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

was a Naxos caller, but he didn’t recognize the number.

“Hello, Kaldis here.”

“Chief Inspector?”

“Yes, who’s calling.”

“It’s Dimitri from Naxos.”

“Oh, sorry, Chief. I didn’t recognize your voice. You sound so serious.”

“There’s been an accident.”

Andreas’s heart skipped two beats. “Involving Yianni?”

“Yes.”

Andreas swallowed. “How is he?”

“Banged up but hanging tough.”

“How banged up?”

“As far as his doctors can determine, it’s two broken ribs, but otherwise only sprains, bruises, and cuts. He was knocked around quite badly but doesn’t appear to have sustained a concussion or internal organ damage. Still, they’re keeping him heavily medicated and want him to rest undisturbed for now. Which means no questions from us.”

“Thank God he’s okay. Where is he?”

“In our Naxos General Hospital. That’s where the ambulance brought them.”

“Them?”

“My officer was driving. She wasn’t as lucky as Yianni.”

Andreas’s heart dropped. “How is she?”

“Don’t know yet. She was in a coma when they airlifted her to Athens. I’m waiting for word.”

“What happened?”

“Their pickup went off the road just outside of Koronos, a mountain village up north. No idea yet if it was mechanical failure, or she swerved to avoid hitting an animal on the road, or something else.”

“Something else like what?”

“At this point we’re ruling out nothing.”

Andreas drew in and let out a deep breath. “I’ll be there tomorrow morning. When do you think you’ll have a better fix on what happened?”

“We sent a mechanic and accident investigation team to the site. As soon as I hear anything from them, I’ll let you know.”

“What do you know so far?”

“The pickup went off a narrow two-lane mountain road at a sharp curve to the driver’s left, over a cliff edge to the right, rolling before getting hung up on a massive boulder. It was a miracle they hit the boulder, because if they hadn’t, the pickup would have rolled all the way down into the valley and they’d have had no chance of surviving.”

Andreas crossed himself.

“Who found them?”

“A tour guide driving tourists back from Koronos saw the pickup on its back up against the boulder and called it in.”

“Did the guide see what happened?”

“No.”

“Bad luck.”

“As a matter of fact, very good luck. It turned out that one of the tour guide’s clients was a doctor, and she was able to stabilize them until the ambulance arrived.”

Andreas crossed himself again.

“What are your instincts on the cause?”

“Let’s just say Popi was familiar with the road and used to goats darting out from nowhere. She knew you don’t swerve if you can’t brake in time, especially in the mountains. Better a dead animal than you.”

“So, we’re left with something mechanical or your something else.”

“That’s how I see it.”

Andreas fluttered his lips. “Please keep me in the loop on how they’re doing, and let me know when I can speak with Yianni.”

“Will do.”

“Thanks.”

They said goodbye, and Andreas put down the phone. He shut his eyes and said a brief prayer. He opened his eyes and wondered whether this was just a tragic coincidence or something else.

He knew what he had to do next. He just wasn’t sure how best to go about it. He hoped the words would come. He looked at his phone, found the number he wanted, and called Toni.

Chapter Eight

Toni had heard so many good things about Naxos that she couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come to join Yianni there. But that was before she spoke to Andreas. By the time they’d hung up, everything he’d told her was a blur, and she could only recall him saying there’d been an accident, Yianni was fine, but the doctors wouldn’t allow him any visitors or callers.

To Toni, that did not sound like fine.

Her immediate reaction was to call the hospital and ask to speak to Yianni, but all that would do is kick her anxiety level into even higher gear once the hospital inevitably told her what Andreas had said. No callers.

She knew what she had to do next. She called her boss and told him she couldn’t work tonight because her boyfriend had been in a serious accident on Naxos, and she had to get over there right away. Her boss said that if she didn’t come to work tonight, she was fired.

She said that since the bar would be closed for the weekend anyway, what was the big deal?

He said it was nonnegotiable.

She said, fine, if he wanted to play a hard-ass, she’d tell his wife about his girlfriend. He said he didn’t care.

Then she told him she’d tell his girlfriend about his boyfriend.

He paused for a moment before wishing her safe travels and asking that she please make it back to the bar as soon as Yianni was better.

Now she sat in the new port of Mykonos, waiting for the next boat to Naxos. The trip would take less than an hour, but she had absolutely no idea what she’d do once she got there. All she knew for certain was that she had to get to Naxos. Somehow she’d figure out what to do next.

After all, improvisation is how I make my living.

* * *

Lila hadn’t been off the phone since Andreas called to tell her of the accident. She insisted on coming with him to Naxos, if only to comfort her friend Toni.

Her first call was to her mother, who agreed to watch the children and suggested Lila immediately call a close family friend to see if she could stay at her summerhouse on Naxos. The friend told her she was away, but Lila should use the home as if it were her own for as long as she needed.

That led Lila to call Maggie. Lila knew Maggie and her boyfriend, Tassos, would be headed to Naxos to be at Yianni’s bedside. Tassos was Andreas’s and Yianni’s longtime police mentor and chief homicide investigator for the Cyclades. Lila invited Maggie and Tassos to stay with her and Andreas at her friend’s house and said she’d pick Maggie up tomorrow in time to catch the first plane to Naxos. Maggie confirmed that Tassos would join them there by boat