Hildegard stood up and walked slowly over to the desk. The object she wanted was in the top drawer now. She picked it up and moved back to her grandson, who was facing away from her.
‘Get up!’ she said, firmly.
Oskar Mesner turned his head and was confronted by the gleaming blade of the Wehrmacht bayonet.
‘Out, now!’ his grandmother screamed. ‘I never want to see you again!’
Oskar stood up and edged away from her, then ran for the door, slamming it behind him.
Hildegard Kersten sank to her knees, the bayonet falling from her hand. Everything she had believed about Rudi — his determination to make reparations, his generosity to the Cretans, his essential humanity — had been completely destroyed. He had conspired with far-right thugs to kill David Waggoner; he had planned to sell half his coins to Roufos — the fact that the proceeds were apparently destined for her made her feel even worse; and he had plotted the death of the very man who was investigating his murder, using violent men from the drugs village he had always purported to despise.
To her horror, she found she couldn’t weep. It had dawned on her that Rudi had deserved to be murdered. She picked up the long blade again and held it to her chest, hoping that, wherever she went, he would not be there.
Mavros called Yannis and told him what had happened. The Cretan promised to round up as many ‘helpers’ as he could find to track down the skinheads.
‘Are you all right?’ Mavros asked Cara.
She nodded. ‘They hurt worse than I do. What about you? That eye doesn’t look too good.’ She found a tissue in her pocket and held it above his right eye. ‘Needs stitches.’
‘Forget it,’ he said, moving as quickly as he could to Roufos’s hotel.
The statuesque receptionist stared at him as they went to the lift. It took only a few seconds in his suite to establish that Roufos had left — all his clothes and personal items were gone.
‘He checked out, I presume,’ Mavros said, on their way out.
‘Yes,’ replied the bewildered Minoan. ‘He took a taxi to the ferry port.’
‘Shall we go after him?’ Cara asked.
‘Forget it,’ he replied. ‘He’ll be onboard in Suda by now.’
‘What if he’s got Niki with him?’
Mavros thought about that, then was interrupted by his phone.
‘We’ve got some of them,’ Yannis said. ‘But not your friend.’
‘Can you find out where she’s been taken?’
‘Already done that. Kornaria, I’m afraid. They were hired by someone from the village. I don’t think they know his name.’
‘Shit!’ Mavros said, glancing at Cara. For all her poise, she didn’t look like a movie star right now. ‘All right, meet me at the clinic.’ He led her to the Jeep by a roundabout route, in case there were any more headbangers lying in wait. ‘You know,’ he said, as they got into the vehicle, Cara on the driver’s side, ‘I’ve got a family place round the corner from here. You could hole up there.’
‘What, you think I don’t want to be in at the end of this?’ she countered.
‘Those fuckers have got Maria, remember?’
Who was probably also in Kornaria, Mavros thought — the very place he couldn’t go if he wanted to stay alive.
He directed the actress to the clinic, asking her what she thought Luke Jannet would do if they released him.
‘Go back to the set,’ she said bitterly. ‘He’s brazen enough to deny anything we say.’
‘But how can he expect you to finish the movie after the way he treated you in Roufos’s suite?’
She laughed. ‘He’s right about there being plenty of young actresses who would do anything — and I mean anything — to take over from me. Rosie being the producer makes that even easier.’
‘What about the cost?’
She glanced at him. ‘You get the idea they’re short of money? Besides, there’s insurance if performers have breakdowns, which is no doubt what they’ll say about me. Bye bye career.’
‘Screw that. I’m not letting a bunch of dope-dealers trample over everything that’s decent on this island. Plus, your career’s worth a lot.’
‘Why, thank you!’ Cara said, her teeth shining in the glow from the street lamps. ‘Don’t worry, I can look after myself.’
‘I noticed.’
She pulled up outside the clinic. They met Yannis and the Pig in the foyer, and then Mikis’s parents.
‘He’s awake!’ Eleni said, with a broad smile. ‘They don’t think he’s going to need an operation after all.’
‘That’s wonderful,’ Mavros said, shaking their hands.
‘We heard about your Niki,’ Haris said. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get her back.’
Mavros wasn’t clear about how that would be achieved but, before he could ask, Cara steered him away to a treatment room. Doctor Stavrakakis was in the corridor.
‘I don’t believe it,’ he said. ‘What is it with you, Mr Mavro? Maybe I should check you for head injuries, and I don’t just mean recent ones.’
‘No time, Doc,’ Mavros said. ‘This is a matter of life or death.’
‘All right, my friend. Get yourself cleaned up.’
A nurse duly did that, telling him to close his eye as she sprayed anaesthetic on his lower forehead. He felt all four stitches going in, but he didn’t shed tears in front of Cara — for some reason that was important to him.
‘Any idea where Rosie might be?’ he asked the actress, as the dressing on his neck was changed.
She looked at her watch. ‘Nearly dinner time. She could well be in the hotel. Or on her way to a restaurant in town’
Mavros took out his phone and asked Renzo Capaldi. The security chief called back shortly and said that Ms Yellenberg had been seen leaving with an unknown man half an hour earlier. They hadn’t used a Tsifakis vehicle. He told Cara.
‘You think she’s gone to Kornaria?’
‘I’d say it’s pretty likely,’ he replied. ‘Thanks,’ he said to the nurse, taking the painkillers she handed him. ‘I’m going to get addicted to these soon.’
‘If you live long enough,’ Cara said.
‘Very funny,’ he said, suddenly realizing the magnitude of what he was up against. Niki had been foolish to come to Crete, but he loved her and he wasn’t going to let her be abused or worse in the mountain village.
The Tsifakises were still in the reception area, in a huddle with Yannis and the Pig.
Eleni peered at his eye. ‘That looks painful.’
He held up painkillers, two of which he had dry-swallowed.
‘Where’s Luke Jannet?’ he asked.
‘They’re putting a cast on his forearm,’ Haris said. ‘Christos is keeping watch.’
‘Any thoughts about what we do next?’ Mavros asked the Cretan. ‘Preferably ones that don’t involve my or anyone else’s death or serious injury.’
Mikis’s father nodded solemnly. ‘We’ve been talking about that and we think we have a solution.’
‘All right,’ Mavros said, heading for a line of chairs. ‘I may be half blind, but I’m all ears.’
TWENTY-THREE
Mavros agreed with Haris Tsifakis that the main convoy of vehicles would aim to reach Kornaria at four a.m., when most people would still be asleep. Scout groups led by Yannis, Christos, and the Pig set off earlier, using little known tracks that would enable them to approach the village from the eastern side. The men would have to carry heavy loads over rough ground at the end, but when he saw the crowd in the Tsifakis depot, Mavros had no doubt they were up to the job. Luke Jannet had been locked in a windowless storeroom with a man on the door.
‘What about the sentries on the main road?’ he asked.
‘Don’t worry about them,’ Haris said, with a broad smile. ‘Need to know basis.’
Mavros didn’t argue the point. The only chance he had of getting Niki back was in the hands of the Cretan. Besides, he had other things on his mind. Hildegard Kersten had called him half an hour before.