‘Eh?’ grunted Backhouse.
‘Sum up Baryshnikov for me,’ said Straker.
‘Confident.’
‘Sure of himself.’
‘Cocky.’
‘Arrogant.’
‘Son-of-a-bitch.’
Straker nodded before asking: ‘How comfortable did Baryshnikov seem to you during that press conference?’
‘Hardly any of those things,’ answered Backhouse. ‘But who cares, Matt – I sodding well hope he is uncomfortable having ratted us out.’
‘So you agree – he wasn’t behaving as he would normally?’
‘Why should we care?’
‘For this very simple reason: Did he look like a willing participant to you?’
The others didn’t answer.
‘There was also one particular phrase he used,’ Straker added, ‘that seemed so completely out of place.’
‘Which was what?’
‘“On my mother life”?’
The others looked blank.
Straker looked slightly impatient for a moment. ‘What's the significance of that? Do you know?’
The other two shook their heads.
Straker answered: ‘He said it as part of his answer to your question about the “black boxes”. What if I told you that he seemed to look me straight in the eye as he said it?’
They arrived at the Brandeis offices twenty minutes later. Up on the meeting-room floor, Straker and McMahon peeled off to a separate meeting room down the corridor. They found Pokrovsky and two of his researchers already there. Having closed the door, Straker and McMahon sat at chairs around the table.
‘We think we have some potential leads,’ said the research leader.
‘Good,’ replied Straker.
‘But, we’ve also hit a number of dead ends.’
‘Okay.’
‘We’ve been looking into the venue for the Zhar-ptitsa Autodrom. We’ve looked into the previous ownership of the site. We have tried to look into the transfer of the land, and the planning permission sought for – and granted – to build the Grand Prix circuit complex. We have found some information on the property development company that built the complex, and some on the current operating company that runs the circuit.’
‘Sounds good,’ replied Straker.
‘Let's look at the site first then,’ offered Pokrovsky. ‘Its location, the Nagatinskaya Poyma Park, was public property – a common, effectively – until the Grand Prix circuit came along. Word has it this park was signed over to the Moscow Grand Prix via a 999-year lease.’
‘Is that kind of arrangement usual in Russia?’ Straker asked.
A folder was produced and handed to him. ‘As a lease, yes. Of a public park? No. Because of our continually changing political and governmental histories, we can’t say yet that there is a “usual” in Russia.’
‘Fair enough. Has a transfer of common land into new ownership ever been done before?’
‘Not that we can find.’
Straker nodded. ‘ To which entity, then, was the land transferred?’
‘That's not in the public domain,’ replied Pokrovsky. ‘But we are pretty sure the lessee was Moscow 100.’
‘At least that would be consistent with what you found earlier?’
‘What we didn’t know earlier is that there was no public consultation or announcement ahead of this transfer.’
‘Who would have the authority to sign common land like this away?’
Pokrovsky shrugged. ‘The park itself falls into the Southern Okrug – or administrative district. We would be surprised, though, if any local politician at that level of government had the power to dispose of public rights and ownership of such an ancient park as this. The Southern Okrug is little more than a small suburban municipality.’
‘Who did give the authority, then?’
‘We don’t know – because we can’t get to see any lease agreement. None of this documentation is in the public domain, either. Office rumour, though, points to City Hall.’
