She shut her eyes and dropped her head. “In the wall next to the living room fireplace. Under white marble tiles.”
***
“Hi, honey, I’m home,” Andreas yelled from the entry foyer of their apartment.
He heard a loud whine coming at him from the next room. It sounded like a missile. Around the corner it came, headed straight at him. He bent down, waited until it was right upon him, and swooped it into the air, spinning it round and round above his head. The whine turned to laugher and spurts of, “Daddy home, daddy home.”
“You sure know how to draw a crowd, my darling,” said Lila walking into the foyer. “But be careful, I was in the middle of changing Tassaki’s diaper. He’s likely armed and dangerous.”
“So, what else is new?”
“Was Mykonos that bad?”
“Just business as usual. Bad guys and bizarre behavior.” Andreas kissed Tassaki on the cheek, nibbled at his belly, and put him down on the floor. Tassaki shot off in the direction of his mother but went right by her.
“Marietta will intercept him before he can do much damage.”
Andreas put his hands on Lila’s waist and kissed her on the lips.
“The kid gets a whole spin in the air and the mother just a peck?”
Andreas smiled. “He came at me naked.”
Lila laughed. “Any news on finding Christos’ killers?”
Andreas gestured no. “Just that the Russian guy I’m convinced must be behind it all turned up bold as brass on Mykonos looking to buy the Asteria hotel.”
“Did Christos have anything to do with that hotel?”
“Nothing.”
“Is the Russian trying to take over Christos’ club?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Then why do you think he had anything to do with Christos murder?”
“He shared the same girlfriend with Christos and we know the girlfriend was involved in his murder. She went to visit someone in Poland a couple of times right after this guy, Sergey, got out of a Polish prison. On her last visit, and a few days after Christos murder, she turned up dead in Sergey’s city. Too many coincidences.”
“Are you sure she went to visit him?”
He gestured no. “But Christos’ maid once overheard her talking to someone named Sergey as if he were a boyfriend about arrangements to visit him in the same town in Poland where our Sergey lived.”
“That’s it?”
“What are you, a prosecutor? I’m talking police instincts here. Yes, I know we don’t have a case yet. But we will. When things start to break they’ll break quickly. You’ll see.”
Lila, shrugged. “You know best about those sorts of things.” She kissed him on the cheek and whispered in his ear. “Marietta is watching Tassaki. Follow me and I’ll show you where your baby boy learned how to greet his daddy.”
Andreas ran his hand along Lila’s bottom. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Chapter Eighteen
Some said that between Greece’s financial crisis and a nearly ten dollars per gallon price of gas, Athens traffic was much lighter than it once was. But to Andreas this morning’s commute was as bad as ever. Perhaps he was only anxious to get back to his office. His unit was terrific, but he was the engine that drove the investigations, and things piled up whenever he was away, even for a few days.
His phone rang. It was Maggie.
“Yes, my love, what can I do for you?”
“Where are you?”
“Almost at headquarters. Traffic’s a bitch. Can this wait until I get there?”
“No, turn around and head to the ministry. The minister wants to see you right away.”
What the hell does Spiros want now? Always with the drama. “Did he say what it’s about?”
“No, he just sounded nervous.”
“In other words it has to do with the press. His whole world is driven by what the media says about him.”
“Well, whatever it is, there’s nothing in the papers or on television about it yet.”
Maggie had a 24/7 ear for the news. If she didn’t know about it, it wasn’t out there.
“Well, then, so far so good.”
***
It took Andreas another twenty minutes of weaving through traffic to reach the ministry. His lights and siren were practically useless.
When he finally reached the ministry he went straight to the minister’s office and the secretary showed him right in.
“Chief Kaldis is here.”
“Thank you. Please, leave us and hold all my calls. No matter who it may be.”
When she left Andreas said, “Sounds serious.”
Spiros pointed to the chair in front of his desk. “You have no idea. Or at least I hope you don’t.”
Andreas sat in the chair. “What the hell was that supposed to mean?”
Spiros bit at his lip. A sure sign he was frightened.
“Come on, Spiros, it can’t be that bad. We’ve been through a lot worse.”
Spiros ran his hands through his color-enhanced, thinning, jet-black hair. “It’s about your friend, Tassos.”
“Tassos?”
“He’s gone rogue.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Andreas, I know how close you are to him. But we all know his history. A little business on the side to enhance his lifestyle is wellknown.”
“Not to me it isn’t.” At least not since we’ve been friends.
“I’m afraid he’s been caught red-handed. And, frankly…” Spiros reached into his desk, took a pill from a bottle, and swallowed it without water. “Frankly, circumstantial evidence has you and Kouros involved in it with him.”
Andreas drew a deep breath. He did not want to respond in anger. “Why don’t you just tell me what you’re talking about?”
“Early this morning I received a call from the chief of police on Mykonos. Tassos had paid him a visit yesterday about the Christos Vasilakis murder.”
Andreas shrugged. “Why wouldn’t he? It’s his case.”
Spiros nodded. “Later that same day the police chief received a call from someone representing…” Spiros looked at some notes on his desk, “Sergey Tishchenko, who said you and Kouros had spoken with him about the same case.”
“He’s a potential suspect.”
“But why would you, the Athens-based head of Special Crimes, be involved with an investigation into a murder on Mykonos where everyone knows who did it and one of the killers is already dead?”
“If you know so much about the case, then you should also know that Sergey Tishchenko was the dead girl’s ex-boyfriend.”
“Yes, I know all about that, and his prison record, and that she went to visit someone in Bialystok. The same town Tishchenko gave as his address when he got out of prison and where she turned up murdered.”
“How do you know that?”
Spiros raised his voice. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’m the minister of this department.” He swallowed. “The police chief tracked down the maid who’d found the body. She told him about the girlfriend’s phone call. He also interviewed Sergey, who disclosed his record saying he had nothing to hide from the police.”
“Did he also say the girlfriend came to see him in Poland?”
“He said the last time he saw her was before he went to prison, and that she had a lot of boyfriends in Bialystok. She was a prostitute there and her arrest record confirms that. She could have gone to see any of them. Or all of them.”
“And just by coincidence he happens to end up on Mykonos with enough money to buy a hotel?”
“He said everybody in Poland knows Mykonos is the place to come to make a fortune, and that he’d mentioned the possibility of his moving to Mykonos to her before he was arrested. She went to Mykonos because of him, not the other way around. As far as the money goes, these days who are we to ask where money comes from if people are willing to invest in Greece? As long, of course, as it isn’t tied into Christos’ murder. Do you have any reason to think that it is?”
“What does all this have to do with Tassos?”
“And you.”
Andreas leaned forward in the chair. “You’re beginning to piss me off.”