“Tough, let him close the case. I have no intention of turning up as the next dead body by screwing up all of Lila’s wedding plans.”
“Don’t worry,” Tassos smiled. “Lila’s smart enough to make sure you’d never be found.”
Andreas looked at Tassos and slowly said in Polish, “Fuck you.”
Chapter Twelve
Andreas made the seven AM ferry. It arrived thirty minutes later at Mykonos’ new port. Andreas saw Lila waiting for him on the pier. She was wearing the Greek island woman’s official August uniform: sundress, sandals, and sunglasses.
Andreas was one of the first down the ramp and off the boat. He waved and when Lila waved back he yelled, “See, I made it. I’m a man of my word.”
Lila waited until he was almost up to her. “Yes, fear is a terrific motivator.” She smiled and kissed him.
He put his arm around her back and gave a quick squeeze to her butt. “Missed you.”
“You, too.”
“Where’s Tassaki?”
“Your mother and mine are watching him.” Lila smiled, “Frankly, I think he’ll be spoiled rotten by the time we get back. Get in, I’ll drive.”
Instead of turning right out of the port toward the main road that led to the middle of the island and on to her parents’ home, Lila turned left.
“Where are we going?” said Andreas.
“It’s a surprise.”
“Great, I like surprises.” He squeezed her thigh.
The road ran up a hill alongside the sea and down again into Aghios Stefanos, a tiny beachside village reminiscent of earlier times. As the jeep passed by the shorefront Andreas said, “Are we going there?” He pointed to a taverna dead ahead.
Lila smiled and said, “Nope.”
The jeep wound up another hill, made a few switch back turns, and headed down into Houlakia, a shoreline area famous for round, salt-and-pepper color stones the size of soccer balls. Andreas liked it best for its remote, rugged proximity to the sea.
“I know where you’re headed,” Andreas said. “To my friend Elena’s. That’s wonderful, I haven’t seen her in ages.”
As Lila drove past the entrance to Elena’s hotel she said, “Nope, wrong again. You’ll just have to wait until the wedding to see her.”
They were now at the base of Mykonos’ northwest coastline hills, directly across from Tinos. Their heights were home to arguably the most spectacular views of sunset on the island, and once barren hillsides now resembled photographs he’d seen of Los Angeles’ Hollywood Hills, sans green.
Lila turned right and drove as straight up the hill as the roads allowed, jumping from asphalt to gravel to dirt and back again without slowing down.
“I sure as hell hope you know where you’re going.”
“Me, too,” said Lila. “I haven’t been up here in years, but a friend who lives somewhere around here told me the road goes through.”
“Through to where?”
Lila smiled. Thirty seconds later Andreas had his answer when the jeep popped over the top of a rise. Directly in front of them was Mykonos only lighthouse, the Armenistis.
“Great choice,” said Andreas
“The ride’s not over yet.”
Originally built in 1891, Armenistis was now fully automated, which meant there no longer was a need to maintain the access road for a lighthouse keeper, and what did remain of that road was now as bad as any on Mykonos. Even the ruts had ruts. Lila plowed straight ahead without slowing down. At fifty feet from the lighthouse the road split in two, with the part to the left edging along a cliff until seemingly disappearing over it into the sea. Lila went right, up toward the front of the lighthouse.
“Good choice,” said Andreas.
At what looked the last conceivable place to stop Lila kept going. She squeezed along an overgrown path between the lighthouse wall to the left and a sheer drop to the right.
“Having a good time?” said Lila.
“If you’re trying to make the wedding seem less frightening you’re doing a damn good job.”
Beyond the wall the road abruptly ended, but with just enough room to make a sharp turn to the left. Lila made the turn and stopped. They were on a peak behind the lighthouse overlooking the sea.
“Now I see how they get those cars on the very tops of mountains for television commercials. You drive them.” Andreas looked out his passenger side window. “Is it safe to open my door or will it be one hell of a big first step.”
“Are we talking about marriage again?” Lila pinched his belly. “There’s a picnic basket and blanket in the back seat. Grab them and let’s enjoy our breakfast with a view.”
He paused.
“Don’t worry about turning around,” said Lila. “This connects over there with the road that split off where I turned up to the lighthouse.” She pointed to the end of a wall in front of the jeep.
“I see you’ve been here before.”
She smiled. “Many times. And leave your phone in the car. This is our time.”
Lila led him up the few steps to a terrace at the base of the lighthouse. She took the blanket and hung it over a low wall edging the terrace. They sat dangling their feet off the wall, quietly holding hands and staring out to sea.
The winds had not yet picked up, leaving the sea all one deep blue. No white puffs of waves, or any of the silver-gold sheen that comes to the water at sunset. The only splashes of different color were the reds, whites, and yellows of toy-like passing ships, the distant ones more distinguished by their wakes than their forms. At this height the Aegean seemed a canvas, not real, with muted brown islands drawn on in perfect symmetry: Delos, Rhenia, Syros, Tinos and the faint shadows of far off others.
“I thought you could use a transition.” She put her arm around his neck.
“From murder to marriage?” Andreas smiled and kissed her cheek. “Tinos looks so different.”
“In what way?”
“Every way. From up here it’s just a timeless, distant shape. No good, no bad, no people. Nothing of any concern.”
“Good, let’s keep it that way for the next forty-eight hours.”
Andreas smiled.
Lila swung her feet back onto the terrace and opened the picnic basket. “Croissant?”
“What else do you have?” Andreas swung around.
“All sorts of things. Orange juice, coffee-”
“Uhh, uhh, that’s not what I want.” He put his right arm around her back and pulled her close. He kissed her ear, her cheek, her lips, and moved his left hand to her breast.
Lila pushed back. “Are you crazy? Someone will see us. There are houses all around here. Most of them with telescopes hoping to catch tourists getting carried away with just what you have in mind.”
Andreas smiled. “We’re not tourists.” He dropped his hand to just below the bottom of her dress and began lightly stroking her thigh with his fingers. “Besides, this is a sunset place and all anyone in those houses can see is our backs.”
She didn’t move and he moved his hand higher. “And this is the last alone time we’re going to have until way after midnight. Unless, of course, you want to announce to your family when we walk into their house that their future son-in-law would like some private playtime with their daughter before becoming sociable with a wider
