Page 34 of The Storyteller of Krakow

His eyes roved the room for Kasia, then kept landing back on the gun.

‘Now then, Albin. In the war, I was a good shot, a very good shot. And I kept up with my training over the years. But you see, as you so rightly pointed out, I am old, and my hands sometimes shake. So, where before a clean shot would end your misery in a split second, I fear my hands may slip and perhaps shoot you a few times in places you do not want to be shot. In places no man would ever want to be shot.’

To make sure he got the message, I tilted my head towards his crotch.

‘Look. Look, let’s calm down here, okay? I was just here talking to Kasia.’

‘No, you weren’t. You were yelling at her, smashing things, while your daughter, your daughter, hides in her room. I know men like you. Trust me, I’ve seen it all before. And I know what is going on here. So I’m going to tell you again to leave. But this time with a caveat. You will leave and you will not come back. You will not contact Kasia. You will not contact your daughter⁠—’

‘But I⁠—’

‘I’m not finished talking. You will not contact them. They will contact you if they wish to see you at all. Ever. But you will not come anywhere near here again – is that understood? And don’t think you can simply wait until I leave. I have friends in high places, I know people both in and out of the law, and I’m going to give them your name and picture. And if anyone gets so much of a whiff that you are trying to bother Kasia or your daughter again, you’ll wish I had just shot you now and got it over and done with. Are we clear?’

Albin nodded, and I could see he was still unsure if I meant what I said, so just for the theatrics, I cocked the barrel.

‘Okay! Okay!’ he yelled, grabbing his coat off the back of the sofa and scarpering out of the apartment. I waited a beat until I went to the front door and locked it, put the gun back in my bag and went to find my friends.

12

FEBRUARY 2014, KRAKÓW

Hana’s bedroom was, well, something I’d never really seen before. My bedroom as a child had been painted canary yellow with pale blue curtains at the window. Of course, there had been toys.

But this room, Hana’s room, was like walking into a dream. Pink was an understatement. Walls, curtains, bedspread. Bears galore on shelves, atop a wardrobe, stuffed under covers in the bed. Unicorn posters, rainbow stickers, fairy lights strung all over the ceiling. It was at once overstimulating and at the same time welcoming into a soft, pink bubble where, in this room, nothing bad could possibly happen.

Kasia sat on the bed, her arm around Hana, talking before I walked in. Then they looked up at me, and I saw both fear and hope in their eyes.

‘This is an interesting room,’ I said. ‘Very… pink.’

‘I like pink,’ Hana said.

‘I can see that.’

Kasia stood. ‘Wait here a minute, darling, let me talk to Lena for a moment.’

Kasia led me out of the pink fever dream and back into the sitting room.

‘He’s gone,’ she said, looking at the cushions, the smashed vase.

‘He is. Better tidy this up before Hana comes out,’ I said.

‘How did you—? What did you—?’ Kasia asked, her eyes filling with tears.

‘Doesn’t matter. He won’t be coming back. I assumed that was what you would have wanted?’

Kasia slumped on the couch and put her head in her hands. ‘He just won’t leave us alone. He says he wants to see Hana, and I tell him he can’t unless he’s sober, but he comes over anyway and asks for money, then gets angry when I won’t give it to him.’

I sat down beside her and, feeling awkward, placed my hand on her back and made gentle circles like my mother had done for Piotr or me when we had been sad. I wasn’t sure it still worked for adults, but it was all I could think of doing.

‘He wasn’t always like this, not at the beginning,’ she said and raised her head out of her hands.

‘They never are,’ I said.

‘He was sweet and kind, then I don’t know what happened really. I mean, it must have happened over months, but it seemed one day everything was fine; the next, he was just this… this, monster. He would yell at me and Hana, hit me sometimes, drink and take drugs. I didn’t know what to do.’ She sniffed. ‘I tried the police, the courts, but he seems to slip by every time.’

‘He won’t be coming back,’ I repeated. ‘I can promise you that.’

Kasia gave me a weak smile as if she were simply indulging an old woman.