The Forty Column Castle

by Marjorie Thelen

  “Mr. Bellomo, how are we going to get this little matter of antiquities theft cleared up?”

  “Let us talk about that later. Now we will have a nice meal, some wine, and good conversation. Do you like opera by any chance, Marie-Claude?”

  I sighed. My aunt adored opera, and Verdi was her favorite. I rather liked it myself. We’d gone to hear James Levine conduct Rigoletto at the Met in New York as a special treat one Christmas.

  He led us to the beautifully set table. I saw that besides being an easy man to be around, he was excellent at evasion. He pushed in both our chairs, and Rodolfo began serving. The soft strains of Verdi’s La Traviata floated out over the garden. A little wine, fine food, a little candlelight, and Verdi. What a seduction. The guy was smooth.

  I wished Zach could be there with us. Mr. Bellomo didn’t seem in the least phased that Zach was not there. He had the ability to create an atmosphere that said only you, only me and tonight.

  I enjoyed the evening, ate well, swooned over the seafood paella, had one too many glasses of wine, and found Mr. Bellomo and my aunt could talk endlessly of their travels, of the art world, of Cyprus and how much they loved the island. I excused myself after chocolate baklava and coffee to allow the lovebirds time to themselves and walked back to my room alone.

  Zach was sitting up on the couch with the icepack on his head.

  “How do you feel?” I asked.

  He looked like hell. His face was puffy and swollen on one side. He was unshaved and his shirt disheveled but he was alive, and I was glad for that.

  He patted the seat beside him. “I’m recovering. Come sit by me.”

  “I found my aunt. She’s in the room down the hall. I had dinner with her and Mr. Bellomo. They’re going to get married.”

  “He’s quite a catch.”

  The way he said it gave me pause.

  “You don’t approve? What do you know about him?”

  Zach looked at me, searched my eyes. “He’s a powerful man. He doesn’t look like it, but he controls a lot of the trade between Italy and Cyprus. I hope your aunt can handle him.”

  That was like an ice water bath.

  I lay my palm along his puffy cheek. It was still hot and angry. “Would you like something to drink, some water or something stronger?”

  “Wild Turkey with a splash would be perfect.”

  I fetched the Wild Turkey, fixed a glass and settled beside him with a bottle of water.

  “What next?” I thought I’d keep the conversation moving.

  Zach yawned then took a long swallow of his drink. “Delicious.”

  “You’re stalling,” I said.

  “I’m leaving.”

  “Leaving?”

  “Yes, I need to find the jewels. You found your aunt, so you should be happy. You and your aunt will be safe here. Mr. Bellomo will pull some strings to get you both off the antiquities charge, but he can’t help me. He and I have already talked about that. So I’m leaving.”

  “You can’t. You mean leave just like that?” I snapped my fingers.

  “Yes, Claudie Princess, just like that.” He mimicked my finger snap.

  “I’m going with you.”

  Zach stopped in the act of taking another swallow of Wild Turkey.

  “You can’t. I’m officially releasing you to your own custody. This isn’t a caper for girls.”

  I had to laugh. “It has been so far. What will change?”

  “The stakes are getting higher.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I found out this morning. That’s why I got beat up. Mr. Bellomo is harboring me, and I can’t let him do that. The exposure is dangerous to him. Besides, he’s quite besotted with your aunt and wants to clear her name as quickly as possible.”

  “Is he one of the good guys?”

  Zach nodded. “As good as good can get in the world of trade. Like I said, there is no black and white in business, only shades of gray.” He finished his drink and set the glass on the coffee table. He turned to look at me with those wonderful deep brown eyes. “I am going to miss you, Claudie Princess.”

  He leaned over and kissed me chastely on the lips. His were still puffy.

  “How are you going to leave?”

  He held up a set of keys. “Mr. Bellomo is loaning me the use of his yacht. Now I think I shall make use of the shower in this palatial establishment. Care to join me?”

  “I’ll wash your back.”

  He grabbed my hand and lead me into the bath room.

  “Wait a minute,” he said. “Look at that bathing pool. Let’s have a go.”

