Island Casualty

by D. R. Ransdell

  Cleto clicked on a tab labeled “personal.” The browser opened a new screen on some kind of social network. The picture revealed a man relaxing on a balcony. He was seated on a wooden chair and his hands were behind his head.

  “Well?” Nikos asked.

  I nodded.

  “You’re sure it’s him?”

  I nodded again. “But why wouldn’t the university have taken down his website? They must know of his death.”

  “Most of the schools are on vacation by now,” Cleto said. “You can’t even enroll.”

  I took another look at the picture. Behind Hari, a score of pots held healthy but unruly bunches of basil. Nikos translated the caption, which read “We professors are rolling in dough. Keep studying!”

  Cleto continued scrolling down. A subsequent picture showed Hari happily holding a small dog.

  “Life isn’t complete without someone to yap at you,” Nikos translated.

  Cleto scrolled down to a final picture in which a smiling Hari was on the beach holding a woman’s hand.

  “Oh, God,” said Nikos. “Listen to this: ‘It doesn’t hurt to have a fiancée from Amiros either!’”

  I focused on the woman. “Can you enlarge that?”

  After two more clicks, a bigger, blurrier picture emerged.

  “Shit.”

  “What’s the matter?” Nikos asked.

  “May I?” I asked.

  Cleto stood so that I could sit at his chair and bend closer to the screen.

  I hadn’t needed more than a second, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the image.

  The fiancée was Letta.

  “Do you want me to print out that page?” Cleto asked. “It’ll just take a second.”

  “Sure,” Nikos said. “And perhaps the home page as well.”

  “No problem.”

  Back at Nikos’ Café, customers had claimed all the outdoor tables, so I had the excuse to go inside and sit behind the counter where no one was likely to talk to me. Nikos poured me a shot of brandy, which I drank in one swig.

  “Are you sure that’s the girl you saved?” Nikos asked. “It’s an awfully small picture, and there’s nothing particular about her looks.”

  “It’s her, Nikos. It’s the same damned woman. No wonder she threw herself off a cliff.”

  “There might be another explanation.”

  “We just got it. Do you still have the ring?”

  Nikos removed the jewelry box from the drawer under the cash register.

  I took the object from its cradle, rotating it so that the diamond sparkled in the light of a neon Mythos Beer advertisement.

  Nikos leaned back against the counter. “Do you want to give it to Letta?”

  “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “People don’t update their websites every day. There could have been some change.”

  “I’m sure the ring was for Letta.”

  “What if you’re wrong?”

  When I tapped my glass, Nikos poured me another shot.

  ***

  Late that night Rachel and I sat with Nikos and Eleni as we munched pistachios on the couple’s front porch. Petros was outside in his car fast asleep. We’d taken bets. Rachel and I said he would sleep soundly; Nikos and Eleni said he’d sit up and wave within the hour. Either way the losers were slated to fix lunch the following day.

  “I still say it is best to give her the ring,” Eleni said. We’d debated the topic for what seemed like hours. “I’m sure she’d want to have it.”

  “Not necessarily,” Nikos said. “Every time she looks at it, she’ll be reminded of what she lost.”

  “She doesn’t need a piece of metal to remind her of that,” said Rachel.

  Nikos threw empty pistachio shells at the bowl, but they skidded across the table and onto the porch. “Remind us what was in the note.”

  “‘Forgive me. It won’t happen again.’”

  “That is all?” Eleni asked. “‘It’ could be almost anything, such as a remark that was understood the wrong way or a forgotten birthday.”

  Nikos squeezed her hand. “You’re giving Hari the benefit of the doubt.”

  “Why not?”

  A strong wind rustled the palms, sending an unexpected chill up my back. “You don’t take that long of a boat trip to apologize for something small,” I said.

  “He was confident she would forgive him,” said Eleni. “Otherwise why would he have their picture on the website?”

