Andreas jerked back on the couch as if touched by a live wire. He struggled to remember what he’d heard at the Tholos: ‘Ostracize is from the Greek word ostrakizein, meaning “to banish by voting with ostrakon.” Each vote was cast by writing the name of the one who should be banished on an ostrakon – a piece of earthenware, a potsherd.’
9
Lila’s demeanor had changed; she seemed almost perky. ‘Chief … Kaldos, would you like some coffee?’
He nodded. ‘Thank you, it’s Kaldis.’
She smiled. ‘Sorry.’
‘No problem, it’s probably easier to call me Andreas, anyway.’
Why did I say that? he thought. He knew better than to make the relationship informal. You always keep an interview with uninvolved, responsible citizens on a formal, professional basis. That’s the best way of getting them to talk. They want to help the justice system, not the cop wasting their time asking questions.
She paused, then picked up a tiny silver bell and shook it. The same maid appeared. ‘Maria, would you please bring Chief Kaldis a coffee. Do you prefer American or Greek?’ Her voice was back to professional.
Well, I guess that put me in my place. ‘American, please.’
The maid turned to leave but Lila gestured for her to pause. ‘And a frappé for me.’ She turned back to Andreas. ‘I prefer coffee chilled in the afternoon.’
What a gracious way to thaw an awkward moment, he thought.
‘I know you didn’t want to tell me before why you reacted as you did to my mention of the potsherd, but I’m sure you understand my curiosity. After all, it’s a fatal flaw of my gender.’ She was smiling again.
He grinned. ‘And cops.’ Andreas wondered how much he should tell her. Probably nothing. But she could be a real help. He’s not likely to get anywhere with this case without knowing a hell of a lot more about Athens society. He needed someone with a real grasp of it, an insider’s view. Not Maggie’s sort of tabloid expertise.
The question that bothered him was, can I trust her to keep her mouth shut?
‘What do you know about potsherds?’ he asked.
‘Yesterday’s mayonnaise jar is today’s artifact.’
He laughed.
‘I know, I probably shouldn’t be saying that, especially since I work for a museum actively involved in trying to recover genuine ancient treasures plundered from our country, but it’s true. Generally, potsherds are simply bits and pieces of the most common sort of earthenware cookery and jars from a past civilization.’
‘Why would someone write on one?’
‘I don’t know why one would today, but in ancient times paper was prohibitively expensive, broken pottery was everywhere, and the literate used them as scrap paper. Sort of like our Post-it notes.’ She smiled again.
She seemed to like to smile. He liked it when she did. ‘Can you think of any reason why that woman threw the potsherd at you?’
‘Because it was in her hand.’
‘Yes, but why was it in her hand, and why would she throw it at you? Had it been a rosary, do you think she’d have thrown it?’
She brushed some hair back over her right ear. Lila was a pretty woman. Not his type, of course, but pretty.
‘I think you’re right about that. I wouldn’t throw something that was comforting me over such deep grief as the loss of a child. Perhaps I’d throw something I was dwelling on, something that represented what I was mourning.’ She looked him straight in the eyes. ‘So, where are you trying to take me with all this, Andreas?’
Wow, Marios was right; she really is smart. And knows just when to change the pace.
He smiled. ‘I really can’t tell you.’
‘Don’t trust me, huh?’ She turned toward the door and raised her voice slightly, ‘Maria dear, where’s the coffee?’ She looked back at him. ‘See, I don’t always need a bell to be heard.’
He shook his head and grinned. ‘That’s for sure.’
The maid came with the coffee, served it, and left. Neither spoke. They sat quietly sipping their coffees, sharing the space.
Lila broke the silence. ‘Well, if you won’t tell me, I guess I’m not going to be of much more help to you.’
Andreas’ heart dropped. But she was right. He put down his coffee. ‘I’m sorry, but you have been very helpful.’ He stood up, not wanting to leave, but there was no reason to stay. He reached into his pocket, took out a card, and handed it to her. ‘In case you think of anything else, please call me.’
