Mykonos After Midnight

Chapter Thirty-two

Maggie dropped into bed exhausted. I’m getting too old for this craziness, she thought. Her next thought was of tomorrow, and she was asleep in minutes.

The window at the rear of Maggie’s first floor apartment in the working class Pangrati section of Athens wasn’t completely closed. A screen kept the neighborhood cats out, but not the breezes that made Athens’ summer nights bearable.

The man was very quiet, very professional. He took his time removing the screen and carefully lifted the window without a sound. He slid inside like a predator who’d done this a thousand times before.

The apartment was dark. He listened for a sound. Nothing. He knew the woman was here. He’d seen her come in an hour and a half ago. The lights had been out for over an hour. She had to be asleep. He moved on his toes, making not a sound.

The bedroom must be straight ahead. The door was closed. He listened. He heard nothing. He pressed softly against the door. It moved without a sound. The room was filled with moonlight. There was a body in the bed, red hair on the pillow.

He took the stiletto from his pants pocket, silently flicked it open, quickly stepped across the room, and drove the blade into the woman’s neck. Three times, quickly. Each time expecting something that did not happen.

A light went on as a closet door opened by the foot of the bed and a man in a dress said, “Surprise!”

The killer lunged at the vision, slashing away at it with his knife.

Or at least he tried to.

When the attacker woke up several hours later, he had two broken knee caps, a compound fracture of his right wrist, four broken ribs, a broken nose, broken jaw, fractured cheekbone, and double hernia.

When Maggie Sikestes woke up the next morning in her boss’ guest bedroom, detective Yianni Kouros promptly apologized for the bloodstains on the dress he’d borrowed from her. He also thanked her for providing him with the opportunity for some of the most fun he’d had in years, plus credit for arresting the last of Christos Vasilakis’ killers.

***

The Medea sailed south, away from the harsh rush of wide open seas funneling through Mykonos’ narrow straits with neighboring Tinos.

The farther out to sea they sailed, the more ethereal Mykonos’ southern coastline became. A pearl and diamond necklace of light strung along the shore.

“Such beauty, a true paradise,” said Teacher taking off her sunglasses and looking off toward shore from the upper deck dining room.

She looked at Wacki. “You must feel blessed to be a part of all this.”

“Yes, ma’am. Absolutely.”

Those were about the only words Wacki had spoken in the two and one-half hours he and Sergey had been on board. He looked like a frightened mouse waiting for the cat to pounce.

“Did you enjoy the dinner?” She asked.

Wacki nodded. “Yes, terrific.”

“What about the wines. They were special, weren’t they? Very rare.”

“Yes, yes,” he nodded. “Never had better.” Wacki’s face now looked as if the cat were toying with him.

“And you, Sergey?”

He sat to Teacher’s right, directly across from Wacki. He reached over and patted her hand. “I cannot ever remember a finer meal, or better company.” He looked straight into Teacher’s eyes as he spoke.

“Wonderful, I’m pleased.” She did not move her hand but with the other waved to the man all in white.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Please, pour the wine.”

“More?” said Sergey.

“It is very special, a 1975 Chateau d’ Yquem. You will enjoy it I assure you. For the occasion I picked the best I could find closest to your birth year. It is a few years older than you, but the newer vintages proved sadly disappointing.”

“How thoughtful.” He smiled and tossed his head to flip his hair away from his face.

Teacher said, “I always planned to come back to Greece. I have not been here in decades, except for our brief meeting ten days ago.”

She shook her head. “Only ten days. It seems much longer. So much has happened in such a short time.”

The man produced a bottle and showed it to Teacher. She nodded.

He placed a glass in front of her, poured out a bit, and waited.

She sipped it. “Magnificent. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”

The man placed a glass in front of Wacki and poured. He did the same for Sergey, and filled Teacher’s glass.

Teacher raised her glass. “To Mykonos and our soon to be Mykonos Magick.”

Sergey and Wacki repeated the toast and drank.