  “Half of my professors forgot to update their websites until the semester was nearly over,” Rachel said. “This guy could have been dating Letta a year ago.”

  “Shhh!” Nikos sat up straight. Lascar had stirred, but he showed no signs of consciousness. “Damn!”

  I sipped my water. At the taverna I’d drunk brandies between every set, so now I was trying to dilute the liquor enough to stay awake. “Maybe we should talk to Letta. We could fish around and figure out if she expected to see him.”

  Nikos cracked open a final shell. “Even if she did, she might not want to say anything to you. He’s probably twenty years older than she is. Some women might be embarrassed about that.”

  “On the islands, this is still common,” said Eleni. “Women look for men to take care of them, and that usually means older ones.”

  The phone rang, and we all jumped.

  Nikos hurried inside. “Yes?” he said tersely, coming back outside with the phone. “Oh! Oh, sure. No, you didn’t wake us. Andy!”

  My hands were sweaty as I took the receiver. “Yes?” I asked nervously.

  At best I expected a call from Soumba. Instead it was my brother’s cheerful voice at the end of the line. I’d forgotten about giving him the house phone number.

  “How’s the party boy?” Joey asked.

  I went inside the house where it was quieter. “All right.”

  “You don’t sound happy. Rough night playing guitar?”

  “No. If anything, I’m getting the hang of things. Rachel doesn’t even need me anymore, but the others let me play along.”

  “So what’s wrong?”

  “You startled us. That’s all.”

  “I’m sorry! I hope you weren’t in bed already. You said everybody stayed up late over there.”

  “We’re wide awake, but we weren’t expecting any calls.”

  “You know how hard it is to connect when there’s a ten-hour time difference. I figured if I called this late, I might catch you.”

  I sank at the kitchen table. “We had a big day. When we checked out that website link, we may have found out more than we wanted to know. According to Hari’s website, our suicide girl is his fiancée.”

  My brother sighed. “I wish I could be surprised.”

  “I guess you found the site by Googling ‘Kalamaras’ and ‘Amiros’?”

  “First I kept putting in the first name, which goofed everything up. Then by accident I left off the Haridemos part. But hey, I’ll give you the details tomorrow. I’m coming to visit.”

  “What?” I lost my balance, nearly falling from the chair.

  “Christina and the kids are going to her mom’s for a few days, and I’m caught up at the office, so I thought I’d pop over.”

  One popped over to visit the folks. One popped over at a friend’s house on the way home from work. One did NOT, in any way, pop over three thousand miles away.

  “You’d have to pay an arm and a leg to get an airline ticket at the last minute.”

  “You wouldn’t if you had enough frequent flyer miles and were willing to make an extra stop in Frankfort. I got a ticket for one-twenty-five with tax.”

  “Joey, it’s crazy for you to come all the way over here!”

  “I’ve been wanting to get out of town. And you’re always telling me that I should take more vacation time. So why not now? You can show me around. I’ve always wanted to see Greece. And you said the beaches are terrific.”

  Without thinking about it, I got the worry beads out of my pocket a
nd started twirling them. “Joey, coming all the way to Greece is a lot of trouble, and I’ve only got a couple more days here before I fly back home.”

  “Maybe I’d like to learn more about this new girlfriend of yours to see if I approve.”

  Two things were wrong. I hadn’t been seeing Rachel long enough for her to be considered anything close to a girlfriend, and for the most part, Joey didn’t bother to learn about my girlfriends because I didn’t bother to keep them.

  “You’re afraid I can’t take care of myself,” I told him. “Are you worried about our car explosion or the motor scooter attack?”

  “Don’t ask me to choose. Would you ask your friends to find me a place to stay? I’ve only got five nights.”

  “You might have to camp on the beach.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The hotels are all full. We spent the last two nights at the police chief’s house, believe it or not.”

  “Don’t tell me that’s a euphemism for the jail. Do not tell me.”

  “No, no, nothing like that. Soumba was trying to protect us, and he couldn’t find a hotel room anywhere. If the police chief can’t find one, believe me, nobody can.”

