The Forty Column Castle

First Novel in the Mystery-in-Exotic-Places Series

by

Marjorie Thelen

To my writer and reader friends everywhere, thank you.

For John, always.

One

“So long as he has a tooth left a fox won’t be pious.”

Greek Cypriot Proverb

The phone rang in the middle of the night.

I banged around my bedside stand in the dark, trying to kill the unnerving noise until I figured out it was the phone and not the alarm. I fumbled the receiver to my ear and croaked, “Hello.”

“Marie-Claude,” Aunt Elizabeth said in the faraway voice of a long distance call, “you’ll never believe this. They say I’m an antiquities smuggler, and they’ve put me in jail. Not only that, they think I’m the head of a multimillion dollar smuggling ring.”

I managed a laugh. “You’re kidding, of course.” Even in my groggy state, I had a pretty good sense of humor.

Aunt Elizabeth sputtered incoherent noises. “Marie-Claude, stop laughing this instant. I’m in jail, and it smells, and it’s cold, and the bed is hard. You must come immediately and …”

The line crackled and went dead.

“Maybe you’re not kidding,” I said into the phone.

I dropped the receiver on the hook and groaned back onto the pillow. I wanted to snuggle into my fat, fluffy down comforter and go back to sleep. The night had turned cold, even though it was May in Boston, and I had the bedroom windows wide open. A breeze played in the lacey curtains.

“Deep breaths,” I said to myself and took a few, trying to clear my mind and still my racing heart. Dead of night calls did that to me.

Was this someone’s idea of a joke? Where was my aunt anyway? Then I remembered. She had gone to Cyprus on vacation. Maybe she was in trouble. She had sounded almost hysterical.

I stumbled to the bathroom to see what a hot shower would do to wake me up. The steamy water cranked out positive ions, and I started coming to life. I decided a few phone calls to Cyprus would be in order to find out what I could from this end. Aunt Elizabeth was eccentric but not criminal. This was an obvious case of misunderstanding.

I shrugged into a soft, terry cloth robe and hustled to the kitchen, which wasn’t far from the bedroom since I lived in a loft, fluffing my hair as I went to let it air dry across my shoulders. After I had made a ten cup pot of coffee and filled my favorite ceramic mug, I placed some calls.

It didn’t help. The Cypriot authorities acted suspicious.

“Yes, miss,” said a whispery voice in Greek, like Marlon Brando in The Godfather, “your aunt tried to leave the country with Cypriot artifacts in her carryon. We have her in custody, but you cannot speak with her. She is not in this building, you see.”

No, I didn’t see, but since my Greek wasn’t great, I didn’t know if I understood him correctly.

“You may visit her,” he said. “It is possible.”

That I understood.

My aunt had to be innocent of any wrongdoing, my mind kept repeating. She was a retired librarian, for heaven’s sake. When I finally got through to the American Embassy in Nicosia, I was informed that my friend, the political attaché, was out of the country for two weeks. No special favors there.

A call to my dear friend, Yannis Vasilis, my one Cypriot friend on the island who might be able to pull some strings, was futile. His work phone rang and rang and rang. No one in the office.

I was on the next Olympus jet to Cyprus, a fourteen hour trip from Boston and a country whose laws on smuggling were foreign to me. Not that I was familiar with any laws on smuggling, U.S. or otherwise. I was a mutual fund manager, not a lawyer.

Unfortunately, my aunt had a history of getting herself into untenable positions that she expected me to retrieve her from, like the time she called and wanted me to help her stop a man from jumping off the Prudential Tower. I was in Singapore. Fortunately, the police soon had everything under control. She was a little crazy like that. But jail was carrying crazy to the extreme.

I stowed my trusty laptop in the overhead bin. My cell phone was in my purse. I was armed and ready. My Swiss Army knife used to be ever by my side, but not these days. I wore my favorite pair of black Capri pants, bright yellow strappy sandals, and scoop neck silk blouse to match.

The Olympus flight attendant with the airline smile asked my drink preference, and I ordered red wine. I hoped it would mix with all the Tums I’d been chewing. Ever since the phone call, my nervous stomach had kicked into overdrive.

The passengers were settling down, even the Greek family across the aisle that had tugged and pulled, pushed and squeezed a myriad of packages and baggage in, over and around them before take off.

