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

Lila’s friend had Andreas turning left out of the hospital parking lot and following signs to the village of Vivlos. From there he made a right at a “big church” onto a paved road running toward Plaka Beach and a house identified by a white gate that opened by punching 1821# into an adjacent keypad.

With only a few brief wrong turns, they’d made it to the gate in less than twenty-five minutes.

Beyond the gate and a wide stone parking area lay an all-white stucco house set high above patches of pasture and farmland running out to the beach. The home paid clear homage to the traditional Cycladic cubist style, but with a modern flair most noticeably reflected in its oversized windows and broad terrace facing west toward the sea.

A housekeeper stood waiting for them at the front door. She explained the layout of the house, pointed out their respective bedrooms, and emphasized that at her employer’s instructions the refrigerator had been fully stocked in anticipation of their arrival.

After offering many “thank yous” and “not necessaries” to the housekeeper, they went to their rooms to unpack. Lila took the opportunity to call her mother and check in on the children. That led to Tassaki taking the phone from his grandmother and describing in great detail, first to his mother and then to his father, all of the wonderful things he’d been doing with his yiayia and pappou.

By the time Andreas and Lila came out of their room, Maggie and Tassos were sitting on the main terrace reading the reporter’s notebooks.

“How’s the reading going?” said Andreas.

“This is interesting stuff,” said Maggie. “The reporter’s good at what she does.”

“Which notebook are you reading?”

“The one covering her interview with the hacker.”

“Anything jump out at you?”

“So far, based on the level of detail, only that he’s likely telling the truth. Hard to imagine how he’d know all this if he hadn’t planned the hits.”

“So, if you’d paid him to do a hit, I assume you wouldn’t be happy with all the publicity he’s drawn?”

“For sure.”

Andreas looked at Tassos. “Which one did you pick?”

“I passed on reading her interviews with politicians and hotel guys. I’m sure it’s all politically correct bullshit. I took notebook number three, which includes her interview with the farmers Yianni and Popi met with before getting run off the road. Nothing exciting yet, but I just started reading.”

Andreas looked at the remaining three notebooks. “Eenie, meenie, miney—”

“Here you are, folks,” said Lila, carrying a tray of snacks out to the terrace.

The housekeeper followed with glasses and two large bottles of water.

“What do we have here?” asked Tassos.

“Only good things. Crudité, fruit, low-fat Naxos anthotiro cheese, and pita bread.”

“Same food, different island,” said Tassos, grabbing a carrot stick.

“Shut up and read,” said Andreas, picking a notebook. “I’ll take number five, her final day before disappearing.”

Andreas handed another notebook to Lila. “Since you’re here, come join in on the group read. Here’s notebook number four, covering her time with the activists.”

Lila took the notebook and a glass of water, found a comfortable chair, and sat down. “The housekeeper is preparing lunch, so happy reading.”

Once settled in, each read silently, moving about only to get something to eat or drink from the table between them.

A half hour into their reading Tassos blurted, “Oh, my God.”

“What is it?” said Andreas.

“I can’t believe this guy is still alive.”

“What guy?”

“The grandfather of the trio in Siphones.”

“How do you know him?”

“It’s a very long story.”

Andreas rolled his eyes. “Is there any other kind of story you tell?”

“Do you want me to tell it or not?”

Andreas waved his hand at Tassos. “You’ve primed your audience, so just get on with it.”

“I met him here during the Junta Years. He’d been shaped by an unimaginably hard life trying to survive World War II as a young boy in one of Naxos’s poorest mountain villages. Starvation plagued those places, and you survived by doing whatever you had to do to feed your family. In his case, he became legend for his talent at finding ways to steal food and livestock from farmers and herders on the plains below.” Tassos took a sip of water. “After the war he honed his foraging skills in a different direction, the artifacts market. Naxos was filled with unexcavated ancient sites, and he had a gift for finding them and their treasures.”

“He must have made a fortune,” said Lila.

Tassos gestured no. “He wasn’t a businessman, just a thief. He’d find the treasures but sell them off to middlemen for virtually nothing compared to their true value to collectors.”

“Dare I ask how you got to know him?”

“Not in the way you’re thinking, wiseass. When I worked as a prison guard for the Junta on Giaros, I’d sometimes be detailed to another island, and when the Junta decided to build a major highway on Naxos running from Chora to Alyko, I spent a lot of time down in Alyko assigned to keep an eye on things.”

“Where’s Alyko?” said Lila.

“About a half hour south of Chora.”

“What sort of ‘things’?” said Andreas.

“They built the road to connect Chora and a big hotel project in Alyko overlooking the sea.”

“The Junta was building a hotel?” said Lila.

“They encouraged a lot of hotel construction, but this was a foreign corporation’s project. Anyway, I was there to make sure it wasn’t disturbed.”

“Disturbed how?”

“By trespassers intruding on the property while construction was underway. Mostly, we chased away herders with their animals and locals walking dogs.”

“Why do I have the feeling this story has a lot more to go?”

“The farmer was working there, and he seemed at first like any other manual laborer, digging holes. He’d dig in one place, leave it open for a couple of days, and then cover it up and dig another hole somewhere else.”

“Why?”

“Whenever I asked him that question, he always gave me the same answer. ‘Keep your nose out of other people’s business.’”

“Something we all know you can’t do.”

“Back then I wasn’t as aggressive. Besides, I was a young man with