  “I’m sure the beach is lovely. I’ll bring a sleeping bag.”

  “Joey, it’s a long way down here.”

  He paused for several seconds. “I’d rather travel to another planet than sit around worrying about you, but if you want me to stay out of your way, say so.”

  I couldn’t believe he would make plans without consulting me, but on the other hand, I’d been worse than usual about answering my phone.

  “That’s not it at all,” I said. “It would be great for you to come see the island.”

  “What is it, then?”

  “You’d only be here for a couple of days before I’d have to leave. Unless you want to change my ticket again.”

  “We’ll worry about that when I get there. I should reach Amiros tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Tomorrow afternoon? That’s impossible!”

  “Andy, I’m already at JFK. My flight just started boarding. From Kos I understand it’s a short ferry ride to Amiros?”

  “You managed a ticket to all the way to Kos?”

  “They must have had a cancellation.”

  Joey couldn’t see how hard I was shaking my head. I’d tried to get a ticket to the inconveniently located Dodecanese island for hours before giving up and only buying airfare in and out of Athens.

  “Andy?”

  “Right. A short ferry ride. If I’m not at the dock when you get there, look for me at Nikos’ Café. You can’t miss it.”

  I hung up, wondering if I’d dreamt the conversation. I could imagine the conversations as Joey met the couple sitting next to him in a tight row at the back of the plane. “Oh, hi, I’m Joey, and I’m on my way to check up on my big brother because he can’t seem to get his life together.”

  At least he wouldn’t have any trouble keeping people entertained.

  Outside three pairs of eyes awaited me. I couldn’t judge who looked more worried.

  “Is everything all right?” Rachel asked.

  “My brother Joey wants to come visit.”

  “Brilliant!” exclaimed Nikos. “The more the merrier!”

  “I wish I could get my sister to come this summer,” Eleni said, “but Katrina cannot take enough vacation time.”

  “I wish I could get my sister to come as well,” Rachel said, “but right now she’s on a road trip.”

  My friends didn’t understand my discomfort. I sat back down feeling less steady on my feet than I should have been. “I tried to discourage him. I told him the whole island is full.”

  “Joey can sleep upstairs on Rachel’s couch unless he is too particular,” Eleni said.

  “I’ve already been a big imposition.”

  “We love your staying with us,” said Nikos, winking. “Island life was dull before you came. The most excitement we had was the occasional storm, and that was only in winter.”

  “Joey will liven things up,” Rachel said. “They’re not twins, yet they’re practically identical.”

  “That’s exactly right,” said Nikos. “I saw a photo.”

  Eleni clasped her hands. “How delightful! Can people tell you apart?”

  “If they work at it.”

  “You don’t know the half of it,” Rachel said. “He and his brother both hold architecture degrees, and his brother is also a musician. Is there anything you don’t share?”

  “Fingerprints.”

  “Thank God we’ll be able to keep your drinking glasses straight,” Nikos said. “That’s the most important thing. Anything else?”

  I smiled at Rachel. “We never share women. He’s been married ten years. Two daughters. The normal life.”

  “Well,” said Nikos, “I suppose every family needs someone like that.”

  Rachel and Eleni went inside, carrying what was left of our snacks and drinks. Nikos held out his cigarettes. “Nightcap?”

  “Sure.”

  For a minute we stared into the dark, listening to the ocean waves as they lapped over the beach.

  “You don’t want your brother to come,” Nikos stated. “Why not?”

  “Shit. Can everybody read my mind?”

  “You’ll have to ask everybody.”

  I flicked ashes into the night. “I’m surprised. That’s all.”

  “He knows you better than anybody, doesn’t he?”

  “We’ve always gotten along. The only time we’ve been apart was the summer I worked in Vegas. Going through university together gave us a greater bond. And losing our parents. And not having other siblings.”

  “It sounds like you got the best of both worlds.”

