‘I didn’t.’ The actress’s eyes met his. ‘As a matter of fact, it was her idea. Dear Maria, she’d do anything for me. She told me to go home and leave her car in the drive — when the cops asked, I was to say I’d given Maria permission to drive the Merc. I was in shock and I had trouble driving, but I managed it. She called me from police headquarters and I went in a taxi to bail her out.’
‘You went yourself? Don’t you have people to do your dirty work?’ Mavros chose the last words carefully.
‘Dirty work? Maria stood up for me and I’m supposed to send — who? My agent? — to get her out of that stinking holding pen?’
‘I imagine most of your fellow actors would send a lawyer.’
‘Yeah, well, I must be weird, then. Besides, like I told you, Maria isn’t just my assistant, she’s my friend.’
Mavros thought about that. Was it possible that Maria Kondos was the one who was covering up? Could she be taking advantage of Cara in some way? That still didn’t explain why she left the resort under her own steam, or why she had ended up in Kornaria.
‘Good evening, Alex, Ms Parks.’
Mavros stood up as Rudolf Kersten and his wife approached the table from behind.
‘Please, don’t let us disturb you,’ the old man said, in good English. ‘We often take a turn down here in the evening.’
Mavros glanced at Cara. She was smiling at the resort owner.
‘Join us, please,’ she said, apparently relieved that their private conversation had been ended. ‘We’re enjoying the night sky.’
Rudolf looked up at the stars and the great swathe of the Milky Way — the lights at the bar were not intrusive. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘it is magnificent, indeed. And the scent of the trees passing over the water.’ There was sadness in his voice.
‘Come now,’ Hildegard said, ‘you have been here a thousand times. It’s a place of joy, Rudi.’
The resort owner shook his head slowly. ‘Only in part, my dear.’
His wife gave him an exasperated look. ‘I told you to have nothing to do with that. . that damned film. It has been bad for you, all these memories coming back to life.’ Then she glanced across at Cara. ‘I am sorry, Ms Parks, but it is the truth.’
‘Don’t apologize,’ the actress said graciously. ‘Acting in this movie has made me realize how terrible the war was for everyone involved in it. How terrible any war must be.’
‘Thank you, my dear,’ Rudolf said, smiling. ‘It is important that the message gets across to the young. That is another reason for my involvement in
The waiter arrived again, beaming as he greeted the owner and his wife. He was dispatched for more water and a bottle of
‘I’m not supposed to drink alcohol any more,’ Rudolf said, ‘but sometimes I feel the need.’ He smiled softly at Hildegard. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t overindulge.’
When the drinks arrived, he poured shots of the spirit into three glasses.
‘My dear wife is teetotal,’ he said, ‘but I hope you young people will join me.’
Mavros, flattered at being linked in that way with the actress, nodded. She did the same and soon they were raising their glasses.
‘To. . to peace,’ Rudolf said, his eyes suddenly damp.
‘This is good stuff,’ Mavros said, as the old man blinked away his tears.
‘Yes, indeed,’ Rudolf said. ‘It’s from a village to the west.’ He looked across to the barman. ‘Angelos comes from there.’
Mavros remembered David Waggoner’s accusations. The waiter’s attitude to his boss was hardly suggestive of blood money having been paid.
‘You have a lot of staff from the area?’ he asked.
‘Oh yes,’ Hildegard replied, her hand on her husband’s. ‘Rudi has always made sure the local people get jobs in the Heavenly Blue.’
‘Especially those whose villages suffered under my country’s rule of terror,’ the old man said, his voice low. ‘I have been accused of buying favours, I have been accused of using my wealth to absolve myself from sins committed during the war — as you heard this afternoon, Alex.’
Cara Parks looked on in bewilderment.
‘But what I and my countrymen did during the war,’ Rudolf continued, ‘cannot be forgiven by financial offerings, even though the vendetta tradition on this island allows for such a solution. What we did was a crime for which there is no atonement.’
‘Come, dearest,’ Hildegard said, getting to her feet. ‘You are tired. Leave the young ones to their contemplation of the night’s beauty.’
Rudolf Kersten stood up slowly, his shoulders slumped. ‘And tomorrow, Ms Parks, you film the massacre, I understand.’
Cara nodded, her expression sombre. ‘I’m not looking forward to it.’
‘Ah, but you must give of your best,’ the old man said, his face animated. ‘You will give hope to all oppressed people, you will inspire the cause of freedom around the world.’
The actress, now also on her feet, looked humbled. ‘I will try,’ she said.
‘Goodnight, Alex,’ Rudolf said. ‘Come to see us before you leave.’
Mavros nodded, finding himself almost moved to bow before the old man’s nobility of spirit.
‘You won’t be on set tomorrow?’ Cara asked.
‘He most certainly will not,’ Hildegard said, her chin jutting. ‘There are some memories he cannot live through again.’
Mavros was reluctant, but there was a question he had to ask.
‘The
Rudolf Kersten gave him a direct look. ‘Makrymari,’ he replied. ‘Where the massacre the film is recreating took place.’
Mavros and Cara watched the old couple move slowly up the path towards the hotel. Neither of them had anything to say.
Shortly afterwards, Mavros’s phone rang.
‘Hey, private eye, where the fuck are you?’ Luke Jannet sounded like he’d consumed a barrel of Crete’s finest. ‘You gettin’ it on with Twin Peaks?’
‘No.’
‘Well, get your asses over here. I’ve kept you a couple of creatures with claws.’ He guffawed. ‘And I don’t mean Rosie and Alice.’
Mavros put his hand over the phone and looked at Cara. ‘Jannet wants us to join them in Chania.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Tell him I’m learning my lines.’
He relayed the message, then had a thought. ‘Mr Jannet, would it be possible for me to postpone my departure for a day or two?’
There was a long pause. ‘And why would you want to do that, my man?’
‘A couple of things to tie up. Besides, I’d like to see the massacre shoot that everyone’s talking about.’
As he’d suspected, that appealed to the director’s self-importance. ‘Well, if that’s the case, why not? We should be finished the run-throughs by lunchtime, so get yourself to the set by two p.m.’
‘The set in Makrymari?’
Jannet laughed. ‘Shit, no. We built our own village. The locals weren’t too keen on going through another mass shooting, even a staged one. All the drivers know where it is.’ The director rang off.
‘Let’s go,’ Cara said, getting up. ‘I really do have to look over my lines.’
Mavros signalled to the waiter, but he said that everything was on Mr Kersten.
As they walked back up the path, the actress took Mavros’s arm. ‘You don’t like me very much, do you, Alex?’
He turned to her. ‘No, I don’t. I mean, yes, I do. Shit. It’s irrelevant what I think. You’re one of my clients.’