“Thanks,” I said to the man sprawled in the end seat, who had helped the attendant hand the wine across the empty seat between us. I had noticed him standing in line to board the plane and admired his sun streaked hair and bronzy tan. Marlboro Man. Wonder if he rode a horse and rounded up cattle. Or maybe he was part of the sailing crowd. He was a nice diversion to take my mind off my aunt sitting in jail.

You’ve sworn off men, a little inner voice said.

Did I ever listen to my inner voice?

“My pleasure,” he said.

I couldn’t help a flirty smile. If I had to spend nine hours on an overnight flight to Athens on a mission of mercy, at least the big angel in the sky had given me a sexy seat mate.

Will you never learn, the little voice squeaked?

Geez it was only a plane flight, not a life commitment.

The attendant handed him two small bottles of bourbon, glass with ice, and a snack. I busied myself pouring wine and took a sip of good old Gallo.

“You think we’re the only English speakers on this trip?” he asked.

“Probably,” I said. “Most of the passengers are no doubt Greeks with relatives in the States, and they’re returning home.”

“You’ve taken this flight before?”

I nodded. “Many times. I like the Mediterranean area for vacationing.”

“Where are you going this trip?”

“Cyprus.” I didn’t elaborate why I was going. I mean, a relative in jail can be a real show stopper, and I needed nice, pleasant conversation to keep my mind off my aunt and what she might have gotten herself into. “How about you?”

“Cyprus, too, on business. I’ve been several times to the island.”

His faded jeans and black pullover didn’t look like standard business attire, but it was a night flight. Maybe he was a geek, although he didn’t act socially challenged.

“My friends call me Zach,” he said. “Short for Zachariah. My mother had four sons and was fond of the Old Testament. She named all her sons for prophets — Zachariah, Zephaniah, Ezekiel, and Micah.”

I smiled at the thought of a mother going for four prophetic sons. Delusions of grandeur.

“Mine is Marie-Claude. Everyone calls me Claudie.”

Since he had moved recently to Boston, we talked about the Red Socks, Quincy Market, where to get the best lobster dinner, historical sites not to be missed, the best clubs, the best bars.

Zach’s hands were calloused, and he liked to talk with them. I have this thing about a man’s hands, so I liked watching his, which were generous with squared tip fingers. I picked up on a soft drawl and when I commented on it, he regaled me with tales of growing up in West Texas.

“What do you do for a living?” he asked.

“I manage an emerging markets mutual fund with my partner, Lena.” He seemed extraordinarily interested in the business which led to more pointed questions.

“You live alone?”

I wondered where this was going.

“Yes, in a loft.”

“With a harbor view?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.” I was in the trendy address stage. “You?”

He shrugged. “I travel all the time. No time for room mates. I don’t keep a permanent address. It’s wherever I’m working at the time.”

“What kind of work do you do?” I asked, intrigued with what kind of job didn’t permit a permanent address.

“Consulting.”

“That covers a multitude of sins. Intelligence, computers, security, home improvements?”

He smiled and changed the subject.

“Where are you staying on Cyprus?” he asked.

I hadn’t made plans past the first night until I saw what would happen with my aunt, and she was being detained in Larnaca where we would land. I hedged. “I’m booked at the Golden Bay Hotel in Larnaca for the first night and after that I haven’t decided. I usually stay with friends. I only have a week. Just wanted a little change of scenery.”

So I lied. I was spinning a nice little web for myself, but something made me hold back telling him the real reason for my trip. It was probably that sneaky little inner voice.

The flight attendant pushed the refreshment cart to our aisle, demanding our attention.

“Excuse me, miss,” said the attendant with the Mediterranean dark eyes lined in black pencil and highlighted with bright blue eye shadow, lots of it. “Would you care for another drink?”

“Yes, please. I’ll have another glass of red wine.” I needed more than these little one glass servings.

The attendant passed my wine, and Zach got another round of bourbon.

“Where will you be staying?” I asked.

“I booked at the Golden Bay for the first night, too. I’m going on to the Coral Beach Resort north of Pafos after that.”

What a coincidence that we’d be in the same hotel for the first night.

“Nice five star hotel, the Coral Beach,” I said. “I’ve stayed there. Pafos is great. I love the west side of the island.”

“Maybe we can get together,” he said. The suggestion I thought I saw in his eyes for an instant obliterated my aunt’s dilemma, and my resolve to swear off men forever.

* * *

Turbulence delayed the flight from Athens to Cyprus for two hours, so by the time I got through customs at Larnaca International Airport Saturday night, it was nearly midnight on Cyprus, too late to visit Aunt Elizabeth in jail or locate anyone official who might know something.

