“Tassos,” said Maggie, “how dare you equate God’s love to those minions of the devil who deceive and mislead us with false promises?” She crossed herself three times. “Especially after being spared who-knows-what horrible fate back on that beach.”
Silence.
“Is everything okay?” said Lila softly. “I’ve never seen you act so seriously.”
“I’m not acting.”
Lila leaned in toward Maggie. “You’re calling out to God and crossing yourself far more than I’ve ever seen you do before.”
“How dare you criticize my right to practice my religion as I see fit?”
Tassos and Andreas glanced at each other.
“Maggie. I repeat: Is everything okay?”
Maggie shut her eyes, drew in a breath, and exhaled. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Lila nodded. “Okay.”
Maggie looked out her side window.
Not a word was spoken for more than a minute.
“Beautiful sunset,” said Tassos.
“A beautiful, blinding sunset,” said Andreas, pulling down the sun visor as he turned west at Vivlos, aimed straight into the setting sun.
Maggie coughed. “Sorry I raised my voice.”
“No need to apologize,” said Lila. “You’re among friends.”
“I know.” Maggie dabbed at her eyes. “And I love you all dearly.” She turned back to the window. “I think I had too much to drink.”
She said nothing more.
* * *
When they reached the house, Maggie hurried inside ahead of the others, closely followed by Tassos.
Lila and Andreas hung back, as if admiring the fading sunset.
“What do you think?” said Lila.
“She’s definitely edgier than I’ve ever seen her.”
“Do you think it’s her health?”
Andreas shook his head. “I don’t know, but I pray not.”
“Maybe she’s worried about Yianni?”
“I wouldn’t think so. He’s out of danger. But, again, I don’t know.”
“She needs someone to talk to about whatever it is.”
“Greeks aren’t big on that sort of thing.”
“I know that. I meant a friend, not a psychiatrist.”
Andreas took Lila’s hand and headed toward the door. “She has you, she has me, and most of all she has Tassos. When she wants an understanding ear, she’ll have it.”
* * *
Tassos closed their bedroom door and spoke softly. “What’s bothering you, Maggie?”
She sat on the bed, looking at the floor. “Nothing.”
“That’s reassuring. I thought it might be something serious, like you’ve given up on your plan for achieving world peace.”
“It’s not funny.”
He sat down next to her. “I know.” He put his arm around her shoulders, drew her to him, and kissed her on the forehead.
Maggie leaned in against his chest and cried uncontrollably, finally sniffling to a stop after a succession of deep breaths. All the while, Tassos never uttered a word or softened his embrace.
“Thank you,” she sniffled.
“No reason to thank me. I’m here for you the same as you’ve always been for me. All that matters is that something serious is bothering you. Do you want to tell me what it is?”
Maggie shut her eyes. “Perhaps I’ve been on the job too long. Seen and heard too much.”
“Is this about Yianni or the other cop?”
“No.” She opened her eyes and sat up straight. “It’s about you.”
“Me?”
Maggie paused. “You’ve been a bit down since your heart incident. The doctors say you’re fine, and you’ve been following their instructions better than I ever hoped, but your mood worries me. You’re not back to your old self. It’s as if you’re counting down how many years you have left, rather than living them.” She sighed, followed by a deep swallow. “On the beach today when those three animals were ready to hurt you, I felt helpless to protect you.”
“There was no need for you to protect me.”
“I didn’t know that. All that I knew was that the one person on earth who means more to me than my own life could have been killed today over loud music on a beach.”
“This does not sound like you at all.”
“I know. As I said, perhaps I’ve seen too much and realize how, in an instant, a fit of temper can wreck more lives than just the victim’s.”
“What do you want me to do? Resign from the force?”
“No, that wouldn’t change you. You’d still be the same aggressive grump you’ve always been, just without a gun and a badge.”
“Well then, what is it you want me to do?”
Maggie grabbed his free hand. “Promise me you’ll learn to let these lesser offenses to your sensibilities slide by. You can find a reason to get into a fight these days almost anywhere you look, and that’s before anyone even begins talking politics.”
“You’re saying you want me to be more laid-back?”
She sighed. “Yes, I guess that’s right. I miss your old self.”
“Fine. But you’ll have to promise to do something for me in return.”
Maggie cocked her head. “Why do I sense what’s coming?”
Tassos leaned in and began kissing her on the neck.
“Because you never miss a thing.”
* * *
“Hello.”
“Yes?”
“Is this Detective Kouros?” The voice was deep but tentative.
“Yes, who’s this?”
“Popi’s husband.”
Yianni’s heart jumped. “Is she okay?”
“She’s out of her coma.”
“Thank God. My thoughts and prayers have been with you both.”
“Thank you.”
The line remained quiet for so long Yianni thought they might have been disconnected.
