The Body in the Boot: The first 'Mac' Maguire mystery (10 page)

The old man thought for a while.

‘Must be more than two years ago. He used to come in here every couple of weeks or so and then he told me he was going home.’

‘He went back to Hungary?’

‘Yes, back to Budapest. I knew straight away he was from Budapest, he had a tattoo on his arm.’

He thought again for a moment.

‘Yes, the left arm.’

He smiled a conspiratorial smile at Mac and nodded towards his nephew.

‘The young ones, they think I’m losing my marbles but see what a good memory I’ve got.’

‘How did you know he was from Budapest just by a tattoo?’ Tommy asked.

‘He was an MTK fan see, he had it tattooed on his arm.’

Mr. Meszaros explained, ‘MTK is a football club based in Budapest.’

‘Yes, yes’, the old man said. ‘But me I’m a Pecsi supporter. Anyway even if he was an MTK fan it was nice to talk about football with him.’

Tommy wrote it all down in his notebook.

‘Do you know his name?’ Mac asked.

‘Yes of course, I wouldn’t talk football to people whose names I don’t know.’

‘What was it?’

‘What was what?’ the old man asked.

‘His name?’

The old man’s face creased with effort.

Eventually he shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘I don’t know, I’ve forgotten.’

He looked sheepishly up at his nephew.

‘Anything else you can tell us about him?’ Tommy asked.

‘No, we only talked about football.’

‘Did he drive to get here or walk?’ Mac asked somewhat desperately.

‘Now why would he drive when he only lived down the road?’

Mac and Tommy looked at each other in excitement.

‘Where?’ they asked in unison.

‘In a flat over the kebab house about three or four hundred yards down the road. You can’t miss it, Spiros the idiot and his big red sign.’

‘Spiros?’

‘Spiros Andreou, he owns the kebab shop and he’s an idiot,’ the old man said a dismissive gesture.

Mr. Meszaros accompanied them to the door.

‘Don’t mind my uncle. He and Spiros are good friends really, they’ve known each other for years. He’s only mad because he got beaten by him at dominoes for the third time in a row last week.’

‘If you think of anything else,’ Tommy said as he gave Mr. Meszaros his card, ‘please ring at any time.’

‘Looks like your idea might be getting us somewhere,’ Tommy said excitedly as he started the car up.

‘We’ll see,’ Mac replied. ‘Just remember that we haven’t even got a name yet.’

Mac glanced down the road ahead.

‘I see what the old man meant, I think I can see a red sign from here.’

A few seconds later Tommy pulled up outside ‘Spiros Kebabs and Fish and Chips’.

‘Yes that sign is very red indeed,’ Tommy agreed.

A ‘Closed’ sign was hanging on the door but they could see a man inside who was cleaning the work surfaces. Tommy rapped on the door and the man, who Mac thought could have been anything from forty to sixty, dark skinned, with black hair greying at the sides and a neatly trimmed white beard, came towards them expansively waving his hands to indicate that the shop was closed. Tommy pressed his warrant card to the window. The man unlocked the door and just as expansively waved at them to come in.

‘Are you Spiros Andreou?’ Tommy asked.

‘Yes that’s me.’

‘The flat above the shop, do you own it?’

‘Yes, I hope there’s no trouble with the girls who are renting it. They seem such nice girls.’

‘No, we’re interested in this man,’ Tommy said as he showed Spiros the likeness.

‘Yes, this is Matyas, he used to rent the flat upstairs but I haven’t seen him for at least a couple of years at least. What’s he done?’

‘Nothing as far as we know. Have you got a rental agreement or any document with his full name and perhaps his address in Hungary?’

‘Yes, I suppose I must have but, as I have quite a few properties, I don’t handle the paperwork myself. You’ll need to see my son George, he’s a solicitor and handles all my business paperwork.’

He wrote down an address and gave it to Tommy.

‘What was Matyas like?’ Mac asked.

‘He was quiet, always paid his rent and was one of the few who left the flat better than he found it.’

‘A good tenant then?’

‘One of the best I’ve had.’

‘Was he working while he was here?’

‘He was an educated man, you could tell that, but his English wasn’t so good when he first came here so he was limited in what he could do. He was working hard, too hard in my opinion, for one of those cleaning companies and they were paying him peanuts. So I got him a job with my son, he owns a taxi business.’

‘Is this George again?’ Tommy asked.

‘No, no, no, it’s my son Stelios who owns the taxi business.’

He went behind the counter and came back with a business card for ‘Stelly’s Taxis.’

‘How long did he work on the taxis?’

‘Around six months, then he got a job in the University, I said he was educated. I suppose his English got good enough so he could get a proper job.’

Any idea where he worked in the university?’

Spiros shrugged his shoulders.

‘He didn’t talk about his job much but I think it was something to do with biology but I can’t be sure.’

‘What did he talk about?’ Mac interjected.

‘Football mostly. He knew so much about football that I told him he could have been a one man quiz team. He was from Hungary but we’d talk about the Premier League or Barcelona and Real and we also used to also talk about Greek and Cypriot football, he even knew about my team, AEK Larnica. Then I’d occasionally see him at the football when I took my two younger sons to the game.’

‘Luton Town?’

‘Yes, not exactly Barcelona maybe, but it’s still football.’

‘Do you know why he went back home?’

‘He said his contract at the university had finished and that his English was good enough now.’

‘Good enough for what?’

‘He said that there were lots of American and UK companies moving into Hungary and they’d need translators. I think he was happy to be going home.’

‘Did he have any particular friends that you know of?’

‘No, I think he kept himself to himself most of the time although he did go out for a beer with one of my sons a few times.’