Zach and I shared an old black Mercedes taxi to the Golden Bay with a driver who drove like a madman, the normal way to drive on Cyprus. At the entrance to the hotel Zach paid the driver who promptly took off, and the porter trundled our luggage inside. I fumbled in my purse for money to help pay the fare, but Zach shook his head and steered me toward the reception desk, his hand at my back.

The hotel foyer sparkled in white marble. Polished brass railings framed an open stairway that rose from the main floor to the second. A tall vase of bird-of-paradise graced a brass table at the base of the stairs. Off to the left was the reception area, trimmed in trailing plants and imitation Greek statues. A solitary clerk in maroon uniform with gold braid stood at attention to receive us. We checked in, the clerk smiling politely and speaking in Greek-accented English.

At the elevator Zach said, “How about breakfast together in the morning?”

His invitation I found flattering. This looked like more than a one night stand. After all we had spent the night together — me, trying to sleep wrapped up in a navy airplane blanket with my child sized pillow uncomfortably propped against the window, and him, watching movies. But the breakfast proposition posed a quandary. I had planned to try to see my aunt first thing, even though it was Sunday, and I didn’t know if the jail would be open to visitors.

I decided to keep my options open. “Gee, I need to catch up on my sleep. Maybe late brunch.”

“Call me when you get up. After brunch maybe we can do a little sightseeing.”

“Sure,” I said, even though I wasn’t sure about anything.

In my room sounds of the sea drew me to the balcony that overlooked a courtyard below, where a lighted pool glowed aquamarine in the night. Beyond I could make out the gentle white crests of Mediterranean waves. The smell of the sea was thick in the air, and I breathed the exotic, heady fragrance of Cyprus.

I was wide awake. My body was confused as to what time it should be. A seven hour time difference was a lot to acclimate to. My thoughts turned to Zach. After spending twenty four hours with him, I felt like we were old friends, that I had known him a long time. I wondered how it happened that some people I liked instantly upon meeting and others I couldn’t stand.

My mind nibbled around the plausibility of my aunt being a thief. Here was a person I had known and trusted all my life, and thief didn’t fit the picture. This was a person who wouldn’t remove a hairpin from my dresser without asking me first. Of course, given her past behavior, I knew her logic could be skewed at times. I also knew she adored souvenirs, but could she have turned to theft to get them?

I needed to talk to someone.

Even though it was late, I decided to call Yannis, who lived in Pafos and tended to be a night owl. He knew everyone on Cyprus through an intricate web of relatives, most of whom he referred to as cousin. I had long ago stopped trying to figure out the web. Like many of the locals, he spoke excellent British English while my Greek had never progressed past the tourist stage.

“Ney,” I said to the operator, hoping for an English speaking one. “Parakalo, Pafos 357-5-781711.

“Yes, miss. One minute, please,” she said in clipped English.

I heard a vigorous, “Ney, ney?”

“Yannis, darling,” I said, relieved to hear his voice.

“Who is speaking, please?”

“Guess.”

“It sounds like an American Princess I know.”

“It is. It is.” I laughed in delight and relief at getting through to him.

“It is great to hear your voice. How is Boston and when are you coming to see us?”

“Sooner than you think. I’m in Larnaca. I tried to call yesterday before I left the States but couldn’t get through.”

“Larnaca? You didn’t tell me you were coming. You always call ahead. Is everything okay?”

“Not exactly. I got bad news. Something awful has happened.” I jumped right into the dilemma. “Aunt Elizabeth was here on vacation, and she’s been detained in Larnaca on smuggling charges.”

Yannis hooted. “Claudie, you had too much wine on the trip over, I think.” He continued to chuckle, somewhat to my annoyance.

“I know this sounds absurd, but it’s true. I managed to get through to the police before I came. They verified that airport security detained Elizabeth Davies, U.S. citizen, in jail on the charge of smuggling antiquities in her carryon. They suspect she’s the leader of the smuggling ring.”

“No. You aren’t kidding, are you? Your aunt? She is not a criminal. Perhaps her bags got mixed with someone else’s.”

“That’s the obvious explanation. But I’ve been unable to drag any more information out of the authorities, and since it’s the weekend I’ve not been able to get in touch with anyone at the American Embassy.”

I huffed a little sigh, hoping he’d rescue the damsel in distress and jump in with an offer of assistance. It doesn’t hurt to work the male ego when it suits the purpose.