“I got your number from Dimitri and meant to call you before, but things just…well…I guess all I can say is I didn’t.”
“No problem. I’m glad that you called now with good news.”
More silence.
“How are you doing?” Mamas’s voice still sounded tentative.
“With any luck I’ll be out tomorrow and back to catching the bastards who put us in the hospital.”
“It’s why I called you.”
Yianni paused. “I don’t understand.”
“I think I can help you find them.”
Yianni swallowed. “I, uh, understand how upset you are. Believe me, I do, but this is a police matter, and I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be involved in hunting them down. As much as I agree with your motives, and I don’t doubt you’d be a great help, tempers could flare and you might get yourself in some serious trouble.”
“I know.” He seemed struggling to restrain his voice. “When I thought Popi might not survive, I promised myself that if she passed away I’d hunt down and slaughter everyone responsible, one by one.”
Yianni had no doubt the man meant it.
“But when she woke up, I felt reborn. Like I had a new reason for living. I realized then that going after the ones who’d tried to kill her would only put her and our future in danger again. That’s when I decided to leave retribution to you.”
“A wise decision.” Yianni exhaled. “The police found the truck and car involved in attacking us.”
“The drivers were hired that morning to run a motorbike off a mountain road, but when you ended up in Popi’s pickup, their instructions must have changed.”
Yianni stared at the phone for a moment. “Wait. How do you know all this?”
“Yesterday, someone I know from Naxos visited me in the hospital. He s
aid he had something he had to tell me in person.” Mamas paused. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, Detective, that there are some very nasty people out there, and the one who came to see me is among the worst. But we grew up together. Our families have known each other for generations.”
Yianni heard Mamas swallow.
“He’d been offered a huge fee to kill a cop on a motorbike. But it had to look like an accident and happen that day. He was told he’d find the cop at a hotel west of the airport and should follow him until he found the right place to run him off the road. He said he turned down the job. Even at that price, it wasn’t worth the risk of killing a cop.”
“I wonder what’s the going rate for two cops in a pickup?”
“He said he didn’t know for sure what happened after he turned down the offer, but he guessed someone involved in the plan saw you in a pickup and the plan changed.”
“Why would such a bad guy tell you all this?”
“Self-preservation. He knew if I somehow thought he’d had anything to do with what happened to Popi, he was a dead man. As soon as he heard about the crash, he knew he had to tell me. He did it in person because he knew I’d need to look him in the eye to believe him.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I believe he wouldn’t do anything to harm Popi.”
“What’s his name?”
“I promised I wouldn’t say.”
Yianni decided not to push the point. “Does he know who was involved?”
“He knows who tried to hire him.”
Yianni clenched a fist. “Who?”
“He’s a local, another of the nasty ones. His name is Spyros, but everyone knows him as Honeyman.”
“What’s a Honeyman?”
“It’s his nickname. He works a honey-selling routine on tourists out of the back of his old pickup truck. He’s quite a fast-talker, convincing tourists that the supermarket honey he’s selling them at three times the price comes from his own bees.”
“Happens everywhere,” said Yianni.
“But for him it’s just a cover for how he makes his real money. He drives all over the island selling his honey, picking up bits of information here and there, and selling it to whoever might be interested.”
“Sounds like a spotter for burglars.”
“More likely he’s one himself. Among other things…” Mamas’s voice sharpened, “But being involved in a murder plot is way beyond anything I’ve ever heard said about him before. Considering the risk, there must be some real money or pressure involved.”
“I take it you don’t see him as the top dog in this?”
“No way. He likes to hear himself talk, and he thinks he’s clever, but he’s a small-time grifter. He did it for somebody else.”
“Where can I find Honeyman?”
“Hard to say. He’s always on the move, likely up and out of his house before dawn and not back until after dusk. Dimitri should be able to find him. Come to think of it, your best chance at catching him might be at night when he’s home.”
“Where’s his house?”
“I couldn’t give you understandable directions, certainly not for finding it at night, but Dimitri will know how to get there.”
Yianni hesitated. “One question. What do you think the chances are that Honeyman knew the taverna we were headed to was Popi’s favorite?”
“He could have found that out from any number of people. Popi always talked it up as her favorite place on the island. How’s that important?”
“I’m trying to figure out how Honeyman knew when, and which way, we’d turn coming out of Siphones. Hard to imagine he’d leave something that important to chance.”
“I don’t think he did. One of his usual places for parking his pickup and setting up his honey operation is along the road running past Siphones. Your only choice out of Siphones is to head south toward roads connecting back to Chora or north toward Koronos. All he had to do was wait until he saw which way Popi was headed and call the drivers. My guess is they expected you to head toward Koronos and were waiting up that way, but if you’d gone south, they’d have tried to chase you down from behind.”
