“Father always said you could deal with your worst enemies as long as they saw profit in it. So I thought, who would never speak to my father but would want to stop the Ukrainian as much as I? The obvious answer was Niko, the Ukrainian’s competitor in the arms business.”
“How did you know these things?” said Tassos.
“I run this house. What don’t I know?”
“How did you connect with Niko?” said Kouros.
“A friend’s cousin is married to Niko. I arranged for the friend to set up a meeting with him in Kalamata. I went there and told him I had valuable information helpful to his business. He asked what I wanted in return and I said ‘elimination of our mutual problem.’ I told him my plan. He said he’d think about it and get back to me.”
Kouros drew in and let out a breath.
“Two days later he called and we met again. He said he liked my plan, but there was a problem. If he were seen to have played a hand in it he’d be at war with both the Ukrainian and my father. That’s when he proposed Babis. He said Babis’ relationship with my father gave him the best chance of getting close enough to the Ukrainian to pass along the threat, and with the bad blood between Babis and Niko’s family no one would think Babis was tied to Niko should Babis ever be discovered as behind the threats.”
“The threats were intended for the Ukrainian?” asked Kouros.
“That was my plan.” She bowed her head. “But Niko said there was no way he could think of to get Babis to betray my father. Otherwise he and his family would have tried it long ago.”
She lifted her head and rubbed at her eyes with the palms of her hands. “I should have realized what that meant, but didn’t. I was obsessed with getting rid of the Ukrainian. And when a few days later Carlos called to say he’d seen my father with Stella, I took it as a sign from above that Babis had been chosen to rid my family of the Ukrainian.” She crossed herself three times.
“That’s when I hit upon the idea of using a photograph of my father and Stella to enrage Babis. Inspire him to take revenge on my father by helping to destroy my father’s plans with the Ukrainian. The obvious twist never occurred to me. All Niko had to do was convince Babis to kill my father instead of frightening the Ukrainian and he’d have it all-the deal dead and revenge on my father. He must have promised Babis forgiveness from his family if Babis made my father’s death look like an accident or, at worst, that someone else was responsible. But I never imagined he would kill my father. Never.”
“What about killing the Ukrainian? Did you ever imagine that?” said Tassos.
She began to sob. “When Father died I was certain he’d been killed by the Ukrainian. That he’d somehow learned of the plot against him, thought my father was behind it, and killed him for it. I thought it was all my fault.”
Her sobs turned to tears and she cried for several minutes.
No one made a move to comfort her.
She looked up. “It was my fault. I need to die.”
Tassos waited until her eyes caught his. “No, my dear, what you need is serious psychiatric help.”
***
That night they drove Calliope to Sparta. They didn’t want to arrest her, nor did they want her wandering free, if only to protect her from herself. They compromised on a charge that didn’t implicate Calliope in her father’s murder, but kept her under a twenty-four-hour suicide watch while awaiting psychiatric evaluation.
Kouros called Mangas to tell him his sister was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and for her own good he’d taken her to Sparta. He made no mention of anything else. That could wait for another time. And he preferred not to be the teller of that tale.
As expected, Niko was out of jail the next day and back in Gytheio where he promised to remain until “vindicated.” When the prosecutor learned from Andreas that Calliope had confessed to her role in the matter, and from Kouros of Niko’s claimed statement of the facts, he told both cops there was a better case for convicting Calliope than Niko. Even more so after Kouros’ wrestling buddy, the bear, denied ever telling Kouros of a link between Niko and the uncle’s murder. He denied being part of anything more that an effort to convince Niko’s old acquaintance, Babis, not to take his own life but rather turn himself in for the uncle’s murder.
Andreas and Kouros knew where this was headed. With the actual killer dead, the victim a notorious bad guy, and prosecutorial resources strapped to the limit by across-the-board financial cuts, there was very little chance that Niko would ever see the inside of a prison cell. At least not this time.
Chapter Twenty-three
Andreas looked up to see who was coming through his office door. “You look pissed. What’s wrong?”
“I just got word the prosecutor isn’t taking my uncle’s case to trial.”
Andreas shook his head. “I hate this part of the job. We bust our asses catching scum everyone knows is guilty and some spineless prosecutor lets him walk because he doesn’t have the balls to risk hurting his conviction rate. We knew this was a tough case, but I thought the prosecutor would at least try to put him away.” Andreas pointed a finger at Kouros. “I want you to run a full financial background check on that prosecutor. If we find so much as a euro unaccounted for in his account I’m going to hang his crooked ass out to dry.”
“No one’s angrier than I am, but it isn’t all the prosecutor’s fault.” Kouros dropped onto the couch.
“What are you saying?”
“My cousins are very worried about Calliope. Niko was out of jail within hours after his arrest, but she’s been penned up in a psychiatric ward for nearly a month and a half. Mangas told me her doctors believe that if she testified it could send her over the edge forever.”
Andreas shook his head. “And Niko’s lawyers would make sure she testified.”
“In vivid, excruciating detail. That’s why Mangas told the prosecutor today that his sister wouldn’t testify. And her psychiatrist backed him up on that.”
Andreas blew out a rush of air from between his lips. “At least Babis is dead. That’s some justice. Which reminds me, maybe someone should let Stella know that Niko and his two numb-nuts buddies are free? Just in case they might still consider her a loose end.”
“I already told her. Her residency permit came through last week and she’s moving north to Thessaloniki.”
“What’s the matter, she didn’t like Athens?”
“No, she found a nice guy and he got a job up there, so she’s going with him.”
Andreas studied Kouros’ face. “How do you feel about that?”
He shrugged. “Fine, we’re just friends.”
“I see. So, what are you doing for Christmas?”
“Not sure yet.”
“Well, it’s the day after tomorrow, and you’re invited to our house if nothing better turns up.”
“Thanks. I was sort of thinking of going down to the Mani to spend it with my cousins.”
“Not a bad idea.”
“But I’m not sure about that anymore.”
“Why’s that?”
“Mangas told me Father Carlos has visited Calliope every day she’s been in the hospital and just obtained permission from her doctors to bring her home for three days over Christmas.”
“That’s terrific news.”
“Yes, but I don’t think I should be there for her homecoming. They don’t need me as a walking reminder of all she’s done and been through.”
“Your family can’t blame you for what she did.”
“I hope not. But, still, I don’t have be in her face the very first day she’s out. In time, I want to talk to her. Perhaps give her something her father didn’t think she’d appreciate.” Kouros turned his head and stared out the window behind the couch. “I think he was wrong about that. It’s a chest that once belonged to our Great-aunt Calliope.”
“Do I take all that as a ‘yes’ for dinner on Christmas? Tassos and Maggie will be there.”
“Sure. Thanks. Is the new kid you brought into the unit coming?”