feet.
“Please. Sit back down.”
“I really don’t have time to hang around here any longer.”
“You will leave when we say it’s okay.”
“You’ve got no reason to keep me here.”
“There is matter of boy’s broken arm.”
“What about it?”
“He says you pushed him.”
“Excuse me? I wasn’t even close enough to touch him, let alone push. The kid tripped over the rail. I bet if you went back there, you could see scuff marks and figure it out all on your own.”
“If this is case, he would not have trip if you had not chased him, no?”
Now Alex was getting pissed. “And I wouldn’t have chased him if he hadn’t stolen my friend’s passport and pouch. Tell me, what would you have done if it had been your friend?”
They went back and forth like this for several minutes, before they returned Alex to the other room and exchanged her with Romee. It was now almost ten thirty. The time until Alex’s train departed was growing dangerously short. And unless they were all released in the next twenty minutes or so, the Dutch girls were definitely going to miss theirs. Of course, they didn’t have an appointment to be arrested the next day in Crimea. It would be only an inconvenience for them, while for Alex it would mean losing out on the opportunity to get a lead on her father.
After Romee, it was Heike’s turn.
Romee took a chair as far from Alex as she could, occasionally looking over, meek and wary.
“Did they…did they ask you about the pouch?” the girl finally asked.
Alex waited a moment before she answered. “No.”
“They didn’t say anything to me, either,” Romee said quickly. “I don’t think they found—”
“Shut up,” Alex said.
“Sorry. I was just…I’m…” Romee’s shoulders drooped. “What’s going to happen to us?”
Alex decided it was best not to answer that question.
It was almost eleven when Heike was ushered back in.
As soon as the three were alone, Romee asked Heike a question in Dutch.
“I don’t know,” Heike said in English. It was clear she was still angry with her friend, and wanted to include Alex. “They didn’t tell me anything.”
Alex heard the main door to the outer office open, then new voices. She cursed under her breath. Just what she needed. Additional authorities to slow things down even more. She had been toying with a last-ditch plan to make a run for it the next time the door to their makeshift cell opened. She was more than confident she could get away from the two bozos who’d been holding them, and somehow get on that train and leave town. It would mean leaving without her passport and her backpack, which, hopefully, Anika was still watching. The backpack was unimportant, but the lack of a passport would be a problem. Still, it would be better to be headed to Crimea than stuck here on a potential drug charge. But if the cops now had friends, that escape plan was not nearly as viable.
The voices outside grew heated until a bark of finality silenced the room. When the conversation resumed, the tones were quieter and more contrite.
Footsteps approached the door to the girls’ room. When the door opened, the two original cops were standing there, looking unhappy. One of them blurted out something while the other waved for the girls to come out.
Not needing a second invitation, they filed into the larger room. There were three new men there now, two uniformed cops probably in their twenties, and a middle-aged man in a suit.
The older man barked something at the original officers. There was a second’s hesitation, then passports were produced and returned to the girls.
“What about my money purse?” Romee asked.
The older man shot a look across the room at the translator. The woman was standing in the corner, looking as if she wanted to be anywhere else. The man asked her a question, she answered, then he looked at the two arresting officers and barked again.
The taller one pulled Romee’s pouch out of his pocket and handed it to her.
The suited man started talking to the girls. When he finished, he glanced at the translator again.
“Colonel Hubenko apologizes for your…inconvenience. He hopes you will not let this keep you from enjoying rest of stay in Ukraine.”
The colonel said something else.
“If you need anything, please let him know,” the woman translated.
“We’re free to go?” Romee said.
“Yes.”
“We’ve missed our train,” Heike said. “Tell him we’ve missed our train. We were supposed to go to Kiev tonight.”
The translator talked with the colonel for a moment, then said, “We will put you in hotel near train station tonight, compliments of the Ukrainian police. In morning, Colonel Hubenko himself will make sure you are on first train out, private compartment. Is this okay?”