Reckoning Point, стр. 33
Once the room was booked Alex had called Sol and instructed him to hand the DNA evidence to one of the many police that were still milling around Chernobyl. In turn, they were under instructions to courier it to Luke in the UK, who would perform the tests straight away. One of the last items on Alex’s agenda had been to arrange for Elian’s DNA to be made available to Luke. The police had some from the doctor’s who had tended to her in Pripyat, and Alex was happy he wouldn’t have to make the transfer of the product. He wasn’t sure if he could have carried all that remained of her – for the moment – to Luke in a plastic bag.
Before the plane takes off he sneaks his phone out of his pocket and loads the internet app. The Carlton Beach isn’t far from the police station where this Erik Fons is located, only twenty minutes by tram. Ten minutes in a taxi, which Alex knows will be the more likely form of transportation that he will take.
He smiles, thinks of Elian’s disapproving look and concedes; maybe he will get a tram after all. For her.
While he has his phone out, he types Lev’s name into the search engine. Nothing comes up, it didn’t yesterday either or the day before. He had called Sol again, asked him about the name Lev. It was a popular name, but Sol didn’t know of anyone called that in the area. Sol had been more concerned about the constant police and military presence in the area, asking Alex how long they were going to be there, when their quiet little town could go back to normal and did Alex think they would try to turf the remaining residents out of Chernobyl? Alex had no answers for him, and now, he wonders how Sol and Klim and Sissy and the handful of others who remained in Chernobyl would do elsewhere. Sissy and Sol would survive; after all they’d already been Londoners during their lifetimes. But Klim, even though he’d only stayed in the wastelands in the hope that Afia would return to him one day, he wouldn’t do very well in civilisation. As for the Babushka’s, the ancient women who lived from the earth and were all each other had, there was no chance of them leaving. Even if they were bodily carried out of town, they would find a way to sneak back. After all, they had already done that once.
They’re a strange bunch, but sometimes, since returning back to England, Alex feels an odd pang for their way of life. He hopes that one day he’ll see them again and for Ellie’s sake, he hopes she does too.
As the engines start up Alex switches his phone to plane mode and looks out of the window. His first port of call will be the police station and this Erik Fons. There was a brittle edge to Fons’ voice that reminded Alex a little of himself. He hopes the man will be receptive and who knows, perhaps they can end up helping each other.
As the plane rolls down the runway a little bit of the old Alex Harvey comes back.
Erik Fons will help him. Alex will see to it that he will.
31
NAOMI WILSON
THE EIGHT DISTRICTS
8.7.15 Afternoon
Naomi Wilson is well known around the eight districts of Den Haag as well as Amsterdam and Rotterdam. More importantly, she is well liked, by RLD workers, punters and the authorities. Her role isn’t too dissimilar to that of Bram Bastiaan, but maybe because she’s a woman, or perhaps because she’s not at all creepy or judgemental, she is far more popular than the doctor.
Her work is freelance, but supported by the Dutch Healthcare system. She has her own schedule and she travels around the different areas, usually staying in each for three days at a time. The RLD’s in Rotterdam and Amsterdam have a higher volume of healthcare officials, so Naomi’s stay there is usually just one day in each place. Out of every month she is away from home for twenty-six days and during those days away she is not just a nurse, but a counsellor, mother-figure, occasional mediator, peacekeeper and friend.
It’s been her job since she came here after graduating nursing college six years ago. Then, she was wide-eyed and curious, wary of putting a foot wrong or saying the wrong thing. To counter-balance, she ended up not saying very much of anything. Her customers; the girls, their clients and the police and other medical staff, misconstrued this and somehow, over the years, she got a reputation for being a good listening ear. And with this she discovered she could use it for the greater good; she’d receive information on drug pushers or pimps who were over-stepping their territory, bad deals, bad men, bad news. Now, at thirty-years-old, she’s the lynchpin that keeps the society from falling apart. It’s a big responsibility but she’s naturally good at it. Years ago, five years in fact, when she first started dating Erik Fons, she thought she might lose something by getting with him, but if anything, Erik has been a boost in her popularity. Known across Den Haag and the surrounding areas as a fair and straight up cop, Erik only compliments and never hinders her.
Together they are seen as the perfect couple, the one constant in an unstable world. It makes it a huge and impassable barrier now that the work they have put in over the years to live up to their approachable and seemingly idealist existence, is about to come crashing down.
She’s on the way home for her monthly visit