  “You’re probably right. We even cover for each other. Thanks to me, he can be in two places at once.”

  “What’s that?”

  “If his schedule gets too tight, he sends me to meetings for him. The ones he doesn’t want to attend. He returns the favor by covering gigs I don’t want to play.”

  Joey was a fair musician. Technically he could play the violin as well as I could although he didn’t have an extensive repertoire. He had a decent singing voice, however. But just as I hadn’t worked to make use of my study of architecture, he hadn’t worked to become a professional musician. We could change places and get by, but the results were mediocre. Often that was good enough.

  “You never answered my question,” Nikos reminded me.

  “He knows me so well that he knows me better than I do.”

  When Nikos turned, the streetlight shone in his face like a spotlight. “He’s worried, isn’t he?”

  “Normally it takes a tornado to get him away from his desk and an earthquake to get him out of Southern California. He’s pretty worried.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Even though I’m usually more tanned than my brother and he’s usually a few pounds heavier, people are always astonished when they see us together for the first time. The thirteen-month age difference doesn’t show.

  “My god,” said Nikos when we spotted Joey on the approaching ferry.

  My brother looked fresh despite the overnight travel. For once he wasn’t wearing a suit or tie. Instead he’d donned vacation garb, which meant we were dressed in exactly the same way: T-shirts, shorts, Tevas.

  We embraced as soon as he hopped off the ferry. “This is my buddy Nikos,” I said. “Nikos, can you guess this is my brother?”

  Our host extended his hand. “You’re not brothers. You’re two halves of an orange.”

  “That’s why I have to watch out for him,” Joey said. “If he does something awful, people might think it was me!”

  “Did your trip go all right?” I asked as I took his bag.

  “Fine.” Joey noticed the row of cafés, several of which were still closed. “You have coffee on this island, I hope?”

  “We hardly ever run out,” Nikos said. “I’ll make you a cof
fee at my place. We don’t open up until a little later in the day.”

  As we started down the strip, I pointed to Himena’s place. “That’s where I found the package,” I said.

  “Ah,” he nodded. “The scene of the crime?”

  “Damned if I know. Let’s just say I didn’t make friends with the staff.”

  Joey shook his head. “Do you see what I mean, Nikos? My brother is always getting me into trouble. He makes enemies, and they usually end up beating the crap out of me.”

  “Keep your head down,” I advised.

  “You’re both so tall that it won’t do any good,” Nikos laughed.

  Hidden from the sun, the interior of Nikos’ Café was still cool. Joey and I sat behind the counter while Nikos mixed frappés.

  Joey focused on the varieties of ice cream in the glass showcase. “Do you make these yourselves?”

  “I wish we had time. Eleni’s friends whip them up for us. Want a sample?”

  “As many as possible.”

  Nikos handed him a plastic cup and a spoon. “Help yourself. Try them all.”

  Joey opened the heavy glass case and smeared the cup with a taste from five different flavors.

  “Take more than that,” Nikos said.

  “Not so fast,” Joey said. “I only overdo sweets after dinner.”

  While Joey licked his spoon, Nikos and I rehashed the week’s outstanding events, including my failure as a spy. Joey hardly listened. He wasn’t tired or bored. He was somewhere else.

  “Any more news about Noche Azul?” I asked.

  “Just that it closed.”

  Nikos looked at us, surprised. “That was your old work place?”

  “Too many criminals,” Joey explained. “It happens.”

  Nikos hit his palm against his forehead. He assumed Joey was kidding him. “I should have guessed!”

  “I keep inviting him to come work with me, but he’s afraid I might be too strict with his hours.”

  “I’m afraid you’ll have too much work!” I said. “I’d rather sing.”

  “If it’s so easy to be a musician, maybe I can sign up,” Nikos said. “I could sit here and practice when I don’t have enough customers. I know all the Beatles’ songs!”

  “They should be in vogue any time now,” Joey laughed.