22 The Only Hope
Piotr was not a bad driver, but even his heart stopped in his throat when a figure suddenly appeared in front of his hood. He immediately stepped on the brake and swerved. He knew he hadn't hit anyone, but he got out of the car immediately. In the parking lot Magda was sitting, crying.
Had he hit her, he wondered, feeling all the blood running out of his head.
“Magda, did I hit you? Magda!”
The sobbing girl shook her lowered head.
“Are you sure? Are you all right? Should I take you to the hospital?”
She shook her head again and her crying suddenly increased.
“Oppa, my Artur...”
“Artur? What about him?”
Piotr knew Artur. He was Magda's boyfriend, a year older than her. He was training karate kiokushin and even appeared in the Polish championships, where he got the third place - quite well for a rookie.
“Police...” she howled
“Police? What police?”
“They arrested him!”
Having said those words Magda burst into tears. She was crying like a little child who had lost her whole world after dropping a lollipop.
“Arrested? For what?”
“For attempted... murder...”
The young priest was struck by lightning.
For what?
For attempted murder?
Artur?
Impossible.
“It must be some kind of misunderstanding,” he concluded, and he was absolutely sure of it. “Artur is not someone who could kill a man. Let's go to the hotel and you can tell me everything. Can you get up?”
The girl got up, although she wobbled. Helping her up, Piotr checked that she was indeed uninjured. It seemed that there had been no contact with the car and Magda was only very shaken up. Probably because of her boyfriend's predicament she ran right in front of his hood.
Piotr breathed a sigh of relief. If he had hit the girl... He couldn't imagine how he could live with something like that on his conscience. If he had caused her minor injuries, yes, he could still beg her forgiveness, but if he had killed her... The very thought made him shiver. Fortunately he drove slowly and could brake in time.
Magda was so shaken that he helped her to walk. As soon as they crossed the threshold, her mother appeared. She seemed to be really angry, but when she saw the priest, she immediately assumed a very kind expression.
“Oh, may he be praised!” she greeted him. “Are you going to see your cousin?”
“Yes, but on the way I learnt about Magda's misfortune...”
Beata Kniotek looked as if she had just smelled something extremely unpleasant.
“I told her not to get involved with that boy...”
Piotr didn't understand it, but he wasn't a mother. For him Artur was a boy, who, admittedly, a few years ago was a troublemaker and quite often visited the police station, but these were ordinary youthful pranks, and since he went to high school and started practicing karate, he had changed completely.
“If I may... I would like to know what happened?”
“What could have happened? He dragged Magda to a disco and then drunkenly beat up some guy who ended up in the hospital. Apparently he's in a coma.”
From this account it seemed that the case was really serious. Piotr knew nothing about the law, but the coma didn't look good. Then again, so did the murder charges.
Artur would no doubt need legal help, but his parents were not rich. They had three children, one of them disabled, and Artur, the eldest, helped them in the vegetable shop they ran. The whole situation would be a big blow to them financially but especially spiritually - a son accused of attempted murder....
“Magda, is what your mother said true?” he asked the girl.
“No” she exclaimed passionately. “It was me who wanted to go to the disco and we didn't drink at all. When Artur went to the toilet, one jerk started to make fun of me and didn't understand that I wasn't interested! Artur came back and saw that. He hit him, but only once. He fell down, but got up and left with his friends. Artur didn't do anything wrong! He was defending me!”
“If you hadn't gone to that disco, he wouldn't have had to!” replied her mother.
“I am not a nun, I have the right to have fun!”
“But that's the kind of people who go to discos!”
“All kinds of people! Normal people too! Do you think they don't bother me on the street?”
“Because you dress... like this... And that make-up... hair...”
Piotr, who was hanging out with young people a lot and tried to be up to date with the pop culture trends, knew that Magda's style of being was nothing unusual in East Asia and understood why the girl wanted to look like her idols, who were considered icons of beauty and style. In Europe girls wore short skirts and strapless shirts or blouses with very deep necklines, but still they did not show so much femininity and cuteness. On this background Magda looked different and really attracted attention.
“Magda” he turned to the girl changing the topic “have you already testified at the police station?”
“To the police? What’s now?” her mother got angry. “It's not our business! Magda will have nothing to do with the police!”
He understood that she wanted to protect her child, but...
“Mrs. Kniotek, Magda can help her boyfriend, and her name will appear in the case as a witness anyway...”
“I don't care! I'll lock her up if I have to! And the priest should stay out of it!”
Indeed, he should not stick his nose into other people's business, but the girl wiped away her tears and bravely stood beside him - a pillar in which she wanted to find support.
There will be trouble again, Piotr recognized, but he could not just leave these young people. He must support them, at least until someone more competent came along.
“I understand your nervousness. Magda is your dear child and you want to protect her. But she's in no danger in this situation. Magda is just a witness who can...”
“Yes, Magda is my child” she interrupted “and I will decide whether she goes to the police station.”
“I'm already eighteen years old! I will be the one to decide!”
“Not as long as you live under my roof and eat my bread!”
“In that case, you can say goodbye to me! Forever!”
The problem began to escalate and Piotr felt the situation slipping out of his hands. Suddenly, however, he had a flash of insight.
“Adam!” he called out. They both looked at him without understanding. “My cousin... is a lawyer” he explained.
How could he not think of him before? Probably he himself was too much preoccupied with the whole situation, with the tense atmosphere and simply did not think of the simplest possible solution - to ask for help from the lawyer who was at hand.
But was this solution really the simplest? Would Adam, who at that moment was experiencing a crisis of his vocation, want to take part in this case?
“Really?” Magda's eyes lit up with hope and happiness in an instant. A star had just fallen from the sky into her hands. “I have to talk to him...”
“I'd better take care of it” announced Piotr, blocking her way. “Would my cousin, who is a lawyer, be acceptable to you?” He asked the hotel owner.
The woman thought for a moment.
“If nothing happens to my Magda...”
Piotr had already won half of the battle - he convinced Magda’s mother. Now he had to do the same with his cousin. Although he had known him since always and had full confidence in him, he felt that it would be more difficult with him. He headed for the stairs and saw Adam standing at the top of them.
The lawyer had wet hair and an unbuttoned shirt. He looked down with serious, hard eyes. He was pale. When his and Piotr's gazes met, he turned and disappeared down the hallway. At this point, the priest was absolutely certain that it would be almost impossible to convince him.
Adam was afraid of the lawyer's responsibility.