Target: Tinos

by Jeffrey Siger

  “It’s happened before. And their deaths probably gave Trelos what he needed for his save the world project,” said Andreas.

  “And if he’d been able to catch his sister in the car with them it would have increased his share of the estate,” said Kouros.

  “What’s happened to your ‘gentle soul’ take on Trelos?”

  “I’ve learned to be flexible in my thinking. It comes with maturity.”

  Andreas flashed an open palm at Kouros just as the door to the office swung open.

  A pudgy man with a neatly trimmed salt and pepper toothbrush mustache stepped inside and shut the door. He was about Kouros’ height and Tassos’ age. He went directly to Eleni’s desk and sat down in her chair.

  “I asked Eleni for permission to use her office. She’s using mine for now. I understand you want to speak to her boss about a robbery at our Foundation. As I am responsible for overseeing the protection of the Foundation and its treasures, the vice-president asked that you kindly direct your inquiries to me. Please, call me Dimitri. Now, how can I help you?”

  “Thank you for being so concise and to the point. I shall be the same. My name is Andreas, and I’m GADA’s Chief Inspector of Special Crimes.”

  “I know your boss.”

  Andreas smiled. “Everyone seems to. Then I’m sure you appreciate the delicate nature of the situation as I have not yet brought the details I intend to share with you to his attention.”

  “Why did you come to Eleni with your questions and not to her superior directly?”

  “She is my colleague’s niece,” he nodded toward Tassos, “And we came to her only for a recommendation of the appropriate person to approach at the Foundation.”

  “Did you tell her what you’re about to share with me?”

  “Only that it concerned a possible robbery at the Foundation.”

  Dimitri nodded. “Good. This is the sort of thing that can spread harmful unnecessary gossip. We can’t have things getting out of hand, can we?”

  Andreas nodded. “No, but nor can we afford to have more bodies turning up. Five dead and counting is a pretty good indicator that things are already out of hand.”

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t see how any of those deaths could possibly have anything to do with the Foundation.”

  “All I’m saying is that bad guys tied into the murder victims seem to know that the Foundation has been robbed. It’s only the good guys who are in the dark.”

  “Five dead souls.” Dimitri crossed himself. “How can you be sure their deaths are related to the robbing of our church?”

  “Shall I take that as a ‘yes’ as to whether you’ve been robbed? Because believe me, there are three murders on Tinos and two in Athens tied into it.” Andreas let his words sink in.

  Dimitri seemed lost in thought. “We noticed the first one about ten years ago.”

  “The first one?” said Andreas. “How many have there been?”

  “That’s hard to say?”

  “What do you mean, ‘hard to say’?”

  “They’re not wholesale thefts of treasures, just one here, one there, hardly noticeable except when we take inventory.”

  “How often do you take inventory?”

  “Depends. For some items it’s done once a year, for others not so often.”

  “Are you saying you’re still being robbed?” said Tassos.

  Dimitri nodded. “With each inventory we’re missing more things.”

  “And you never tried to catch the thieves or at least stop them?” said Andreas.

  “Of course we tried. We suspected everyone, still do, even ourselves. We installed security cameras wherever we could, but the thieves found ways to get around them and things kept disappearing.”

  “Why didn’t you call the police?” said Andreas.

  “As you said, Chief Inspector, it is a situation of an extremely ‘delicate nature’ and new donations more than replenish what is lost. We’ve come to accept it as God’s way of tithing us for the many contributions we receive in the Holy Virgin’s name.”

  “Wow, that’s some way to look at being robbed, tithing!” said Kouros.

  “Tithing means ten percent. Are you saying you’ve been loosing ten percent of donations every year for the past ten years?” said Tassos.

  “I see no reason to put a number on it. You get the idea.”

  “Now that’s what I call a very serious motive for murder,” said Andreas. “I want a list describing every stolen item. If we can find one missing item we might have a shot at tracing it back to the thieves.”