She took the card and looked at it as if about to say something, or so he imagined. ‘Thank you, Chief, I mean Andreas. Let me walk you to the elevator.’
He prayed the elevator wouldn’t come. But it did. She was standing in front of the elevator doors as they closed, smiling.
Maggie spared Andreas the misery of hours squinting over a computer screen by leaving him a pile of Internet printouts. It contained every news story she and Kouros could find on the three families. The printouts sat on top of an even larger pile of official reports on the families and the events surrounding their sudden departures from Greece. Andreas told Maggie and Kouros to go home. He wanted to read everything himself. Perhaps it wasn’t the most efficient way, but a word here, an instinct there, might pull it all together for him. Besides, he was the only one who suffered doing it his way: sitting at a desk half the night reading.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No reports of foul play, just terrible tragedies. Each family was well off, though none as spectacularly so as the Kostopoulos family, and all had three things in common besides wealth: the head of each family had emigrated to Greece from somewhere else; each had achieved a significant level of professional, business, or social prominence in the press; and beyond a brief story on each family’s separate ‘tragedy’ and ‘decision’ to leave Greece, not a single, additional word ever appeared again on any of them in the Greek media. It was a perfect example of orchestrating press coverage to deliver an unmistakable message: Leave – or this will happen to you.
The deaths took place over a period of four years, and appeared random in time. The first was a particularly grisly accident involving two young children of the same family; the second, two years later, was the death of a wife at the hands of a never-found hit-and-run driver; and in another two years came the drowning of a teenage daughter in a boating accident. That was the one Lila knew about. All were gruesome, painful ways to go, but none likely to generate more than routine police attention.
Andreas rubbed at his eyes, leaned back, and let his elbows drop to the arms of his chair. So, why this time did they do the Kostopoulos kid in a way guaranteed to get police attention? It didn’t fit the pattern. And why was it always a wife or a child, never the father? He wondered how many other families receiving a potsherd simply packed up and left. Perhaps Lila would know.
He resisted thinking of her. One personal involvement per investigation was one too many. Besides, she wasn’t his type. That was the second time he’d thought that. Perhaps because he was certain he wasn’t her type, or maybe just because he’d never known a woman like her before. Whatever, time to get some sleep.
It was after three in the morning and Lila hadn’t been able to sleep. Something was bothering her. She was sure it wasn’t the man. How could it be? She didn’t know him at all. And he was a policeman. No, she was sure it had to do with what he was telling her – or rather not telling her. She turned onto her side and held a pillow over her head. ‘Sleep, please, sleep,’ she murmured to herself, squeezing her eyes shut.
It wasn’t working. She kept thinking of that moment when she thought Andreas might be hitting on her. It bothered her. Why are all men like that? WHY? She drew in a deep breath and repeated the only answer she’d ever come up with: it’s our culture, accept it or move. The phrase repeated in her mind, accept it or move.
Lila wasn’t sure whether the pillow or she hit the floor first. All she knew was that when the thought hit her, she bolted straight up yelling, ‘My g
od that’s it!’ and tumbled off the bed. It was one of those esoteric little bits of ancient history tucked away unused since grade-school days in the back of her brain. The family’s sudden departure from Greece, the mother using the word ‘banished,’ Andreas’ reaction to the family’s name written on the potsherd, all pointed to the ancient Athenian practice of ostracism. Accept it and move!
She couldn’t wait to tell Andreas that she knew what was behind his questions. She reached for the phone on her nightstand and, sitting cross-legged on the floor, called his office. She didn’t expect him to be there but let it ring until a machine picked up and his voice said, ‘Please leave a message.’
‘Hi, Andreas, it’s Lila Vardi. I figured out what you didn’t want to tell me. And I think I can help you. Why don’t you call me in the morning?’ She paused. ‘Or just stop by my home anytime between ten and one. I’ll be here. Thanks, goodnight.’
She hung up the phone and crawled back into bed. Why did I have to add the last part? She tossed the thought around in her mind until drifting off to sleep, finally.