“Do you know if your aunt went to the Turkish sector this time? You know that was the problem one time when she was leaving the country, and the officials saw the Turkish stamp on her passport.”

Cyprus is a divided country since the Turks invaded the North coast of the island in 1974 and refused to leave. Bad blood between Cypriot Greeks and Turks is legendary.

I shook my head into the phone. “I don’t know, Yannis. I told her to be careful and stay out of the North, but you know how much she loves Kyrenia.”

“Odd they detained someone like Elizabeth,” Yannis said. “I will make some phone calls. Where are you staying?”

“At the Golden Bay. Oh, Yannis, I’d be so grateful if you could help.”

“Of course, I will. I’ll come to your hotel around ten in the morning to pick you up. Check out and stay with my family here in Pafos. We’ll get to the bottom of this and secure your aunt’s release. Then we’ll get in some beach time. Don’t worry, Princess. I’ll see you soon. Ciao.”

“Ciao.”

I smiled to myself. Yannis would get this mess straightened out. We’d get my aunt out of jail and on the next plane back to Boston in no time.

Two

I was waiting in the hotel lobby when Yannis arrived the next morning, pushing eleven o’clock. I’ve never known him to be on time. I’d fallen into an exhausted sleep but felt disoriented with the change in time and country, even after a hot shower, and the thunderbolt they called Greek coffee.

As soon as I got up, I had called Zach in his room.

“Something’s come up,” I told him. “I’ve got some business to take care of with a Cypriot friend this morning, and then I’m going to Pafos to stay with his family.”

“Tell you what,” he said, “give me the phone number where you’ll be staying in Pafos, just in case. I’ll go on the Coral Bay Resort, and you can call me when you get to Pafos. We’ll go for a swim this afternoon, if that fits with your schedule.”

“That might work,” I said and gave him Yannis’s home number. I clung to the hope of a quick resolution to Aunt Elizabeth’s predicament.

I had donned a black jeans skirt, mini version, great for travel which showed a nice expanse of leg, one of my better features an admirer had once said. I liked silk tees for travel, the scoop neck version, and had a turquoise one on today with my favorite pair of black strappy sandals. I sported very dark, red-framed sunglasses to protect against the bright sun and hide the dark circles under my eyes. I hoped I looked more presentable than I felt.

Yannis hugged and kissed me, whirling me around. He wasn’t tall but he was strong and had arms like a weight lifter, so even at my height he threw me around like a rag doll. His bright eyes danced as he held me at arm’s length to have a look. He had the build of his ancestors, stocky and broad chested. His olive brown skin set off his most striking feature, green-gold eyes he inherited from his mother’s side of the family, originally from Venice way back in the 15th century when the Venetians ruled Cyprus. His black hair curled slightly behind his ears and had not a hint of brown. He always wore a smile and his shirt collars open. His enthusiasm for life attracted people to him, especially women.

“It is great to see you. You are as beautiful as ever, but a little too pale,” he said, releasing me. “We’ll have to work on your tan while you are visiting.”

He threw his hands up in the air. “This news about your aunt is terrible. I talked to my cousin, the head of the customs bureau, and he has agreed to meet us at his office in an hour even though this is Sunday and his day off.”

He gave me a beautiful smile. “So, Princess, let’s have breakfast. It will perk you up.”

I couldn’t argue with that. “I’ll be eternally grateful if your cousin can help us, and breakfast sounds superb. I’m running on my reserve tank.”

He helped me up into his dark green Mercedes, the preferred brand on the island, then went round and climbed into the right side. Since Cyprus was a former British colony, driving on the left was one British legacy. Speaking English with a British accent was another. I found the accent charming but chose not to drive on Cyprus because my brain refused to translate to driving on the left side of the road.

Warm breeze, blue sky, hot sun. It was good to be back on Cyprus. We drove down a side street to a small cafe on the waterfront, Yannis joking as we went, trying to lighten things up. He parked straddling the curb, an endearing Cypriot custom. At the restaurant we sat outdoors and ordered Greek coffee and English breakfast of eggs, tomatoes, beans and chips.

I launched into my breakfast as soon as the swarthy waiter set it before me. I especially loved the chips on Cyprus made with the yellow potatoes grown on the island and deep-fried. I picked up the last chip and coated it with the catsup on my plate. I had been relating the details of what I knew about my aunt’s predicament.

Yannis listened with few interruptions and when I had finished, his intense gaze traveled over my face and beyond my shoulder for a few moments.

I didn’t like the serious look on his face.