  Dimitri shook his head. “I’m sorry, but although we log in every item before it’s sent off to storage, the description is no more than the weight of a ‘gold ring’ or the size of ‘diamond earrings’ and that sort of thing, except for the most precious of items and those have never been stolen.”

  “What do they steal?” said Tassos.

  “Simple things of value, but not valuable enough to be unique. Gold jewelry, gems, items like that.”

  “All portable?” said Kouros.

  “Yes.”

  “Great,” said Tassos. “We’ve got thieves acting like careful mice, taking only what they can carry away in their cheeks.”

  “Where did the robberies take place?” said Andreas.

  “There was no one place.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Our main vaults are here, in caverns and rooms underneath this complex, but we have other places for safekeeping all over the island.”

  “A sort of ‘not keeping your eggs in one basket’ approach to security?” said Kouros.

  “Yes, but once we thought we’d secured one location things would disappear from another.”

  “And you’ve been robbed at all locations?” said Andreas.

  “Yes.”

  Andreas put his right elbow on the desk, and his forehead in the palm of his hand.

  “I know just how you feel, Chief Inspector. It is a burden I’ve carried for the Foundation for many years.”

  Andreas looked up, “You mean the Foundation’s commission doesn’t know about any of this?”

  Dimitri said nothing.

  “I want a map showing every site where you’ve been robbed,” said Andreas.

  Dimitri gestured no. “I cannot possibly do that. The locations are top secret, known only to a handful of persons completely above suspicion. And that includes the few longtime, trusted employees who inconspicuously transport items from the Church to our places of safekeeping.”

  “Plus, let’s not forget the thieves. They seem pretty well informed. Dimitri, that was a non-negotiable request. You’ve left us no other place to start. Either I get the list from you or I start asking government ministers to get it from the Foundation for me. And believe me that most definitely will ‘burden’ the Foundation’s commission.”

  “But—”

  Andreas cut him off. “How you choose to deal with all those robberies is your own business. Frankly, unless you force my hand, I don’t want to get involved in any of that or go public with your ‘delicate’ decade of details. But how I choose to deal with solving five murders is my business. Do we understand each other?”

  Dimitri cleared his throat. “Very well, but promise me you’ll not share what I give you with anyone outside of this room.”

  “Agreed.”

  “So help you God?”

  Andreas looked at Tassos and Kouros.

  “So help us God,” they said.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  The three cops stood by their car in the parking lot behind the church and across the street from a grassy, tree-shaded park running up a hillside. “What I don’t understand is how Dimitri possibly could have kept something like that secret from the Foundation’s commission for ten years,” said Tassos.

  “You’re assuming that he did,” said Andreas. “And isn’t just taking one for the team. After all, Eleni said he’s dedicated nearly his entire life to the Foundation.�
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  “But why keep a robbery secret in the first place?” said Kouros.

  “The ‘why’ I understand,” said Tassos. “I don’t know if you remember, but the Foundation once announced a public auction to convert some donated treasures into cash to fund its projects. Supporters went wild. They didn’t want their gifts to the Megalochari sold off to strangers. Can you imagine how those supporters would react if they knew how much of what they’ve donated has been stolen?

  “I think the ‘why’ is nothing more than our traditional Greek ‘cost of doing business’ attitude. You must give up to get.”

  “But if we’re talking about tithing that’s a hell of lot of money disappearing every year,” said Kouros.

  Andreas opened the driver’s door. “Guys, I’d prefer if you’d come up with another ‘why’ theory.”

  “How about a conspiracy between the supervising government ministries and someone at the Foundation?” said Kouros opening the driver side rear door.

  “Another Greek trait,” said Tassos. “When all else fails, find a conspiracy.” He walked around the car and opened the passenger side front door.

  “It would also answer your ‘how’ question,” said Kouros sliding onto the back seat.