Andreas checked his messages before leaving his office. He played Lila’s back three times, each time looking at his watch and wondering if it was too late to call her. He decided five either was too late or too early. He headed for the door mumbling, ‘Damn, why didn’t I check my messages sooner,’ and wondering what was on her mind.
10
The alarm went off twenty minutes before, but all Andreas could manage, so far, was drag himself out of bed long enough to hit start on the coffee maker and plop face-first onto the sheets. His father always had a morning coffee the old-fashioned way: his wife made it for him. But Andreas preferred appliances. Some day he’d get married, raise a family, and make his mother thoroughly happy. For now, there was no time, not even enough to court a new woman into bed for a night. He did his laundry and shopping on a catch-as-catch-can basis and cleaned his apartment in hurry-up style just before the occasional ‘stop by’ from an old girlfriend.
Of course, his mother did visit once a week to cook for her ‘boy’ and ‘tidy up a bit.’ Once, Andreas told her it wasn’t necessary, and she asked why he didn’t love her any more. So, Thursday afternoons the apartment was his mother’s. He tried getting home at least in time to say hello, but many times couldn’t. She didn’t seem to mind; said she just liked knowing she still could help her boy. She always cooked and left him far more than he could eat, something for which his next-door neighbors were eternally grateful.
The apartment didn’t have much of a view, but not many did in this neighborhood. At least not any a cop could afford. But he liked it here, even when the elevator wasn’t working. The four flights helped keep him in shape, and his commute was only 25 minutes in traffic or a brisk walk and two stops on the metro.
Pangrati was a neighborhood by Pangratiou Park filled with old five-story apartment buildings ‘south of the Hilton,’ as the locals would say. These days, new locals likely were students and other young people preferring the more spacious feeling of Pangrati to other better-priced but ‘more populated than Tokyo’ areas at the heart of Athens. There also was the charm of its trolleys, electrified yellow-orange buses running into Athens; and a walk to Kolonaki, with its fancy bars and shops, or to Syndagma, Athens’ central square and the home of Greece’s Parliament, took only fifteen minutes. The home of Lila Vardi, and a completely different world, was even closer.
Andreas rolled onto his back and thought of Anna. Not of wanting her but of how stupid he’d been. He meant to call her about Demosthenes but decided he’d better stay away. Any further contact with Anna meant certain suicide for his career and rapacious ‘like-father-like-son’ headlines shaming his family, especially his mother. Never again. He’d get Kouros to talk to her; couldn’t risk sending anyone else. God knows what she might say. He was angry with himself. He knew better: compromise integrity once and cover-up compromises never end. He spun off onto the floor and into his wakeup-workout routine: sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, and flexing.
Andreas finished and jumped into the shower. That was where he did some of his best thinking.
There really wasn’t all that much to do in a late-night club early in the morning. Of course, there’s the booze, the drugs, the noise, and the (lingering) hope of getting laid by someone of your preferred sexual orientation, but if you actually wanted to talk to someone, forget about it. Sure, you had the ramblers, philosophers, stoics, Hamlets, and expletive-stringers – yougottabefuckingshittingmemotherfuckermalakia – all willing to share their predawn wisdom, but when you reached the bottom line, the whole scene got old and boring pretty quickly. And when you had to be there every night making nice to everyone …
That was Giorgio’s life. Every night he’d be at his expected position by the front door nodding to his regulars, coddling visiting celebrities, embracing politicians, stroking those who despised other guests; all the while smiling. He ruled every aspect of the madness of the place with the pinpoint red-dot of a silver laser pen never out of his left hand. It demanded and received immediate attention from whomever it summoned. That was how Giorgio kept his sanity: by staying in control and sober. Everybody knew that.
Which was exactly why Andreas was yelling at himself in the shower. ‘Just how stupid are you? How could you think for a minute that a hooker could walk into his club with two gorillas, take over a table in the VIP section, and Giorgio wouldn’t know exactly what was going on? What are you, Kaldis, a goddamned rookie?’
