Murder in Mykonos

Tassos flicked the ash from his cigarette. 'Before the Irishman could come to trial and maybe say which murders were his — and which weren't — he committed suicide in custody.' He looked directly at Andreas. 'I took that for a "case closed."'

Andreas shrugged. 'We have to put up with that sort of cover-up shit all the time. Politicians don't like loose ends.'

Tassos smiled. 'Funny you should say "loose ends." The American was cut up, raped, and beaten to death in one place then buried in another, cleverly hidden location. The Scandinavian was full of crystal meth — the "let's have sex drug" — but otherwise unmarked and died of suffocation — buried alive — under a virtual "find me here" sign.'

Bitching at bureaucrats was a hallowed police pastime, but that didn't seem to be what this was about. 'How's all that tie in to this?' asked Andreas.

Tassos stared off at the horizon again. 'Never thought the Irishman did the Scandinavian.' Without looking back, he pointed toward the church with his cigarette. 'She was shaved and tied up just like the one back there.'

3

Ambassador Vanden Haag's initial response to his wife's telephone description of their daughter's travel situation was predictable: ask the Queen to call out the marines. Then he took a more measured approach. His office contacted American Express for a list of Annika's recent charges. That should tell him where she was. But American Express wouldn't release the information to his office, to him, or to the American ambassador he asked to call on his behalf. It took some ingenuity from an old CIA friend to get the information, but he got it.

It showed no recent activity. The last charges were in Italy, indicating she had traveled from Sicily along the eastern mainland north past the heel of the boot. They stopped in Bari, with a payment to Superfast Ferries. He went online and found that it served the North Sea, Baltic, and Adriatic, but from that part of Italy the line had only two destinations: Igoumenitsa and Patras — both in western Greece. From there Annika could have caught any number of ferries to any number of places — or traveled some other way.

No doubt she was in Greece. That explained why the Amex charges stopped. Many businesses in Greece wouldn't accept the card — too slow paying, they claimed. Annika probably was using another credit card. He'd try to get that information tomorrow, but now at least they knew where she was — sort of — and the news was reassuring. She'd been to Greece more times than he could count, was fluent in Greek, and in a pinch, her uncle and aunt were there to help. Catia's brother was Greece's deputy minister for Public Order — the country's equivalent of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Catia would make a few calls tomorrow, and they'd know where Annika was in no time.

It was comforting to know their daughter was in a safe place. Andreas stood quietly listening to Tassos tell his three men where to place the lights in the church. The five of them were crowded together around the crypt when the lights went on, the videotaping began, and the coroner started his examination. It was not pretty, but the smell was worse — and more than a match for the drops of menthol gel on Andreas' upper lip.

The autopsy and serious forensic testing would take place at the coroner's lab on Syros, but there were crucial observations to be made here. The coroner spoke loudly and distinctly to assure that what he said was accurately recorded.

'Bruises on body are consistent with the shape and location of nearby bones,' as if she had thrashed against them before she died. He couldn't be sure, but 'eyes and mouth appear closed after death.' 'Rigor mortis appears cause of shift of body' onto her right side — from flat on her back, hands clasped by her chest.

'Cotton, probably tampons, in each nostril, will verify whether same in anus and vagina and-'

'Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt,' Andreas said, startled, 'but aren't you surprised at finding tampons in her nose? And what's this about looking for "same in anus and vagina"?'

The coroner did not look away from the body. 'I both am and am not surprised. I'm surprised at finding it here, but not in a dead body.' He was talking in riddles — like an academic lecturer.

Andreas hated the type but knew they were necessary. 'Do me a favor, just tell me what the fuck you're talking about.'

The coroner looked at Tassos.

'Costas, please tell the man what he wants to know.' Tassos spoke like a man used to being in charge.

Without changing his tone, the coroner said, 'Greeks bury their dead immediately and without embalming, but there is a viewing. In order to keep bodily fluids from leaking into the casket, cotton is shoved…'

Andreas knew about that part.

'These days, instead of cotton, tampons often are used. How many depends upon the size of the orifice.'

'What about the throat and ears?' Andreas asked.

'Not in the ears, and the throat would depend upon the Cause of death, but generally not. In this body, I saw nothing in the throat.'

'Are you saying she was prepared for burial?' asked Andreas.

'From the position of her feet together, hands clasped at the chest — though hers actually are bound to the body just below the chest — eyes and mouth shut, I'd say yes, with one distinct difference.'

'What's that?' He'd play along with the professor.

'I'm virtually certain this was done while she was alive.'

'Sort of like a ritual.' It was Tassos' investigator. He seemed to be showing off for the crowd. Andreas had better tell Tassos to shut him up. But he didn't have to.

'That will be enough of that sort of talk — from you and anyone else.' Tassos stared at the faces around the crypt, the tone of his warning unequivocally menacing. 'Costas, how long before you'll have forensics back on this?'

'How quickly do you want them?'

Tassos didn't respond, just stared at him.

Costas spoke quickly, nervously. 'I'll call Syros and have them ready to start as soon as we get back with the body.'

'And the bones?' added Tassos.

'Yes, of course. I'll have something for you by tomorrow.'

'What do you think the chances are of a quick ID on the body?' Andreas' question was directed to the coroner, but Tassos answered in a tone Andreas knew was meant to make clear he was in charge of the forensic side of this investigation.

'I doubt she's local, but even if she is, depends on whether she's reported as missing. If not, as soon as we get Costas' results we'll check with Athens, and' — he was shaking his head — 'probably the rest of the world, to get an ID on this one.'

Andreas knew the most they could hope for was that someone somewhere had reported her missing because if no one cared enough to file a missing-person report, there was virtually no chance — outside of luck — of identifying her. Andreas couldn't imagine any police force in the world starting an investigation into a 'do you know this body' request without — at the very least — knowing it somehow tied in to their jurisdiction. Each had too many of its own problems to deal with.

'Sounds to me like we should start looking at this end.' Andreas was claiming his territory.

Tassos smiled. 'I can just imagine all the screaming phone calls you'll be getting once you start flashing photographs of a dead body around Mykonos at the height of the tourist season.'

Andreas smiled back. 'I thought I'd put up posters along Matogianni Street with her picture and your telephone number.'

Tassos laughed and shook his head. 'Mykonos and its politics shall be all yours on this one, my friend.'

Territories were settled. They smiled at each other.

'May I get back to work?' asked the coroner.

'Yes,' said Tassos, 'and be sure you're your usual, thorough self. We need to know everything about how this woman died ASAP — and who she is.'

Andreas wondered who else might want to know. Schuyler was right. Catia was relieved to know Annika was in Greece. But that made her a bit angry. Not at her daughter, at her relatives. How could they not have called and told her they'd seen Annika? Then again, how were they to know she hadn't spoken with her daughter in weeks? She took a deep breath and told herself to relax. She'd call Greece, and her relatives would find Annika. Quite a crowd had gathered at the bottom of the hill. An ambulance winding its way through Mykonos back roads was irresistible to the locals. It meant someone was ill, injured, or dead, and they wanted to know who. Andreas' officers were asking questions of everyone who stopped, but that didn't discourage a soul. The crowd knew by now there was a dead body in the church at the top of the hill and everyone was staying to watch it all. Cell phones were blaring out the news. Andreas always was amazed how fast word gets out. He wondered how it happened this time.