'How do you like the place?'
'I love it.' She took a bite of pizza.
'I thought you would.' He sipped his wine. 'It's more relaxed than most places in town. Seems more real to me than there.' He gestured toward town.
She nodded in agreement as she picked up her wine-glass. 'Absolutely. It's crazy back there.'
'Bet you can't wait to leave.' His voice was calm, matter-of-fact.
'Oh, I like Mykonos. Just have to find the right crowd to share it with.' She sipped her wine.
'No luck yet?' He put down his glass.
She nodded again. 'For sure on that score.' She put down her glass and excused herself to go to the bathroom.
When she returned a chocolate souffle was on the table.
'Surprise. I thought you could use a pick-me-up and the chef has a secret recipe for the absolutely best deep-dark chocolate souffle in all of Greece.'
'Wow, I never knew that.' That was true, but she didn't mean it to sound as if she'd been here before, so she quickly added, 'Greece really has souffles?'
He looked at her, paused, and smiled. 'Yes, Greece has souffles.'
It was delicious. They finished it and their wine. He went to pay the check and returned with two sfinakis on a silver tray. He handed one to her.
'A Mykonos tradition. Yamas.' He lifted the other glass to clink with hers.
She smiled and decided not to dump the drink. She was headed straight back to her hotel for the night; this would be her very last one. 'Yamas.'
Clink. All Andreas wanted to do when he left the hotel was head straight home to bed, but he called the taxi dispatcher instead. She said Manny wasn't due to start his night shift for another half hour but as soon as he signed in she'd tell him to meet Andreas at the police station. Not even enough time for a quick nap, he thought. Annika didn't realize how tired she was until they were in the car headed back to her hotel. The music on the CD player was soothing, and he wasn't forcing her to talk. She tried to stay awake but was too exhausted. She leaned her head back against the seat and shut her eyes. Only for a moment, she thought. Only for a moment. Andreas was downstairs by the front door talking to Kouros when a silver Mercedes taxi slid into the lot. There was space by the front door, but the driver parked away from the building, beyond the reach of its floodlights. He looked like most Mykonos taxi drivers — dark hair, swarthy complexion, light-colored short-sleeved shirt, dark slacks, and dress shoes. They tended to take themselves seriously.
Andreas assumed this was Manny. Their file on his taxi license listed him as forty-five, and he looked about that age. The driver walked over to them and asked if the chief was in. 'I was told to meet him here.'
'Hi. Andreas Kaldis.' He extended his hand. 'Thanks for coming over.' Andreas noticed that for a man of average height and weight, his forearms were massive.
'No problem.' They shook hands. Despite his obvious strength, Manny's handshake was exceptionally weak.
Andreas took him up to his office and closed the door. The man appeared calm, not concerned in the least as to why the chief of police had summoned him at one in the morning.
'Any idea why I asked you here this late?' Andreas began.
'No, sir.' He answered like someone used to talking to police. He's probably had his share of run-ins over tourist complaints, Andreas thought. Andreas gestured for Manny to sit in front of his desk, then walked around to its other side and picked up a photograph of Helen Vandrew. 'Ever see her before?'
Manny looked at it carefully. 'I think it's the same one another officer showed me,' he said, and handed it back to Andreas.
Clever answer. 'I meant while she was alive.' No need to hide the fact that she was dead — everyone knew.
'Not that I can recall.'
Another clever answer. 'I don't know how to tell you this, Manny, but you're one of the last people to see her alive.'
Manny twitched but kept his composure. 'Why do you say that?'
'Because,' Andreas said, speaking slowly and deliberately, 'I have a witness putting her in your taxi.' He paused for a few seconds and continued with a shrug. 'If you want a lot of cops asking a lot of people a lot of questions tying you in to a murder investigation, just keep answering like you think I'm a fucking idiot.'
Manny sat silently.
'Why don't I start with a call to your dispatcher asking for your location around sunrise on June third?'
Andreas could tell he'd surprised him, but still Manny said nothing. It was the savvy way to behave around questioning cops. Time to turn up the heat. 'Okay, if that's the way you want to play it, let me tell you how it's going down on my end. You'll make me waste my time checking out my witness' story, and if it checks out, I'll make your life on this island a living hell. My men will stop you a dozen times a day. There won't be a U-turn you'll get away with, and heaven help you if a tourist ever makes a complaint against you. My purpose in life will be to yank your taxi license the very first chance I get. So, either talk or get out of here so I can stop busting my balls and start busting yours.' He put the photograph back on his desk and stared at Manny.
Manny sat perfectly still for a moment, then leaned over and picked up the photograph. 'Now that you remind me, I think I did have someone who looked like her as a fare. I dropped her off at the Adlantis Hotel that morning.' He remained calm, eerily so.
'Where did you pick her up?'
'Walking along a road on the other side of the radar station.'
Andreas' pulse jumped. 'What was she doing out there?'
'How would I know?'
'Don't start up with me again. A pretty girl walking alone on a road in the middle of nowhere at sunrise, and you didn't ask her why?' He raised his voice.
Manny let out a breath. 'Okay, she said a boy took her on a motorcycle to that beach where the priest lives. He got a little aggressive, she said no, and he left her there to walk home. I saw her on the road and picked her up.'
Andreas nodded. 'Good. Now tell me what you were doing out there at sunrise.'
It was the first time he looked uncomfortable. 'I dropped off a fare.'
'Really? Who and where?'
'I don't remember.'
'You'd better start to, unless you want to be my number one suspect in her murder.'
Manny's breathing quickened and he looked down at the floor. 'He's my cousin.'
Andreas was puzzled. 'Who's your cousin?'
'The boy on the motorcycle. He called me on his mobile to tell me he'd left a girl alone on the beach. He wanted me to pick her up. He's not as bad a kid as he seems. Just a little hot-blooded at times.'
'What's his name?'
'Yiorgos Chanas. His father owns Panos' Place. That's where he met her.'
'Did you ever see her again?'
Manny paused — that had to mean yes. Andreas waited.
'The next night. I saw her getting into a taxi at the stand by the harbor.'
'Was she with anyone?'
'Yes, but he didn't get in with her.'
'Who was it?'
'George, I don't know his last name, he's that South African jeweler who speaks Greek with the big shop over by Alpha Bank. I swear that's the last time I saw her.'
Andreas knew who he meant. He asked for the name of the other taxi driver, but Andreas didn't recognize it. He called Kouros into his office, and together, they pushed Manny through his story a half dozen times, banging away at every inconsistency and hesitant gesture. When Andreas finally told him he could leave, he warned him to keep his mouth shut — unless he wanted to become the island's poster child for efficient taxi law enforcement. Manny left in a hurry with Kouros right behind him on Andreas' order to find out ASAP what the other taxi driver
