The white van cut through the veil of snowfall, its wheels going from left to right trying to avoid the wide gaping holes on the road. Just ahead, two policemen stood by a small two-story building that looked to be at the brink of collapse.
Inside the vehicle, Mayhew looked at the distant building and the two policemen standing by it. Knowing what Deven had written about the police force in this town definitely made the detective uneasy.
Although corrupt cops were something that Mayhew was unfortunately familiar with...and from a young age at that.
"Guys, you should probably get ready to be checked. Just so you know, the police here will check you very—very thoroughly."
Mayhew's thoughts were cut off by the creaky voice of Józef. Glancing at the old man, he smiled lightly.
"It's alright, we are used to it at this poi—"
The old man let out a forced cough to interrupt the hazel-eyed detective.
Looking back at Mayhew with a straight face, Józef spoke in an uncomfortable tone.
"I don't think you get what I mean. I am sure that you at least will be alright, but your partner...she might get checked very 'thoroughly', you get me?"
Suddenly, Mayhew's soft smile turned to a deep frown as he caught the meaning about the old man's words.
Margret, who was sitting next to him, could not speak Polish, so she didn't understand anything that the two of them were saying. That was probably for the better.
Józef sighed as he saw that they were just a few minutes away from the ruined police building. Without looking at the detective, the old man gave one last piece of advice.
"I know that you are a polite person by nature, it wasn't that hard to tell. But if you want your partner to not get messed with, you better stand your ground and look a little more intimidating, alright?"
Mayhew took a short pause before nodding.
"Stop there!"
One of the policemen yelled from the right, with the other officer circling to the other side of the van with slow steps.
Old man Józef rolled down the window and looked at the officer with a natural expression on his wrinkly, plump face.
"Passports? ID? I got it all, don't worry."
The middle-aged policeman scoffed and waved a hand across the freezing air.
"Yeah, yeah, sure you do. Now get down so we can search you."
Józef could only hold off a sigh and nod hesitantly.
The three of them all got out of the van and moved toward the dilapidated police building. Both Mayhew and Margret widened their eyes slightly as they left the embrace of the van. The land around this place had already made them feel uneasy, but now that they were outside and didn't have a metal box on wheels covering them, they finally realized how terrifying it actually was.
There was nothing around—zero, no trees or bushes or animals. It was just flat snow land from every angle except from where the town of Pustków actually began. Here outside, it was them, Józef, the two police officers, and the run-down building—and everything else was just snow for as far as the eye could see.
At this moment, Mayhew couldn't help but think back to the survivors of gang violence that Józef had mentioned.
'They had to travel across this landscape...by foot. I can't imagine a fate worse than that.'
While the two foreign detectives took in the dreadful view, the two local police officers went over Józef's van and began to check everything inside it—including Mayhew's and Margret's luggage cases. The old man took the time to smoke a cigarette and stare at the distant buildings that were barely visible due to the heavy snowfall.
Soon enough, the two police officers got out of the van and walked over to old man Józef.
Their eyes did not scream of joy.
One of the officers got right up to the old man's face, his lips almost touching his cigarette. Józef, being the experienced veteran of this area that he was, seemed completely unbothered by this and stood his ground without hesitation.
The middle-aged police officer spoke, his voice laced with venom.
"You know you're not welcomed here anymore, right? You left them completely on your own terms, no pressure or confusion at all. So why are you back?! You want me to call them up and take care of your old ass?!"
Again, the old man seemed unbothered. Letting the cigarette slip from his fingers and into the snow, Józef stepped on it and smothered it out. His expression remained natural as he looked at the officer.
Then he slowly moved his hand into his right pocket and pulled out some cash. Moving the Polish złoty into the cop's hand, Józef smiled.
"Officers, you look very tired. How about you go ahead and buy yourself some coffee and let me drop off my passengers. I promise I'll be quick. No one will even know I was here."
There was a long pause where Józef and the officer were stuck in a staring contest.
Eventually, though, the officer's gaze slowly shifted from the old man's eyes to the money in his hand.
Scoffing, the police officer grabbed the money with as much aggression as he could.
"You better be out of here in less than two hours, old man. Now go and drop off these two Brits."
Józef waved a hand to signal to the detectives to climb back into the van. Both of them did not seem eager to spend another second outside as they very quickly got inside the van.
Soon enough, the trio was back to driving through the thick snowfall—on their way they passed two other buildings that were a part of the original three buildings that they had spotted from a distance. It seemed that these three buildings were nothing more than just temporary outposts for corrupt border officers that took money from everyone that wasn't a member of a gang.
'Are these cops corrupt or just gang members pretending to be cops?' Mayhew couldn't help but wonder to himself.
After a few more minutes of driving, the road that they were driving on finally began to improve—only by a little, but it was an improvement. All around them, Soviet-styled buildings—some barely hanging on while some were already half collapsed—surrounded them from all sides, and the image of the never-ending snow land was finally out of Mayhew's sight.
They were here. Pustków town.
It was called a town, but as the van drove deeper and deeper into it, Mayhew could see that the so-called 'town' was more so equivalent to a small city rather than a large town.
The two detectives looked outside and saw the locals drift around the sidewalks.
It seemed that the population of Pustków was much smaller when compared to its size. Or maybe the people were just all inside their homes, as today the snowfall was much more than usual.
"Hey Mayhew, I know a place where you can rent an apartment for a pretty low price. I can take you there if you'd like."
Mayhew looked over at Józef, a genuine smile illuminating his face.
"I thank you for all the help you have given us, sir. We wouldn't have been able to make it here without you. Your work today warrants extra payment, and please don't refuse it."
The old man chuckled.
"Do I look wealthy to you? Of course I am not going to refuse."