Philip Kerr - Hand of God

‘Rubbish,’ said Phil. ‘What do you think the Germans have been doing since the beginning of the recession? They’ve been bribing the Greek government not to bring down the whole edifice of the EU temple. When the European Central Bank is involved a very large bribe is called a bail-out.’

Vik laughed.

‘You’ve met him, Scott,’ he said. ‘This Greek Chief Inspector. What was your impression of him?’ He looked at Dr Christodoulakis and grinned. ‘Our manager, Mr Manson, knows all about bent cops, let me tell you. Being an ex-con you might say he’s an expert on the subject. Isn’t that right?’

I answered politely — more politely than the abbreviated biography Vik had just given of me might have led the two Greek lawyers to expect. ‘It was my impression that Varouxis is a man who takes his responsibilities very seriously. And in spite of the sheer bloody inconvenience of what he had to tell me, he struck me as a fair sort of man.’

It all seemed a very long way from football; and I thought I’d better try to fix that since it was the only thing I really knew about.

‘He even went to the trouble of telling me that he’s a Panathinaikos fan which means he holds no love for Olympiacos. He didn’t have to do that. And he could have given us the bad news before the match last night. The fact that he didn’t speaks for itself. And don’t let’s forget this: it’s not just Chelsea we have ahead of us but Olympiacos again, at home: the second leg of our Champions League match, next week. The Chelsea game can be postponed. I imagine Richard Scudamore is already expecting your call, Phil. But the situation with UEFA is going to be harder to fix. If we can’t play the home leg against Olympiacos then we stand a good chance of going out of the competition at the first hurdle.’

‘Christ, yes,’ said Phil. ‘He’s right, Vik. Just to stay in the Champions League is worth anything up to fifty million quid.’

Vik nodded. ‘At the very least,’ he said, ‘I think we need to know what the police know. Can this be done?’ He was looking at Dr Christodoulakis now.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I’m sure we can find out what they know and what they manage to find out. That much is possible. My instincts tell me that the dead girl’s the key to everything. The more we know about her the greater the possibility that we can find someone who knows what happened to her in the moments that led up to her death, which might put your team in the clear. You might consider posting signs around Piraeus and the Marina Zea where her body was found, offering a small reward for information about the dead woman. You’re right about one thing, Mr Sokolnikov. In Greece money doesn’t just talk; it shouts in a voice of thunder from the top of Mount Olympus.’

The GADA — the Attica General Police Directorate — was immediately across the road from Apostolos Nikolaidis, where we parked our fleet of cars. Bedecked in Panathinaikos’s shamrock green, the stadium looked as if it belonged in Glasgow or Belfast. After Silvertown Dock and the Karaiskakis Stadium, the AN Stadium was a bit of a third-world ruin; to say that it had seen better days was something of an understatement. On the crumbling walls were the mainly English slogans of Panathinaikos, Last End Fan Club, Mad Boys Since 1988, Victoria 13, East End Alcoholics , and crudely painted scenes celebrating the club’s former glory, daubed years before by naïve, inexpert hands. It was hard to believe that these ‘mad boys’ could be the descendants of the proud Athenians who had built the Parthenon.

‘Jesus Christ,’ exclaimed Phil. ‘What a slum.’

‘Isn’t it?’ said Vik. ‘Reminds me of home. Kiev, not London.’

‘No wonder they hate Olympiacos,’ said Phil.

But seeing it had given me an idea.

‘I’ve been thinking more about what we were discussing with Dr Olga What’s-her-face,’ I said as we crossed the busy main road where another car was now depositing our new lawyer and her bag-carrier.

‘Christodoulakis,’ said Phil.

‘If the lawyers’ and doctors’ strikes last for any length of time,’ I said, ‘we’re going to need a plan of how to make the best of things here, in Athens. The longer we stay in Greece the bigger the problem we’re going to have keeping our lads in check.’

‘You’re the boss,’ said Phil. ‘Team discipline is down to you, Scott. Hand out a few fines. Kick a few backsides. Remind them that they’re diplomats for English football and all that crap.’

‘I don’t think that’s the right way to handle it,’ I said. ‘We may need to offer them a diversion. In case these bastard government ministers and police lieutenant generals prove to be as intransigent as the Chief Inspector I met last night. And I want your backing if I suggest it.’

Toby Westerman and Dr Christodoulakis joined us in front of the GADA building as I outlined my idea.

‘Of course we’ll need to get permission from UEFA. And perhaps Vik will have to put his hand in his pocket. From the look of this place they could use a couple of new turnstiles. But I was thinking that perhaps we could strike some sort of a deal with Panathinaikos to treat their ground as the home fixture for next week’s match.’

‘You mean us? Play in there?’ Phil laughed. ‘I hope they’ve all had their injections.’

‘Sure, why not? And we could even let the Greens have the gate. What’s the capacity of a place like this? Fifteen, twenty thousand? Looking at this place I bet they could use the money. The important point is that we know that, whatever happens, we’re going to have a return match against Olympiacos. I can keep the team all pointed the same direction: towards training sessions at Apilion, just like before; followed by a match here next Wednesday night.’

‘That might work,’ agreed Vik. ‘What do you think, Phil?’

He nodded. ‘If we’re stuck here for any length of time it might be our only chance of remaining in the Champions League. It might even assist us in building some local support on our side.’

‘I hope it doesn’t come to that,’ I said. ‘But we ought to have a plan, just in case we’re stuck here. And I’ll bet this culture and athletics minister will be just the person to help us make it happen. We should be ready to take advantage of his willingness to help while we have him. It might not be so easy to get hold of him again. He might go on strike. Or get voted out of government.’

‘Actually the minister is a she,’ said Dr Christodoulakis. ‘Dora Maximos. She was a famous athlete and then an even more famous singer.’

‘I get it,’ I said. ‘A bit like John Barnes.’

Phil laughed. ‘God, you’re a bastard, Scott.’

‘Yes, but that’s what I’m paid for, isn’t it?’

The GADA was an unremarkable office block with an entrance like a bomb shelter. Near this was a small white marble shrine to the many Greek policemen who’d fallen in the line of duty; Michael Winner might have appreciated it but no one in Greece did. According to Dr Christodoulakis, the police in Athens were much hated. Gathered outside the front door were several newsmen — some of them English — who appeared to have been tipped off about our meeting; like everything else in Greece, information had its price.

In the conference room on the top floor where we met them you could easily see the football pitch across the road. And it was clear from the many plastic shamrocks and green ashtrays we found about the room that there was little support here for Olympiacos and plenty for Panathinaikos. But how much support there was for us in government remained to be seen.

The Minister of Public Order and Citizen Protection, Konstantinos Miaoulis, took charge of the meeting and, apologising profusely for detaining us in his country, he assured us the investigation would proceed with all possible haste in what were extraordinarily difficult circumstances, by which I assumed he meant the plain fact of the country going to hell in a handcart.