Andreas finished with a string of more expletives directed at himself and a decision to get the investigation back on track. Enough with this grand conspiracy bullshit. It was a distraction. The murder trail was getting cold. He wondered if that was intentional; the boy’s death simply revenge for the Linardos girl’s humiliation and Marios’ performance a debt owed to the Linardos family repaid by an elegant ruse. Nothing was outside the realm of possibility. He turned off the shower. Back to rule number one: trust no one.
Everyone in the office knew the Chief was in a foul mood. Even his pencils could tell. He’d already snapped and thrown three against the wall.
‘So, what do you think, Yianni, did the bastard set me up? Does Giorgio have video of me with that girl?’
Kouros didn’t say a word. It was the sort of question not looking for an answer.
Snap, BAM. Another pencil casualty ricocheted off the wall. ‘Fuck him if he does. It’s not going to change a damn thing. If I find that bastard’s involved in that kid’s murder …’ his voice trailed off.
‘We do have Sotiris and Anna disappearing through that emergency exit into the parking lot, the one with the painted over security camera.’
Andreas had been ranting uninterrupted for so long he was surprised at hearing another voice. ‘No way Giorgio didn’t know they went out that door. Opening it must have set off all sorts of alarms.’
‘And security running to make sure no one was sneaking in,’ added Kouros.
‘Yeah, or running out on a check. Bastard.’ Andreas drummed his fingers on his desk. ‘We’ve got to figure out why Giorgio’s involved in all this.’
‘Money?’
‘Yeah, but whose money? Linardos’? That puts us back where we were before: no proof of anything. And we’d get nowhere going toe-to-toe with Giorgio over this on what we have. Damn, we’ve got to find the link between Giorgio and whoever’s paying. That’s where we squeeze.’ He clenched his fist.
‘Just tell me who, and I’ll start squeezing.’
‘Wish I knew.’ Andreas drummed his fingers some more. ‘Any luck with that gay bar?’
Kouros gestured no. ‘Just like you said, there was nothing in the dumpster when they emptied the garbage, and no one in the bar saw anyone resembling the victim or the two gorillas.’
‘So, we have the kid dead in the dumpster, last seen alive in the Angel Club.’ He flashed the palms of both hands toward the floor in the Greek manner of cursing the party named. ‘And, if we believ
e the girl, they grabbed him in the club’s parking lot. Which explains why the camera was out, so that there’s no direct evidence linking the gorillas to a crime. Just her word.’
‘The word of a hooker.’
Andreas didn’t look at him. ‘Yeah, the word of a hooker.’ ‘Wonder where they took him between the parking lot and the dumpster?’
Andreas shrugged. ‘No idea. And unless we catch them, doubt we ever will. All they needed was some private place to—’ he didn’t want to think about what they’d done to the boy— ‘finish him.’
‘Could have been anywhere.’
Andreas nodded. ‘But I doubt it was some random place on the side of a road. This was too well planned. They knew exactly where they were going and what they were doing. Wherever it was, it was worked out ahead of time.’
‘Right down to the specific dumpster and time to use it.’
Andreas nodded. ‘For sure.’
‘Yeah, but how could they be sure someone wouldn’t walk out of the bar while they were in the middle of dumping the body?’
‘The bar was closed.’ Andreas shrugged.
‘Yeah, but how could they be sure some customers weren’t still hanging around hoping to get lucky with a late-night quickie out behind the dumpster?’
Andreas shook his head. ‘Yianni, they’d already dumped the garbage, the place was shut down.’
‘Bars always dump garbage while customers still are inside. They get everything ready to close and lock up the moment the last one leaves. Happens all the time. Especially with good payers you don’t want to upset.’
Andreas picked up a pencil and began tapping its eraser end on his desk. ‘If you’re right, that means someone must have checked to see if there was anyone inside who might come out while they were dumping the body.’
‘And since the owner didn’t recognize the two gorillas—’
‘Someone else did the checking.’ Andreas nodded as he finished Kouros’ sentence. ‘It’s a long shot, Yianni, but the only one we have. What time does the bar open?’
Assassins of Athens Page 10