Kouros finished her thought. “Disgusting.”
“And it’s not just politicians. We’ve got business leaders, academics, clerics-” Andreas tossed his hands up in front of his face and waved circles in the air.
“It’s just what Tassos thought from the ledger entries. What’s in here explains why Christos had them all…” Kouros paused…“literally ‘by the balls.’”
“You just had to say that, didn’t you?” Maggie smacked Kouros on the back of his head.
“Now you are acting like my mother.”
The phone rang and Maggie picked it up. “Chief Inspector Kaldis’ office.”
She paused. “Hi, my love. I’m with the Chief and Yianni now. We’re watching porn films. I’ll put you on speakerphone.”
Tassos’ voice came bellowing through the speaker. “Glad to hear you guys are having such a fine time corrupting my girlfriend.”
“We need her. She’s the only one of us who keeps up on who’s prominent in the news,” said Andreas.
“With or without their clothes on,” said Kouros.
Maggie smacked him again.
“Well, I’m back on Syros and just received pictures of another naked body. But you won’t want to see this one.”
“Of Christos?” said Andreas.
“No, his girlfriend. Polish police fished her body out of a pond yesterday in Bialystok. It wasn’t really a pond, more like the cesspool for a toxic waste dump. They identified her from prints taken on a prostitution bust a few years back. The Poles notified Europol they’d found the girl Europol was looking for, and Europol called me.”
“How’d she die?”
“Drowned and strangled. But not in the cesspool. Best guess from what they found in her lungs is a bathtub. Probably raped, too. And there was no effort to hide the body. It was thrown naked into the cesspool, not even weighted down.”
“It has to tie into Christos’ murder,” said Kouros.
“The question is, ‘How?’” said Andreas.
“Local police said she left Poland a few years back after her boyfriend was arrested for drug dealing. He spent two years in prison. Just got out six weeks ago.”
“About the same time as the girlfriend’s first trip back to Poland,” said Kouros.
“Sounds like we have a suspect in two murders,” said Andreas.
“Wish it were that easy. I’ve seen photographs of the boyfriend. He’s about six-four, with blue eyes, light hair, and movie star good looks. He’s definitely not one of the two guys we caught on security cameras with the girlfriend on Mykonos.”
“What about those two? Any leads?” said Andreas.
“I sent photos taken off the security videos to the Polish police for an ID. Haven’t heard back yet.”
“We need a break,” said Kouros.
“At least the Polish police know who they’re looking for,” said Maggie.
“But where?” said Andreas. “From the sloppy way they disposed of the girl’s body I don’t think they intended on hanging around Bialystok. Or Poland for that matter.”
Tassos said, “If they headed east they could be in any of those ex-soviet peripheral satellites. It’s the Wild West out there. No way Europol will find them if that’s where they are.”
Andreas rubbed at his eyes. “Somehow I don’t think heading east is what they had in mind. Why kill the girl in a place where she could be identified if they were heading to a no-man’s land? No one would have cared what they did to her there.”
“And they could have sold her off to sex traders for fast cash,” said Kouros.
“Maybe she didn’t want to go and they were afraid she’d talk?” said Maggie.
“I don’t think so, my love. From what Christos’ maid overheard of the dead girl’s conversation with her boyfriend, she’d have followed him anywhere.”
“And she did,” said Kouros.
“So, why did they kill her?” said Maggie.
“Don’t know,” said Tassos. “But my guess would be that she no longer figured in their plans.”
“What plans?” said Kouros.
“Don’t know that either,” said Tassos.
Andreas shrugged. “Which means our best chance at finding a clue is likely in this briefcase.”
“Sounds like you have an exciting evening ahead of you,” said Tassos.
“Just a long one. The characters on these videos aren’t exactly movie star quality,” said Andreas.
“They even make you look good, Tassos,” said Kouros.
“Says the kitten to the tiger,” said Maggie.
“That’s my girl. You tell him.”
“Have the Polish police talked to the boyfriend?” said Andreas.
“Not yet. They can’t find him. They went to the address in Bialystok he gave when released from prison but the person living there said he never showed up. They think by now he’s out of the country.”
“Then they have him on a parole violation,” said Kouros.
“Nope. He served his full sentence. His debt to society is paid in full. And there’s an application underway to expunge his record of the conviction based on newly discovered exculpatory evidence showing he was framed for the drug bust by a competitor.”
“Why does that not make me feel comfortable?” said Andreas.
Maggie answered. “Because you’re a cop. You know better.”
“If the Polish police identify the dead girl’s two companions, maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll turn up somewhere they can be arrested,” said Kouros.
“If you’re into wishing, don’t forget to have the boyfriend with them. He’s the one I’d like to get my hands on,” said Andreas.
“Careful what you wish for,” said Maggie. “Sounds like a cold-blooded bastard to me.”
“I’m not looking to make him my next-door neighbor, Maggie. I want to find out what the hell is going on.”
“I’ll just be happy to nail the two bastards who murdered Christos,” said Tassos. “The rest of this is far too stressful for a man of my advanced years.”
“In other words, you think it’s a political hot potato,” said Andreas.
“More like radioactive.”
“Are you suggesting we end it with catching the two and forget about the boyfriend?”
“Would you listen if I did?” said Tassos.
“No.”
“Good, we need cops like you to keep cops like me from corrupting Yianni with ideas like self-preservation.”
“I love you.”
“I assume that was Maggie.”
“Yes, dear, and now if you’ll excuse us we have a lot of hard work left to do tonight.”
Kouros smiled. “Not so hard from what I’ve seen so far on the videos.”
Maggie smacked him twice more.
***
It was after three in the morning when Andreas crept into the bedroom. He’d showered in a guest bathroom at the other end of the apartment, and left his clothes outside the bedroom door. The room was pitch black but he dared not turn on a light. Gently, he pulled back the covers on his side of the bed and carefully slid in on his back next to his wife.
“You’re getting better at this, but still need some work on the cover pulling part.”
“Sorry, I tried not to wake you.”
“I’m just a light sleeper. I guess I’ve become a cop-wife. Always worried until her man is safely home.”
Images of that afternoon’s gunfight flashed though Andreas’ mind. He rolled onto his side and kissed Lila on the cheek.
“Is that all I get for such a moment of life-realizing clarity?” said Lila.
“Put it on my account.”
“You still owe me for the last time you said that.”
He laughed.
Lila ran her hand along his belly, stopping to feather her fingers just below his navel before sliding down to grip his testicles gently with her fingers and wrap her thumb around the base of his penis. She drew her fingers up and around to join her thumb and began firmly pulling up and down.
Ten seconds later she stopped, dropping her hand as she did. “Am I doing something wrong? Do you want me to go down on you?”
Andreas stretched toward his nightstand and turned on the lamp.
“Sorry. It has nothing to do with you. I just spent the afternoon and most of the night looking at some of the kinkiest pornographic videos you could imagine.”