“We’ll take you to the hospital for an X-ray on the way to booking you.”
“For what?”
“For starters, how about assaulting a police officer?”
“That’s a Mickey Mouse charge.”
Andreas crouched down by the man’s head. “You know what amazes me about so many ex-cops, especially dirty ex-cops? It’s how they think that once they hit their pension years, they’re home free and nothing from their past will ever come back to haunt them.” Andreas fixed his eyes on Bear’s. “Well, guess what? After that little macho performance of yours, permit me to introduce myself differently. I’m the man who’s going to haunt your past, present, and future days for the rest of your life.” Andreas stood up. “Get the fuck up and turn around. Now.”
“Chief, we came here hoping not to arrest him,” said Dimitri.
“I’ve changed my mind.” Andreas’s eyes never left Bear. “I said get up.”
Bear got to his feet. “You guys are wasting your time with this good cop, bad cop routine. I practically invented it.”
“You don’t understand,” said Andreas. “I’m the good cop in all this. You two don’t get along at all, so I came here hoping to find a way to avoid charging you as an accessory to murder, but from the way you’re behaving I think you’ve just become my primary suspect.”
“What murder?”
“Turn around.”
Bear hesitated but turned. Andreas cuffed him and spun him so they were face-to-face.
“What murder, you say? Have you been involved in so many you can’t remember?”
“Stop the bullshit.”
“Sure.” Andreas said Project Manager’s name. “And if that name doesn’t jog your memory, how about this one?” He recited Athena’s full name, including her maiden name and the last names of her three husbands.
Bear’s eyes began to blink and he bit at his lip. “I don’t know any of those names or anything about any murder.”
“Of course you do. You conducted the investigation into Project Manager’s death.” Andreas paused, wondering whether to trust his gut and take a wild-ass leap into the unknown. “And for your efforts in that regard, you’ve been handsomely compensated ever since.” Andreas pointed to the car and the house.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Permit me to describe your current situation more clearly. At present, you’ve got two things going for you. One, you’re not who I’m after, and I don’t even need your testimony. All I need is for you to tell me who was involved in that bogus report and why.”
“I’ve nothing to say.”
“Slow down. You haven’t heard the second thing, which is: no one besides the three of us knows we’re having this conversation. Once we take you in, the whole island will know. And when word gets back to you-know-who, how long do you think it will be before you end up wearing a marble necktie like your buddy Honeyman?” Andreas patted Bear on the shoulder. “You may be gone from the force, but you’re certainly not forgotten by those who fear what you know. Talk to us so that we can get to them before they get to you. It’s your choice.”
A moment passed before Bear spoke. “Can we go inside? I have neighbors, and I don’t want them to see me like this.”
Andreas looked at Dimitri, who nodded, and the two followed Bear as he limped into his house. It was much bigger inside than it looked from the outside. Bear led them down to a room dominated by a wide-screen TV.
“Is this okay?”
“Yes,” said Andreas.
“Could you take off the cuffs?”
“Not yet, talk first.”
Bear dropped onto a sofa with fitted pillows. Andreas stepped forward and pulled Bear to his feet.
“What are you doing?” said Bear.
“Sit over there on that chair.”
“But it’s uncomfortable.”
“Sit.”
Bear sat on the chair, and Andreas took Bear’s former place on the sofa.
“Now talk.”
Bear exhaled. “You got it all wrong. Sure I’ve been getting paid by some folks for things I did for them, but nothing like murder. I wrote that report like I saw it, a simple accident. I only got paid to do what had to be done to keep certain people’s names out of the report.”
“Which people?”
“The old lady’s family.”
“Athena?”
“Yes.”
“But she was dead by then,” said Andreas.
“Yes, but the family was worried something might come out about her history with the man.”
“What history?”
“He did things for her.”
Dimitri jumped in. “Bear, I know when you’re stalling. So get to the point or, so help me, on top of whatever other grief you’re heading for, I’ll have the buildings department all over your ass for all the illegal things you did building this house.”
Bear shut his eyes. “He coordinated her antiquities smuggling. Had been doing it for years.”
“How many years?” said Andreas.
“Since before the war.”
“How old was he?” Andreas put his hands behind him and fidgeted on the sofa.
“In his seventies when he died in the mid-1990s.”
“Did he have a pension like yours?”
“I never got a thing directly from the family. I got a percentage of what Honeyman made off of them.”
“How’d Honeyman figure in this?”
“He’s the one who had me keep their name out of the accident report. The project manager was driving a car registered to one of the family’s companies when it happened.”
“And Honeyman has been paying you ever since?” Andreas shifted again on the sofa.
“I was a cop then. He needed me, for a lot of things, and after I retired I agreed to take less.”
“How noble of you,” said Dimitri.
“No need to be a pig. I didn’t want to risk ending up like the manager.”
“Whoa,” said Andreas, leaning forward, his hands still behind his back. “I thought you said you saw it as a simple accident?”
