feet to the other side. He started breathing again when he stepped onto solid ground. The others were fifteen feet ahead staring at a mound of debris blocking their way. It looked impassable. 'A little labyrinth, I see,' said Tassos.
Andreas pointed at the tire tracks. 'And here's Ariadne's cord to lead us through it,' he said, just to let Tassos know there were a few things he too knew about ancient Greece and its myths.
Tassos grumbled, 'Yeah, and maybe at the other end we'll get lucky and find Theseus ready to slay our version of his youth-devouring Minotaur.'
Andreas decided to leave Tassos with the last word on that subject.
They followed the tracks and fifteen minutes later were standing with the men who found the cell. Each swore none of them had gone inside. Andreas stood at the door and stared at the mound of blond hair in the middle of the floor. Near it was a bag, a beach tote. Andreas tried not to think of what she had been through — and was going through. He just wanted to catch the bastard before… He noticed a puddle on the floor and carefully stepped into the cell. He knelt down and examined the liquid. 'I think we have some blood here, Tassos.'
'It's probably his, from that slide down the hill,' said Tassos as he stepped over to the bag. 'At least now we have DNA to work with.'
Andreas stood up. 'Pretty sloppy of him, wouldn't you say?'
'Probably had to leave in a hurry.' Tassos was carefully probing around inside the bag with his flashlight.
'Just what I was thinking.' Andreas yelled to one of his men to get forensics here ASAP.
'Look at this,' said Tassos. 'It's a regular drugstore in here.'
Andreas crouched back down to look in the bag. 'Bet it's crystal meth in that one.' He pointed to a vial. 'And the syringes over there are how he delivered it.'
'Yeah, and next to them is all the equipment you'd need to cook up a shot.' Tassos pushed the light around a bit more. 'I can't tell what's in those other vials, but the pills in the bubble packaging — they're roofies. Our friend Panos' favorites.'
'And that?' asked Andreas, pointing.
Tassos poked at the item with his flashlight. 'An eyebrow pencil.'
'First he shaves them, then paints them? I can't figure him out.' He shook his head and started to stand. As he did his eyes caught a glimpse of the ceiling. He froze. 'Tassos, look.'
For a moment neither said a word. They just stared at the ceiling.
Ringed around the outside of a circle containing four groups of tiny, roughly drawn figures were six carefully painted images. Each image in harmony with the others and posed as if ascending from hell to heaven.
'My God,' said Andreas pointing. 'Those four are images of saints from the churches where the bodies were found!' Instinctively, he crossed himself.
'And those figures in the middle.' Now Tassos pointed. 'They look like… like blonds with wings.'
'Someone's idea of angels I'd guess… or nymphs,' said a somber-sounding Andreas. 'And if I'm counting correctly, the figures grouped next to each saint correspond to the number of bodies buried in its church — including one for the Scandinavian under Saint Marina.'
'He's keeping score?' Tassos' voice cracked.
Andreas looked down, paused, and let out a breath. 'What about the two other images? I don't recognize them.'
'I do.' Tassos looked down. 'One is Serapis, the ancient god who ruled the underworld, the other is Anubis, the guardian of entrance into the underworld — and who some worshipped as the god of embalming and protector of the mummies.'
'He thinks he's binding them like mummies? What the hell is going through this guy's mind?' Andreas spoke without emotion and without looking up.
'I have no fucking idea.' Tassos shook his head and looked at Andreas. 'What do you think, is the artist our guy?'
Andreas stared back at the ceiling. 'I don't know. It doesn't look like his style. More like someone imitating old icon paintings — and the drawings are just scribbled on.'
'Yeah, but whoever did this had talent.'
Andreas headed to the door. 'Time to stop this bastard from making any more drawings.'
Tassos followed.
Andreas waved and smiled to the three searchers as he stepped back into the tunnel. 'Good work, guys.'
'Thanks,' said the oldest.
'Did you see or hear anything after you found the room?' Andreas asked.
They all indicated no.
Andreas turned to Tassos. 'Why the hell the motorbike, and where's it now?' He aimed his flashlight down the tunnel at the tracks. Both the light and tracks disappeared into darkness past the first tunnel entrance.
The only sound was a hum from the generator.
'Uhh, Chief, I might have heard something.' It was the youngest and he sounded nervous. His voice was cracking. 'When we got here and saw the… uhh… hair, they' — he gestured at the other two — 'ran up that way to get the walkie-talkie to work.' He pointed toward the entrance Andreas had used. 'I was scared being here alone, and started singing to myself.' He took a deep breath. 'I didn't even think about it until you said 'motorbike,' but I might have heard a motor. Down there.' He pointed toward the second tunnel entrance. 'It was very faint, and I didn't hear it very long. I told myself it must have been the generator.'
Andreas turned to his two remaining officers. 'Follow those tracks — and be careful.' To Tassos he said, 'That's why he got the bike, to get her out of here. Damn it, we just missed him.' He kicked the dirt.
A pebble ricocheted off the cell wall and landed next to a small, broken ceramic urn lying against the opposite tunnel wall. Andreas turned his light on the urn and said, 'Why the hell is that here?' He started toward it.
Tassos stopped him. 'Let's get these men out of here. Forensics will take care of this. We've got him on the run, and we'll find him from his DNA.'
Andreas looked at Tassos. 'He must know that too. He might just dump her and take off.'
'The good news is he hasn't. Yet.'
Andreas nodded. 'You're right. Just hope he sticks to his craziness. Okay, let's get out of here and over to where that second tunnel comes out.' He had no time now for old pottery.
As soon as they were outside, Andreas gave orders to tell the men watching the churches that their suspect — whoever he was — was on the move with the missing woman.
The question was, to where?
20
Catia's plane to Mykonos landed on schedule. That seemed like the last thing to go right. At the town hall she learned that neither the mayor nor the chief of police was anywhere to be found, and when she called her brother for help, he too was unavailable.
She raged across the harbor front to the taxi stand, jumped into a cab ahead of two waiting tourists, and told the driver to take her to the hotel where her niece was staying. The driver started to object, but she cursed him in Greek and he said, 'Okay, okay.'
Fuming, she started venting aloud. 'No one in this town is where they're supposed to be. I'm here to meet with your wonderful mayor, and he's gone. I try to see your chief of police, he's gone. I fly all the way from Holland, and neither of them bothers to show up for our appointments.' She really didn't have appointments, but it gave better currency to her anger.
Tentatively, the driver said, 'I'm not a big fan of the mayor and, as for police, they give taxi drivers grief, but I wouldn't take this personally. They're busy, very busy. The whole island's filled with cops — they're looking for a missing girl.'
Catia shivered for an instant, shut her eyes, and took a deep breath. Her brother really did use his influence. She'd underestimated him. Her voice was its old courteous self. 'Have you any news of how the search is
