Wojcik didn't stay for long either. He left shortly after four and told the dispatcher to reach him on his mobile phone in case of urgency. Although, he didn't expect for anything extraordinary to happen that night.
The rain was pouring out of the sky when Edmond walked out of the police station. As soon as he got into his car, he called his wife to ask her if she was still at work.
Mercy ran a hobby shop, selling yarn and other knitting materials. She hadn't left yet and Wojcik told her to wait as he would come to pick her up. The wall of rain prevented him from speeding up, as the wipers failed in clearing water from the windscreen. When Edmond arrived at the shop, his wife was standing outside, waiting for him under the retractable awning of her shop window. He pulled over next to her and opened the passenger door for her to get in.
"How come you've finished so early today?" Mercy asked, mechanically grabbing for the visor. She was a slender, middle-aged woman, with a stylish dark bob cut. Her grey eyes peered into the mirror as she checked her hair.
"My new Detective Sergeant closed all the cases for today. Just think of it! He's such a try hard. I let him leave early and decided to go home as well. They'll call me if something happens."
"Well, let's hope nothing will happen because tonight we're eating your favourite grilled ribs!"
The Wojciks lived on the fifth floor of a comfortable apartment on the Resovian avenue in the New Town, looking out on the Culture Park and the Vislok river. Edmond loved coming home to his sunlit house, to the smell of food coming from the kitchen, and to Mercy making dinner, listening to the TV in the living room. That picture would've been perfect if the rooms of their apartment were filled with child laughter and toys lying all over the place.
They always wanted to have children, but for some reason Mercy couldn't get pregnant.
Doctors told them that they were both perfectly healthy and ready to have kids, and that perhaps stress, and timing were at fault. At a certain point, Wojcik stopped worrying about it. He realised that his wife wasn't getting any younger and their chances of having children were getting smaller with each year. Edmond was forty and she was forty-three. Their difference in age was nothing compared to the scandalous age gaps between old sugar daddies or mommies and their much younger love companions of the times. However, it was a big deal to Mercy. She suffered from not having children more than Wojcik did, and her being older than her husband made her in a way feel guilty and responsible for their childless marriage.
Edmond had never blamed her for that. Secretly, he was glad they didn't have kids. Not because he didn't love them. The thought of the great responsibility that came with having children frightened him. Being an Inspector wasn't as dangerous as patrolling the streets of the Sub Sarmatians, however if something happened to him, his family would lose the support and protection he provided. Mercy could take care of herself on her own, but Wojcik wasn't sure if she would make it with a baby, especially at her age. Because no matter the issues she dealt with, she believed she still could get pregnant at forty-three.
"Dinner's ready!"
Wojcik had changed his working clothes for his comfortable training costume. He liked to walk barefoot when he was at home, which always made Mercy mad.
"Are you barefoot again?! Where are your slippers?" Mercy exclaimed. Edmond playfully mimicked her voice and sat down at the table.
"Tell me something about that new guy, what's his name again?"
Mercy served the oval plate with the grilled ribs.
"Ivan Farnicki. Well, as I said, he's a bend over, like all of us on the first day of work," he chuckled, "but he's a good police officer."
"But you don't seem to be so sure of that?"
"Oh, I'm sure of him being good at what he does. He proved this today. I'm not so sure of him as a person, though. He's hiding something from me."
Wojcik opened a new jar with his favourite honey pickles. If Mercy didn't stop him, he could finish the pot at once. He took a pickle out and ate it before touching the head course.
"What do you mean, he's hiding something from you?"
"The reason why he came to Resovia. He's from Wroclaw," Mercy opened her eyes widely in surprise on hearing that, "and he claims that he wanted a change of scenery. His own words, I'm not making things up. Besides, something is wrong with him. He's extremely skinny. I'd even say he looks emaciated."
"Maybe he's sick?"
"That's what I thought, but I didn't find any mention of it in his medical record."
"You think he's on drugs?"
"No, you silly!" Wojcik snorted, "It's not drugs. It's something different. Something in the eyes. I think he suffers from some mental condition."
"Well, he must be if he changed Wroclaw for the Sub Sarmatians!" Mercy blurted out. Wojcik almost choked on the piece of meat in his mouth as he tried to hold back his laughter.