“I never found any evidence to the contrary, but over the years Honeyman told me things that made me wonder.”
“What sort of things?”
“Honeyman had worked as a laborer for him for a couple of years before the accident, and he’d told Honeyman that Athena was a tough and controlling woman who thought her children weak and arrogant. Her grandchildren even more so. She worried how they’d behave after she was gone, so she made a contract with the manager, employing him for life to manage all the nasty projects that could come back to harm the family name.”
“I assume that detail didn’t make it into your accident report?”
Bear cleared his throat. “I didn’t know about it back then.”
“So, looking back, what do you think happened?”
Bear coughed. “No idea.”
“What were the chances Honeyman arranged for the accident so that he could step into the project manager’s shoes?” asked Dimitri.
Bear gestured no. “No way Honeyman could do what that guy did. Honeyman was a fast-talking laborer, and he knew his limitations. He was happy just making what he did off the deal. Besides, he liked the guy and complained that the person he had to deal with after the manager’s death was an arrogant, privileged prick who ordered Honeyman around like he owned him.”
Andreas nodded. “Perhaps he thought he did. What was this new guy’s name?”
“I don’t know; he just told me he was one of the old lady’s grandsons. I never met him.”
Andreas and Dimitri spent another half hour interrogating Bear but came up with nothing new. Andreas led Bear back up the stairs and undid the handcuffs at the front door.
“No hard feelings, Chief,” said Bear.
“No, none at all,” said Andreas.
The men did not shake hands.
“Until the next time then,” said Bear.
“For sure.”
Andreas and Dimitri walked to the car, and once inside, Andreas said, “Hurry up and get us out of here.”
Dimitri started the car and put it in gear. “Why the rush?”
Andreas reached behind his back. “Because, when he realizes why I kept squirming on that sofa, who knows what he’ll come hauling through that doorway?”
He brought his hand out from behind his back. “This is what I found between the cushions where he wanted to sit.” Andreas dropped a nine-millimeter semiautomatic on the console between them.
Spinning, smoking tires followed immediately.
* * *
By the time Dimitri dropped Andreas off at his borrowed home, Lila’s SUV was parked near the front door.
“The women are back. Come on inside and say hello.”
Once inside, they followed the sounds of voices out onto the terrace overlooking the sea.
“Look who’s back from playing internal affairs,” said Yianni.
“And look who’s back from playing Rapunzel,” said Dimitri.
“Nikoletta, what a surprise,” said Andreas. “I’m so happy you decided to leave the tower.”
“Only temporarily. My new girlfriends convinced me to spend the day with them, and I said why not?”
“Why not, indeed,” said Lila. “Would you boys like to hang out with us today?”
“We’d love to, but things have just gone from hectic to horrific, so I’m afraid we’ll have to pass on the invitation.”
Toni waved her hand. “Excuse me, but after that bombshell, do you really expect us to simply say toodle-oo and be on our sweet way? Uh-uh. Give us the news, Chief.”
Andreas turned to Yianni. “She’s tougher to deal with than you are.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Just tell us about it,” said Lila.
“Enough,” said Andreas, raising his hands in a calming gesture. “Here’s what happened.”
After he and Dimitri finished describing their encounter with Bear, the first person to speak was Lila. “What do you think he planned on doing with that gun hidden in the sofa?”
“Nothing good.”
“And you let him go?” said Toni.
“What could I charge him with? He’s authorized to possess a pistol.”
“And he was handcuffed,” said Lila.
“Uh, that I didn’t find comforting. With a round racked and ready to go, if he got his handcuffed hands around it, he could have spun around and started firing.”
Lila shook her head. “I could have done without knowing that last part.”
“Bad guys are always looking for a way to do their worst.” He looked at Nikoletta. “And that’s why I don’t like the thought of you in that tower alone.”
Nikoletta nodded. “So, what’s your next move?”
Andreas looked at Maggie. “Any word yet from your friends?”
“Not yet, but I impressed upon them that this is a Code Red Urgent matter, so I expect to start hearing back anytime now. If all my friends in high secretarial and clerical positions do what they’ve promised, our government ministries could come to a screeching halt over the next few hours.”
“Not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing,” said Tassos.
Maggie shot him a glare. “I thought you were trying to stay in my good graces.”
Dimitri grinned. “Remind me to change my vote in the next election.”
“It won’t matter,” said Maggie. “We’re everywhere.”
Andreas stiffened suddenly and pointed at her. “You know what, Maggie, you’re absolutely right. It doesn’t matter. You are everywhere, and I bet they’re everywhere.”
“What are you talking about?” said Yianni. “Who’s they?”
Andreas ignored the question. “Dimitri, I want you to set up a meeting with the mayor and the head of the Hoteliers’ Association for later this afternoon. Tell them it’s about important information relating to Nikoletta and that she’ll be there with us.” Andreas looked at Nikoletta. “Assuming that’s okay with you.”
