‘The girl Linas Jankauskas had. She’s under our protection, and I’m bloody sure she’ll identify you as the fat man she saw when they switched vehicles in Newcastle. And we can identify you as the man who’s been housing the other eight girls for the last three months, in your flat in Scotland Street, while they’ve been broken in as prostitutes. We haven’t finished going over the place yet, but we’ve found enough female traces on your bedding, in your bathrooms and in the rest of the house to nail you for sure. We’ve been talking to your neighbours; you couldn’t expect them not to notice, Marius. One of them complained to us that it was like living above a girl backpackers’ hostel. We’re not done either; we’re also going to crawl over every one of those massage parlours, so that we can match samples and identify where each girl worked. On top of all that we’ve found drug paraphernalia in the flat. I’m sure we’ll tie that to some of the girls as well. You are done, pal. You would not believe how done you are.’
‘Bollocks,’ Ramanauskas muttered, but his eyes were fixed on the table.
‘I’m impressed by your command of English,’ the superintendent snapped. ‘Here’s what’s going to happen, Marius. You’re going to sign a statement admitting to being involved in people trafficking, or else.’
‘Or else what?’
‘Or else I’m going to let you go.’
‘Uh?’
‘You heard me, I’m going to kick you out of here on your arse.’
‘What game are you playing with me?’ the man exclaimed.
‘No game. It might have escaped your notice, but Lithuanians are becoming an endangered species in Edinburgh. First poor old Tomas, your boss, shoots himself, then somebody very skilled breaks Linas’s neck for him. To top it off, somebody kills Valdas.’
‘What you talking about? Valdas died in a fire in his house, the papers say.’
‘Yes, but not accidentally, we don’t think. We suspect that he was murdered, and his wife too. Before I came in here I had a call from my boss, and we now have a new theory that we’re running. Goes like this. Jonas Zaliukas, Tomas’s brother, with serious combat experience in Africa, is in town, and he is holding you guys, that’s to say so far Valdas and Linas, responsible in some way for Tomas killing himself. It looks as if Valdas was tortured before he died, so we reckon that Jonas now knows about your involvement as well. I don’t know what he’s got planned for you, but I’m damn sure it won’t be pretty. So, Marius. What’s it to be? Your choice.’
Ramanauskas stared at Stallings. ‘He wouldn’t do that, would he, lady?’
She threw back her head and laughed. ‘So I’m a lady all of a sudden. Oh yes, he would. He’d even issue a press statement saying that you’d been interviewed and released without charge. It would be like tying a label round your neck. Jonas is bound to know by now that you’ve been lifted. For all we know he’s waiting for you to step outside. Do you fancy your chances against him?’ The prisoner paled. ‘No,’ she murmured, ‘I thought not.’
‘Tell us about Jonas,’ said McIlhenney. ‘When did you first meet him?’
‘Just over a week ago,’ the Lithuanian replied. ‘Thursday, last week. Valdas told us all to meet him, in Portofino, the restaurant, in the morning before it opens for lunch. When we did, there was this man with him; youngish bloke, cool.’
‘Cool?’
‘That’s best way I can describe him. Together; in control of himself. He was very calm, stood very still, his eyes they were steady, deep blue. He wasn’t all that big, but you could not imagine fucking with this guy, not ever. You know what I mean?’
‘I reckon I do. Did Valdas introduce him?’
‘Yeah. He said that this was his cousin, Tomas’s younger brother, and that he had come over from Lithuania to. . how he put it?. . to take care of a few things.’
‘And how did he seem when he was telling you this?’
‘Seem?’
‘Was he relaxed, was he happy, was he nervous?’
‘He tried to look normal, but he wasn’t. He looked uncomfortable. It was right tense in there, in fact.’
‘Did Jonas say anything?’
‘Aye. First off, he tell us we could call him Jonas, or colonel, or even Jock since we were in Scotland. One or two of the lads laughed; he didn’t. Then he said he wasn’t pleased to be here, that he had his own business to run in Vilnius and that was where he should be. But he said that his older brother had asked him for help and he was bound to give it. He said that some of us had been very stupid, and that we had no idea of the bother we’d caused. He told us that because of this he was now in charge of all of us, and that we would do what he said, without question.’
‘How did that go down?’
Ramanauskas frowned. ‘Like I told you, he’s a guy you take seriously. We all sat quiet. . apart from Linas. He jumped up, got in his face and said, “Why the fuck should we? Tomas never interferes with us, so why should we answer to you?” Jonas just looked at him for a bit, and then he hit him. I don’t know what with, for he was too quick; all I know is that big Linas was on the floor gasping for breath like a fish out of water. “Any other questions?” Jonas asked, but of course there were none.’ He shuddered. ‘If you say he killed Linas, I’ll believe you.’
‘Was that the end of the meeting?’ asked Stallings.
‘Not quite. He said the new girls had to go; that we were to get them out of the parlours. He told me to keep them at my place until arrangements were made to move them out.’
‘But you didn’t take Anna Romanova to your place.’
‘I never had her there; I could only take the eight. She always stayed with Linas.’
‘Where she was drugged and raped,’ McIlhenney said, slowly. ‘Did you drug all nine? Was that how you forced them to prostitute themselves?’
‘Only the two youngest; they were fresh meat, to fill up the van. The older lassies were all on the game back in Tallin; Valdas found them there and offered them more money to work for him, simple as that. None of them were junkies. Right at the start Valdas said there would be no drugs in the parlours, and that anyone who tried it would be moved offshore.’
Stallings frowned. ‘Moved offshore?’
Ramanauskas grinned. ‘One of his wee sayings from the old days. About two miles offshore, he meant, weighted down.’
‘So when you fed those kids dope you were endangering yourself?’
‘No. Valdas told me to do it; he said it was OK. They were always fixed at my place anyway, never at work.’
‘So when did Jonas take them,’ asked McIlhenney, brusquely, ‘and where to? Or are they offshore as well, poor kids?’
‘Jonas never took them. On Wednesday morning, about half ten, two women rang my door buzzer. It’s got a video camera, ken, so I could see them. I asked what they wanted and they said they were the removal firm.’
‘And you let them in, just like that?’
‘I guessed they’d come from Jonas. Did they no’?’
‘We don’t know,’ the superintendent admitted.
‘So they might have been connected to the other guy?’
‘Do you mean the man you all met in Bruntsfield?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Maybe they were, but that’s not relevant to this interview. Tell us what happened when you let the women in.’
‘They came up the stairs, and told me to tell the girls to get packed. I asked them where they were taking them. The older one told me to mind my own fuckin’ business.’
‘And you took that from her?’ Stallings queried.
‘If they were from Jonas, like I thought they were, too right. So I did as I was told. The girls had fuck all to pack, so it took no time at all. Then I’d to tell them to use the lav if they needed. Once they were all sorted, we took them downstairs two at a time.’
‘What do you mean “we”?’
‘The younger woman stayed upstairs; the older one and I took the first two lassies down and out through the back garden and intae the lane. They’d a mini-bus parked there. She stayed with them, I went back upstairs and took another four down, two at a time, then the second woman took the last pair and that was that.’