Jeffrey Siger - Target - Tinos

“Did they check the brakes?”

“Yes, and all the other systems. Everything was in working order.”

“What about toxicology?”

“Only tested for blood-alcohol levels. Nothing out of line there either.”

“Why are you asking?” said Tassos. “Do you think the kiddies did away with mommy and daddy for the family fortune?”

“It’s happened before. And their deaths probably gave Trelos what he needed for his save the world project,” said Andreas.

“And if he’d been able to catch his sister in the car with them it would have increased his share of the estate,” said Kouros.

“What’s happened to your ‘gentle soul’ take on Trelos?”

“I’ve learned to be flexible in my thinking. It comes with maturity.”

Andreas flashed an open palm at Kouros just as the door to the office swung open.

A pudgy man with a neatly trimmed salt and pepper toothbrush mustache stepped inside and shut the door. He was about Kouros’ height and Tassos’ age. He went directly to Eleni’s desk and sat down in her chair.

“I asked Eleni for permission to use her office. She’s using mine for now. I understand you want to speak to her boss about a robbery at our Foundation. As I am responsible for overseeing the protection of the Foundation and its treasures, the vice-president asked that you kindly direct your inquiries to me. Please, call me Dimitri. Now, how can I help you?”

“Thank you for being so concise and to the point. I shall be the same. My name is Andreas, and I’m GADA’s Chief Inspector of Special Crimes.”

“I know your boss.”

Andreas smiled. “Everyone seems to. Then I’m sure you appreciate the delicate nature of the situation as I have not yet brought the details I intend to share with you to his attention.”

“Why did you come to Eleni with your questions and not to her superior directly?”

“She is my colleague’s niece,” he nodded toward Tassos, “And we came to her only for a recommendation of the appropriate person to approach at the Foundation.”

“Did you tell her what you’re about to share with me?”

“Only that it concerned a possible robbery at the Foundation.”

Dimitri nodded. “Good. This is the sort of thing that can spread harmful unnecessary gossip. We can’t have things getting out of hand, can we?”

Andreas nodded. “No, but nor can we afford to have more bodies turning up. Five dead and counting is a pretty good indicator that things are already out of hand.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t see how any of those deaths could possibly have anything to do with the Foundation.”

“All I’m saying is that bad guys tied into the murder victims seem to know that the Foundation has been robbed. It’s only the good guys who are in the dark.”

“Five dead souls.” Dimitri crossed himself. “How can you be sure their deaths are related to the robbing of our church?”

“Shall I take that as a ‘yes’ as to whether you’ve been robbed? Because believe me, there are three murders on Tinos and two in Athens tied into it.” Andreas let his words sink in.

Dimitri seemed lost in thought. “We noticed the first one about ten years ago.”

“The first one?” said Andreas. “How many have there been?”

“That’s hard to say?”

“What do you mean, ‘hard to say’?”

“They’re not wholesale thefts of treasures, just one here, one there, hardly noticeable except when we take inventory.”

“How often do you take inventory?”

“Depends. For some items it’s done once a year, for others not so often.”

“Are you saying you’re still being robbed?” said Tassos.

Dimitri nodded. “With each inventory we’re missing more things.”

“And you never tried to catch the thieves or at least stop them?” said Andreas.

“Of course we tried. We suspected everyone, still do, even ourselves. We installed security cameras wherever we could, but the thieves found ways to get around them and things kept disappearing.”

“Why didn’t you call the police?” said Andreas.

“As you said, Chief Inspector, it is a situation of an extremely ‘delicate nature’ and new donations more than replenish what is lost. We’ve come to accept it as God’s way of tithing us for the many contributions we receive in the Holy Virgin’s name.”

“Wow, that’s some way to look at being robbed, tithing!” said Kouros.

“Tithing means ten percent. Are you saying you’ve been loosing ten percent of donations every year for the past ten years?” said Tassos.

“I see no reason to put a number on it. You get the idea.”

“Now that’s what I call a very serious motive for murder,” said Andreas. “I want a list describing every stolen item. If we can find one missing item we might have a shot at tracing it back to the thieves.”

Dimitri shook his head. “I’m sorry, but although we log in every item before it’s sent off to storage, the description is no more than the weight of a ‘gold ring’ or the size of ‘diamond earrings’ and that sort of thing, except for the most precious of items and those have never been stolen.”

“What do they steal?” said Tassos.

“Simple things of value, but not valuable enough to be unique. Gold jewelry, gems, items like that.”

“All portable?” said Kouros.

“Yes.”

“Great,” said Tassos. “We’ve got thieves acting like careful mice, taking only what they can carry away in their cheeks.”

“Where did the robberies take place?” said Andreas.

“There was no one place.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our main vaults are here, in caverns and rooms underneath this complex, but we have other places for safekeeping all over the island.”

“A sort of ‘not keeping your eggs in one basket’ approach to security?” said Kouros.

“Yes, but once we thought we’d secured one location things would disappear from another.”

“And you’ve been robbed at all locations?” said Andreas.

“Yes.”

Andreas put his right elbow on the desk, and his forehead in the palm of his hand.

“I know just how you feel, Chief Inspector. It is a burden I’ve carried for the Foundation for many years.”

Andreas looked up, “You mean the Foundation’s commission doesn’t know about any of this?”

Dimitri said nothing.

“I want a map showing every site where you’ve been robbed,” said Andreas.

Dimitri gestured no. “I cannot possibly do that. The locations are top secret, known only to a handful of persons completely above suspicion. And that includes the few longtime, trusted employees who inconspicuously transport items from the Church to our places of safekeeping.”

“Plus, let’s not forget the thieves. They seem pretty well informed. Dimitri, that was a non-negotiable request. You’ve left us no other place to start. Either I get the list from you or I start asking government ministers to get it from the Foundation for me. And believe me that most definitely will ‘ burden ’ the Foundation’s commission.”

“But-”

Andreas cut him off. “How you choose to deal with all those robberies is your own business. Frankly, unless you force my hand, I don’t want to get involved in any of that or go public with your ‘delicate’ decade of details. But how I choose to deal with solving five murders is my business. Do we understand each other?”

Dimitri cleared his throat. “Very well, but promise me you’ll not share what I give you with anyone outside of this room.”

“Agreed.”

“So help you God?”

Andreas looked at Tassos and Kouros.

“So help us God,” they said.

The three cops stood by their car in the parking lot behind the church and across the street from a grassy, tree-shaded park running up a hillside. “What I don’t understand is how Dimitri possibly could have kept something like that secret from the Foundation’s commission for ten years,” said Tassos.