“Not a chance in the world I’d miss that meeting.” She paused. “But what do you plan on us saying?”
Andreas looked out toward the sea. “Good question. I’ll let you know as soon as I know.”
Chapter Twenty-One
The mayor bitched and moaned, threatened and cajoled, all in an effort to learn the agenda of the meeting in advance, but the presence of the once-missing reporter and attendant possibility of nationwide press coverage ultimately convinced him to attend—provided the meeting be held in his office and photographs be allowed showing him with the reporter.
Marco Sanudos, head of the Naxos Hoteliers’ Association, said he was honored by the invitation and would gladly attend.
It remained to be seen which of the two turned out to be the better politician.
Andreas, Yianni, Tassos, and Nikoletta arrived at town hall in the SUV. Dimitri and two of his officers were waiting for them outside the side entrance. Andreas huddled with the two officers and Dimitri for several minutes, the officers nodding as he spoke. When he finished, the two officers left, and Andreas’s group of five went inside.
They’d made it as far as the atrium when the mayor came rushing over to Nikoletta.
“Ms. Elia, I’m so happy you’re safe. We’ve been working night and day to find you. All of Naxos rejoices and thanks God for your safe return.” He crossed himself three times.
No one missed the film crew and photographer capturing the moment. Nikoletta allowed the mayor his moment of glory by standing next to him, smiling, and nodding.
Through a forced smile, she murmured, “Mr. Mayor, could we please go to your office now? I’m afraid my smile’s about to crack into a million pieces.”
“Why certainly, my dear. Just a few more photos, please.”
Ten minutes later, they made it to the mayor’s office. Marco was already there, sitting on the far side of the conference table. He immediately stood to shake hands with Nikoletta and Dimitri and nodded to Yianni, who introduced him to Andreas and Tassos.
“Please sit,” said the mayor, taking his seat at the head of the table. “So, to what do I owe the honor of this meeting, aside of course from the rescue of Ms. Elia?”
“We’ve never met before, Mr. Mayor,” said Andreas, “but I’ve heard wonderful things about you.”
The mayor’s chest seemed to puff out from beneath his snug suit jacket. “Why, thank you, Chief. As I’m sure you know, it’s always rewarding to hear that the sacrifices we make to serve our constituents are appreciated.”
Andreas nodded. “That’s why I’ve come to you for your counsel and assistance on a matter of the utmost delicacy.”
The mayor’s brow furrowed and he leaned in toward Andreas. “Please tell me how I can help.”
“Thank you. I knew I could rely on you.” Andreas shook his head. “As you know, over the last week, four people have died, three clearly murdered, the fourth most likely as well. In addition, two police officers were the subject of another murder attempt.”
“Horrible, horrible. All so unlike anything that’s ever happened on our island.”
“Yes, I know,” said Andreas. “I’ve come to warn you of a pernicious evil that’s lain dormant on your beloved island for decades but has now come into bloom with a vengeance.”
The mayor’s furrows grew deeper. “I don’t follow.”
“Let me be blunt. All those murders and attempted murders are connected. They’re tied into one family’s efforts at keeping secret something I’m hard-pressed to believe many here on Naxos haven’t suspe
cted for years.”
“What family?”
“And what secret?” asked Marco.
Andreas spoke Athena’s full name.
The mayor leaned back, looking relieved. “That’s old news. For a moment I thought you had something. Are you talking about their antiquities dealings?”
“In part, but I think illegal antiquities trafficking is a more accurate description.”
The mayor waved his hand dismissively. “If we went after everyone who found and didn’t turn in antiquities, we’d lose half our population.”
“Even if your numbers were close to accurate, which I doubt, that’s an interesting perspective on enforcing the law. It’s the sort of attitude that can justify a lot of bad behavior.”
The mayor’s tone turned aggressive. “Like what?”
“Oh, I don’t know; let’s start with something simple, like murder.”
“Are you accusing me of murder?”
“I didn’t realize we were talking about you.”
The mayor bit at his lip. “I’m very close to that family. They are big supporters of mine, and I take personal offense at any suggestion that they would be involved in anything like murder.”
“I can understand your concern. Since you know the family so well, I assume you also knew the man who used to be their project manager.” Andreas spoke his name.
The mayor smirked. “That piece of shit.” He turned to Nikoletta. “Excuse me.”
She said nothing.
“Why do you call him that?” asked Andreas.
“He was blackmailing Athena for years; everybody knew it.”
“Who’s everybody?”
“Everybody in the family. When he died, it was good riddance to bad rubbish.”
“Wow, I’m impressed at how much you know about the family and its history. We should have come to you first. It would have simplified a lot of things.”
“And saved you from wasting a lot of my time,” the mayor added.
“The only question I have is, based upon all this knowledge you possess about the family, what secret are they so afraid of that they’re prepared to commit murder to conceal?”
A Deadly Twist Page 24