  “Can’t we come up with something else, like biblical justification for all this? After all, we are talking about a church here,” said Andreas.

  Tassos sat down next to Andreas. “You mean like not cutting to the edges of your field so that the poor may live off of what is left?” said Tassos.

  “That’ll work,” said Andreas.

  “But it’s Old Testament,” said Tassos.

  “Still works, I’m just looking for someway to justify to myself why I’m willing to ignore a ten year cover-up.”

  “Come on,” said Tassos. “You don’t actually believe that no one at those ministries knows about the robberies?”

  “I see, we’re back to conspiracies,” said Andreas.

  “Yes, but let’s not look upon it as one premised on an opportunity to corruptly profit, but instead evolving out of a genuine desire to protect the victim from further harm by adopting a ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ approach.”

  “Wow, you make it sound as if something like that could actually happen in this country,” said Kouros.

  “Enough already. Let’s leave it at if we find the thieves we’ll find the killers. And screw whatever else happens.” Andreas started the car and handed Tassos a document. “Here’s the secret map. You navigate. Just tell me the first stop on our treasure hunt.”

  “Eleni’s father’s taverna.”

  Andreas looked at Tassos. “You’re joking. The Foundation has a secret vault at his place?”

  “No. I’m hungry.”

  ***

  The father put them at a large table beneath a sprawling tree and placed a bottle of water on the table together with what he called the “the yield of their shade,” ripe, freshly peeled figs. Tassos thanked him, and took him aside for a few moments of private conversation.

  By the time he returned half the figs were gone. “Hey, you’re eating them all.”

  “No, only our half,” smiled Kouros.

  “What did he have to say?” said Andreas.

  “No more than what Eleni told us.” Tassos popped a fig into his mouth. “Plus, the part about him ‘only telling a few people.’”

  “Any one we know?”

  “Nope. But enough to say it probably got back to Trelos through him or possibly indirectly though Trelos’ sister. Eleni’s father mentioned it to a metanastes who works here and hangs out at her brother’s bar.”

  “Maybe we should ask Eleni’s father if he has any idea where the sister might be?” said Andreas.

  “How would he know?” said Kouros.

  “Because gossip goes two ways,” said Tassos. “And, I already asked him. The only places he could think of were where we already looked. He said that whole area over by Trelos’ house belongs to their family. It covers practically everything for a quarter mile north of the sea between Aghios Fokas and Aghios Sostis, except for that prehistoric settlement.”

  Tassos took another fig. “He did have a bit of interesting gossip on the sister. It seems that fellow who jilted her wasn’t all to blame. He came from a very traditional family but he wasn’t from Tinos and not someone her parents approved of. Her parents were outraged when the couple became engaged without obtaining their consent and refused to give her a dowry. That killed the deal for the boy’s parents. No dowry, no marriage.”

  “How long after that did the parents die?” said Andreas.

  “You and your patricide-matricide theory. She was jilted about a decade before, so that would have given her a very stale motive.”

  “Anything else?”

  “She’d tried to get the Foundation to give her a dowry, something they did for girls in need of that sort of help. But the Foundation said that since her family was very rich they couldn’t do it for her. No one has heard her say a word since.”

  “That’s probably when she tried to hang herself,” said Andreas.

  “Did he have anything to say about Trelos?” said Kouros.

  “Nothing more than we already know.”

  Andreas reached for the map in front of Tassos. “Since you’re busy with your figs, let me take a look at this.” He spread the map out on the table. “And, Yianni, keep an eye on the father. I don’t want his curiosity costing me my soul oath to God.”

