bang his head and say, ‘Oh no, I’d written it on my cigarette box and I’ve thrown it away!’ Since then Ethnos had gone bust, cigarettes were now in packets and computers had become cigarette boxes. I was slowly starting to understand a little. I leaned over and read the notes one by one.
What A is asking is absurd. L doesn’t even want to discuss it. He says he’s already paid M in gold. He’s right.
The good thing was that they were all dated. This one was dated May 10th, when I was still in hospital. In another one, dated May 12th, he wrote:
I spoke to M. He says one thing and A another. I have to speak to K.
Another two or three followed that at first sight seemed irrelevant, then on May 20th:
K won’t even discuss it. He says his position is at stake.
And on May 22nd:
I heard A’s programme last night. He’s blackmailing me openly. I’ll have to talk to his station and persuade some journalist to interview me so I can reply.
Again, there were a few irrelevant notes followed by two successive ones on June 2nd and 3rd:
Where did he sprout from? And what does he want? He says he has irrefutable evidence. It’s probably just hot air.
And on June 3rd:
He’ll send me the evidence and what he’s asking for is outrageous. The world’s gone mad. J told me that he can’t refuse to call M. A knows too much and he’s scared of him.
I reread all the notes and tried to see what I could make of them. There was no doubt in my mind that ‘A’ was Vakirtzis. ‘L’ was most likely Lilian Stathatos, Stefanakos’s wife, and ‘J’ had to be Jason Favieros. I had no idea who ‘M’ and ‘K’ were. That said, there were more or less three main conclusions: first, Vakirtzis was putting pressure on Stefanakos to facilitate him with his businesses, and Stefanakos, in his turn, was putting pressure on his wife and on ‘K’, who was quite probably someone high up in the government, perhaps even a minister. Secondly, Jason Favieros was scared of Vakirtzis because he knew too much. Third, and more important, Vakirtzis was blackmailing Stefanakos on his radio programmes to force him to succumb. The only blank was the note of June 3rd. It was evidently referring to someone unknown who had irrefutable evidence. What evidence and about whom? About Vakirtzis? It wasn’t at all unlikely. Anyhow, from the way the note was written, it didn’t give the impression that Stefanakos was collecting information about Vakirtzis. Probably this unknown person was offering his services. And evidently at a price given that Stefanakos had noted that what he was asking for was outrageous.
After so long, it was the first time that we had some clues and connections. At least, I was now certain that Favieros, Stefanakos and Vakirtzis not only knew each other, but also had dealings, and seemingly shady ones at that.
‘Print out two copies,’ I said to Koula. I intended to rush with it to Ghikas. Why shouldn’t he have a bone to lick, like me, to slake his hunger a little.
‘Well done, both of you. You’ve done a good job.’
A smile spread over Koula’s face, but Spyros didn’t appear to be too impressed by the honourable mention.
‘Can we take a look at Vakirtzis’s computer soon?’ he said, still with his eyes fixed on the screen. Apparently, it was the only view that interested him.
‘You’ll get your chance, but why is it so urgent?’
Once again he gave me the look that was somewhere between surprise and contempt. ‘Because you told Koula that he had a computer, but that he didn’t use it much. There’s a fifty-fifty chance that it had a cleaning program. Maybe sixty-forty. But even if it did, his suicide was just the other day and we might still find some data on the hard disk.’
‘All right. I’ll arrange it for tomorrow. In the meantime, go on searching through the records at the Ministry of Trade in case we turn up something on Vakirtzis.’
While they were printing out the notes from the computer, I phoned Ghikas to tell him to expect me.
It appeared that the police officer with the magazines had either been sent packing or had gone to find Ghikas’s wife at the hairdresser’s. Sitting in his place was a young man, who, if nothing else at least, had his computer switched on and asked me my name and what I wanted.
Ghikas was so anxious that he didn’t even bother to greet me. ‘Give me something that I can pass on, because the Minister is phoning me every few hours.’
Without a word, I spread out the notes from Stefanakos’s computer on the desk before him, as though I were laying out the cards for patience. He read them carefully, one by one, then lifted his eyes and looked at me. ‘Conclusions?’ he asked.
‘First of all, the most obvious. Vakirtzis wasn’t just a journalist, he was a businessman too. We’re trying to find out what businesses he had his hand in. It’s just a question of time. The second conclusion is that Vakirtzis was blackmailing Stefanakos, either because he wanted a share in his wife’s business or because he wanted to work with her. It seems, too, that Favieros was caught up in all this business.’ I paused for a moment and looked at him. ‘I don’t know how pleased the Minister will be about all this stuff on Vakirtzis.’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t think he’ll lose any sleep over it. He’d become a pain in their necks of late. He never let up with his attacks and he’d really got on their nerves. If I’m to judge from what you’ve told me, his attacks were aimed elsewhere.’
‘I still don’t know who “M” and “K” are.’
He shook his head and sighed. ‘I can’t imagine who “M” is either. But if “K” is who I think it is, then the Minister will have trouble swallowing it.’
‘Who do you think it is?’ I asked curiously.
‘Karanikas, the one who’s overseeing the Olympic building projects at the Ministry of Public Works.’
Ghikas was thinking of the Minister, but I was imagining Petroulakis’s face when he learned where we’d got to.
‘Can you arrange for me to talk to Karanikas?’
He stared at me with an expression of both anger and amazement. ‘Are you out of your mind? What evidence do you have to talk to Karanikas? Are you going to open up your hand to him? The next day, it’ll be all over the newspapers, the radio and the TV channels.’ He paused for a moment, then added slowly: ‘Old habits die hard, it seems. You’re back to your old ways.’
I didn’t persist, because at bottom he was right. I really didn’t have enough evidence to get Karanikas to talk and, if the investigations leaked out, it wouldn’t only be Ghikas who hung me up by my fingernails, but also Sotiropoulos, who was banking on an exclusive scoop.
‘I want one more favour from you.’
‘Like the one with Karanikas?’
‘No. I want you to get me the cassette of Vakirtzis’s programme from May 21st, the one where Stefanakos says he was being blackmailed.’
‘If there is one, I’ll get it for you.’
‘Tomorrow, I’ll send Koula to take a look at Vakirtzis’s computer. If I have any problems, I’ll call you.’
‘Do that and I’ll sort it out.’
The good climate was back again, but as I got up to go, he fired a warning shot at me: ‘Take care, Costas. We’re walking on a tightrope and if we put one foot wrong, there’ll be no one to save us. Did you see what happened with Petroulakis?’
I preferred not to answer so as not to commit myself, though I knew he was right when he said that we were walking a tightrope.
