mirror and tweezers she was using to pluck her eyebrows into a drawer.
'Hello, Inspector Haritos!' She had forgotten her usually cold look and was being nice because I'd caught her red-handed. 'You can't go in, I'm afraid. He's busy,' she said in an apologetic tone.
'Again? Ah, poor Koula, I'm amazed at how you manage with so much coming and going in here.'
'You can't imagine, I don't have time to draw breath.'
I was about to tell her that I could see that, that she didn't even have time to pluck her eyebrows, but instead I said: 'I don't know what he'd do without you. And not only him, but us too. Everything goes through your hands.'
'Do you know what time I left yesterday? Nine o'clock!'
'Shall I ask him to transfer you to my department? And pick ten of mine to put in here? Because you're worth ten.'
'He wouldn't let me,' she said and giggled, obviously flattered.
'He'd be mad to let you go. Where would he find anyone as sharp as you?' She was oozing with satisfaction. I leaned over her desk, lowered my voice, and said to her conspiratorially, 'Koula, can I ask you a favor?'
'Of course,' she said immediately, ecstatic still and willing to do anything for me.
'I have to get back the report I left this morning. I forgot to include something. But I don't want him to know.'
'It's still on his desk. I'll go and get it with the things from the outtray. He won't know anything.'
'Let's hope that he won't ask for it while I've got it.'
'I'll tell him that I've sent it to be photocopied, and I'll call you so you can bring it back to me.' She gave me a crafty smile and went into his office.
That's great, the fox and the hen have hit it off and there's no one to touch them. A moment later, she came out holding a pile of papers. She went through them, found the report, and gave it to me.
'You're a treasure,' I gushed.
I wasn't in any mood to put up with the elevator, so I took the stairs. 'I'm up to the ears and I'm not here if anyone calls,' I shouted to Thanassis and closed my office door.
I sat down and began going through the report. As luck would have it, he hadn't read it-there were none of his notes on it. He'd read the summary I'd sent him to get it down pat for the reporters, and he'd left the report for later, like always. Fortune was on my side that day: The final page had only five lines on it. I could easily add the new information to the end. If he asked me why I hadn't mentioned the five hundred thousand in the summary, I'd tell him that was why I'd sent the report along too, so that he could read the details there. I'd have him showing himself up for not having read the report promptly. I'd earn plus points without losing any. The points system was another one of the innovations that Ghikas had brought back with him from the FBI. When you solved a case, you got positive points; when you messed up, you got negative ones. All this is recorded in your file, and when the Official Council convenes to consider promotions, they study your file and count the positive and negative points. In the end, each new government appoints its own people, and you remain in the same position with your points in hand.
I began feverishly to write the last page so as not to waste time, but I hit a snag because something else was bugging me. The old woman had told me that the Albanian girl had been holding a bundle. If she was holding it in her hands, that meant it couldn't have been large. What could have been inside it, clothes? We didn't find any clothes. Jewelry, gold, antiques? This was the most likely. How else would these gypsy immigrants have come up with five hundred thousand? They were either thieves or go-betweens taking a cut. And the hovel in Karadimas Street was their hideaway. They stayed there till they'd handed over the goods and got the money. Afterward, they moved somewhere else. The good thing about this was that it left the Albanian out of it. Certainly if he'd killed them for the loot, he wasn't going to have left the money in the cistern. No, he was a jarring note in the case; he'd killed on account of Pakize. So, the business with the Albanian was settled; we could send him all wrapped up to the prosecutor's office. As for the rest, Ghikas could read the report and decide if he wanted to continue the investigation and who he'd assign it to. I'd collect the points and end up sitting pretty.
Then Karayoryi sprang to mind. Hadn't everything started with her? Wasn't she the one who'd got me all worked up about the child and sent me off to investigate? We hadn't found a child, of course, but the old women had seen something that looked like a bundle. What if it was a baby wrapped in a blanket? How could she have made that distinction in the dark?
I picked up the internal phone and told Thanassis to come into my office. While he was on his way, I added the last bit of information to the report and handed it to him.
'Give this to Koula and then come back, because I need you for something,' I said to give myself a little time to make my decision.
Why did I want to get involved? Why didn't I let the case, if there was a case, take its official course? I'd had the department on its feet thousands of times, and in the end, nothing came of it and instead of points all I got was a tongue-lashing. This was why I'd never been sent for further training, not even to the Panteion School for seminars, let alone to the FBI.
Thanassis returned before long. He thought I had a job for him, and he stared at me with that look that said, 'I'm a moron.' 'I know you're a moron,' I replied, again with a look, 'but I need your help.'
'Be honest with me, Thanassis,' I said to him, 'is that Karayoryi woman hot for you, or am I wrong there?'
He wasn't expecting it, and he was flummoxed. He looked at me in both surprise and alarm. 'What makes you think that, sir?' he mumbled. He didn't know what else to say.
'I'm asking because I happened to notice the way she looks at you, the smiles she gives you.... Come on, don't tell me you haven't noticed yourself?'
'It's just your imagination,' he said quickly. 'Why would she fancy me?'
'It depends.... She might be after you because you're a fine young thing. Or she may be coming on to you because she wants access to the department and wants a scoop ... or maybe both. .
'Am I one to talk?' he said in an offended tone. Not that he'd be the first.
'That's exactly what I want, for you to talk to her. I want you to phone her, supposedly confidentially, and tell her that you have some information for her. And when you're with her, I want you to find out what she knows about the child.'
He stared at me dumbly. I waited for it to sink in, because, after all, he was a moron, as we said. 'Let me explain, so you know,' I said, after giving him a moment to think. 'Two days ago, Karayoryi asked me whether the Albanians had a child. And yesterday, on the news, she said that we were looking for a child. It was a lie, but she must have had some reason for saying it. Today an old woman neighbor told me that she'd seen the couple getting out of a van and that the girl was carrying a bundle. The bundle might have been a baby that she couldn't see clearly in the dark. So I want you to find out just what it is that she knows and why she keeps dropping hints.'
'Don't make me do this, please, sir,' he stammered in obvious distress.
'What am I making you do, dimwit?' I don't call him a moron because we say that silently, like conspirators. 'For years, you've got by in here through skiving, and I've always turned a blind eye! And once in a blue moon, when I send you on a job and pay your expenses and find you a chick, you start being difficult!'
'I don't want to get into trouble, sir. If anyone sees me and the people upstairs get to hear of it, I'll be in deep shit.'
'Why should you get into any trouble? At worst, I'm the one who'll be in trouble for sending you. Or are you afraid that if it gets out, I'll play the fool and blame it all on you?'
'No,' he said quickly, but then he began hemming and hawing again. 'And then there's my girlfriend. If she finds out I was with another woman, I'll have real problems, and how am I going to explain things to her?'
'Send her to me and I'll give it to her in writing that you went on official business. Now get out of here and don't come back without the information.'
He stood there and stared at me like a frightened pup. 'Be off with you!' I shouted, and he took to his heels.
I didn't give a shit about the points.
CHAPTER 8
Before going home, I stopped by the bank to get the thirty-five thousand that Adriani had asked me for. I
