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

of a stranger hanging out in his place the night Nikoletta met the hacker matches the dead tourist?”

“Not yet. I plan on telling him when he picks me up this morning. That should spice up his morning almost as much as you’ve done mine.”

“I have some good news for you too. I’m coming to Naxos tomorrow to help with the investigation.”

“Terrific. I can definitely use the help running down suspects.”

“Maybe you’ll get lucky in your meeting with the mayor.”

“Who knows, but it should be interesting. I hear he plans on turning it into a PR event to announce the disappearance of the reporter and claim the local police chief isn’t competent to handle the investigation—as evidenced by the fact that Athens sent me here.”

“I was afraid of something like that. Why avoid taking a swipe for political gain, even if it risks a woman’s life? Does the mayor know you’re friends with the chief?”

“Dimitri’s the one who told me, so I doubt it.”

“Sounds like you’re in for a hell of a morning.”

“The good thing is, it’ll at least wake me up.”

“Some folk like to get their morning jolt from a cup of strong coffee, others opt for bare-knuckles conflict. I guess you fall into the latter category.”

“Frankly, I prefer sex, but since that’s currently unavailable, I think I’ll have to settle for doing my best at screwing the mayor.”

“On that, I think I’ll say goodbye and leave you to your good times.”

* * *

Dimitri had left a note for Yianni with the hotel receptionist apologizing for not arranging to pick him up for his meeting with the mayor, but since the mayor hadn’t invited Dimitri to attend, it seemed best that Yianni not show up with a police escort. Instead, he left Yianni the keys to an unmarked motorbike parked outside the hotel.

Greeks and their intrigues. They never end.

Yianni’s drive to Naxos’s town hall took considerably longer than he anticipated. From a map, he’d estimated five minutes, but a gnarled web of one-way streets filled with tavernas, shops, hotels, and tourists anxious to get to the beach made it seem as though he’d never get there. After twice finding himself caught in a loop taking him away from town hall, he decided to make up a route of his own. He made a U-turn and headed due south along the harbor front aimed directly for town hall, ignoring a host of ONE WAY and DO NOT ENTER signs along the way—not to mention a flurry of honking horns and salty gestures from oncoming drivers.

Town hall overlooked the southern end of the harbor and served the Naxos and Small Cyclades Municipality governing Naxos and its neighboring smaller islands of Iraklia, Schinoussa, Koufonissia, and Donoussa, among others. Of Naxos’s 18,400 residents, 13,000 lived in Chora and its environs, which meant approximately seventy percent of the population lived within roughly thirty percent of the island’s territory. The balance lived in the sparsely populated but much larger rural territory north, east, and south of Chora. Police divided coverage responsibilities between headquarters in Chora and an auxiliary office at the center of the island in Naxos’s second largest village, Filoti.

Yianni parked directly in front of the town hall in a spot overlooking a smaller replica of the massive marble Sphinx of Naxos donated nearly 2,600 years ago by the people of Naxos to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Town hall’s modern-day version of that ancient guardian stared straight out to sea, ever vigilant for any sign of danger headed its island’s way.

The relatively new, two-decade-old town hall bore no resemblance to any ancient architectural style associated with the sphinx, and little to the old town’s distinctly thirteenth-century Venetian influence. Still, its neoclassical design, ecru stucco front, and parallel rows of turquoise windows framed in white marble sublimely complemented the Kastro’s three-hundred-year-old former School for Girls—perched high atop the old town in the ideal spot for looking down upon her much younger brother.

The town hall’s main entrance stood between a pair of Doric columns supporting a second-story marble balustrade and terrace fronting a set of French doors. From his experience with other town halls, Yianni assumed the French doors and Il Duce–style balcony opened into the mayor’s office.

Yianni stepped into the vestibule leading to the main entrance and reached for the door handle, but there was none. He tried pushing against the door, but it wouldn’t budge. He could see people inside, but no one stepped forward to open the door. As obvious a grand entrance as it was, this wasn’t the way in.

He turned around, looked left, looked right, went left, and made another left at the end of the building. There he found an open door leading into a short hallway lined with offices.

He smiled. His superstitious aunt would say he’d just received a message from the gods: Be wary of the obvious.

Chapter Five

As soon as Yianni stepped inside, a man asked if he was there for the press conference.

“No, I’m here to meet with the mayor.”

“About what?”

Yianni smiled. “I don’t mean to sound rude, sir, but my business doesn’t concern you. The mayor’s expecting me, so why don’t you just tell him Detective Kouros is here to see him?”

“Oh, so you are here for the press conference. The mayor left instructions for you to go directly inside.” He pointed toward an atrium at the center of the building, where a lone olive tree grew beneath a pyramid-shaped skylight. A second-floor balcony, trimmed with scenes from classical Naxos, encircled the atrium floor.

At one end of the atrium, reporters milled about a podium, waiting for a press conference to begin. Yianni shouldn’t have been surprised. It wasn’t often that a mayor from a traditionally non-newsworthy island had the opportunity to draw national coverage. Announcing the now-famous reporter’s disappearance would make headline news for sure.

Yianni recognized some of the reporters from Athens and stood back from them, not wishing to draw their attention.

“Detective Kouros, how nice of you to show up.”

Yianni swung around to