'You're late.'
'Hmm, something must be bothering you.'
He stared at her. 'I have regards for you.'
'From whom?'
'Tassos Stamatos.'
Her face lit up like a three hundred watt bulb. 'Really! What did he say? Tell me everything.'
Andreas was flustered, she seemed to be missing the point. 'Maggie, I have to know if you're talking to him.'
'I wish. It's been years.' She seemed to be swooning. 'Ahh, Tassos. He was the last man I-'
Andreas thrust up a hand. 'Stop, I don't want to know any more.' He was certain Tassos was laughing himself silly imagining this moment. He mumbled, 'Son of a bitch set me up.'
'What?'
'Nothing. Tell Yianni to join us.'
Maggie opened the door and shouted down the hall, 'Kouros, get in here.'
Andreas put his right hand against the side of his face, rubbed it a few times and shook his head. 'What am I going to do with you?'
'Did he say anything else? Please, tell me.'
'Honest, not a word more.' Andreas paused. 'But it was the very last thing he said to me. I'm sure you were on his mind from the beginning.' Andreas said it sincerely; no reason not to make her happy.
'Morning, Chief.'
Andreas nodded hello. 'So, Maggie, did you find anything on the Sardinian connection?'
'The town he mentioned is in central Sardinia among some of the wildest mountains on the island. Its tourist website says 2,700 people live there and that it's known for wines and cheeses. The place goes back to ancient times and has lots of history to it. It's also the source of one of Sardinia's symbols, the mask of Mamuthones. Damn scary looking thing if you ask me. But I think Demosthenes was interested in something a lot scarier about Mamoiada. It's in the area that was home to a ruthless kidnapping industry. Italy had to change its banking laws to limit cash withdrawals and send in the army to stop it. That was in the mid-1990s.'
'Guess that sent a lot of locals back to minding cows,' said Kouros.
Andreas shook his head. 'Not all of them, I'm afraid. Has Demosthenes contacted the Sardinian boyfriend… what's his name?'
'Efisio. Not sure,' said Kouros. 'Don't think so, but he may have a telephone number for him. He went to Anna's apartment about three this morning and asked if she had anything for him. She said 'yes,' but yes could have meant something else.'
'Like what?' asked Maggie.
'Like would you… sleep with me, because two minutes after he asked all we heard was…' he looked first at Maggie, then at Andreas, rolling his hand as if trying to mime the word.
'Fucking?' Maggie suggested with a smile.
Andreas ignored them. He saw this as the sort of banter cops needed to stay sane. 'So, Maggie, what do you have for us on Efisio?'
'It's a common first name. Interpol and the Italian police show six from that area wanted on big time kidnapping and murder charges, and not a current possible location for any of them.'
'Wonderful.' Andreas tapped his pencil on the desk. 'What's with this Demosthenes character? What's he up to?' He kept tapping. 'It's pretty clear it's tied in to what our old friend and colleague Tassos Stamatos told me this morning… which reminds me, neither of you is to speak to him about anything.'
He watched Maggie's face drop. 'Concerning this investigation.'
She smiled again.
He waved his finger at her. 'But you better be damn careful.'
'Am I missing something?' It was Kouros.
Andreas waved off the question. 'Okay, Maggie, see if you can find anything else on Efisio. Try going backward from anything we have on his ex-girlfriend, Anna.'
'Will do.'
Maggie left, and Andreas filled in Kouros on his conversations with Kostopoulos and Tassos.
'Seems pretty clear Demosthenes is the link.'
Andreas shrugged. 'If you believe everything Tassos says.'
'You really don't trust the guy.'
'You're one of the few who knows why.'
'Yeah, but he wasn't trying to set you up. You just don't like his ethics.'
Andreas pointed a finger at Kouros' heart. 'Once you make the first compromise, it's so much easier to make a second, and bigger one, and by the third…' he rolled his finger over into circles in the air. 'Bottom line, don't do that first deal with the devil for what you think is just a tiny bit of your soul unless you're prepared to lose the whole thing somewhere down the line.'
It was tough keeping cops straight. Most made less than a thousand a month. All Andreas could do was keep making his point and hope some, like Kouros, got it. He hoped he didn't sound hypocritical, considering the other night.
'Anyway, if Tassos is correct, we have an ultraconservative group looking to keep Athenian society pure involved somehow with revolutionaries hot to bring down the rich. From what we know, that makes Demosthenes our most likely candidate for making both sides happy.'
Kouros nodded. 'He feeds the leftists the rich meat they want.'
'And protects the wacko rich from the revolutionaries by letting the wackos pick who gets slaughtered.'
'How's the paid muscle fit in?'
Andreas shook his head. 'Not sure yet, but from what Kostopoulos told me about getting press clippings along with a message telling him this was what happened to families who didn't leave, my guess is most fled because of psychological strong-arming, not muscle.'
'Quite a monster.'
'Better believe it. Fascists for a head and revolutionaries with retractable, professional killer claws to capture and destroy the prey.'
'What part is Demosthenes?'
'Central nervous system, bringing it all together.'
'More like the asshole if you ask me.'
Andreas grinned. 'So, where do you suggest we go from here?'
'Why don't we bring him in?'
'For what? Being inside a gay bar the night the kid was murdered? He has a room full of alibis. And all we have on tape is Demosthenes asking for an address on Mykonos and the telephone number of some guy from Sardinia. Big deal. Bringing him in only sends the whole operation spinning out of control and underground. We're better off letting him run loose, on a tight leash. He's our only chance of finding whoever's at the head of whatever this is — and cutting the damn thing off.'
'We've got 24/7 coverage on him and the girl. It's up to Demosthenes to make the next move.'
Andreas leaned back and stretched. He yawned, too. He'd forgotten how tired he was. 'Just make sure to be there when he does.'
Kouros left and Andreas buzzed Maggie. 'No interruptions except for Kouros. I've got a lot of work to catch up on.'
'Nitey nite.'
Andreas looked at the phone, then walked over to the couch, pushed some papers onto the floor, and lay down. He kicked off his shoes, and fell asleep to a single thought: Is it just Andreas Kaldis, or is every man transparent to the women who know him?
19
