Target: Tinos

Chapter Fourteen

Every faith considers marriage a primary rite. Most also accept it as the excuse for one hell of a party. The Greek Orthodox Church was no exception, especially on Mykonos. On the night before a local boy married a local girl, the groom spent the night partying with his guy friends, and his bride with her girlfriends. It was sort of a “kids’ last night out,” for after the wedding locals no longer called them “boy” and “girl,” but “man” and “woman.” Lila and Andreas, though, were not locals, and no one was likely to call them kids, so they skipped that ritual and stayed home Saturday night. Not that either got much sleep.

Andreas was on the balcony outside their bedroom staring at the sea. Sunlight was breaking over the horizon bringing color back to the sky.

Lila came up to him from behind and pressed her face against his bare back. “Nervous?”

“About becoming your husband until death do us part, forever and ever, until the sun stops rising in the morning, until-”

“So, you are.”

“A bit.” Andreas smiled.

“Me too.” Her tone sounded serious. “But it’ll be worth it for the party.”

Andreas turned around and hugged her. “Do you know how much I love you?”

“Yes, but feel free to tell me again.”

“Words fail me.”

Lila laughed.

“So, where do I have to be today and when?”

Lila cocked her head. “Why, do you have plans?”

“Nothing more important than whatever you want me to do.”

“Nice try, Kaldis. What’s on your mind?”

He didn’t want to tell Lila about the threat. He also didn’t want to lie. So he decided to break his rule against discussing his cases with her. But just a little bit. “The Tinos murders.”

“What about them?”

“Until now the case only involved metanastes and tsigani bad guys killing each other. That’s the perfect way to keep Greeks from caring much about it. We love pointing fingers, blaming others for our troubles. We blame immigrants for crime, drugs, and change to our way of life. We ignore that few in this country want to pay taxes, corruption is everywhere, and only the honest seem to get screwed. Our system is ‘every man for himself,’ so why are we surprised when new arrivals want to get their piece of the action, too? But, for some, violence is the only way they know, they’re not sophisticated or connected enough yet to do it with a pen, and that makes the lot of them perfect scapegoats for whatever goes wrong here.”

Lila stared at him. “You’re on a rather cynical rant for so early in the morning. Even for a cop.”

“I know, but it’s as if someone were taking great care to make sure that only tsigani and metanastes were involved. Then out of the blue two Greek women pop up as potential killers. It just doesn’t fit. Or, more likely, I’m missing something.”

Lila snuggled her head against his chest. “As long as you don’t miss the wedding. Only twelve hours to go.”

Andreas kissed her on the forehead. “I think you’ve mentioned something like that to me before.”

“Hopefully the message has sunk in.” Lila leaned back and smiled. “But, I think for this morning you should go off and play with your buddies. You’re way too serious for our wedding day.”

Tassos and Andreas were sitting in a scruffy, virtually deserted kafeneion by the edge of Ano Mera’s town square, thirty feet and a few steps up from the entrance to the monastery of Tourliani. Most of the town’s early rising locals seemed to have headed to the harbor for their Sunday morning coffee and gossip. Ano Mera was the other town on Mykonos, with roots tracing back to 4500 BC. It sat at the island’s rural heart, five miles from the far better known harbor town bearing the island’s name.

Tradition had it that two monks from the nearby island of Paros, while escaping pirates, found asylum in a small Ano Mera church and decided to establish a monastery there. During its construction in 1542, an icon of the Virgin Mary was found on a beach on the west side of the island. According to legend, each time the icon was placed at another site, at night it miraculously found its way back to the monastery and now resided within its walls as the revered icon of Panagia Tourliani, the protector of the island.

“You know, if someone were interested in stealing a priceless icon it would be a lot easier going after this one than the Megalochari.” Tassos nodded in the direction of the monastery.

“Or practically any other icon in Greece. But the Megalochari is the big prize.”

“So, how do you want to handle security?”

Andreas bit at his lower lip. “Shut everything down as much as we can.” He pointed to the town square only a few feet away from where they sat. One-story buildings, virtually all tavernas, surrounded a flagstone square containing a broad walkway encircling a slightly elevated central oval set off from the rest of the square by a foot-high stonewall. Within the oval children played and the town celebrated civic events and festivals.

“That walkway connects to the municipal parking lot at the far end. So does the path running along the front of the monastery and behind the tavernas on this side of the square. Vehicles aren’t supposed to use them, so let’s make sure we keep them out.”

“Yeah, but locals drive where they want.”

“Not tonight,” said Andreas

“What about people who want to get inside the church?”

Andreas shrugged. “No ticket, no laundry. If they’re not on the list they don’t get in.”

“I see, you’re planning on doing everything you can to piss off the locals,” said Tassos.

“I’m not running for mayor, I’m trying to keep my family alive. Which reminds me. I want a metal detector. Put it over there,” Andreas gestured with his hand toward an archway containing a brass-trimmed red door. It was the only door on the monastery’s four-story front wall. “And make sure to put it on the outside of the archway, before anyone can get into the courtyard and anywhere near the church.”

“How the hell are we going to find a metal detector, get it here, and up and running in time for the wedding?”

Andreas looked at his watch. “When is Yianni arriving?”

“On the noon boat.”

