"And Kostarakou?"
"He killed her because she knew of their affair, and he was afraid she would talk. When he realized that we were on to him, he put a gun to his head. And it goes without saying that with the evidence that Karayoryi had collected and that Vlastos was holding on to, Dourou will go down for ten years."
"Marvellous!" I heard Ghikas say at the other end of the line. "Not even the FBI could have come up with a plan like that to protect its good name"
I couldn't have given a shit about the good name of the FBI. What concerned me was that the case was wrapped up, Antonakaki and her daughter didn't come into it anywhere, and Thanassis escaped being denigrated after death as a crooked police officer. And the force with him.
Ghikas stirred me from my thoughts. "I don't think there's any need for me to cut short my leave. You can make the public statement." And he hung up.
Of course. He had his head screwed on. He made only the pleasant statements. The unpleasant ones he left to me. Good cop, bad cop.
I didn't have the energy to go to bed. I collapsed on the sofa. I mused that I had been persistently wrong about Karayoryi. I had thought she was a lesbian, but she simply hated men and exploited them. I had seen her exchanging looks with Thanassis and I had thought she desired him, whereas she already had him by the nose. Strange woman. On the one hand, she had had the child so that she could give it to her sister and save her marriage. And on the other, she'd driven Thanassis to murder and suicide out of a professional perversion. Why had the poor wretch got himself involved with a woman like that? I'd rather have Adriani a thousand times over, even if she does fake her orgasms.
Never mind, it was just as well that Ghikas would not be rushing back. I'd avoid having to write the schoolboy essay for him to relay to the reporters. It was even better that Adriani was away. She was fond of Thanassis. She would batter me with questions, moan about his fate, till she drove me around the bend and we would get into a flaming row. In the end, we'd stop talking to each other again. Till the next batch of stuffed tomatoes.
About the Author
PETROS MARKARIS was born in Istanbul in 1937 and now lives in Athens. His number one bestsellers are published in fourteen languages. He is the author of The Late-night News and Zone Defence, featuring Inspector Costas Haritos.
DAVID CONNOLLY has lived and worked in Greece for over thirty years. He is currently Professor of Translation Studies at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has written extensively on the theory and practice of literary translation and has translated over thirty books by leading Greek authors, for which he has received awards in the UK, the US and Greece.
