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

more of the island,” said Toni.

“Me too,” said Maggie.

“Sounds good to me.” Lila took a sip. “We could stop by and say hello to the women we met yesterday.”

“They’re an interesting pair,” said Toni. “The farmer not only grows olives but runs a museum dedicated to the history of olive-growing in Eggares. And then there’s the artist’s gallery in Halki.”

“Both are lovely villages,” said Lila, “and I’m sure they’ll have suggestions on what else we should see.”

Maggie reached for a croissant. “What time do you want to leave?”

“In about an hour,” said Lila.

“Finally,” said Maggie with a smile. “A day away from intrigues and mystery.”

Toni raised her cup. “And hospital rooms.”

* * *

Andreas, Tassos, and Yianni made it to Siphones by eight thirty a.m. They stood on the side of the road above the abandoned village and saw no one.

“The broken plaque with the mysterious inscription is up there.” Yianni pointed to the right.

“No one’s here yet, so we might as well take a look at it,” said Andreas, walking toward the marble cross. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll be struck with some brilliant insight that solves Popi’s mystery and makes her day.”

Looking at the cross, Andreas said, “So, where’s the plaque?”

Yianni pointed to broken pieces of marble in the grass by the base of the cross. “I’ve written it all down in my notebook.”

Andreas crouched and read the inscription aloud:

“TRIBUTE DEDICATION TO SAINT CYPRIAN.

OH SAINT MIRACLE WORKER

I WILL NEVER CEASE TO THINK

OF THE MANY MIRACLES YOU’VE DONE FOR US

FAITH IS TAKING ROOT IN MY HEART

EXHILARATION OVERFLOWS

AS DOES MY GRATITUDE TO YOU

TO THE WALKER PASSING BY

HE MAY BRING FAITH THAT SAVES US

FROM EVERY CALAMITY

FROM CHRIST YOU TOOK YOUR JOY

TO HEAL THE WOUNDS FROM THE DEMONS

AND FROM THEIR WORKS OF MAGIC

PUT ON THE FAITHFUL WHO CALL ON YOU

TO UNBIND ALL THOSE WITH LOVE

WITH A FAITH THAT IS VAST.”

“Sure sounds mysterious to me,” said Tassos. “I know some pray to Saint Cyprian to break curses and spells, if you go in for that sort of thing, but you have to read an extremely long prayer to invoke his assistance.”

“I don’t have a clue to what it means,” said Andreas.

“Maybe the grandfather knows something about it,” said Yianni.

“I’ve more important questions to ask him,” said Andreas.

“Speak of the devil,” said Yianni. “Look who’s pulling up.”

“Let’s hope not,” said Tassos, crossing himself.

A sun-bleached maroon Toyota pickup stopped by the side of the road across from their police car. The father got out the driver side, the grandfather the passenger side. One grabbed a hoe from the bed of the pickup, the other a shovel, and together they walked away from the cops alongside a stretch of goat-wire fencing strung parallel to the road.

“I wonder where the boy is,” said Andreas.

“I wonder where they’re going,” said Yianni. “The way into the village is through a culvert, on the other side of the road.”

The two men stopped, pulled open a narrow gate made of the same fencing, and stepped onto a set of stone steps mounted nearly invisibly up against a retaining wall made of the same stone.

“Son of a bitch,” said Yianni. “When I asked the father if there was another way back onto the road he didn’t tell me about the steps.”

“You’re such a trusting soul,” said Tassos, making for the steps.

Yianni called out for the two farmers to wait for them. By the time they’d caught up, the grandfather had started working his hoe on a patch of unplanted soil.

“Didn’t expect to see you again, Detective,” said the father.

“I missed exploring culverts, Junior.”

Junior grinned.

“This is my boss, Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis, head of GADA’s Special Crimes Unit and Chief Homicide Investigator for the Cyclades Tassos Stamatos.”

Junior’s grin abruptly faded.

“We’re here because we don’t think you told me the whole truth.”

Junior clenched the shovel tightly in his hands. “Are you calling me a liar?”

“Don’t bother to run that routine past me again. And in case you’re wondering about these bandages I’m wearing, right after the last time we spoke, somebody tried to kill me and your hunting buddy’s wife, Popi.” Yianni pointed to the shovel. “Nothing would give me greater joy than for you to try using that on me. It would answer a lot of questions, plus give me the opportunity to vent a whole lot of pent-up rage.”

“I had nothing to do with what happened to you or Popi.”

“Just drop the fucking shovel.”

Junior froze for an instant, then dropped the shovel.

“A wise decision,” said Andreas. “No one is accusing you or anyone in your family of having anything to do with what happened the other day, but we do have some questions for your father.”

“My father knows nothing about any of this. As I told him,” pointing at Yianni, “he’s not all there.”

“Well, we still have questions for him,” said Andreas.

“Klefteraki, how are you, my friend?” Tassos yelled out to the grandfather.

The father whirled to face Tassos. “Why did you call him that?”

“We all did back in the day. It was his nickname.”

“I haven’t heard him called that in forty years.”

“Little Thief may not sound like a compliment, but that was his nickname when we first met. If we’re trying to jog his memory, why not try a blast from the past?”

Junior shut his eyes, shook his head, and waved toward his father. “Okay, go ahead and try, but don’t upset him.”

Tassos walked over to the grandfather. “Klefteraki, it’s Tassos. We worked together down by Alyko on that Junta hotel project. You did digging; I did guarding.”

The grandfather looked up and studied Tassos’s face. “I don’t remember you.”

“I was the one you always told, ‘Keep your nose out of other people’s business.’”

The grandfather kept staring at Tassos’s face, then suddenly smiled. “I remember you. But you were so thin and good-looking then.”

Andreas suppressed a laugh. Yianni wasn’t as successful, and the grandfather shot him a stern look. “You need to show more respect to your elders, young man.”

“Don’t mind him,” said Tassos.

“I apologize, sir.”

“That’s better.” The grandfather turned back to Tassos. “So what