Marjorie Thelen - The Forty Column Castle

“Who’s piloting the boat?” I asked.

“The computer.”

“How did you know I was here?”

“I watched you run across the beach from the house. I was waiting for Sal in his study, the one that fronts on the pool area. You looked like a gazelle, fleeing the lions. Were you fleeing?” He looked at me, his eyes questioning. “Or were you running toward me?”

“I was coming to help you. My aunt will be safe with Mr. Bellomo for the moment. I couldn’t let you go by yourself.”

He kissed the top of my head. I wanted to think that was a show of appreciation.

“You don’t understand the stakes in this game,” he said. “Sal’s been trying to buffer us, but his reach only extends so far into the underworld. He had to step back and leave me to my own devices. This trip will be dangerous.”

I snuggled closer, hugging his mid-section, like that was going to keep us safe. “Where are we going?”

“To Pafos to get Berengaria’s jewels.”

“Who has them?”

“The American couple.” He paused. “Or that is my best guess.

I sat up to look at him better. “The American couple?”

“They head the smuggling operation.”

He had my full attention. With my palm I turned his face so I could see his eyes. “They’re with the group of excavators at the Forty Column Castle.”

“The excavation is a front. They come to Cyprus on a regular basis with the archeology project and arrange their smuggling ventures on the side. They’ll deal with anybody, including terrorists. Not smart on their part.”

“So they’re responsible for planting the statues on Aunt Elizabeth.”

“That’s my bet — to throw the police off their scent.”

Pieces of the puzzle that had been troubling me started to fit into place. But I still didn’t understand how Zach got beat up and why. “Where did you really go this morning?”

He smiled ruefully. “You aren’t going to let it go, are you? All right. To Max and Irene’s place to retrieve the jewels.”

“Max and Irene had the jewels?”

“Not exactly. I hid the jewels in the wood shed.”

“Max and Irene didn’t know,” I said.

He shook his head. “No, they didn’t.” It was his sigh that said he regretted what happened to Max and Irene.

“The jewels weren’t where I hid them. The American couple must have figured out where I had stashed them. Max and Irene got in the way, and they killed them. We showed up too late to stop the murders and the theft. This morning Bruno and friend tailed us and tried to rub me out, so their American bosses wouldn’t have to pay for the jewels. You see, the American couple neglected to pay me. I had approached them about the jewels, and they wanted them. But they wanted them for nothing so they stole them. I’m going to find them and collect.

With his big, warm hand against my ribs, he eased me onto my back. “But all this talk is tiring me. Let’s not talk anymore. For some reason, my dearest Princess, I cannot get enough of you.”

I pulled him to me. “This time I will have my way with you.” Soon I had him calling on the whole Roman and Greek pantheon of gods to help him bear what I was doing to him. Never, ever was I going to meet a man like this again. I couldn’t shake the feeling I would not see him after tonight. Later we helped each other dress, savoring the act like a fine glass of Dom Perignon.

He took my hand. “We need to go topside so I can steer this magnificent craft. Who knows? After that session, we may have made it across the Atlantic to Brazil.”

I followed him to the cockpit and looked around. The scene took my breath away. Moonbeams bounced off the waves of the Mediterranean. I leaned into the breeze created by the yacht and inhaled the sea air into my lungs. Looking across the water, the line of the waves seemed to go on forever. I fantasized that we owned this proud vessel. We’d sail off to some obscure island and never be heard from again.

“What’s her name?” I shouted to Zach over the hum of the motor and rush of the wind. The yacht was a beauty, cutting through the waves like a knife of fine honed steel, like she owned the sea.

“The Elizabeth,” he shouted back.

“You’re kidding.” I moved back under the protection of the canopy. “Zach, do you really think Mr. Bellomo loves my aunt?”

“I think he is bonkers over her. He bought this yacht and named it after her. There’s a wedding in the making.”

“I find it hard to believe, but I hope for her sake it works out,” I said, a squishy feeling welling around my heart. To think she had fallen in love at this late stage of her life. There’s hope for all of us.

He cut back on the throttle and started a wide sweeping turn. “I’m going to show you Aphrodite’s birthplace from the sea.”

“Petra Tou Romiou where Aphrodite emerged from the foaming waves. What a romantic setting. Are we going to do something romantic there?”

“No, we’re going to meet someone there.”

“In the middle of the night? In the water? With all those rocks?”

“Correct.”

The plot thickened.

I had to admit I had never seen Aphrodite’s birthplace from the sea. Many times I had walked the beach and imagined her emerging from huge, foaming waves, the mist of the water her robes, voluptuous arms outstretched, the Goddess of Love. The moon cast its silver glow on the white cliffs along the shore, outlining the two giant rocks where Aphrodite emerged from the waves. Having swam around and climbed those rocks, I knew how dangerous they could be, especially with the collection of smaller rocks scattered about.

Zach cut the engine, and the yacht sat off shore rocking in the gentle waves. He put his arm around me and pulled me close. We listened to the sea and the waves against the boat. The night was still and washed by the moon.

“Do you see Aphrodite yet?” he asked. “They say she walks these beaches looking for hapless lovers.”

The road along the cliffs was empty. The beach was quiet. There was no movement anywhere.

“I guess this is her night off,” I said. “Who are we looking for besides Aphrodite?”

“A rubber raft with my partner in it. She’s going to join us.”

I turned to look at him. “A partner? The one you made the mysterious calls to? A partner in crime? A female?”

“Yes. What’s wrong with a female partner?” He sounded rather defensive.

“Nothing, I’m just surprised, I guess, I think.”

Sure enough, like a phantom conjured out of the night, a figure emerged from the rocks along the beach, as if she had been hiding and on cue from Zach she let herself be seen. She was tugging a small rubber raft and the way she pulled, it was loaded. She maneuvered the raft into the water, got in, and started rowing toward us. She was dressed in black, maybe a wet suite, and rowed with strong, swift strokes.

Zach’s attention focused on the raft. He moved to the rail to follow its progress, everything else forgotten.

I’d stay true to my promise to help him if I could and hope in the bargain I didn’t serve time for aiding and abetting a criminal and his female partner. Had I known he was going to have help, I might have stayed with my aunt. But he didn’t tell me, and he didn’t try to stop me. If he was using me, I was a big girl and it was my choice now, wasn’t it?

The raft came along side the stern. Zach lifted in two duffle bags and his partner. She was small and built like a gymnast. The wet suit outlined her trim figure. Zach gave her a quick hug and turned to me.

“Helena, this is Marie-Claude, who’s come along to help.”

Helena gave Zach an are-you-crazy glance and then stared at me. She looked Cypriot which was all the more unusual because my idea of Cypriot women was more traditional. They wouldn’t be out on a caper in the middle of the night. She was a young sprite with a mane of black curls that were tamed with a loose ribbon at the nape of her neck. Her facial features were stark, sharp nose and chin, winged eyebrows and dark, dark eyes.