  He turned on the gold faucets full blast, and the tub began to fill. I selected bath oil called Aphrodite’s Secrets from the array of glistening bottles in an alcove by the tub and dumped in half the bottle. He pulled me into the shower while the tub filled, and we washed each other with a huge bar of exquisite lavender soap. His bruises were discolored, and I tried to be careful washing the tender flesh. While the water poured over us, our bodies did the talking. By the time we had finished and shut off the shower, the bath pool was filled. We slid into its comforting warmth. I could get used to luxury.

  “A Ben Franklin for your thoughts, Claudie Princess.”

  We were lying in the pool, steam rising around us, my back to his chest, his arm under my breasts.

  “Be careful, Princess,” he said, as I tried to turn over and caught him in the bruised ribs.

  “I want to see your face,” I said.

  “How do I look?”

  “Not so puffy. But purple and yellow aren’t your colors.” I hesitated. “Zach?”

  “Yes?” he said, resting his head on the rounded lip of the tub, his eyes closed.

  “I was thinking. Maybe there’s someplace you and I could go no one would ever find us. We could disappear and find an island and live in a grass shack and fish for our food.”

  Zach laughed. “Great fantasy. You would want to spend the rest of your life with me on an island? I’m flattered Claudie Princess. What about your mutual fund?”

  “I can manage that from anywhere. What about your smuggling business?”

  He smirked. “I can manage that from anywhere.” He searched my eyes. “You really want to go with me, don’t you?”

  I nodded.

  “I’m flattered. But it will be too dangerous for you. Look what happened to me this morning. I couldn’t have that happen to you. You would leave me vulnerable, and I can’t have that.”

  “How will I ever know what happened to you?”

  “I’ll get a message to you. We’ll rendezvous on that island you’re dreaming up for us.”

  Sixteen

  Of course, I had no intention of letting him leave without me. Even though I harbored doubts about what would happen to my aunt if Mr. Bellomo found Berengaria’s jewels, I felt she was safe for the moment. On the other hand, I wanted to know who was smuggling antiquities on the island of Cyprus. I was not going to sit idly by with the love birds while Mr. Bellomo pulled some strings. Paying people off to drop the charges against us wasn’t my way of clearing my name. Pieces of the puzzle were not fitting together, and I had some hunches. I intended to hitch my wagon to Zachariah Lamont’s star and hope that he would lead me to the answers.

  After our interlude in the bath, Zach insisted I get into bed and tucked me in with the tenderness of a mother with a new born babe. I thought for an instant that he’d change his mind and crawl in beside me, but he left after a wistful look back. Something was driving him, and I wanted to find out what that was.

  As soon as I heard the door close and click, I was out of bed and into my black dress. He thought that locking the hall door would keep me in. Wrong I figured if I could make it to the dock and gazebo before he did, half my battle would be won. I scurried down the back steps to the pool area and, keeping to the shadows, ran to the beach and out onto the dock. I kept looking back as I ran, to see if anyone was following. I made it to the gazebo half-way out on the
water and crouched down, looking to see if Zach were on the beach. Nothing. Something must have delayed him. I ran the final distance to the yacht where it sat at anchor, leaped up the steps and on board. This was a big boat. Sixty feet long, easy.

  The secured area around Mr. Bellomo’s house included the beach and, in my opinion, was the weakest point in the defense of the Bellomo fortress. No one guarded the boat as far as I could see. I watched the house, crouched inside the well that housed the cockpit. I wondered if the police were watching Bellomo’s house. I couldn’t see the main street. There were no other boats anchored on the water.

  Two figures emerged from the pool area, walking slowly. The one with white hair gestured with his hands and the other, much taller, was intent on listening. They paused at the water’s edge and faced each other, still engaged in conversation. They shook hands, and Zach walked out onto the dock that led to the yacht. Mr. Bellomo waved and headed back to the house. What had they been discussing?

