Murder in Mykonos

19

The first report in to Andreas was 'they found her.' He was so relieved at the words that he hugged Tassos. On their way to the mine entrance closest to where she'd been 'found,' he'd learned the truth. The plunge from great joy to deep despair took only the time it took to hear a single missing word: what they'd found was 'her hair.'

Andreas stood at the edge of the road, staring down the hill toward three of his men waiting by the mine entrance. His face looked bloodless. He wondered if this was how his father felt when facing the end of his career. No, Andreas knew it must have been a lot worse for his dad. He'd been betrayed by someone he trusted. Andreas would never do that — trust someone — or so he kept telling himself.

'Pretty deserted out here. Guess that's why he picked it.' Tassos sounded like a cheerleader. 'We're just over the hill from Panos' farm and less than a mile from the artist's place.'

'And this tunnel ties in to an entrance above the priest's beach.' Andreas kicked a rock down the hill. 'Pick one.'

Tassos shrugged and watched the rock tumble until it disappeared. 'Any news on the suspects?'

Andreas nodded no. 'A few people saw Father Paul having lunch on Paradise Beach two days ago with some woman from California, but we can't find him — or any of the others.'

They started down the hill. Now neither seemed very enthusiastic.

'Hey, look at this.' Tassos pointed at gouges in the dirt. 'Something big slid through here recently.'

They followed the marks.

'Looks like another motorbike accident,' said Andreas. He pointed to a few bits of bloodstained fabric near the end of the slide and moved toward a large wild rosemary bush. 'The bike and driver ended up here.' He looked around. 'I don't see anything, do you?'

Tassos nodded no. 'The driver must have dragged the bike back up to the road. Guess it wasn't serious. Damn lucky. Could have been a lot worse.' He started toward the mine entrance.

Andreas grabbed his arm to stop him. 'Wait a minute.' He drew a line in the air running from their feet to his men at the entrance. 'Those are tire tracks. That's where the bike is.'

Andreas yelled to his men. 'Is there a motorbike in there?'

'A what?' a man yelled back.

'A motorbike,' Andreas barked.

The men looked at one another then back at their chief. 'No, sir.'

Andreas and Tassos followed the tracks up to the mine. The entrance was crisscrossed with boards warning of danger in three languages and signs depicting stick figures falling off a cliff. The tire tracks went inside. They maneuvered themselves through the maze of boards by following the tracks and, with flashlights blazing, found the reason for the warnings. About fifty feet inside the entrance, an ugly, jagged gash in the floor opened into an abyss. The tracks ended there. Andreas pointed his flashlight into the hole. 'My God, do you think the driver and bike are in there? I can't see the bottom.'

Tassos angled his beam across to the other side of the gash, then onto the ceiling and back along the walls behind him. Andreas sensed he wanted to say something. 'What is it?'

Tassos seemed reluctant to speak. 'I don't think so. Take a look at the ground on the other side.'

The tire tracks picked up again, about two feet from the edge.

Andreas was amazed. 'It's at least fifteen feet to the other side of this! How the hell did he get over there?'

Once more Tassos paused before speaking. 'He had some ancient help.' He directed his light on the floor at their feet. 'Our guy knows his island history.'

'What are you talking about?' Andreas was getting impatient.

'I'll bet our killer is the one with the bike.' He pointed into the light at their feet. 'The tracks end about two feet from this edge and resume about two feet from the far edge. And there's a three-foot-wide impression in the dirt between the tire tracks and the edges on both sides.'

Andreas wanted him to get to the point. 'Great, this hole to hell keeps the curious away from his hiding place, but how'd he get across?'

'That's where he turned to the ancients.'

Andreas' voice was rising. 'What the hell are you trying to tell me?'

Tassos didn't answer. He simply pulled at a timber about five feet back from the edge of the hole. It looked it was holding up the roof — not a timber you'd want to move.

Andreas instinctively looked up. That's when he saw a huge plank coming toward him. It was part of the ceiling spanning the chasm, but it wasn't falling; it was slowly descending, suspended by ropes at each corner. The near end rested at his feet precisely within the impressions in the dirt.

'Amazing,' said Andreas.

Tassos spoke like a teacher delivering a lecture he'd given a hundred times before. 'Actually, this sort of thing wasn't all that rare on the islands in ancient times.' He paused as if considering whether to continue. 'Every island built secret tunnels to hide from pirates and invaders. Sometimes, an earthquake created an underground abyss — such as this one — across a tunnel. The ancients took it as a sign that the gods would protect them if they reached the other side. Trouble was, a permanent bridge made it easy for their enemies to reach it, too.' He pointed to the timber he'd pulled. 'Ingenious how they did it. The timber secures the whole system in place. It works sort of like a castle's drawbridge, except this bridge drops straight down.'

'This can't be that old,' said Andreas.

'It isn't,' said Tassos, who no longer showed any reluctance to speak. 'Whatever caused this hole happened after the mine was built, and this setup uses modern ratchets, weights, and pulleys to lower and raise the plank. The timber keeps the ratchet from allowing the plank to move.' He pointed to the other side. 'I'll bet somewhere over there's a ratchet for moving the plank from that side. My guess is this was built by our killer — he knew what he was doing.'

Andreas didn't feel like complimenting the killer, no matter how obvious his skills. 'It's time to get over there.'

Tassos gave a slightly nervous look over the edge. 'Heights aren't my thing. After you, Chief.'

Andreas patted him on the back and winked, then briskly crossed over the plank. 'Just keep your eyes shut.' He was beginning to sound like himself again.

Tassos let the three officers cross before slowly inching himself along the plank, shuffling — not lifting — his 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?