“Me? Hardly. Just a financial analyst.”
Kolak smiled. “Of course. With Hendley Associates. We checked you out, remember?”
“Anything else you need to know? I have a plane to catch.”
“Not until tomorrow morning, if I’m not mistaken. Vueling Flight 1405 to Rome, eight forty-two a.m.”
“What else do you want from me?”
“Just a few more questions. You said that Emir Jukic made the call to the Bosnian police?”
“Yes.”
“And you saw him make the call?”
Jack shook his head. “No, as a matter of fact. But Aida trusts him, and for what it’s worth, we met up with him thirty minutes later. He didn’t have any bloodstains on him or anything, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“I wouldn’t suggest Emir killed those men. But perhaps he didn’t call the police as he said he did.”
“Or maybe he did. Maybe the police he called are the ones who killed those men.”
“We checked with the local cops. They never received such a phone call.”
“And you believe them?”
“Frankly, no. We accessed their phone records. No calls were made to the local station on the afternoon of that day.”
“So you think Emir called someone else, and that’s who killed those men?”
Kolak flashed another mouthful of crooked teeth. “Who can say?”
Jack checked his watch.
“Big date tonight, Jack?”
“Something like that.”
“I hate to take up so much of your time, but just one or two more questions, if I may.”
“Shoot.”
“Tell me about your visit to the Peace and Friendship Center. What did you think about it?”
“I’m impressed that your government allowed it in the first place. With unemployment so high in your country, I wouldn’t think you would want more immigrants.”
“We don’t. But it looks good to the pencil pushers in Brussels, and my government very much wants to join the EU. By taking in refugees, it solves a problem for Brussels, and makes us look more humanitarian for helping ‘poor Muslims.’”
“You sound cynical.”
“I’m a Catholic Croat. I’m sick and tired of always hearing about the suffering Muslims. I’m sure Ms. Curic filled your head with her propaganda about their unique victim status in our country.”
“She told me about the Croatian-fascist Ustaše during the last war, if that’s what you’re referring to.”
Kolak nodded. “Yes, of course she would. They were terrible, brutal killers, for sure. But I wonder, as she was giving you her history lesson, did she tell you about World War Two? About how Heinrich Himmler recruited not one but two entire Nazi SS divisions composed entirely of Bosniak Muslims? Judging by the look on your face, I imagine not. And if you want a real shock, Google the history of the German Nazis and the Muslim Brotherhood, the grandfather of all modern jihadis.”
Kolak leaned forward again. “History isn’t what we choose to forget, is it? If it weren’t for the Catholic Poles saving Vienna from the Turks in 1683, we’d all be Muslims now, wouldn’t we?”
“Can I go?”