  I had to find a better hiding place on a boat that was so sleek and smooth, it looked like something from outer space. The cabin door was unlocked. I slipped inside where I could watch Zach through the cabin windows. He went to the cockpit and started the engine, then expertly cast off. He didn’t turn on lights, not even the running lights. The light of the moon and stars were bright enough. The sleek yacht headed straight out to sea instead of turning toward the east. Zach was headed west toward Pafos but had to go quite a distance out before he cleared the cape just west of Limasol.

  Of course, I didn’t want him to find me so he could turn around and dump me off. I searched for someplace to hide. I was in the living area, furnished with a big, cream leather couch and matching chairs. A long galley and dining area ran the length of one side and doors opened off the other. The last door looked the most promising. I opened that one and entered the master suite replete with its own bath and king size bed. The room had a new smell to it. The carpet was thick and furnishings were Italian Rococo. I kicked off my sandals and lay down on the bed. Zach would stay at the helm, I figured. I could get some rest.

  But sleep wouldn’t come. I stared at the ceiling, watching the play of water shadows. Somewhere out there were thieves who had started all this. Thieves to whom Zach had a connection. I wondered what he would to do now. My bet was that he was going to rendezvous with a few more thieves since his objective was retrieving Berengaria’s jewels.

  Footsteps jarred me from my reverie, and before I could move, the door opened. Zach walked to the bed and turned on the lamp. A curious glow lit his eyes. The lamplight cast shadows across his face. Discoloration from the fight lingered around his eye.

  “You don’t listen,” he said with his hands stuffed in his pockets. Somewhere he had found clean pressed khaki pants and crisp white short sleeve shirt.

  “I couldn’t let you continue on by yourself. Who would bail you out, if you got into trouble?”

  I scooted over on the bed. He joined me, putting his arm around my shoulders. The bedclothes rustled as he settled in beside me and leaned against the headboard.

  “Who’s piloting the boat?” I asked.

  “The computer.”

  “How did you know I was here?”

  “I watched you run across the beach from the house. I was waiting for Sal in his study, the one that fronts on the pool area. You looked like a gazelle, fleeing the lions. Were you fleeing?” He looked at me, his eyes questioning. “Or were you running toward me?”

  “I was coming to help you. My aunt will be safe with Mr. Bellomo for the moment. I couldn’t let you go by yourself.”

  He kissed the top of my head. I wanted to think that was a show of appreciation.

  “You don’t understand the stakes in this game,” he said. “Sal’s been trying to buffer us, but his reach only extends so far into the underworld. He had to step back and leave me to my own devices. This trip will be dangerous.”

  I snuggled closer, hugging his mid-section, like that was going to keep us safe. “Where are we going?”

  “To Pafos to get Berengaria’s jewels.”

  “Who has them?”

  “The American couple.” He paused. “Or that is my best guess.

  I sat up to look at him better. “The American couple?”

  “They head the smuggling operation.”

  He had my full attention. With my palm I turned his face so I could see his eyes. “They’re with the group of excavators at the Forty Column Castle.”

  “The excavation is a front. They come to Cyprus on a regular basis with the archeology project and arrange their smuggling ventures on the side. They’ll deal with anybody, including terrorists. Not smart on their part.”

  “So they’re responsible for planting the statues on Aunt Elizabeth.”

  “That’s my bet -- to throw the police off their scent.”

  Pieces of the puzzle that had been troubling me started to fit into place. But I still didn’t understand how Zach got beat up and why. “Where did you really go this morning?”

  He smiled ruefully. “You aren’t going to let it go, are you? All right. To Max and Irene’s place to retrieve the jewels.”

  “Max and Irene had the jewels?”

  “Not exactly. I hid the jewels in the wood shed.”

  “Max and Irene didn’t know,” I said.

  He shook his head. “No, they didn’t.” It was his sigh that said he regretted what happened to Max and Irene.

  “The jewels weren’t where I hid them. The American couple must have figured out where I had stashed them. Max and Irene got in the way, and they killed them. We showed up too late to stop the murders and the theft. This morning Bruno and friend tailed us and tried to rub me out, so their American bosses wouldn’t have to pay for the jewels. You see, the American couple neglected to pay me. I had approached them about the jewels, and they wanted them. But they wanted them for nothing so they stole them. I’m going to find them and collect.