“I must say, Sergey, when you came to me with your idea I never thought you would be able to pull it off. It seemed so farfetched, so risky. It made no sense that you, a foreigner, could succeed where so many others had failed.”

Sergey nodded. “Thank you for having faith in me.”

“But times were different, I told myself. Foreigners with skill and proper backing could gain a foothold that a generation ago seemed impossible. And, as you pointed out, where there is little moral reluctance, the ruthless are unstoppable.”

Sergey nodded.

She looked at Wacki. “Would you like more wine?”

He gestured no.

“Please, I insist. I cannot re-cork a bottle of such quality.”

“Sure, whatever you say.”

She nodded to the man in white and he refilled all three glasses. They toasted again, and drank.

“I’m not sure I’ll be back this way.”

“Why?” said Sergey, suppressing a yawn.

“Too many bad memories. Too many disappointments.”

Sergey yawned widely, but did not respond.

“But you, Wacki. You did not disappoint me. You ran true to form.”

Wacki tried to smile but the right side of his face was twitching.

“I judged you correctly. I knew you were jealous of my great fondness for Sergey, that you would do what you could to undermine him in my eyes.”

Teacher shook her head. “But never did I think you would go so far as to lie or attempt to deceive me.”

Wacki literally shook. “I never did. I never would.”

Teacher stared at him. “That’s what I thought. And that’s why I spoke to you earlier today and asked you my one simple question.”

Sergey said, “You spoke to him before we came on the boat?”

She kept her eyes on Wacki. “Yes.”

Sergey tried to flip his hair, but couldn’t complete the motion.

“And your answer to that question is the only reason you’re still alive.”

Wacki looked unsure whether to laugh or cry.

“What was the question?” said Sergey.

“‘Did Sergey ever tell you how much he was paying Lefteris for the hotel?’”

“The little lying shit. What did he say?” Sergey mumbled more than spoke the words.

Teacher turned to Sergey. “Precisely what you said. ‘No, he handed Lefteris a note with the price and I never saw it.’’’

She kept her eyes on Sergey as she said, “Isn’t that right, Wacki?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Sergey blinked his eyes. “I don’t understand. What is the problem?”

“The problem is that the amount you offered Lefteris is not the amount you told me. Not the amount we agreed you would pay.”

“What? How can you be saying that? It’s not true. What has that little bastard been doing behind my back?” Sergey struggled to get to his feet, but the man in white pressed him back down into his chair.

“Sergey, I had such hopes for you. Such aspirations. How could you have betrayed me? Robbed me? How could you have thought you would get away with it?”

“Rob you? Never!”

“That’s what I would have thought. And why, when you failed to tell me that you already had the casino license, I still did not believe it was to take advantage of me.”

“License. What license?”

Teacher shook her head. “It does not matter any more. I found my answer elsewhere.”

Sergey’s head began to droop.

“Honest, I never-”

“Stop! Enough of your lies. I’ve seen the memorandum of understanding submitted to the ministry of tourism signed by you and Lefteris. And whether he is your accomplice in this fraud upon me or not, I have seen the price.”

“I don’t…know…what…”

Teacher rose to her feet, “You paid him only two-thirds of what we agreed. You stole from me.”

She walked behind him, took something from the man in white, and whispered in Sergey’s ear. “I thought of you as a son.You were my salvation, my chance to escape from Hell. How could you have betrayed me?”

“I did-” His words were lost in a gurgle of blood as Teacher slid the razor-sharp blade across his throat, then drove it repeatedly into his heart.

Covered in blood, she stood panting and staring at the body bleeding out onto the dinner table. She looked across at Wacki, dropped the knife, and went back to her seat at the head of the table.

She reached for her wine glass. She stared at the bloody fingerprints on her glass, and drank. She put down the glass and stared at Wacki.

“I shall take his body with me so that I may bury him at sea.”

She took another sip. “It is a tragedy when one you trust does not prove worthy.”

She stared at Wacki. “That would never prove to be you, would it?”

Wacki’s voice cracked. “No. Never. Absolutely never.”

Teacher nodded. “Good. I will be around far longer than many think. In time someone will take over for me and I hope whoever that is will be able to trust you as well.”