“Good, tell him that as soon as he lands to see the director of airport operations and borrow a metal detector.”

“The airport can’t do that, it needs the detector to screen departing flights.”

Andreas shook his head. “We’ll borrow one that they use for charter flights heading out of Greece. They fly out of a different gate than domestic flights.”

“I get it, let’s just delay and piss-off the tourists, not the Greeks,” smiled Tassos.

“No, wiseass, charters use two detectors, domestic only one.” Andreas waved toward the monastery. “And let’s make it obvious security is tight. I want to discourage as many bad intentions as I can, or at least force an uncalculated risk that might give us an edge.”

“Things could be set to happen when you come out of the church service.”

Andreas patted Tassos’ forearm. “I’m trusting you to make sure there aren’t any snipers out there. We don’t want another Syntagma.”

Tassos pointed to the sky. “If we want to get really paranoid, there could be a drone, one of those unmanned aerial vehicles, drifting around up there just waiting to take out the whole village.”

Andreas smiled. “Let’s just hope whatever might be planned is of human rather than divine proportions, and that nobody’s perfect, which should make the bad guys as worried as we are that something might go wrong.” Andreas stood up. “Come on, let’s take a look inside the monastery.”

“I already checked it out, and three of my Syros cops are stationed in the courtyard under orders not to allow anyone in without personal clearance from the abbot. Even then, no one gets to go anywhere in the monastery without one of my guys for company.”

“Sounds good. Thanks.” Andreas looked at his watch. “I guess I better get back to Lila’s. Our families are expecting me. Last chance to bust my you know what before the wedding.” He grinned.

Tassos nodded toward the monastery’s front door. “Come on, let’s take a quick look inside anyway. You won’t get a chance to appreciate the beauty of the place later. That’s what happens when it’s your own wedding.”

Or funeral.

The whitewashed rectangular monastery of Tourliani, with its blood-red dome, soaring intricately carved marble bell tower, and fortress-like perimeter walls cutting it off from the rest of the village was the architectural highlight of Ano Mera.

Andreas and Tassos stood in the stone and marble courtyard between the archway and the church. Stairs and doorways off that cloistered space led to the warren of rooms so common to monasteries. There seemed an endless number of places to hide.

Andreas waved his right hand at the doorways. “You’ve checked them all?”

“Every single room, nook, and cranny. The abbot assured me we saw places even the Germans didn’t find during World War II, and I don’t have to tell you how hard they looked. Whoever and whatever is in here belongs here.”

Andreas drew in and let out a breath. I hope so, he thought.

Tassos pointed at the church. “Let’s go take a look inside.”

Andreas followed Tassos the few steps to the church’s central doorway, but stopped just outside.

It was a Byzantine church at the center of the monastery, built upon eight slabs of marble. Three front doors opened onto three aisles draped with silver incense holders and crystal chandeliers. Each aisle led to the massive, elaborately carved, 18th Century baroque iconostasis separating the main part of the church from the altar area. The iconostasis was covered in icons and gold, and painted with red, green, and gold leaf flowers. Carvings of the apostles ran along its top and above it all loomed the elaborately painted dome of the church-with its four small windows.

Tassos pointed up at the windows in the dome. “We checked, and the only thing that could get an angle on anyone inside is a bird. And if one craps on you that’s good luck.”

“Thanks, I could use it,” said Andreas.

“Why are you standing outside?”

Andreas grinned. “For sort of the same reason you want a bird to target me. It’s bad luck to go inside your church on your wedding day without your bride.”

“Never heard that one before.”

“Probably because I just made it up.” Andreas laughed. “But doesn’t it seem an unlucky thing to do?”

Tassos laughed. “No argument here. If that’s your instinct, go with it. Mine is to light a candle.”

Andreas nodded. “Make it a big one.”

They were almost back to Lila’s parents house when Andreas’ phone rang.

Andreas looked at his phone. “It’s Yianni.” Andreas put his phone on speaker. “I’m here with Tassos. What’s up?”

“I found three cameras that were operating during the period of time we’re interested in. I’ve been looking at tapes non-stop since four this morning.”

Andreas looked at this watch. It was almost ten. “You must be bored to death by now.”

“Not really, amazing the things that go on outside bars at night. Especially in parked cars.”

Andreas looked at Tassos. “I’m sure you’re not calling just to chat about how easily you get turned on.”

“I’ll take that to mean you want me to get to the point. I’ll make it simple. About fifteen minutes ago, my time, the two Carausii brothers exited the bar with two women.”

“Could you make out their faces?”

“And just about everything else. The guys could hardly wait to get them to their motorbikes.”

“Spare me the details. Do you think we can get an ID?”

“I’ve sent the tape off to Athens to see if any of our vice guys recognize the girls as pros or can find someone on the streets who knows them.”

“I want a copy, too,” said Andreas.

Kouros laughed. “On your wedding day? It might tarnish your view of ‘love ever after.’”

“Just bring it, wise-ass.” Andreas looked at Tassos. “I’ll look at them tomorrow.”

“Will do. See you in a few hours. Bye.”

Tassos smacked his hands together. “Things are looking up. We finally got a break. Today’s our lucky day.”

Andreas smiled, “I sure as hell hope so.”