“I have to run.”
Tassos paused. “Fine, but not too far. And do yourself a favor. Don’t tell Calliope about our conversation. It won’t help her, and definitely won’t help you.”
“Why?”
“Just trust me on that. For the time being just stick to praying for a poor soul in dire need of every bit of God’s support you can muster.”
“Who’s that?”
Tassos patted him on the shoulder.
“The woman you love.”
***
Tassos’ friend Stavros turned into a gasoline station between Gerolimenas and Vathia, just beyond a small sign marked LAST GAS STATION IN EUROPE.
“Thanks, Stavros. I owe you.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to hang around? I’m in no hurry.”
“That’s because you left the force.”
“I prefer trolling for fish than bad guys.”
“That’s why I want you to get back to Gytheio, on your boat, and out of here. I’ll see you on Syros.” He pointed at a car pulling in. “Here come Andreas and Yianni, right on time.” Tassos smacked Stavros on the arm. “Be safe, my friend.”
Tassos got out of the rental car and into the backseat of the unmarked police car.
Kouros turned around in the front passenger seat and pointed back at the sign. “The owner has a sense of humor.”
“I hope you’ll still have one after you hear what I have to say.”
“That bad?” said Andreas.
Tassos nodded. “Carlos took the photograph.”
“We already guessed that,” said Kouros.
Tassos cleared his throat. “Because your cousin Calliope asked him to. And she had the only copy. Looks like she’s the only one who could have given it to Niko.”
Kouros gritted his teeth. “Fuck,” and pounded his fists twice on the top of the dashboard.
Andreas made a calming motion with his hands and waited for Kouros to calm down. “I know this looks very bad.”
“I still can’t believe it,” said Kouros. He spun his head around and looked at Tassos. “Are you sure?”
Tassos nodded. “I’m afraid I am.”
“There could be other explanations,” said Andreas.
“Like what?” asked Kouros.
“Like I don’t know,” said Andreas. “But there’s one person who would know.”
“Calliope?” said Kouros.
Andreas nodded. “But how to approach her? If she ordered the hit on her father, she’s off the charts crazy. No telling how she’ll react.”
“Maybe we should first speak to Mangas?” said Tassos
“Wow, I don’t even want to think of the sort of reaction that will trigger,” said Kouros
“Nuclear?” said Andreas.
“At least. Even if she didn’t order the hit, he’ll never forgive her for whatever part she played in the murder. Nor do I see him showing much compassion toward Father Carlos.”
“And let’s not forget the messenger who blew his happy family apart,” said Andreas
Kouros stared out the side window. “This most definitely will wear out my welcome in the Mani.”
Tassos caught Andreas’ eye as he said, “It’s your family. What do you want us to do?”
Kouros scratched his head. “Talk to her. Now. Without her brother. If she did it, we’ll take her in. Let the chips fall where they may.”
Andreas gave a quick glance at Tassos. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”
“Yes. I don’t believe she did it, but if she did…” he shook his head.
Tassos looked at his watch. “It’s after seven.”
Kouros looked straight ahead. “She’s probably preparing dinner.”
“Alone?” asked Andreas.
“I certainly hope so.”
Andreas pulled out of the last gas station in Europe and headed south, past another sign marked THIS WAY TO THE ENTRANCE TO HADES.
***
The sun had set by the time Kouros knocked on his uncle’s front door. A minute later Calliope opened it, wearing a white butcher’s apron over a black skirt and blouse.
“Ah, I see you’ve decided to become a regular visitor to our humble part of the Mani, cousin.” She waved. “Please, come in. Your friends, too.”
“I work with these men.”
“My name is Andreas Kaldis. My condolences on your loss.”
“Ta sillipitiria mou. I’m Tassos Stamatos.”
“Thank you. Nice to meet you. If you’ll excuse me for five minutes, I’m right in the middle of cooking.” She pointed to the living room. “Please, make yourselves comfortable. Yianni knows where the drinks are if you’d like something.”
“Thank you,” the three said in unison.
She hurried off into the kitchen.
The men looked at each other, went into the living room, and took care to sit so that each faced a different direction from the others. No one said a word. They listened to Calliope working in the kitchen.
Five minutes passed. Ten minutes. Another five.
“Sorry to have taken so long.” Calliope swung into the room carrying a large tray filled with plates of food. Kouros jumped up to take the tray from her and placed it on a coffee table in front of the couch.
“Since I was already cooking for myself I decided why not make enough for everyone?”
“That’s very thoughtful, but we’re really not hungry,” said Kouros.
“Since when has that excuse ever worked on a Greek woman serving you food?”
Tassos smiled. “It’s never worked for me.” He picked up a fork, latched onto a stuffed grape leaf, and took a bite. “Hmmm, this could be the best dolmadakia I’ve ever tasted.”
“Flatterer,” she said smiling. “So, have another.”
“I will.”
“Cousin, we’re here to talk to you about something very serious.”
“I’m not surprised. This house isn’t exactly the place I’d expect you to bring your friends for a good time in the Mani.”
