Jeffrey Siger - An Aegean Prophecy

Deadpan, Andreas said, ‘But you have to be at your parents.’

Lila pointed at him. ‘Very good answer.’ Then laughed. ‘So we’ll have to find you the second hottest. And only one, because if you show up with more than one he’ll get insecure, think you’re trying to compete with him. If it’s just you and a woman he’ll bring you into his crowd, like the spider offering its web to the fly. It’s a game these guys play to prove they’re men. They’ll keep you occupied by making you feel important, while hustling the woman away with promises of whatever she wants to hear.’

‘How do you know so much about this?’

‘Remember, I’m the hottest.’ She smiled. ‘Dickless types like that have tried it all on me. But you’re the only smooth-talking stud who… uhh… scored.’

‘Ms Vardi, what language.’

Lila smiled. ‘I wish I could offer you more, but at the moment I’m afraid I can’t.’

‘But I can’t risk using a hooker, and even the hottest female on the force is out of the question. It would look like a setup if the Russian ever found out. And once he hears what I have to say, he’ll try to verify everything. How am I going to find someone by tonight?’

‘I know the perfect person. She’s already on Mykonos, and utterly believable.’

‘What do mean “utterly believable”?’

‘Barbara.’

‘She’s your best friend!’ She also was one of the most unpredictable people on the planet, although Lila and her friends preferred characterizing Barbara’s behavior as ‘spontaneous.’ Andreas attributed their charitable attitude to the fact that Barbara was rich, young, and gorgeous. It was much the same way that people called an old, rich nut-job ‘eccentric,’ rather than the more fitting ‘raving lunatic.’

‘That’s what makes it so believable,’ Lila said. ‘It’s the ultimate male fantasy, right?’ She smiled.

Andreas didn’t know if he should laugh or protest. He decided doing neither was the best choice.

‘Don’t worry, she can handle any man. Only one promise.’

‘Which is?’ As if he hadn’t guessed.

‘I want her returned “unused.”’

‘I promise.’

‘Let me see your fingers, they’re not crossed, are they? After all, we want to make sure “doing the best friend” stays just a fantasy.’

Andreas smiled and waved his fingers in her face. ‘You need not worry, my mind is on other things.’

‘Yeah, right. Now you’re starting to worry me. Just promise you’ll sleep on the couch. I’ll settle for that.’

‘What couch?’

‘Where do think you’ll be staying? It has to be at Barbara’s house. How do you think the Russians are going to believe you if you’re not…’ Lila stopped, as if there were another word she’d decided not to add.

He wondered if she was having second thoughts.

‘Just promise.’

‘I promise.’ He leaned over and kissed her cheek.

‘I love you.’

He smiled. ‘Me, you too.’

‘Okay, time to get you laid.’ Lila laughed.

Andreas tried to.

Evening services on Good Friday on Mykonos started at seven in the old town’s central churches of Kiriake, Metropolis, and Panachra. At precisely nine, each church’s clergy and worshipers left their church in separate processions carrying their church’s epitaphios along a prerranged route, winding past the other two churches before ending up back at their own. It represented the funeral of Christ, and Mykonians and visitors lined the route, some standing on freshly painted balcones sprinkling the participants below with a mixture of rose water and perfumes, the rodhonoro used on Christ’s body when taken down from the cross.

Tassos and Kouros went to services at Kiriake, the church closest to the old harbor, and were walking through town somewhere in the middle of its procession.

‘Haven’t been to one of these in a long time,’ said Tassos.

‘I like it.’

‘I guess that’s what keeps it a tradition — people like it.’

They were about to turn onto Matogianni Street, Mykonos’ compact version of New York City’s Fifth Avenue. It started just ahead and ran down to Kiriake. For now, though, they were standing in a rare, much broader bit of lane amid the coffee shops and bars comprising the heart of Mykonos’ late-night cafe society scene. It was barely thirty yards long. Everyone who wanted to see or be seen made an appearance here at some point in the evening, generally between midnight and four a.m.

‘What time is Andreas supposed to get here?’ Tassos looked at his watch.

‘He said his plane gets in around midnight. He’s lost his helicopter privileges.’

‘The first of many such experiences, I’m sure, if any of this wacky plan of yours ever gets back to the minister.’ Tassos nodded to someone waving to him from a tiny table in front of one of the bars. ‘And what did you do this afternoon, Mister Big Idea Man?’

‘Slept. I was exhausted.’

‘I bet.’ Tassos grinned.

Kouros leaned over and whispered in Tassos’ ear, ‘Asshole.’

Tassos laughed.

‘What’s the story with Katerina?’

‘She said she’d call me once she knows when and where her client will be in town. Not before one, at the earliest.’

‘Can you trust her?’

‘Absolutely. Not.’ Tassos smiled. ‘That’s the beauty of it. I know everything I tell her in confidence will get back to the Russian. She runs with the one who pays her bills.’

‘Sounds like a lawyer.’

‘God bless them. At least they’re predictable.’

‘What exactly did you tell her?’

‘That the chief of GADA’s special crimes unit wanted to talk to her oligarch of a client about an investigation that has absolutely nothing to do with him, and that we would be eternally grateful if she could arrange an “accidental” meeting. I impressed on her how important it was that her client not know the purpose of the inquiry, because this was to be a strictly backchannel, off-the-record conversation about a very serious issue.’

‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

‘Andreas agreed that was the way to go. They’d find out everything anyway. It’s called priming the pump.’ He smiled.

‘And how did Mykonos’ number-one lawyer react?’

‘She wasn’t too hot about the idea until I reminded her that the chief was Andreas. She said “yes” and hung up so fast when I said his name that I had the image of a sprinter exploding off the blocks at the sound of a starter’s pistol, except this one was racing for a beauty parlor.’

Kouros laughed. ‘Should be an interesting night for the chief. I just don’t like the idea of him flying solo. He’s right, though, everyone here knows we’re cops. They’d get suspicious if they saw us hanging around.’

‘Don’t worry, cops like to play, too. I’ve got a few youngsters on the force from Syros, regulars on the Mykonos party scene to keep an eye on him. He’ll be covered. Besides, we get to share a night together in disguise in one of Mykonos’ lovely mini-hauler garbage trucks, trailing them about town recording their every word.’

‘With all the noise in those places, we’d be lucky to hear a bomb go off.’

Tassos shrugged. ‘At least we get to spend some quality time together.’

‘Yeah, like blind mice sitting together in a garbage truck.’

‘It could be worse. If this goes bad we could end up in the back.’

‘There better be room for three.’

Tassos nodded. ‘Yeah, three blind mice. See how they run…’

Andreas was in a window seat on the plane, staring at the moonlight reflecting off the sea. He smiled as he remembered once thinking that being transferred from Mykonos probably was the only thing that kept him out of Katerina’s clutches. She was one of a kind. With her wild red hair and impressively augmented five-foot-five figure, she could not be missed. And if by some chance an object of her attention did overlook her, she’d grab him with a roaring voice and thrust of mesmerizing cleavage. Hard to imagine she was over fifty, even harder imagining anyone with balls enough to suggest anything close to that aloud.