‘I like it.’
‘I guess that’s what keeps it a tradition — people like it.’
They were about to turn onto Matogianni Street, Mykonos’ compact version of New York City’s Fifth Avenue. It started just ahead and ran down to Kiriake. For now, though, they were standing in a rare, much broader bit of lane amid the coffee shops and bars comprising the heart of Mykonos’ late-night cafe society scene. It was barely thirty yards long. Everyone who wanted to see or be seen made an appearance here at some point in the evening, generally between midnight and four a.m.
‘What time is Andreas supposed to get here?’ Tassos looked at his watch.
‘He said his plane gets in around midnight. He’s lost his helicopter privileges.’
‘The first of many such experiences, I’m sure, if any of this wacky plan of yours ever gets back to the minister.’ Tassos nodded to someone waving to him from a tiny table in front of one of the bars. ‘And what did you do this afternoon, Mister Big Idea Man?’
‘Slept. I was exhausted.’
‘I bet.’ Tassos grinned.
Kouros leaned over and whispered in Tassos’ ear, ‘Asshole.’
Tassos laughed.
‘What’s the story with Katerina?’
‘She said she’d call me once she knows when and where her client will be in town. Not before one, at the earliest.’
‘Can you trust her?’
‘Absolutely. Not.’ Tassos smiled. ‘That’s the beauty of it. I know everything I tell her in confidence will get back to the Russian. She runs with the one who pays her bills.’
‘Sounds like a lawyer.’
‘God bless them. At least they’re predictable.’
‘What exactly did you tell her?’
‘That the chief of GADA’s special crimes unit wanted to talk to her oligarch of a client about an investigation that has absolutely nothing to do with him, and that we would be eternally grateful if she could arrange an “accidental” meeting. I impressed on her how important it was that her client not know the purpose of the inquiry, because this was to be a strictly backchannel, off-the-record conversation about a very serious issue.’
‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’
‘Andreas agreed that was the way to go. They’d find out everything anyway. It’s called priming the pump.’ He smiled.
‘And how did Mykonos’ number-one lawyer react?’
‘She wasn’t too hot about the idea until I reminded her that the chief was Andreas. She said “yes” and hung up so fast when I said his name that I had the image of a sprinter exploding off the blocks at the sound of a starter’s pistol, except this one was racing for a beauty parlor.’
Kouros laughed. ‘Should be an interesting night for the chief. I just don’t like the idea of him flying solo. He’s right, though, everyone here knows we’re cops. They’d get suspicious if they saw us hanging around.’
‘Don’t worry, cops like to play, too. I’ve got a few youngsters on the force from Syros, regulars on the Mykonos party scene to keep an eye on him. He’ll be covered. Besides, we get to share a night together in disguise in one of Mykonos’ lovely mini-hauler garbage trucks, trailing them about town recording their every word.’
‘With all the noise in those places, we’d be lucky to hear a bomb go off.’
Tassos shrugged. ‘At least we get to spend some quality time together.’
‘Yeah, like blind mice sitting together in a garbage truck.’
‘It could be worse. If this goes bad we could end up in the back.’
‘There better be room for three.’
Tassos nodded. ‘Yeah, three blind mice. See how they run…’
Andreas was in a window seat on the plane, staring at the moonlight reflecting off the sea. He smiled as he remembered once thinking that being transferred from Mykonos probably was the only thing that kept him out of Katerina’s clutches. She was one of a kind. With her wild red hair and impressively augmented five-foot-five figure, she could not be missed. And if by some chance an object of her attention did overlook her, she’d grab him with a roaring voice and thrust of mesmerizing cleavage. Hard to imagine she was over fifty, even harder imagining anyone with balls enough to suggest anything close to that aloud.
That’s when it hit him. ‘Jesus Christ.’
Andreas said it loud enough for the grandmotherly woman next to him to ask, ‘Are you okay?’
‘Yeah, sure, sorry, just remembered something I forgot in Athens.’ Damn sure did. How could I forget what she’s like? The second Katerina sees Barbara it’ll be all claws and teeth. He put his elbow on the armrest next to the window, dropped his head into his hand, and sighed. That’s all we need to make tonight the biggest clusterfuck of all time, a mega-catfight.
The old woman patted his arm. ‘Don’t worry my son, it is God’s will.’
The SMS message on Tassos’ phone was simple: See you atVengera at two. Vengera was the name Mykonian locals used to describe the cafe society area at the top of Matogianni Street. Vengera was a legendary bar that gave the location its original panache. But it was long gone, replaced by a jewelry store, as were many places from Mykonos’ more innocent times. All that remained was the memory and a name.
‘We have to go. Start your engine, Mr Kaldis, and good luck.’ Tassos raised his cup of coffee.
‘How much time do we have?’
‘About thirty minutes. No need to rush, I’m sure they’ll be late. It’s only five minutes from here.’ They were in an out-of-the-way coffee shop off behind Kiriake church.
‘I wish I’d had the chance to speak to Barbara, warn her about Katerina.’
‘Didn’t you drop your bag off at her house?’ said Kouros.
‘Yes, but only the maid was there to let me in, and she took off the minute I got there. It seemed everybody had some place to be after midnight tonight. Barbara left me a note.’ He handed it to Tassos.
Tassos read it aloud. ‘“Hi, Andreas. Looking forward to a fun night. I’m having dinner with friends out of town. My phone will be off, but I’ll call you when I’m done so you can tell me where to meet up. Kisses. B.”’
‘She doesn’t seem to be taking this very seriously,’ said Kouros.
‘The affectionate word to describe her state is “relaxed.” She’s not the type that gets anxious easily. All she knows is that she’s my wife’s best friend hanging out with me for the night with instructions to look and act as hot as she can so that I can get close to some super-rich Russian. That’s a drill she has down pat. I just wish she’d call me. I can’t get the damn show started until she’s with me.’
Kouros said, ‘Did you say-’
Tassos kicked him under the table. ‘Then it’s probably better you didn’t say anything to her. It might pump her up for a fight. These society types are pretty good at handling aggressive bitches trying to bring them down. And frankly, if she’s as hot as you say, she probably runs into that sort every day.’
Andreas stared at him. ‘You’re just trying to make me feel better.’
‘Yep, Katerina will tear her a new asshole.’ Tassos laughed.
Andreas shot him a one-finger salute. ‘And yes, Yianni, I said “wife.” No reason for the world to think otherwise. What with the baby on the way.’
Kouros nodded. ‘No problem here, Chief, just checking to see if I had to buy more than a baby gift.’
Andreas smiled. ‘I wouldn’t worry about it.’
Tassos shook his head. ‘This is not the time to say it, but sometimes you’re a real asshole, my friend.’
‘Funny, Lila said sort of the same thing.’
‘I bet. Let’s go, Yianni. We’ve got to find someplace to put our limo so we don’t miss a word of tonight’s performance by Mister Sensitive here.’ Tassos flicked the back of his hand in Andreas’ direction.
‘We can park on the street behind Vengera, by Panachra church. With the monster of a mess from tonight’s processions, everyone expects to see a garbage truck there.’
Andreas said, ‘Gentlemen, let’s just hope we don’t make a bigger one.’
The three cops stood up, raised their right hands, and slapped high fives. Tassos and Kouros left, and Andreas sat back down. He looked at his watch. It was almost two and still no word from Barbara.
Time for a change of plans.