“Come, sit down. Please.” Andreas pointed to a place on the couch across from him and next to Kouros. He waited until she’d sat. “It’s about your father’s murder.”
“Have you caught that bastard Niko?”
Andreas nodded. “Yes. We found him with your brother’s help.”
“Good. May he rot in hell.”
“He’s told us quite a story.” Tassos shifted in his chair. “He said that you’re the one who arranged for Babis to kill your father.”
“That lying bastard.”
“Calliope,” said Kouros quietly. “He said you gave him a photograph of Uncle and Stella.”
She dropped her head and clasped her hands together. “I guess I could deny that and there would be no way of proving that I did.” She paused for a moment and looked up. “But I did give it to him.”
Kouros pressed the fingers of his right hand tightly against his forehead. “How could you have done this to your father? To your family?”
Calliope looked at Kouros. “I didn’t do it to hurt Father. I did it to help him. To save him. It was my duty.”
Andreas moved forward in his seat and braced himself to react should she make any sudden move.
Tassos scanned the room to make sure they were alone.
“What are saying?” asked Kouros. “That you arranged for your father to be murdered to save him? Are you crazy?”
She looked down at her hands. “I am the Maniot woman of this family. Not my aunt or sister who live in Athens. I am responsible for deciding who risks death to save our family. If my plan had been followed, no one would have died. Certainly not father. Babis’ target was the Ukrainian.”
“The Ukrainian in the land deal with your father?” said Andreas.
She
nodded. “He would destroy our family’s legacy. We’ve lived on this land for centuries. He wanted to destroy it to run his guns. His drugs. His women. Father’s plan for assuring peace in our family came at too great a cost.”
“And you had a plan to ruin the deal?” said Andreas.
She swallowed. “Yes. Convince the Ukrainian that he and his project were not welcome in the Mani. Warn him that great harm would come to him if he persisted. But I could not carry out my plan myself. I needed help, yet I knew if I went to anyone connected to my father they would tell him of it immediately.”
“And so?” said Tassos.
“Father always said you could deal with your worst enemies as long as they saw profit in it. So I thought, who would never speak to my father but would want to stop the Ukrainian as much as I? The obvious answer was Niko, the Ukrainian’s competitor in the arms business.”
“How did you know these things?” said Tassos.
“I run this house. What don’t I know?”
“How did you connect with Niko?” said Kouros.
“A friend’s cousin is married to Niko. I arranged for the friend to set up a meeting with him in Kalamata. I went there and told him I had valuable information helpful to his business. He asked what I wanted in return and I said ‘elimination of our mutual problem.’ I told him my plan. He said he’d think about it and get back to me.”
Kouros drew in and let out a breath.
“Two days later he called and we met again. He said he liked my plan, but there was a problem. If he were seen to have played a hand in it he’d be at war with both the Ukrainian and my father. That’s when he proposed Babis. He said Babis’ relationship with my father gave him the best chance of getting close enough to the Ukrainian to pass along the threat, and with the bad blood between Babis and Niko’s family no one would think Babis was tied to Niko should Babis ever be discovered as behind the threats.”
“The threats were intended for the Ukrainian?” asked Kouros.
“That was my plan.” She bowed her head. “But Niko said there was no way he could think of to get Babis to betray my father. Otherwise he and his family would have tried it long ago.”
She lifted her head and rubbed at her eyes with the palms of her hands. “I should have realized what that meant, but didn’t. I was obsessed with getting rid of the Ukrainian. And when a few days later Carlos called to say he’d seen my father with Stella, I took it as a sign from above that Babis had been chosen to rid my family of the Ukrainian.” She crossed herself three times.
“That’s when I hit upon the idea of using a photograph of my father and Stella to enrage Babis. Inspire him to take revenge on my father by helping to destroy my father’s plans with the Ukrainian. The obvious twist never occurred to me. All Niko had to do was convince Babis to kill my father instead of frightening the Ukrainian and he’d have it all—the deal dead and revenge on my father. He must have promised Babis forgiveness from his family if Babis made my father’s death look like an accident or, at worst, that someone else was responsible. But I never imagined he would kill my father. Never.”
“What about killing the Ukrainian? Did you ever imagine that?” said Tassos.
She began to sob. “When Father died I was certain he’d been killed by the Ukrainian. That he’d somehow learned of the plot against him, thought my father was behind it, and killed him for it. I thought it was all my fault.”
Her sobs turned to tears and she cried for several minutes.
No one made a move to comfort her.
She looked up. “It was my fault. I need to die.”
Tassos waited until her eyes caught his. “No, my dear, what you need is serious psychiatric help.”
***
That night they drove Calliope to Sparta. They didn’t want to arrest her, nor did they want her wandering free, if only to protect her from herself. They compromised on a charge that didn’t implicate Calliope in her father’s murder, but kept her under a twenty-four-hour suicide watch while awaiting psychiatric evaluation.
Kouros called Mangas to tell him his sister was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and for her own good he’d taken her to Sparta. He made no mention of anything else. That could wait for another time. And he preferred not to be the teller of that tale.