“Yes, absolutely.”

“For whoever follows me will likely be even more ruthless than I. That seems to be the way these days. Show how you can be tougher than your predecessor.”

She paused to take another sip. “I want you to go back to Mykonos and wait. We will forget about this hotel deal. Sergey will simply disappear, the hotelier Lefteris will be disappointed, and rumors will spread but die away.

“Still, a seed has been planted, and the possibility looms in the minds of those who matter that there is great profit to be made for those willing to sell their birthright. We just must be ready for the opportunities. They will come in many forms as Greeks struggle to find a new direction. You shall be my eyes and ears on Mykonos.”

She picked the wine glass and said, “To our future together in paradise.”

Wacki picked up his glass but did not drink, only stared at the body of Sergey.

Teacher smiled. “Don’t worry, the poison was in his glass, not the wine. Chin-chin.”

***

A week had passed and, according to the Mykonos police, Sergey had vanished from the island.

Andreas took it as good news, but remained careful where he parked his car. The best news by far was that Tassos was back to his cantankerous self. At first he’d pondered about calling it quits, taking his pension, and settling down with Maggie.

Maggie’s response to Tassos’ suggestion was instantaneous. “If you intend on hanging around with me 24/7, I’m taking a second job.”

Kouros was packed and all set to leave Andreas’ and Lila’s apartment when his hosts opened the bottle of champagne he’d given them as a thank you gift and began toasting his farewell.

“To no more assholes, just good friends,” said Andreas raising his glass.

“Interesting toast, darling.”

“You’re right. I should have said, ‘To my fantastic wife and her childhood friend, the minister of tourism.”

“Which reminds me, do you think it’s okay to tell her to put the real memorandum of understanding back in the ministry’s files?”

“Not yet. Besides, it’s only going to mean something to someone who gets into her files who shouldn’t be there. The minister knows where the real one is if she needs it.”

“The minister is such a straight shooter…How did you ever convince her to substitute the real memorandum for our phony one?” said Kouros.

“I told her my husband was convinced our lives were in danger if the ‘wrong people’ saw the real one.”

“Speaking of people‘in danger,’ our boss is about to get his balls cut off courtesy of the minister of finance,” said Kouros.

“How do you know that?” said Andreas.

“Before coming here, I stopped by the office to give Christos’ files back to Maggie for safekeeping. She told me she just got off the phone with her girlfriend, the finance minister’s secretary, who said that in connection with the ministry’s ongoing tax fraud investigations her boss was about to release a list of Greek government officials with undisclosed Swiss bank accounts. And Spiros’ name is on it.”

“That should get him a real warm reception in the press,” said Lila.

Andreas shook his head. “I warned him not to come to that meeting with me. I knew that somehow he’d find a way to piss off the finance minister,” said Andreas.

“It’s his gift,” said Kouros.

“Sounds like you two may soon be working for a new minister.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” said Andreas.

“Any more word on Teacher?” said Kouros.

“Nope, and I like it that way. I prefer staying off her radar screen.”

“Funny, isn’t it, how we ended up teaching Teacher a lesson.” said Kouros.

“I think the better word is ironic,” said Andreas.

“Interesting. Did you two know that the word ‘irony’ comes from a stock comic character in Ancient Greek theater?”

Kouros and Andreas looked at each other with blank stares.

“You guys would be perfect for the role. Eiron brought down his opponents by making himself seem less than he actually was.”

Kouros shook his head. “You have us confused with that American TV detective, Columbo.”

“Yeah,” said Andreas. “Here in Greece, cops are more like Sisyphus. Always pushing the same damn boulder up the same damn hill. Sometimes I feel like just letting go, jumping to the side, and watching to see what the hell happens.”

“I think you need a vacation,” said Lila.

“Why don’t you guys come with me?” said Kouros.”It’ll be a blast.”

“Where to?” said Lila.

“To Mykonos, of course,” said Kouros. “Where else?”

Andreas nodded. Mykonos in August. Where else indeed.