Chapter 192 - 6

The body lying on the metal table - still, stiff, with an earthy blue tint, was surprisingly small. Filigree, you could say. However, it did not resemble a doll, except one that had been thrown in the garbage, where she had spent several days in the rain and rubbish.

No, Mężyński's body was not dirty, it was carefully prepared for examination, which was carried out with great precision, but the bruises on his small hands on his thin face and torso deprived him of something valuable. Without an autopsy, Deputy Commissioner Lila Andryszek could say that she had before her eyes a victim of a violent death, a brutal beating. The deceased was young, he was only eighteen years old, and even in his frozen face you could read that he was a pretty boy in life. He reminded her a bit of the famous actor, Dominik Śliwiński, whose films she loved before the police academy. However, it was enough to look at him for a long moment to notice significant differences in their appearance.

He was so young. So cute and probably so capable, since he got the job. His whole life was opening up to him when someone suddenly trampled them down with boots of violence.

"It looks like we are dealing with an attempted rape" explained Patryk, who conducted the autopsy. Usually calm and cold as the morgue he worked in, he was showing sympathy now. This surprised Lila, who looked at him more closely. Was Patryk also affected by the brutality and nonsense of this death? "The boy defended himself sharply. We picked up some epidermis from under his nails. Besides, the attacker wasn't careful enough. We've secured sperm traces."

"Sexual assault" Andryszek shook her head.

"Yes, it happens not only with women, although it is louder about them. Men are usually ashamed to report to the police."

"Have you found any traces of prior sexual abuse?"

"No. The boy was gay, but there are no signs of excesses on his body. It looks like a one-off situation. Before that, he had anal intercourse, but it was not forced. We do sperm DNA comparative testing."

"Something tells me they won't agree," she muttered under her breath, but Patryk heard her.

"Probably not. His lover cared for him while..."

Patryk did not have to finish for Lila Andryszek to understand him. What happened to this boy was simply beastly.

She sighed. Marek Marczak did not have the best reputation and she knew at least three policemen who would like to suck him - figuratively, of course - but the guy's back was too wide. Arrogant, brazen and with impunity, he avoided more than one investigation. How? Probably bribes, intimidation and blackmail. This man had half of the politicians, judges and other prominent figures in his hand, and although his name appeared in the investigations, there was no reason to build a case against him. He was working in white gloves. He wasn't an angel, he was a criminal, but he seemed to have something good about him. He cared for his lover. Could he even love him?

"You think Marczak will give us a DNA sample?" Lila Andryszek heard her partner ask.

"I don't know," she shook her head. "One like him will probably refuse without a court order and that could take weeks."

"If we get it at all," he snarled. "Then we should ask him politely."

Andryszek did not like his tone, as arrogant as it is malicious. She did not recognize her partner. Święcki usually behaved quite differently - logically and analytically. He was a good investigator who did not get carried away. Maybe it was this case that had worked on him that way. A young man, still a kid, beaten to death in an attempted rape - when they found such women, something twitched inside her - disgust, repulsion, indignation and a desire to punish the degenerate. These emotions surfaced with each subsequent victim. Did Artur and Patryk feel the same? Why? Gender solidarity?

However, Święcki was right, they can ask Marczak politely and count on his cooperation. It was enough just to approach him well.

"Leave that to me," she said. "I'll ask him as soon as we confirm his alibi."

***

Andryszek did not like the expression on Święcki's face. They just finished talking to Nowicki, who, however, did not give Marczak a full alibi. Besides, the photographer himself seemed strangely moved. Could he have anything to do with the case?

They couldn't connect him to her yet. Even trying to do it was too early. Artur looked stupid because Marczak's alibi was not certain. When they meet him again now, he is sure to attack.

"We have him now," he confirmed her fears as they got into the car.

"I'm not convinced it's him."

"What are you, did you graduate yesterday?"

"If you close yourself to other possibilities, we may lose the real culprit."

"Marczak is the perpetrator."

He was extremely stubborn. She had been working with him for thirteen months, but had not yet seen him so blind. Usually he carefully analyzed the facts.

"Do you have anything against him personally?"

Święcki suddenly regained his composure and darkened.

"There are voices that he once beat his lover."

"Is that a liable information?"

"I guess so."

"Do you know who it was?

"Maybe."

"You can base your investigation on rumors, but you will need evidence for an arrest warrant," she recalled. She felt strange with Święcki's explanation. So Marczak really beat someone up? "Do you know anything else about it?"

"The boy wanted to break up with him and Marczak was carried away. He hit him and overpowered him. He tried to r**e him."

"You're kidding! And he didn't go to the police?"

"Now you're the one kidding. How many such reports do we receive? Women are ashamed, let alone men..."

"You would report something like that if, you know...?"

"Never in my life. And you would report?"

"I…"

Andryszek gritted her teeth. Shame prevented her from finishing her speech. If someone wanted to r**e her, she would have gotten his balls off.

"How did that case end? What about that boy?"

"Everything is ok. Someone helped him and nothing happened. There is a Samaritan."

"But ... how do you know all this?"

"You know I have my plugs. A friend of a friend and so on."

"So maybe it's not true after all..."

"You know, I won't hesitate to ask Marczak about it..."

The opportunity came after forty minutes, when they broke through the traffic jams in Warsaw and returned to Marek Marczak's office. The guy looked impassive, and even though he was approached a second time that same day, he greeted them politely.

"It turns out that your alibi is not entirely certain" attacked Święcki. "Nowicki said he was asleep."

The manager smiled charmingly.

"I didn't expect him to lie. It's not that type. Did he also point out that I am the last pig?"

"Not straight. And should he?"

"I'm not one of his favorites."

"And yet you were drinking together last night."

"I didn't say that. He was the one who got drunk, I just drove him to my place."

"Why not him?"

"It's his private affair. Does it matter in the investigation?"

"If you wanted to craft an alibi..."

"Then I wouldn't take an honest idiot who would challenge them. Commissioner, I see you don't like me, but focus on catching the murderer who killed Iwo."

"You do not look very moved by his death" said Andryszek.

"I don't think I realize he's really dead. Or maybe he was more indifferent to me than you think."

The policewoman gritted her teeth. Talking to this guy was not easy. He seemed to politely answer all the questions, but arrogance showed through him as if through tracing paper.

"You asked how Mężyński died," she said, watching him closely. "It was obvious at first glance that he had been brutally beaten. His body was completely injured. However, the pathologist explained to us that it was a sexual assault."

Marczak's face twitched. The policewoman could not read it yet, but she had the impression that haughtiness and arrogance were only a ceramic mask that had begun to crack. She was very curious to see what she would reveal when she fell.

"Someone… hurt him like that?" He asked, his voice harsh.

"It was an attempted r**e. Mężyński defended himself to such an extent that the attacker killed him. If he hadn't defended himself so much, he would probably be alive."

"I didn't know he was so stupid."

"Stupid?" Lila Andryszek wasn't sure she understood correctly.

Marczak looked into her eyes and she read the answer in them. Yes, stupid. After all, she herself said that if he had not defended himself, he would have been alive.

Yes, he would live as a victim of brutal r**e, wounded for life, wearing wounds that would not heal for years, and then scars that would remind him of this nightmare every day.