Yianni shut his eyes, drew in a deep breath, and thought back to when they left Siphones…and of that old pickup parked off to the side of the road.
He exhaled and opened his eyes. “I think it’s time to arrange for Naxos’s finest to pay an official visit on Mr. Honeyman.”
Mamas’s voice lightened up, “I was hoping you’d say that.” He paused. “I’m sure Popi is too.”
Chapter Thirteen
In the moonlight, to the tempo of what seemed a million cicadas, the SUV and a marked police car crept lights-out down a rutted donkey path toward a ramshackle stone farmhouse at the bottom of a hollow. Not a glint of light came from the farmhouse. Beyond the house, parallel rows of beehives ran off in the direction of a long-neglected shepherd’s hut.
The vehicles stopped thirty meters from the house, and two men got out of each vehicle. Two approached the front door, and two went to the rear. The men at the front stood to each side of the door as the taller of the two knocked twice on the door.
“Spyros, it’s Chief of Police Dimitri. Open up.”
No answer.
He banged on the door three times. “Police, open up.”
No answer.
He banged away, shouting all the while. “Spyros, it’s the police. Open up. We know you’re in there.”
The front door opened. “Easy guys, it’s me,” said Tassos. Behind him stood a uniformed Naxos cop holding a teenaged boy by the arm. “This one tried scooting out the back door.”
“Who are you?” asked Andreas.
The boy said nothing.
“I said, who are you?”
Dimitri interrupted, “It’s Spyros’s son.” He looked at the boy “Why did you run?”
No answer.
“Do you want to go back to bed or be arrested? A simple choice. Now tell me why you ran?”
The boy shuffled his feet. “I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Of you.”
“A guilty conscience over some crime you committed that you thought we knew about, perhaps?” said Tassos.
The boy looked down at the floor.
“Where’s your father?” said Dimitri.
“I don’t know.”
“And your mother?”
“She’s in Athens with my sister.”
“Doing what?”
“I don’t know.”
“What’s your father doing?”
“I don’t know.”
Tassos whispered to Andreas, “My guess would be off doing a little while-the-cat’s-away-the-mice-will-play action.”
“When will your father be back?” said Andreas.
“I don’t know.”
“You’ve got that ‘I don’t know’ bit down pretty well,” said Tassos. “Why don’t you tell us what you do know about where your father might be.”
“I don’t know.”
“When’s the last time you saw him?”
The boy hesitated.
“Remember the choice I offered you,” said Dimitri. “Back to bed or back with us.”
“Two days ago.”
“Do you mean the day before yesterday?” said Andreas.
He nodded. “In the morning.”
“When did your mother and sister leave for Athens?”
“Three days ago.”
“Are you alone?”
He nodded.
Dimitri said to his cop, “Check out the house to see if anyone else is in here.”
Tassos walked to the back door and stared out at the beehives. “Didn’t Popi’s husband tell Yianni that Honeyman’s game was to buy honey at the supermarket and resel
l it to tourists as his own?”
“Yeah,” said Andreas.
“Then why all the hives?”
Tassos looked at the boy. “Does your father raise bees?”
The boy gestured no. “My sister is allergic to bee stings. She almost died from a bee sting, so mother made him give up the bees.”
“Is that when he started passing off store-bought honey as his own?”
The boy nodded.
“I have to admit, his improvised method for supporting his family earns my grudging respect,” said Tassos.
“Don’t get too carried away with the admiration,” said Dimitri. “Honeyman has been passing off store-bought honey as his own since before he was his son’s age. He found that a lot easier way to make money than raising bees.” He looked at the boy. “That’s the same sympathy pitch his father gives to any tourists who happen to discover they’ve been hustled and come back looking to complain.”
Tassos looked at the boy. “Ah, so the little rotten apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” He motioned for Andreas to follow him as he walked to the back door, headed toward the hives. “Come. Let’s see what we have here.”
“Bees,” said Andreas. “And they sting when their rest is disturbed.”
“What troubles me,” said Tassos, as he approached the first row of beehives, “is that even with the bee shortage in Greece, these hives are worth money, and I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t sell them, rather than leaving them to rot.”
Tassos held his flashlight up to the first hive in the row. He stepped forward and tapped on the hive. Nothing happened. Next, he shook the hive. Nothing happened.
“So far so good,” he said.
“They’re just waiting to ambush you for taking off the top,” said Andreas.
“We shall see. Here, hold the light so I can lift the lid.”
Andreas took the light and Tassos lifted off the top.
“No bees.”
Andreas stepped forward and shone the light down into the hive. “What’s down there? I can’t see in.”
“I have a buddy who raises bees on Syros. I’ll have to remove the feeder section to see into the body of the hive.” Tassos pulled and tugged at the top section. “My buddy uses a pry bar to do this.” He kept tugging until the feeder came off.
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