Philip Kerr - Hand of God

‘This is CCTV footage that was taken from a camera near the main gate to the hotel, which has only just come to light. We are almost certain that Nataliya is the person sitting in the back seat of the car. Unfortunately you can’t actually make out the number plate of the car, the driver or the figure sitting next to Nataliya, who might indeed be the someone she mentions in her suicide note: the man who put her up to stealing the pens.’

I watched the little bit of film several times before concluding that it left me none the wiser about what precisely had happened to Bekim Develi.

‘I don’t suppose you have an idea as to who this person in the car might be, Mr Manson,’ said Varouxis.

I was close enough to him now to smell his aftershave, which reminded me of a very pungent air freshener of the kind you sometimes smell in taxis; like the scent of an artificial flower.

‘No idea.’

‘You’re not aware of any of your players who might have hired a Mercedes limousine to go somewhere that night.’

‘Like I told you before, they were supposed to be having an early night before a big game.’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘You might ask all of the limousine companies in Athens if they can remember collecting a Russian woman from the hotel that night,’ suggested Louise.

‘Yes, we will certainly do that, thank you,’ said Varouxis. ‘Anyway, as it happens we now believe that the person in the car might more probably be Nataliya’s pimp, or some sort of sexual pervert who could even have been her next client.’

‘Why do you say that?’ asked Louise.

Varouxis ran the film again and then stopped it with a tap of his forefinger.

‘If you look on the back shelf of the car you’ll see — there, if I can enlarge this a little more — it’s a little grainy but you can see what appears to be a whip. It is what I believe is sometimes called in English a cat of nine tails.’

‘So it is,’ said Louise.

‘Again, I have to ask this,’ said Varouxis. ‘You don’t have anyone in your team who might be into this kind of sadistic behaviour?’

I shook my head. ‘No one.’

‘Were there any signs on Nataliya’s body that she’d been whipped?’ I asked, knowing full well that there were none. The sight, sound and smell of Nataliya’s mortal remains during Dr Pyromaglou’s midnight autopsy were going to linger in my mind for a long time. ‘I mean, you didn’t mention any, before.’

‘No signs at all,’ said Varouxis. ‘At least none that we know of. But now that the doctor’s strike is over we shall at last be able to organise a proper autopsy for both Bekim Develi and Nataliya Matviyenko. Today, I hope.’

‘Perhaps the whip was just a toy. All part of a sex game.’

‘Beating someone doesn’t sound like much of a sex game to me,’ said Louise. ‘Unless of course she used it to whip him. Now that’s something I can understand. A woman beating a man with a whip. There are several of my so-called superiors at Scotland Yard I’d like to take a whip to.’

‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ confessed Varouxis. ‘Perhaps he got whipped, not her.’

‘That would explain why there were no weals on her body,’ said Louise. ‘Which there certainly would be if she’d been whipped. It would seem impossible to participate in that sort of sexual activity without it leaving marks. Perhaps, Mr Manson, you should keep a lookout for the tell-tale marks the next time you see your team in the shower. Which will be on Wednesday night?’

‘I’ll certainly bear that in mind,’ I said.

‘There’s something else we need to tell you, Chief Inspector,’ I said, carefully, ‘and well, it relates to an old case of yours. Well, perhaps not that old. The Thanos Leventis case.’

Varouxis stiffened. ‘What about it?’

‘I think there might be certain similarities between that particular case and the death of Nataliya Matviyenko.’

‘Principally the fact that one of Leventis’s victims was thrown into the harbour at Marina Zea,’ added Louise. ‘Namely Sara Gill. An English woman.’

‘I spoke to Miss Gill,’ I said. ‘About the attack on her in 2008.’

‘You did?’

‘We both did.’ Louise spoke firmly. ‘In an effort to establish if there might be a connection with the death of Nataliya Matviyenko.’

‘And what did you conclude?’ asked Varouxis.

‘There isn’t any connection,’ said Louise. ‘Nevertheless, I believe I am now in a position to make a formal request through the British Ambassador to your government that the Special Violent Crime Unit here in Athens reopens that case.’

‘May I ask why?’

‘From what Miss Gill has told me,’ said Louise, ‘you came to the entirely understandable conclusion that because of the severity of her injuries she wasn’t likely to make much of a witness. She herself admits that she was confused. And that her story didn’t seem to make sense.’

Varouxis nodded and lit another cigarette, calmly. ‘Actually, it wasn’t my decision not to pursue her story,’ he said. ‘It was the decision of my police general. But please go on.’

‘Things are very different now,’ said Louise. ‘She’s much recovered and remembers a great deal more about what happened to her. In particular, we now believe that she’s in a position to identify the second attacker.’

‘We?’

‘During a Skype call I had with her on Saturday evening Miss Gill gave me a description of the man who attacked her,’ I said. ‘A very detailed description. From what she’s said I’m more or less certain that I’ve met the other man who attacked her.’

‘And who might that be? No. Wait a minute. Tsipras?’

‘Yes, sir?’

‘I think it’s best that you leave the room,’ said Varouxis. ‘I think if Mr Manson here is going to utter a libel against someone it’s best he does it in front of only one witness. For the sake of diplomatic relations between our two countries. I wouldn’t like Mr Manson to get into any more trouble.’

‘Very well, sir.’ Tsipras stood up and left the room.

‘All right,’ said Varouxis after his subordinate had left us alone. ‘Who do you have in mind?’

‘His name is Antonis Venizelos, and he works for—’

‘I know who Antonis Venizelos works for. Everyone in this building knows Antonis Venizelos. He’s a very popular man. Venizelos supplies us with free tickets to all Panathinaikos matches. He’s in and out of police headquarters like it was an extension of that stadium across the road.’ He nodded out of the window and sighed. ‘All right, tell me what makes you think that he’s the other man who attacked Miss Gill?’

‘She told me the man was hairy. Very hairy. Like Venizelos. A man with very sweet breath. Venizelos eats a lot of cardamom seeds and smokes menthol cigarettes. She also described a man who was wearing a T-shirt with a sort of UN logo on it. She told me that it was sort of like a wreath made of olive branches? Except that it wasn’t a map of the world within the branches, but what looked more like a sort of labyrinth. I’m certain that what she was describing was a Golden Dawn T-shirt. A neo-Nazi organisation of which Venizelos is or used to be a member. At least that’s what he told my assistant manager. But most tellingly she described a man who appeared to have three eyebrows. This was the detail that at the outset makes her seem unreliable. However, Venizelos has a very defined scar through one of his eyebrows that leaves one with the distinct impression that he has not two eyebrows but three. Considering Thanos Leventis drove the coach for the Panathinaikos B team, there exists a strong possibility he knew Antonis Venizelos. Also I know from my own conversations with him that Venizelos holds some very misogynistic views. Frankly, I think he hates women as much as he hates Pakistanis and Roma gypsies. I can’t say that I am a hundred per cent certain it was him, Chief Inspector. And you have my word that I certainly haven’t spoken to Miss Gill about my suspicions. However, I do think there is a very good chance that she would be able to pick him out of a police line-up.’