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

to the group and sat to Andreas’s right.

“Maggie,” he said, “is my personal assistant at GADA. And Toni is an expert at recovering missing items and persons. Finally,” he nodded at his wife, “Lila Vardi specializes in the study of erratic behavior.” As they sat to Andreas’s left, he made a mental note to compliment Lila and the others for keeping a straight face at her introduction.

Chef introduced those seated on his side of the table: Farmer, Artist, Bookseller, and Shepherd.

Except for Andreas and Chef, no one had said a word since Andreas and his group walked onto the veranda. Nor had anyone asked about Yianni’s bandages, which Andreas took to mean they already knew how he’d earned them.

Andreas looked at Farmer. “May I start with you, Miss?”

“It’s Ms.”

“My apologies. I believe you were the first of this group to speak to the reporter.”

“We’re not a group. We’re each independent of the other, with independent views, principles, and goals.”

“I did not mean to suggest otherwise. Did you have the occasion to discuss any of that with the reporter?”

“The reporter is a woman with a name. You should use it.”

Andreas forced what he hoped looked like a sincere smile. “I’m actually working quite hard at trying to save Nikoletta’s life, so if you’d meet me halfway on this back-and-forth over what you two talked about, it might be of great help in that endeavor.”

“Are you suggesting I’m not cooperating?”

“Oh, shut the fuck up, already, and answer the man’s question,” growled Artist. “This isn’t an equal rights confrontation; it’s an attempt to save a sister’s life. So stuff the bullshit and get to what you talked about with her.”

“Go to hell,” said Farmer.

This was not working out as Andreas had hoped. “Uh, folks, could we try kickstarting this again? Please remember why we’re here.” He stared straight at Farmer.

She stared back. “Nikoletta wanted to know how I felt about the island’s expanding tourism. I said I wasn’t against it as long as it was measured and in keeping with the environment. She told me that was a wonderful phrase to crochet on a pillow, but what did I really think?”

Andreas nodded and said nothing.

“That’s when I told Nikoletta that strangers were buying up some of our finest virgin beachfront property in areas where development was forbidden.”

“What sorts of strangers?” said Andreas.

“I don’t know. They’re using foreign companies.”

“How do you know this?”

“I come from an old Naxian family with relatives everywhere, and many with beachfront property were approached.”

“Why do you think strangers are trying to buy up that kind of property?”

“Because they see the writing on the wall. Naxos is gaining in popularity, and they’re betting that sometime soon mounting pressure for development will make the government ease up on restrictions.”

“Let’s hope that day never comes,” said Lila.

Andreas glanced at Lila, and she looked back at him.

Farmer smiled at Lila. “Exactly. Stand your ground.”

Andreas swallowed. “What else did you and Nikoletta talk about?”

“That’s about it.”

“Did you give her the names of those buying or attempting to buy the properties?”

“She asked, but I said I didn’t remember.”

Andreas paused to compose his next question. “Does that mean you remember now?”

She spread her hands out in front of her. “Is it important?”

“It might help save her life.”

“How?” asked Bookseller.

“If I knew that,” said Andreas, “I wouldn’t be asking for the names.”

“But naming names is frowned upon on this island.”

“Snitching is frowned upon just about everywhere,” added Chef.

“In some of our villages it can lead to a vendetta,” said Shepherd.

Andreas held up his hands. “From the way everyone’s reacting, am I correct that all of you know of this effort to buy up properties?”

At first no one responded. Then, one by one, each nodded yes.

“So, how many different buyers are we talking about?”

Silence.

“Come on, at least tell me that.”

Bookseller raised his hand. “I can’t say for sure, but my father’s a lawyer and his clients have received offers for their property from a lot of different foreign companies.”

Andreas suppressed a sigh at the continued vagueness.

“But they all had one thing in common.”

“What’s that?”

“The same local approached each of them on behalf of a different foreign company.”

Andreas leaned in toward Bookseller. “Could you please give me that person’s name?”

Bookseller looked at his colleagues, but none reacted.

“I assume from their silence that no one disagrees with your telling me.”

“I don’t know his full name, but everyone calls him Honeyman.”

Andreas hoped his poker face had held up as he turned to Farmer. “Is that the name you couldn’t remember for the one who approached your relatives?”

“Yes, Spyros the Honeyman. That’s the one.” She smiled.

“Why are you smiling?”

“All the locals know he’s a fast-talking con man, and they’ll have nothing to do with him. Which means whoever’s buying isn’t local. No Naxian would ever use him as their intermediary.”

Andreas paused. “Did Nikoletta ask all of you what you knew about people trying to buy and develop beachfront property?”

All nodded yes.

Why then, Andreas wondered, had not a word about any of this appeared in Nikoletta’s notebooks?

Where to go next with the questioning? And, more to the point, what else could Nikoletta have not recorded from her interviews?

“Chief?” said Shepherd.

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m a close friend of Popi’s husband.”

“Yes, I know.”

“He told me what happened, and that got me to thinking about the really bad guys on this island. There’s the one the reporter wrote about and the ones who tried to kill Popi and you.” He nodded at Yianni.

Yianni nodded back.

“It’s said bad things come in threes. Well, I have a third for you, Petros Zagorianos.”

Yianni raised an eyebrow. “Do you mean Peter Zagori? The tourist who died in a fall from Grotta?”

“Yes, but he’s no tourist. He’s from a village close to mine. He was a bad kid and a worse adult. He went to America, changed his name, and became a hired killer. His family actually bragged about it. It’s that kind of family.”

“Are you saying everybody knows he’s a hired killer?” said Andreas.

“No, just those from his village and some in