‘How old is your son?’
‘Twelve.’ He put down his beer bottle, sat up on the mattress and retrieved his wallet from his back pocket. He pulled out a small photo and handed it to Erika. It was of a brown-haired toddler, sitting on Igor’s shoulders. They were both wearing sunglasses, and grinning at the camera. The sun was shining in the background, reflecting off the lens, bathing Igor and his son in a corona of yellow and white.
‘He’s cute,’ said Erika, and she was glad to say she meant it.
‘Thomas.’
‘Th-omas. Not Toma??’ she said. Igor shook his head and smiled. Erika handed back the photo.
‘Don’t get me started. I had so many arguments with Denise about his name. I wanted Toma?, but she thinks “Mak” is a weird enough surname for a British kid to have.’
Erika laughed. Mak translated into English was ‘poppy seed’。 He looked at the picture again, and she saw his smile was tinged with sadness as he tucked it back into his wallet.
‘Tommy Poppy-Seed. Sounds like a very cute little rapper,’ she said. Igor laughed. ‘No one could ever pronounce Boledisova. Foster is much easier.’
He took another sip of his beer.
‘What kind of police officer are you?’
‘I’m a bit of a bitch, but I’m always fair.’
He laughed.
‘No. Your rank?’
‘Detective Chief Inspector,’ said Erika. She got up and found her warrant card in her coat hanging over one of the deckchairs and handed it to him, feeling a pride she didn’t acknowledge often.
‘Wow. Congratulations,’ he said, studying her photo ID.
‘I don’t have any kids, no pictures of kids… to show you.’
There was a long silence. They listened to the rain clinking on the roof. Igor handed back her warrant card. George yawned and stretched out between them on the mattress, making the plastic crackle.
‘That fireplace, does it work?’ he said, pointing to it.
‘No. I’ve got five fireplaces, and only one works. And no heating.’
‘If you wanted your fireplaces unblocked and cleaned, I could do it for you. I got all my qualifications. I did it for a few years, when I moved out. I was self-employed and… Anyway, I’d just need to hire the equipment for a few hours…’
‘I hadn’t thought about the fireplaces. Look at the rest of the house. So much needs doing.’
‘I just thought I’d ask,’ he said amiably, without pressuring her. Igor was easy-going. Calming to be around. She’d forgotten that about him. Mark had been so calm and easy-going. The thought of Mark flared up in her mind, and she quickly extinguished it. They sipped their beer and stared at each other across the mattress. Erika wondered how much he’d changed in the past twenty-six years. And she thought how much she’d changed.
‘I’m this close to quitting London and going back to Slovakia,’ he said, breaking the comfortable silence. ‘This delivery job is awful, the hours and the pay. And what with Brexit, and the cost of living, I dunno. But then there’s my son…’
Erika’s phone rang, and she saw it was Isaac.
‘Hi, is everything okay?’ she asked.
‘I’m just on my way round to your house, if that’s okay? I thought you might want someone to help with housewarming, and I have some news about Vicky Clarke,’ he said.
‘You have the post-mortem results?’
‘Yes. I’ll be there in a couple of minutes,’ said Isaac and he hung up.
‘Is that a friend?’ asked Igor.
‘Yes, and no. Well, he’s a colleague.’
‘I should get going,’ said Igor, getting up. He downed the rest of his beer. ‘Thank you for the food.’
He went to the electric heater where his T-shirt was drying. He stripped off the dry T-shirt he’d borrowed from Erika and pulled it on. She caught a glimpse of his beautiful torso. He really looks after himself, she thought. She didn’t know many forty-year-old Slovak men who still had a six-pack.
‘Listen. I’ve got your number. I’ll give you a call about the chimneys, when I’m sorted out here,’ she said, still not sure if she meant it.
‘That would be great.’
‘And thanks for helping with the bed and washing machine.’
They walked out into the hallway, and Erika saw Isaac through the frosted glass in the front door, coming up the front path. He rang the bell and Erika suddenly felt odd at having Igor and him meet. When she opened the door, Isaac was holding a bottle of wine and a small plant in cellophane.