4 A Helping Hand

Adam never, not even for a moment, thought he could be wrong in Kwiecień's case. It was immediately apparent how sloppily the investigation had been conducted. And Kwiecień himself gave the impression of a man hounded by those who held power over him. It did not take long for it to come out that the confession was coerced. And that was the turning point of the trial proceedings. Even the media then sided with them by pointing out the police brutality and recalling all the cases of torture that were used in police stations. One journalist even dug up some new one involving the use of a stun gun that threatened to be a huge scandal.

Attorney Lechoń triumphed, and with him justice. For three days Adam was a hero to the media, his colleagues, but most of all to himself. He finally saved a man.

No, not a man. A monster. A beast that, once out from behind bars, was unable to stop its criminal urges and immediately found another victim.

"...open please... Adam..."

Lechoń raised his head from his glass of vodka. Now he could clearly hear the sound of the bell, a knock on the door and a muffled but familiar voice coming from behind it.

"Piotr?" he asked, standing up with difficulties.

Of course, it couldn't be Piotr, because he couldn't be here, but the voice from behind the door had to belong to him. Adam walked in the direction from which the noise was coming and looked through the peephole. He saw the silhouette of a man in a black leather jacket and the distorted face he knew so well.

"Piotr?" He asked opening the door. "What are you doing here...?"

He wasn't able to finish the question as the strong arms of his visitor suffocated him. In one moment Adam felt happy, touched, safe and ashamed.

"Stop it" he slid out of his arms like an eel. "We're not kids anymore to make out."

"What is wrong with people our age?"

"It's not appropriate" Adam announced letting him in.

"Is your battery dead?" asked Piotr in passing, but Adam knew better. "I called, but the subscriber was out of network range."

"I turned it off. Too many unwanted calls."

Lechoń closed the door. As soon as he turned towards the apartment, he met Piotr's watchful, concerned gaze.

"How are you feeling?"

Anyone else Adam might have tried to lie to, but not Piotr, with whom he practically grew up and who had been the confidant of his secrets for over twenty years. Piotr was two years older than him, and consequently always taller and wiser. He always knew better, but instead of getting wise about it, he offered advice. He was like this Zawisza[1], always trustworthy and as sensitive to human misfortune as Adam.

So he could not lie to Piotr, but he could not tell him the truth either.

"How can I feel?" He asked with a hint of sarcasm. The bottle of vodka and the glass on the table were telling signs of his condition. One did not have to be a psychologist or criminologist to interpret the evidence and link it to his emotional state.

"Pack your bags," ordered Piotr firmly.

"What for?"

"What do you mean, 'what for'? You're coming with me. A new hotel has just been built in the area and is waiting for the season to open. The staff is still minimal and they haven't even opened the kitchen, but they could use a guinea pig before the traffic starts for good."

"You talked to Niedziałek" Adam felt uneasy about that. It was always like that when on any level his private life mixed with his professional one.

"Not being able to reach you during working hours, I dropped by your office and had a chat with your boss. That's not a crime, is it? Well, unless you're ashamed of me?"

"Yeah, right, the only saint I know."

Piotr smiled radiantly.

"Well, because I'm a saint, I can't leave a friend in need or my charges, so I have to reconcile one with the other. And it is easier to transport one man. Do you know how many buses I would have to hire to transport them here? Do you know how many? A lot. So don't make it harder for the saint to do his job."

"You don't have to do it..."

"I have to, after all I am a 'saint'. How could I leave my fellow man in need?"

Adam smiled faintly, but sincerely. Piotr was truly a prodigy. He was the only one who could see into his heart and guess his needs. But the guessing didn't stop there. He always found a solution and presented it in such a way as not to burden anyone with guilt. Lechoń was wholeheartedly grateful to him for having come into his life at that very moment because he had become his salvation again.

***

They arrived in Masuria as dusk was falling. Piotr parked his old, dilapidated Matiz (which did not fit his personality at all) in front of the entrance to a new log building and turned off the engine.

"Well, here we are," he announced enthusiastically. "We are in a high standard hotel, but don't expect anyone to open the car door for you. You are here on business, not as a VIP."

Piotr was like that for the entire several hours of driving - half joking, half teasing. Adam knew that this was his way of showing concern for him. To tiptoe around him would be unnatural and embarrassing. Bizarre. But it was precisely thanks to this behavior that Lechoń knew how much Piotr worried about him. He felt gratitude for this, but also a sense of guilt. Here he was burdening someone close to him with his damaged self.

In fact, no one came out in front of the hotel, but there was a light on at the reception desk, even though it was empty.

"It's nice here, isn't it?" said Piotr and nonchalantly pressed the bell. "It's familiar and elegant at the same time. The original design by a world famous architect. Although in Masuria the hotel has an indoor pool, you know, in case of bad weather. But don't rejoice, it's not ready yet. As far as I know, they'll be working on it for another week. Well, where are they?" he showed impatience for the first time and hit the bell again.

Adam politely looked around the new hotel, but paid no attention to any part of it. A hotel, like a hotel he decided, not being in the mood to get curious about anything. Even the polite interest he tried to show was too much for him. He was going to spend a pleasant vacation in a beautiful, quiet place, while the families of the murdered boys would not be able to get even a minute of peaceful sleep.

"Hi, oppa" a teenage girl wearing a black T-shirt with a huge EXO inscription and short yellow shorts, with colorful, flashy make-up and long hair tied in two high ponytails, whose color changed from black at the roots to lighter and lighter, almost blonde at the bottom, to end up with intense pink, came out from behind one of the doors. The girl chewed gum cheekily and looked at Adam as if she was judging a thoroughbred horse.

"Hi, Magda. Your parents aren't here?"

"Father went to get some missing materials and mother went to my aunt's. Don't worry, oppa, everything is ready. Here is the key" she gave Piotr the key card. "Shall I take you there, or will you find it?"

"We will. Thanks."

"If you're hungry, it's self-service. There are no delicacies, but you can treat yourself to my supply of ramiun."

"Thanks, we'll manage," he winked at her and gently pushed Adam towards the stairs.

The girl looked behind them for a moment, then put on her headphones and walked back from where she came.

"A problem child?" asked Lechoń looking at the teenager.

"Madzia? No in a life. Well, maybe a little for the parents. A great girl, I tell you. What makes you think she is problematic?"

"You know, the way she is..."

"Her manner? What do you have against it? That she is all dolled up and cool? It's K-pop."

"It's K-pop. What?"

"Don't you know the latest trends? K-pop. Korean pop. It's a colorful subculture from the Republic of Korea. EXO T-shirt, colorful hair, stuff like that."

"T-shirt with what?"

"EXO. Don't you know it? It's a boy band from Korea. They performed at the opening of the Pyongchang Olympics. Or maybe at the end? They did this show with the carts. They wore white jackets. You really don't know what I'm talking about."

"No, and I'm surprised that you do…"

[1] Zawisza Czarny, a Polish knight from the late 14th and early 15th centuries, famous for his bravery, honor, and reliability. A saying "to rely on someone like on Zawisza" has even entered everyday language, meaning to be able to trust him completely even in the most difficult situations.