As expected, Niko was out of jail the next day and back in Gytheio where he promised to remain until “vindicated.” When the prosecutor learned from Andreas that Calliope had confessed to her role in the matter, and from Kouros of Niko’s claimed statement of the facts, he told both cops there was a better case for convicting Calliope than Niko. Even more so after Kouros’ wrestling buddy, the bear, denied ever telling Kouros of a link between Niko and the uncle’s murder. He denied being part of anything more that an effort to convince Niko’s old acquaintance, Babis, not to take his own life but rather turn himself in for the uncle’s murder.
Andreas and Kouros knew where this was headed. With the actual killer dead, the victim a notorious bad guy, and prosecutorial resources strapped to the limit by across-the-board financial cuts, there was very little chance that Niko would ever see the inside of a prison cell. At least not this time.
Chapter Twenty-three
Andreas looked up to see who was coming through his office door. “You look pissed. What’s wrong?”
“I just got word the prosecutor isn’t taking my uncle’s case to trial.”
Andreas shook his head. “I hate this part of the job. We bust our asses catching scum everyone knows is guilty and some spineless prosecutor lets him walk because he doesn’t have the balls to risk hurting his conviction rate. We knew this was a tough case, but I thought the prosecutor would at least try to put him away.” Andreas pointed a finger at Kouros. “I want you to run a full financial background check on that prosecutor. If we find so much as a euro unaccounted for in his account I’m going to hang his crooked ass out to dry.”
“No one’s angrier than I am, but it isn’t all the prosecutor’s fault.” Kouros dropped onto the couch.
“What are you saying?”
“My cousins are very worried about Calliope. Niko was out of jail within hours after his arrest, but she’s been penned up in a psychiatric ward for nearly a month and a half. Mangas told me her doctors believe that if she testified it could send her over the edge forever.”
Andreas shook his head. “And Niko’s lawyers would make sure she testified.”
“In vivid, excruciating detail. That’s why Mangas told the prosecutor today that his sister wouldn’t testify. And her psychiatrist backed him up on that.”
Andreas blew out a rush of air from between his lips. “At least Babis is dead. That’s some justice. Which reminds me, maybe someone should let Stella know that Niko and his two numb-nuts buddies are free? Just in case they might still consider her a loose end.”
“I already told her. Her residency permit came through last week and she’s moving north to Thessaloniki.”
“What’s the matter, she didn’t like Athens?”
“No, she found a nice guy and he got a job up there, so she’s going with him.”
Andreas studied Kouros’ face. “How do you feel about that?”
He shrugged. “Fine, we’re just friends.”
“I see. So, what are you doing for Christmas?”
“Not sure yet.”
“Well, it’s the day after tomorrow, and you’re invited to our house if nothing better turns up.”
“Thanks. I was sort of thinking of going down to the Mani to spend it with my cousins.”
“Not a bad idea.”
“But I’m not sure about that anymore.”
“Why’s that?”
“Mangas told me Father Carlos has visited Calliope every day she’s been in the hospital and just obtained permission from her doctors to bring her home for three days over Christmas.”
“That’s terrific news.”
“Yes, but I don’t think I should be there for her homecoming. They don’t need me as a walking reminder of all she’s done and been through.”
“Your family can’t blame you for what she did.”
“I hope not. But, still, I don’t have be in her face the very first day she’s out. In time, I want to talk to her. Perhaps give her something her father didn’t think she’d appreciate.” Kouros turned his head and stared out the window behind the couch. “I think he was wrong about that. It’s a chest that once belonged to our Great-aunt Calliope.”
“Do I take all that as a ‘yes’ for dinner on Christmas? Tassos and Maggie will be there.”
“Sure. Thanks. Is the new kid you brought into the unit coming?”
“Petro? He’s on Crete, making Orestes’ life miserable. I told him to be his shadow until he found something to nail Orestes with big-time. Our new government says they want to fight corruption wherever it is, no matter who’s involved. So I thought, wouldn’t it be nice to start at the top for once?”
“May justice prevail in the end.”
“While you’re at it, don’t forget true love,” said Andreas.
“Yeah. Too bad this is real life, not fiction.”
***
At four in the morning on Christmas Day, church bells rang out across Greece. Services followed, in some communities right then, but in most not before six. The ensuing three-hour service ended a forty-day fast forbidding fish, meat, dairy, and on Wednesdays and Fridays, olive oil. Beneath the altar, waiting to be blessed, lay bread, sweet red wine, oven-prepared lamb and roasted potatoes donated to the community by those who’d lost relatives over the past year. It served as an offering for the souls of the recently departed and comprised the traditional Christmas Day feast shared with the community at tables set up outside the church expressly for the occasion.
Saint Petros Church was packed. But that was to be expected. Especially with less than thirty minutes to go in the service. Neighbors nodded to neighbors, friends introduced visiting relatives and guests to other friends, and women all in black, some in full nun’s veil, scurried around outside the church, readying the tables for the onslaught of diners.
Sons of Sparta: A Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis Mystery Page 24