‘Was that George, Stelios or one of the two younger ones?’ Tommy asked.

‘No, no, the younger ones are only ten and twelve, it was my son Dimitrios he went drinking with. Dimitrios is a teacher now but he was a student when Matyas worked at the university.’

‘Does he still live locally?’

‘Not too far away, he teaches in Letchworth, at the St. Hilda’s School and he has a flat not far away from the school.’

Again he wrote down an address and gave it to Tommy.

‘Is there anything else you can tell us?’

‘Don’t you think I’ve said enough?’ Spiros said with a wide smile.

‘Thanks you very much Mr. Andreou,’ Mac said as he and Tommy made to leave.

As Spiros held the door open for him Mac asked, ‘By the way how many sons have you got?’

‘Just the eight,’ Spiros replied, a proud smile covering his face.

Back in the car Tommy said, ‘He’s some character isn’t he?’

‘Certainly is. One of the few I’ve met who might just fit into my friend Tim’s favourite category.’

‘What’s that?’

‘People you wouldn’t mind being locked in a pub with.’

Tommy laughed out loud.

‘Anyway he’s given us more than enough to get on with. So let’s see, we’ve got a solicitor, a taxi owner and a teacher to see.’

‘Are the first two fairly local?’ Mac asked.

‘Yes, not too far,’ Tommy replied.

He looked at his watch, it was just coming up to three o’clock.

‘Dan wanted us back around four and I must admit I’m starting to feel a bit knackered myself. How about you?’

Mac was quite surprised to be able to say, ‘Not too bad actually. Why don’t we try the first two now and if you give me the address I can have a word with the teacher. The school isn’t far from where I live.’

‘Okay, fine with me as it saves me a long trip to Letchworth and back. Right the solicitor’s the nearest, let’s start there.’

They drove out of the narrow streets and onto the wide ring road. Five minutes later they pulled up outside a large modern office block just off one of the main traffic islands.

‘This must be it then,’ Tommy said pointing to a sign which said ‘Spiros House’.

‘When he said he had properties I thought he meant two or three more flats,’ Mac said.

George Andreou Solicitors were on the ground floor, in fact they had all the ground floor.

‘And here was me thinking that it would be a pokey back street operation,’ Tommy said.

‘Assumptions can be so wrong. From all we’ve heard so far our man is hard working, polite and pays his way, not exactly what we were expecting is it?’

A young blonde receptionist asked how she could help.

Tommy showed her his warrant card.

‘We’d like to have a few words with Mr. George Andreou. Is he free?’

She had a look at her screen.

‘He’s in conference now but he’ll be free in fifteen minutes, is that okay?’

‘Yes, yes that’s fine we’ll wait over there,’ he said pointing to a seating area containing a sofa and two easy chairs.

‘What questions do you think we should be asking George Andreou?’

‘We’ll need copies of all documents related to this Matyas. Once we get a name then we’ll be getting somewhere. Unless they knew each other socially that will probably be it.’

A meticulously groomed man in his early forties, wearing a dark tailored suit and shoes you could see your face in approached them. He looked at them with some apprehension.

‘You’re the police? Is everyone okay, it’s not my family or anything?’

‘No, no, nothing like that Mr. Andreou,’ Tommy said as he rose to shake hands. ‘Do you have an office we can use?’

He led them to a small room behind the reception area.

‘I’m sorry, we don’t have the police call here often, I thought it must be something…anyway how can I help?’

Tommy showed the solicitor the likeness.

‘This man, Matyas, used to be a tenant of your father’s. We’d like to know as much about him as possible. Did you ever meet Matyas yourself?’

The solicitor shook his head.

‘No, it’s been quite a few years since I visited the kebab house, I don’t know why my father doesn’t sell it and put his feet up, he certainly doesn’t need the money.’  

‘Would it be possible for us to have copies of any rental agreements that Matyas signed, anything with an address or a signature on?’

‘Certainly, so long as it’s okay with Dad. You won’t mind if I give him a ring?’

‘No, please go ahead.’

The solicitor left the office and returned a few minutes later.

‘Well, it’s okay with Dad and so it’s okay with me. I’ve arranged for someone to locate and copy the documents, they should be with you in five or six minutes. He mentioned that you might want to speak to Stelios too. Just thought I’d warn you that he won’t be out of bed until nine or so, he does the night shift. Now if you don’t mind I’ve got another meeting to go to.’

‘No that’s fine, thank you,’ Tommy said.

Mac quickly interjected, ‘Sorry, before you go I was just wondering what type of solicitors you were, seeing as you don’t have the police calling that often?’

‘We’re business and commercial solicitors, mostly contract work, commercial litigation, property management and so on.’

‘It pays well,’ Mac commented.

When the solicitor smiled he looked more like his father.

‘It certainly does. I’ll see you later gentlemen.’

Tommy checked in with Dan while they waited.

‘They’re still meeting at four which doesn’t give us any time really. If it’s still okay for you to take the teacher I’ll get a few hours sleep and see if I can catch up with the taxi driver around nine or ten. What do you think?’

‘Sounds like a plan to me.’

The receptionist came in a few minutes later and handed over a large manila envelope. In the car Tommy excitedly opened up the envelope.

‘There it is,’ he said triumphantly handing a document to Mac.

A name was printed alongside a signature ‘Matyas Toth-Kiss’.

Tommy’s phone went off and after listening for a while he said, ‘Yes we’ll drop by now on our way back to the station if that’s okay. ’

Turning to Mac he continued, ‘That was Mr. Meszaros, he said his uncle’s remembered something.’