  With his big, warm hand against my ribs, he eased me onto my back. “But all this talk is tiring me. Let’s not talk anymore. For some reason, my dearest Princess, I cannot get enough of you.”

  I pulled him to me. “This time I will have my way with you.” Soon I had him calling on the whole Roman and Greek pantheon of gods to help him bear what I was doing to him. Never, ever was I going to meet a man like this again. I couldn’t shake the feeling I would not see him after tonight. Later we helped each other dress, savoring the act like a fine glass of Dom Perignon.

  He took my hand. “We need to go topside so I can steer this magnificent craft. Who knows? After that session, we may have made it across the Atlantic to Brazil.”

  I followed him to the cockpit and looked around. The scene took my breath away. Moonbeams bounced off the waves of the Mediterranean. I leaned into the breeze created by the yacht and inhaled the sea air into my lungs. Looking across the water, the line of the waves seemed to go on forever. I fantasized that we owned this proud vessel. We’d sail off to some obscure island and never be heard from again.

  “What’s her name?” I shouted to Zach over the hum of the motor and rush of the wind. The yacht was a beauty, cutting through the waves like a knife of fine honed steel, like she owned the sea.

  “The Elizabeth,” he shouted back.

  “You’re kidding.” I moved back under the protection of the canopy. “Zach, do you really think Mr. Bellomo loves my aunt?”

  “I think he is bonkers over her. He bought this yacht and named it after her. There’s a wedding in the making.”

  “I find it hard to believe, but I hope for her sake it works out,” I said, a squishy feeling welling around my heart. To think she had fallen in love at this late stage of her life. There’s hope for all of us.

  He cut back on the throttle and started a wide sweeping turn. “I’m going to show you Aphrodite’s birthplace from the sea.”

  “Petra Tou Romiou where Aphrodite emerged from the foaming waves. What a romantic setting. Are we
going to do something romantic there?”

  “No, we’re going to meet someone there.”

  “In the middle of the night? In the water? With all those rocks?”

  “Correct.”

  The plot thickened.

  I had to admit I had never seen Aphrodite’s birthplace from the sea. Many times I had walked the beach and imagined her emerging from huge, foaming waves, the mist of the water her robes, voluptuous arms outstretched, the Goddess of Love. The moon cast its silver glow on the white cliffs along the shore, outlining the two giant rocks where Aphrodite emerged from the waves. Having swam around and climbed those rocks, I knew how dangerous they could be, especially with the collection of smaller rocks scattered about.

  Zach cut the engine, and the yacht sat off shore rocking in the gentle waves. He put his arm around me and pulled me close. We listened to the sea and the waves against the boat. The night was still and washed by the moon.

  “Do you see Aphrodite yet?” he asked. “They say she walks these beaches looking for hapless lovers.”

  The road along the cliffs was empty. The beach was quiet. There was no movement anywhere.

  “I guess this is her night off,” I said. “Who are we looking for besides Aphrodite?”

  “A rubber raft with my partner in it. She’s going to join us.”

  I turned to look at him. “A partner? The one you made the mysterious calls to? A partner in crime? A female?”

  “Yes. What’s wrong with a female partner?” He sounded rather defensive.

  “Nothing, I’m just surprised, I guess, I think.”

  Sure enough, like a phantom conjured out of the night, a figure emerged from the rocks along the beach, as if she had been hiding and on cue from Zach she let herself be seen. She was tugging a small rubber raft and the way she pulled, it was loaded. She maneuvered the raft into the water, got in, and started rowing toward us. She was dressed in black, maybe a wet suite, and rowed with strong, swift strokes.

  Zach’s attention focused on the raft. He moved to the rail to follow its progress, everything else forgotten.

  I’d stay true to my promise to help him if I could and hope in the bargain I didn’t serve time for aiding and abetting a criminal and his female partner. Had I known he was going to have help, I might have stayed with my aunt. But he didn’t tell me, and he didn’t try to stop me. If he was using me, I was a big girl and it was my choice now, wasn’t it?