  The map was a common tourist map, marked with eleven bright red circles. Starting with a circle in the port town around Panagia Evangelistria, five more ran roughly north centered on Kechrovouni Monastery, the ancient Xobourgo fortress, a Catholic Jesuit monastery, a place outside Greece’s finest basket weaving village of Volax, and a spot on the sea off to the northwest just east of Makrisia Bay. From west to east Dimitri had circled five more sites, beginning at the island’s artistic heart in Pyrgos and moving east to Katapoliani Monastery, the island’s livestock breeding capital in the Steni-Potamia-Myrsini villages corridor, the church of The Prophet Ilias on a western plateau of Mount Tsiknias, and a promontory just west of the Bay of Livada. Within each circle were delicately drawn crosshairs, also in bright red.

  “Here comes pappy,” said Kouros.

  Andreas quickly folded over the map.

  “May I get you anything?”

  “Yes,” said Andreas. “Undisturbed solitude.”

  Tassos raised his hand, “Sorry, filos, my friend has had a very bad time of it recently. His wife went off on their honeymoon without him. So, let’s just give him his space. I’ll let you know if we need anything.”

  The father hesitated as if wanting to say something, but turned and walked away.

  “I appreciate what you did to cover for Eleni, but couldn’t you have been a bit nicer to her father? He’s like a brother to me.”

  “But he’s not mine, and I made a promise to God not to let anyone but us see this.”

  “You know, Yianni, maybe there’s some truth to what I said about the reason for our friend’s mood.”

  “I’ve got no dog in this fight. You two work it out,” said Kouros.

  “Okay, I’m sorry if I offended him. Does that make everyone happy?” Andreas unfolded the map and spread it out on the table. “Now, would you please take a look at this to see if we can come up with a clue as to how thieves pulled off so many robberies for such a long time without getting caught.”

  “My God,” said Tassos, “Those sites are all over island. It will take us ten more years just to get to them all.”

  “And places like Xobourgo have been used for concealing treasures for centuries. How the hell did the thieves ever find where the stuff was hidden inside that massive rock?” said Kouros.

  “Or any of the other places without a map like this one, with crosshairs precisely drawn over treasure rooms,” said Tassos.

  “This is starting to sound like an Indiana Jones film,” said Kouros.

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sp; “Let’s just figure out what these places have in common,” said Andreas.

  They stared at the map.

  Andreas was the first to speak. “The church in town and that convent where the nun’s dreams led to the discovery of the Megalochari are obvious hiding places for Foundation treasures. Not so obvious are the monastery outside of Kardiani and that church in the middle of nowhere on Mount Tsiknias. But I’d say the cleverest move was getting the Catholics into the act by using their Jesuit monastery.”

  “So, we have five church related sites,” sites said Kouros.

  “Six, if you take a close look at where the crosshairs meet at that spot over by Steni.” Tassos pointed with his finger. “Right by where the crosshairs meet is a small church. Care to bet whether there’s a tunnel running between the church and whatever is at the ‘x’?”

  “Okay, so now we have six likely places within church control. What’s that mean?” said Andreas.

  Kouros said, “Just like the fortress at Xobourgo, the church on Tinos has always used its properties for concealing treasures from marauders and pirates. I’d bet there are secret passages and hidden rooms for just that purpose at all those locations. The thieves probably knew the same thing.”

  “What about the other five?” said Andreas.

  Tassos pointed to the map again. “Xobourgo is a no-brainer. It’s a stone honeycomb of secret places. And that spot outside Volax is filled with volcanic thirty-foot high monoliths and bizarre-shape boulders covering a plateau of natural hiding places. As for Pyrgos, it’s home to some of Tinos’ greatest marble sculptors and the crosshairs are fixed on a place filled with some of the finest examples of their craft, entombments in the Pyrgos cemetery. Another not so unusual hiding place for treasure.

  “But what I can’t get a fix on are the two along the coastline. There’s nothing there but shoreline.”

  Kouros took a paperback book out of his back pocket.

  “What’s that?” said Andreas.

  “A guidebook to Tinos.”

  “You’re kidding,” said Tassos.

  “How do you think I’ve been able to find my way around this island on my own? Or know how to pronounce ‘Xobourgo’? Don’t knock it, it’s been very helpful.”