morning services, the body of Christ was brought down from the cross and the symbolic shroud of his earthly form placed upon his bier, the epitaphios. Across Greece this was the day of Christ’s wake, a time for paying respects, practising traditions like passing three times beneath the epitaphios for good luck and blessings, and prayer.
Zacharias remembered other funerals and other bodies. Mainly bodies: the unburied, the buried together. The times had demanded it. One must do what must be done on earth as it is in heaven, he thought. There was no choice then, and there was less choice now. Time was running out. The Ecumenical Patriarch would not live forever.
I must make sure that the new Ecumenical Patriarch’s home is here, he thought. The Russians would isolate him from outside influences more than did the Turks. My plans need his ear. The Russians must be vilified. And not just by petty, bribed journalists whose reach rarely exceeded Greece’s borders and few believed anyway. He must validate their words with an unequivocal act of proof.
That would come Sunday, after the three men returned. The tragic passing of the abbot of the Russian monastery would be mourned deeply. But once the new abbot publicly denounced his predecessor’s death as a brutal assassination — from the same source and uncommon poison as the victim’s native Russia stood accused before the world of using in a botched, but horribly disfiguring, attempt to silence the Ukraine’s president — all that was written before would become fact. The Russians would never recover from the impact of those words coming from its own abbot. Only one more death, and the world shall be on a better path to life.
‘So how long do you think we’ll have to stay at your parents?’ Andreas had been standing in the doorway to Lila’s dressing room for ten minutes, talking to her as she sat at her vanity table putting on makeup.
Lila put down the mascara brush and swung around on her chair. ‘Enough already. You’re like a little kid dancing around something he’s afraid to talk about with his mother. What’s on your mind?’
He shrugged. ‘Guilty as charged.’
‘You’d make a lousy crook, I can read you like a book.’
‘You better be the only one who can. Otherwise, I’ll be in a hell of a mess by morning.’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘Why do I think you’re about to tell me you’re taking off again?’
‘Well, only if you say it’s okay. That’s what I told Yianni and Tassos.’
Lila shook her head. ‘As if I have a choice. If I don’t agree, you’d never forgive me.’
Andreas pulled up a chair and sat next to her. ‘That’s not true at all. What they have in mind is crazy anyway. And it’s not worth jeopardizing us.’
Lila smiled. ‘That’s nice to hear.’ She looked at her watch and sighed. ‘We’re late anyway. So, what’s going on?’ She pointed at her belly. ‘Don’t worry, I’m in no condition to do any more stupid things like I did before.’
‘Promise?’
‘Promise.’
Andreas told her everything: from the very first phone call ordering him to Patmos up through his conversation with Tassos and Kouros thirty minutes ago.
When he finished Lila stared at him, not saying a word for a full minute. ‘We’re bringing a baby into this world.’
He looked down. ‘I know. Don’t worry, I’ll stay.’
‘No. You don’t understand. We’re bringing a baby into this world. We must do whatever we can to make it a better place.’
‘I’m not sure that trying to get the Russians to take care of a Greek problem will make the world a better place.’
‘But I’m sure doing nothing will make it worse.’
Andreas smiled. ‘You’re tough.’
Lila let out a breath. ‘But if you’re going to try to pull this off, there’s only one way to get and keep that Russian’s attention beyond a perfunctory “Hello, how are you, nice to meet you.” I know him, and if you want him to include you in his partying…’ She waved her hand in the air. ‘No doubt what you’ll need.’
‘And what would that be?’
She smiled. ‘To put it in the common vernacular, “the hottest piece of ass on the planet.”’
Deadpan, Andreas said, ‘But you have to be at your parents.’
Lila pointed at him. ‘Very good answer.’ Then laughed. ‘So we’ll have to find you the second hottest. And only one, because if you show up with more than one he’ll get insecure, think you’re trying to compete with him. If it’s just you and a woman he’ll bring you into his crowd, like the spider offering its web to the fly. It’s a game these guys play to prove they’re men. They’ll keep you occupied by making you feel important, while hustling the woman away with promises of whatever she wants to hear.’
‘How do you know so much about this?’
‘Remember, I’m the hottest.’ She smiled. ‘Dickless types like that have tried it all on me. But you’re the only smooth-talking stud who… uhh… scored.’
‘Ms Vardi, what language.’
Lila smiled. ‘I wish I could offer you more, but at the moment I’m afraid I can’t.’
‘But I can’t risk using a hooker, and even the hottest female on the force is out of the question. It would look like a setup if the Russian ever found out. And once he hears what I have to say, he’ll try to verify everything. How am I going to find someone by tonight?’
‘I know the perfect person. She’s already on Mykonos, and utterly believable.’
‘What do mean “utterly believable”?’
‘Barbara.’
‘She’s your best friend!’ She also was one of the most unpredictable people on the planet, although Lila and her friends preferred characterizing Barbara’s behavior as ‘spontaneous.’ Andreas attributed their charitable attitude to the fact that Barbara was rich, young, and gorgeous. It was much the same way that people called an old, rich nut-job ‘eccentric,’ rather than the more fitting ‘raving lunatic.’
‘That’s what makes it so believable,’ Lila said. ‘It’s the ultimate male fantasy, right?’ She smiled.
Andreas didn’t know if he should laugh or protest. He decided doing neither was the best choice.
‘Don’t worry, she can handle any man. Only one promise.’
‘Which is?’ As if he hadn’t guessed.
‘I want her returned “unused.”’
‘I promise.’
‘Let me see your fingers, they’re not crossed, are they? After all, we want to make sure “doing the best friend” stays just a fantasy.’
Andreas smiled and waved his fingers in her face. ‘You need not worry, my mind is on other things.’
‘Yeah, right. Now you’re starting to worry me. Just promise you’ll sleep on the couch. I’ll settle for that.’
‘What couch?’
‘Where do think you’ll be staying? It has to be at Barbara’s house. How do you think the Russians are going to believe you if you’re not…’ Lila stopped, as if there were another word she’d decided not to add.
He wondered if she was having second thoughts.
‘Just promise.’
‘I promise.’ He leaned over and kissed her cheek.
‘I love you.’
He smiled. ‘Me, you too.’
‘Okay, time to get you laid.’ Lila laughed.
Andreas tried to.
Evening services on Good Friday on Mykonos started at seven in the old town’s central churches of Kiriake, Metropolis, and Panachra. At precisely nine, each church’s clergy and worshipers left their church in separate processions carrying their church’s epitaphios along a prerranged route, winding past the other two churches before ending up back at their own. It represented the funeral of Christ, and Mykonians and visitors lined the route, some standing on freshly painted balcones sprinkling the participants below with a mixture of rose water and perfumes, the rodhonoro used on Christ’s body when taken down from the cross.
Tassos and Kouros went to services at Kiriake, the church closest to the old harbor, and were walking through town somewhere in the middle of its procession.
‘Haven’t been to one of these in a long time,’ said Tassos.
