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

see a short, well-tanned man with a bouncing belly, badly dyed brown hair, and a well-rehearsed smile.

“I’m sorry, sir. I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“I’m the mayor.” He extended his right hand. “The receptionist told me you’re here, and I came right down.” He pointed to a staircase behind him. “After all, we don’t want to keep the press waiting.”

“Excuse me, sir, but I’m not here for a news conference. I’m here to ask you about your meeting with Nikoletta Elia.”

“All in good time.” He patted Yianni on the shoulder. “But first we must alert the press and my fellow Naxians to what has befallen her and assure them that we, their public servants, are doing all that we can to find her.”

“We are. But having a news conference to announce her disappearance and my unit’s involvement could endanger her life.”

“I don’t see how you can say that. It will mobilize the community to look for her.”

“If there’s actually been a kidnapping, and the kidnapper learns he’s the subject of a nationwide manhunt, the attention might spook him into doing away with her. Your local police are already doing all the right things. I’m only here to provide them with additional manpower.”

The mayor’s perpetual smile turned sharklike. “That’s bullshit and you know it. The local cops are inept and couldn’t find a souvlaki at a soccer match. You’re here because the reporter’s newspaper and your minister insisted that your unit step in and take over the investigation. I will not be party to a cover-up of this poor woman’s kidnapping.”

Yianni leaned into the mayor. “I don’t know who put those ideas in your head, but I suggest you reconsider whatever you plan on saying to the press.”

Any semblance of a smile disappeared. “Is that a threat?”

“No, just some professional advice from one public servant to another.”

“I was hoping you’d participate in the press conference, but it’s far from necessary. You’re here, and that’s all the backup I need for what I have to say on the subject.”

“Feel free to say whatever you think serves the interests of your island, but there’s something I should tell you.”

“What’s that, another threat?”

“No, another fact. My chief arrives tomorrow, because he’s also concerned with the safety of Nikoletta. You’ve now been warned about the risks to her life presented by proceeding with your press conference. If Chief Inspector Kaldis thinks that what you say to the media in any way jeopardizes her life, he’ll tear you apart in the press, not to mention what he’ll do to you in the eyes of all your perceived political friends back in Athens.”

“I’m not afraid of him.”

“Well, you should be. Perhaps you forget that our unit’s mandate extends to investigating suspected official corruption wherever we find it. Why you’re so hell-bent on undermining your local police chief, no matter the risk it presents to the reporter’s life, will undoubtedly pique my chief’s interest.” Yianni put his hand on the mayor’s shoulder. “Are you up for risking your political career for a few passing headlines and the chance to take a cheap shot at your police chief?”

He let his hand fall from the mayor’s shoulder. “I’ll be waiting here when you’re done. We still have to talk about your conversation with Nikoletta.”

The mayor turned and walked briskly toward the journalists, but with a noticeable slump to his shoulders. Reporters began shouting questions at him, but he paid them no attention until he was behind the podium and cameras were rolling.

He stared straight at Yianni as he spoke. “I’m here to answer any and all of your questions, but first let me say why I’ve called you here. I want you and the nation to know how proud I am of our island’s professional hardworking police force, which has spared no effort to identify the poor tourist who tragically perished here.”

“Is that why you called this press conference?” yelled a reporter. “Just to say thank you to the police?”

He stared at the reporter. “I wouldn’t think any of you’d have a problem with that. On Naxos we value our police and everything they do to keep all of us, tourists and locals alike, safe and secure. Don’t you agree it’s about time they got the recognition they deserve?”

Yianni smiled. Nicely played, Mister Mayor.

* * *

Yianni had to give the mayor credit. He’d handled the sharp questioning with patience, offering little in terms of substance, yet tossing out a teaser to keep them coming back. “We expect very soon to identify the tourist who perished in that tragic fall onto the rocks below Grotta.”

That prompted a shouted round of additional questions.

“It’s part of an ongoing investigation,” the mayor deflected, “and we’ll provide you with more details as soon as we’ve confirmed them and notified the next of kin.”

When the press conference ended, the mayor hurried out of the atrium, made his way up three flights of marble steps to the second floor, and headed straight for a doorway centered on a glass-enclosed office suite marked MAYOR—with Yianni right behind him.

Inside, the mayor stopped momentarily to speak with a woman sitting at a desk in front of a set of French doors and across from the open door to a corner office. He glanced back at Yianni and grunted, “Follow me.”

The office was furnished in what Yianni considered politician traditional. An imposing, highly polished wooden desk, a luxurious high-back leather swivel chair, a pair of far simpler guest chairs, an oval conference table with matching chairs, and a comfortable sofa set off to one side of the room. The sofa undoubtedly was meant for those occasions when, by sitting next to his visitor, the mayor could convey that his guest was among his most valued and trusted confidants.

The office also displayed the obligatory photographs of celebrities and powerful officials who’d passed through the mayor’s life. Angled on his desk for all to see stood a photo of his wife, children, one dog, and one cat.

Without waiting to be invited, Yianni sat in