Chapter 80
In half an hour, Stefanides and Demos had returned to Sporades’ hotel empty-handed.
“The landlady refused to let us in, even though we threatened her with the police and told her that Christoforou was a wanted criminal. He must have paid her very well to keep strangers away.”
“Couldn’t Demos talk her round ?” asked Ashby.
“She’s ninety – or at least, she looks like it,” observed the con man.
Suddenly, they heard Nikos’ wife calling in a panic from one of the adjoining rooms in a flow of Greek.
“She’s saying that she saw him on the ferry – Christoforou – that he’s still there. She saw him coming out of one of the cabins on the companionway leading from the bridge.”
When Nikos told them that his wife was certain she’d seen Christoforou, Ashby said “It looks like he’s staying on board the ferry to reach Bari. This time, we won’t be able to get him without the police backing us up.”
“The police in Patra are good but they won’t be able to help us,” said Stefanides. “The Captain will keep him hidden somewhere on the ship – and there are lots of places they can hide him. The crew would tell the police he’s not there. And the police couldn’t search the whole ship, even if they knew how. No, we will have to go and get him ourselves. And we don’t have much time. It’s two o’clock now and the ferry sails at six.”
Faced with the prospect of boarding the ship with or without the police and engaging in some sort of confrontation with the crew and the Captain (who was clearly doing his best to obstruct them), Ashby said that he had a more subtle plan whose success depended entirely on the greed and desperation of their target.
“If I know him, he’s reached the limit of his patience. He’s worried that the game is up – or will be if he doesn’t do something about it. He’ll think it’s all or nothing now – meaning he’ll take higher risks. He’s a gambler. He’s done this plenty of times before and got away with it. We should pass a message to him – something like, his share of the money is waiting for him – but it’s in a bank somewhere – and he has to meet someone in Athens to get the account number and the bank details. If he believes it, he’ll go. If he doesn’t, he’ll stay.”
This would give them two opportunities. They could wait and see if Christoforou left the ship before it sailed. If he did, they should be able to pick him up in Athens. Alternatively, one of them could take the ferry to Bari that evening, wait and see if he disembarked and have the Italian police arrest him there.
The first approach would require minimal haste or preparation but if Christoforou left the ship, they would have to return to Athens that night. The second possibility would involve Demos or Stefanides boarding the ferry shortly before it sailed.
Ashby asked Nikos if his wife could take a letter to the ship. She was the only one who had not been seen by the crew. The note would be in Greek and addressed to the Captain with the letter marked for ‘Kyriacou’. Ashby dictated the message to Nikos who did the translation :
“Payment ready. Acropolis, Erectheum, noon tomorrow E
The message was placed in an envelope and given to Nikos’ wife. Ashby said she should hand it to an officer and tell him it was for the urgent attention of the ship’s master.
Once the note had been delivered, they would keep a close watch on the exit from the ferry. If it had the desired effect, Christoforou would bolt from his hiding place. If he hadn’t disembarked by ten minutes to six, Stefanides would board the ship alone.
“I don’t like it,” said Stefanides. “He’ll know it’s from you and not from Hellas Global. He’ll have heard from the crew that you were on the ferry. What happens if he rings them ?”
“Then he’ll stay on the ship and you will follow him. At any rate, Hellas’s director is still in London to get his payout on Monday. No-one in their Athens office will know anything about it. That’s why it’s all the more reason to tempt him now to make a move.”
“And if he doesn’t go to Athens ? He may stay in Patra or take another ship somewhere else or go into Yugoslavia or Albania.”
“If he leaves the ship before it sails, it will be for one reason only – because the message we send him says his pay-off is ready. So it’s unlikely he’d go anywhere other than Athens – he wants his money.”
“We don’t want to lose him,” said Nikos. “We have a lot at stake.”
“We won’t lose him because we’ll know exactly where he’ll go and when we can get him. And Theo here will be ready, won’t you ?”
Stefanides raised his eyebrows as if to say “Who knows ?”
Plantation A Legal Thriller Page 80