Jeffrey Siger - Sons of Sparta

Or if he hadn’t met the Chief.

Still, it riled him to be lectured by Andreas on his personal life.

Especially when the malaka was right.

The early morning autumn air had taken on a noticeable chill and it didn’t feel much different inside Uncle’s house. Perhaps Calliope liked it that way, or maybe it was Kouros’ imagination playing off the icy expression on his cousin Mangas’ face.

“Sit,” said Mangas, pointing to a chair across from him at the kitchen table. “Calliope, make us coffee and leave us be.”

Kouros sat.

Calliope silently brewed and served the coffee. She put out no cookies, walked to the sink, leaned back against it, and crossed her arms. “I’m not leaving. I want to hear this.”

“This is not for women,” barked Mangas.

“I’m your sister and your father’s daughter. I’m not moving.”

Mangas gritted his teeth, drew in and let out a deep breath. He stared at Kouros. “You’re lucky Calliope isn’t chanting a mirologia over your body today.”

Kouros nodded. “I know.”

“What were you doing there?”

“Cut the crap. You know what I was doing.”

“I mean besides that. It couldn’t have been just to ball the girl.”

Kouros bit at his lower lip. “We thought someone besides Babis might have been involved in your father’s murder. I went there to find out what she knew.”

“Who’s we?”

“My boss, Andreas Kaldis.”

“Did you get an answer?”

Kouros picked up his coffee and took a sip. “Yes.” He looked at Calliope. “May I have some cookies, please?”

Calliope stared but did not move.

“Calliope, get your cousin some damn cookies.”

She uncrossed her arms, opened a cupboard, took out a tin, placed it in front of Kouros, and returned to her place at the sink. She’d offered him no plate.

“Thank you.” Kouros opened the tin, took out a cookie and bit into it. “Yes, we know who did it and why he did it. Now it’s just a matter of catching him. Which we will do. I promise you he’ll go to prison.”

Veins bulged in Mangas’ neck. “I want him.”

“I know you do, but we don’t do things that way anymore.”

“He should die.”

“Greece doesn’t have the death penalty.”

“The Mani does.”

“Ease up on the drama, cousin. We’re going to get him. No need to start a war. It’s only one man, not a family thing.”

“ I knew it ,” Calliope screamed. Both men jerked their heads around to look at her as she shook her fists at the heavens. “That miserable bastard. I told father to have nothing to do with him. That he was not of our kind. We should have killed him when we had the chance and father would still live.”

“Who are you talking about?” said Mangas.

“The devil. That Ukrainian who wanted to build his hotel on our land.” She spit at the floor.

Mangas turned his head to look at Kouros. “Is that true?”

Kouros gestured no. “It’s not the Ukrainian. The one who killed your father also got Babis to kill himself, and hoped to kill the girlfriend in a way that would make you think the Ukrainian was behind all three murders.”

“But why?”

“To stop the hotel project.”

“I can’t believe all this over a golf course.”

“Come on, Mangas, you had to know about the Ukrainian and his arms dealing.”

“How would I?” He banged his fist on the tabletop, spilling a bit of his untouched coffee. “I didn’t know anything about the hotel deal until Father told us about it here the day before he died.”

Kouros looked at Calliope. “But you knew.”

“Of course she knew. She lived with him.”

“They would meet here. Sit at that very table. I would serve him coffee.” She spit again. “Father swore me to secrecy. He knew I’d find out about his plans and the Ukrainian’s background. I pleaded with him not to trust the Ukrainian.” With her right hand she pulled at the left sleeve of her black mourning dress. “It had to be the Ukrainian.”

“No, it wasn’t. I’ll tell you who, but first, Mangas, you must promise you’ll let us handle this.”

Mangas smiled. “Well, since you said he’ll end up in prison, that’s almost as good as turning him over to us.”

“I want your word you won’t go after him.”

“I promise not to interfere with the judicial process.”

“That does not give me comfort.”

“It’s all you’re going to get. Otherwise I start going after every miserable son of a bitch who could have done this.”

Kouros swallowed. “An arms dealer out of Kalamata called Niko set up the whole thing.”

“ No ,” said Calliope.

“Are you talking about one of the sons of that Pirgos guy my father arranged to take a fall in a drug bust a half-dozen years back?”

“The same. Niko’s father died in prison.”

“What about the other sons?”

Kouros gestured no. “Only Niko and Babis had anything to do with killing your father. No one else.”’

Calliope stood shaking her head, arms wrapped tightly across her chest. “I can’t believe this. It had to involve the Ukrainian. It just had to .”

“The Ukrainian had no reason to want your father dead. He’s a big-time arms, drugs, and human trafficker who wanted the deal to go through so he could build his airstrip. He planned on using charter flights in and out of the hotel property as cover for his operations in Africa. Niko found out about it and didn’t want the competition.”

“Why didn’t he just take out the Ukrainian?” said Mangas.

“He likely didn’t want to start a war with the Ukrainian mob any more than he wanted one with you. And by using Babis to kill your father before he signed the contract he also killed the deal.”

“I don’t believe this.” Calliope walked out of the room.

“What’s wrong with her?” said Kouros.

Mangas shrugged. “I have no idea what’s going through her head. She’s snapped or something. She knows she can live in this house for the rest of her life but all she keeps telling me is that she doesn’t want to ‘profit’ from Father’s death. I can only guess she somehow blames herself for not convincing Father to stay out of that deal.”

“But it wasn’t the Ukrainian who killed your father,” said Kouros.

“Calliope only sees things in black and white. Somehow Niko found out about the deal and saw it as an opportunity for getting rid of both my father and his competition. No deal, no Niko, no murder of our father.”

I hate somehows , thought Kouros.

“Any leads on where Niko might be?” said Mangas.

“You know better than to expect me to answer that.”

Mangas smiled, “I’m only asking because if you’d like to know I can probably tell you. Unless, of course, you’d like me to find him for you.”

“Where is he?”

“His wife’s family is from Gytheio. In the old days his in-laws were almost as tough a crew as our family. I’m sure if Niko tells them he’s hiding from us they’ll protect him.”

“Why?”

“The wife’s family is related to a family from here. The same family whose son was murdered by our grandfather for getting Calliope’s namesake pregnant.”

“You must be joking.”

“Nope, it’s true. A lot of intermarriage among the Mani clans. And that family link gives those folks in Gytheio another reason for protecting Niko from us. But you’re a cop, and who knows, the Petropoulakis clan just might be civilized enough these days to actually cooperate with the police.”

Mangas walked around the table to Kouros. “Just be careful about using your last name. Even shortened they might guess you’re one of us.”