Athenian Blues by Pol Koutsakis

Author:Pol Koutsakis
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781908524775
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
Published: 2016-12-02T05:00:00+00:00

28

Under the chandelier the blood had pooled in the shape of a crown, a huge circular stain encircled by many smaller ones. That’s how it always is when blood falls from a height: you learn such things from hours in the field, and from talking to pathologists and forensic experts. Though my knowledge was not enough to explain why Makis’ face and forehead were covered with symbols like hieroglyphs, written in lipstick.

Obviously, Makis was beyond help. But how the hell did he get up there? Who had managed to lift him and spike him on one of the big hooks sticking out of his back? And why go to so much trouble? It looked like a murder with a message, but what message did the hieroglyphs convey? The only link between everything that was going on was Vassilis himself, but he was incommunicado – Drag immediately tried calling him, but his mobile was turned off. If he wasn’t around, who had opened the door to let us in, and why?

We found the Rottweiler covered in blood in a corner of the garden. Judging by the size of the wounds, it must have been blasted by a shotgun. Like Makis who, in addition to the hook in his back, had two gaping holes in his stomach. The rain started again. It lashed Drag’s car as we drove to the Asclepius Piazza to find me a taxi before Drag returned to Vassilis’ house and called his fellow cops… He told me he was hoping to find Vassilis and get some answers. I wasn’t so optimistic. I saw a sick symmetry in the pattern of events: Aliki meets me to hire my services – Stathopoulos does the same; the macabre murder of Dalla in Aliki’s car – the macabre murder of Makis in Vassilis’ house; Aliki’s mobile phone turned off – Stathopoulos’ mobile phone turned off. Aliki’s disappearance told me that Vassilis was going to disappear too. And with him my 100,000 euros fee. They’d both promised me money then broken off contact with me, one after the other. I had to find one of them, at least. I had to get a handle on this case, some facts that actually made sense. Not just for my sake, but also for Drag’s – if my hunch was right and Vassilis had just disappeared, the pressure on Drag would be unbearable.

I had a few plans in mind.

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