A Deadly Twist by Jeffrey Siger (free novel reading sites .txt) 📕

and impose order on the chaos her husband seemed ingenious at creating. After all, Tassaki had to get ready for kindergarten, and Sofia needed some semblance of a schedule. All of which meant that by eight each morning, Andreas was out the door and on his way to GADA.

This morning he arrived in his office to find three voicemails from Nikoletta’s editor, each a bit more frantic than the one before.

There was also a message from Yianni describing what he’d learned from the bar owner and promising to call in at nine. Andreas dialed the number left by the editor.

The phone had barely rung once when Andreas heard, “It’s about time you called back.”

“Morning, Giorgos. You should be honored. I’m actually calling before my first cup of coffee. So, what has you so riled up?”

“MY REPORTER IS STILL MISSING!”

“I know that. It’s why I have my best detective working around the clock on Naxos to find her.”

“Well, get more people over there.”

Andreas drew in and let out a quick breath. “There must be another reason why you left three messages for me in less than an hour, other than to bust my balls over how I assign my overworked, underpaid staff.”

“He left me a message.”

“Who did?”

“The hacker, or at least someone acting as if he’s the hacker.”

Andreas’s voice tightened. “When did you receive it, how did you get it, and what did it say?”

“I found it on my voicemail when I got up this morning. The voice sounded like it had been through a scrambler, and he told me not to worry, Nikoletta was safe, and he was protecting her from those who might wish to do her harm. He said he knew the police were looking for her on Naxos, but they would never find her unless she wanted them to.”

“Unless she wanted them to? Did he actually use those words?”

“Those precise words.”

“Sounds like someone is trying to slow down the search by suggesting all’s fine. But it’s a rather bizarre way to do it, since it suggests a Stockholm-syndrome situation in the making.”

“My feelings exactly.”

“Then again, the call could’ve been a phony,” said Andreas.

“Could be. There are a lot of crank callers out there. I’ll send over a copy of the voicemail to your office for analysis.”

“Better yet, bring us your phone. Our lab might be able to pick up more from it than off a copy of the message.”

Giorgos’s voice tensed. “I’ve got a lot of other things on that phone. Confidential things.”

“I’m sure. It’s why I suggested you bring it over. Watching what the lab guys do to your phone might give you peace of mind.”

“I’m expecting nothing of the sort until Nikoletta’s found, safe and sound.”

Andreas paused. “On that point, I’ve reconsidered your request to assign more people to look for her.”

“How many more?”

“Just one. For now.”

“One? You think that’s going to make a difference?”

“My wife thinks the world of him.”

“Your wife? What—” Giorgos chuckled. “Okay, wiseass, when do you leave for Naxos?”

“ASAP.”

“I really appreciate that.”

“Understood.”

“Have you found anything helpful in her notebooks?”

“Just a lot of possibilities to follow up on.”

“Any chance of an ID on the hacker from her sketchbook?”

Andreas sat up straight in his chair. “What sketchbook?”

“She always carries a sketchbook with her to draw images of the people she met and places she visited. Interviewees don’t always care for cameras, so she sketches them later from memory. We don’t put them in her articles, but she saves them in case a source later denies giving her the interview.”

“Where did she keep her sketchbook?”

“Usually in the back pocket of her jeans. It’s about the size of a thin paperback with a simple brown leather cover. She never goes anywhere without it.”

“What are the chances it contains a drawing of whoever called you?”

“If she interviewed him, I’d say it’s a given.”

“My detective didn’t find it in her room. That’s too bad. It’d be helpful to know what our kidnapper looks like.”

“You think she was kidnapped?”

“She disappeared, no one’s heard from her, and you receive a call from a stranger telling you not to worry, she’s safe, because he’s protecting her. If not a crank call, it sure sounds like a kidnapping to me. Which makes it all the more important that you—and your publisher—don’t let the story get out to your media colleagues.”

“But the caller didn’t ask for ransom.”

“All that means is money isn’t why he took her.”

“Shit.”

“And that he’s likely a psycho.” Andreas’s other phone line rang. “Gotta run, it’s my detective calling from Naxos. Let me know the moment you hear anything more from Nikoletta’s protector.”

Andreas hung up on Giorgos and answered the other line with a grunted “Yes?”

“That’s a cheery greeting to hear first thing in the morning.”

“It’s not the first thing in the morning, and I’m not in a cheery mood. I made the mistake of answering my phone before having my first cup of coffee and haven’t been able to get one yet.”

“At least you had the chance to wake up. I may need to glue my eyelids open. I haven’t slept. I tried, but my mind kept running through all the things Nikoletta wrote about the people she interviewed. The interviews are blending one into another, and I’ve got to talk to the mayor in an hour.”

“I’m sure you’ll handle it fine, but just in case you’d like to slow down, take a nap, or maybe even spend some time at the beach, don’t worry, everything’s under control.”

“Uh-oh. What bad news are you about to drop on me?”

“Nikoletta’s editor just received a voicemail from her potential kidnapper telling us not to worry, he’s protecting her.”

“What?”

Andreas filled him in on his conversation.

“I never saw a sketchbook,” said Yianni, “and I searched her room thoroughly.”

“I know, but when you have the chance, take another look at it from the perspective of someone looking for a hiding place.”

“I’ll do it as soon as I get off the phone.”

“Don’t run off just yet. Have you told Dimitri that the bar owner’s description