“My cousin says the authorities have been watching your aunt.” His voice took on the very gentle quality one uses when speaking of the dear departed.

A chill settled over me even though the day was heating up. I was vaguely aware of the chatter around us as the patio filled with Cypriots. I looked up from sipping my coffee, eyes wide. “You aren’t serious. You can’t be. Watching her for what?”

“Smuggling.”

“Yannis, my aunt raised me after my folks died.” My voice ratcheted up several decibels, and I could feel heat creeping up my neck. I got a glance or two from alarmed brunchers and lowered my voice. “Since I was sixteen years old she has been friend, counselor, and confidante. This woman is not a criminal though I admit she’s a little eccentric. They have the wrong person.”

He pursed his lips and frowned, as if not knowing quite how to continue. I saw more bad news written on his face, as he seemed to search for the right words to say.

“Marie-Claude, because of the worldwide crackdown on the antiquities trade, the price of ancient artifacts has gone sky high and smuggling has become very, very lucrative.”

He was in a position to know. He worked for the Department of Antiquities. He studied me like making sure this was sinking in.

I sat with my elbows on the table and looked down into my half drunk cup of coffee. I did not at all like the direction this conversation was going. I glanced at him when he didn’t continue.

“I’m listening,” I said.

He looked toward the blue-green sea, and the glint of the sun sparkled in his black-lashed eyes.

“There’s a group of smugglers operating on Cyprus who have been difficult to catch because they look and act very normal. Greek and Roman artifacts are their specialty. These bring an extremely high price, especially mosaics, and I don’t have to tell you we have a lot of those.”

“I know,” I said. I had met him on my first trip to Cyprus when I had visited Pafos as a volunteer with a group of archeologists who helped in the excavation of the Forty Column Castle, destroyed by an earthquake in 1223. Yannis had been project coordinator. We had also helped excavate beautifully preserved floor mosaics in a third century Roman villa.

“Where does my aunt come in?”

“They think that some of the people involved on Cyprus are a group of well-to-do though misguided women maybe looking for a little excitement in their lives, who knows. Your aunt was seen with them. The police haven’t made any arrests because they’ve been unable to catch anyone with the goods. Picking up your aunt has been the first break they’ve had.”

“Yannis, this is absurd. Those antiquities had to be planted in my aunt’s luggage. She isn’t capable of masterminding an elaborate smuggling operation.” I struggled to keep my voice low and my temper under wraps.

He nodded. “From what I know of your aunt, I agree.” He glanced down at his watch. “It’s time for us to meet Chris. Let’s see what he can tell us.” He signaled for the check, paid the waiter, and steered me between the tables to the street. Neither of us spoke on the drive to the customs house. I was too upset. He knew I was upset and didn’t want to make matters worse, I’m sure.

In the middle of my black mood, my cell phone vibrated.

“How’re you doing?” It was Zach.

“I’ve been better.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” I said. I shouldn’t have let my black mood escape.

“Well, if you need me, I’m at the Coral Bay Resort. I think I might have given you the wrong number for my cell.”

We checked numbers. I had the right one.

“Will you be able to get away this afternoon?”

I smiled in spite of myself.

“I think so. I’ll call you in a bit,” I said and clicked off.

Yannis looked over and raised an eyebrow.

“A friend I met on the plane over.”

“I can tell by the smile on your face,” he said.

He parked along the curb, scattering birds and children as he screeched to a halt. He helped me from the Mercedes, and we ascended the worn marble stairs of the customs house that sat on a hill overlooking the town.

The cousin waited for us at the entrance.

“I am very pleased to meet you, Miss Lowell,” Chris Mikolas said in English with British overtones, as we were introduced. He was a fatherly looking man, slightly balding, who had a squinty way of looking and, as most of the men on Cyprus, was shorter than I. He led us down a corridor of high ceilings and open windows to a corner office. We sat in the straight back chairs he indicated.

“Would you like coffee?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you.” I never turned down an offer of coffee, though I’d had so much I was beginning to twitter.

The window in the room was wide open and at street level. Mikolas called out the window in Greek and a small boy appeared then disappeared as quickly.

“I understand Miss Davies is your aunt?” He cleared his throat.

“Yes, she is. I’m here to secure her release. I’m sure there’s been a misunderstanding.”

“I see.” Mikolas nodded his head and cleared his throat several more times. I couldn’t decide if it was a nervous habit or I was making him so.

The small boy reappeared through the window with three espresso sized cups of coffee on a small rectangular tray painted black with gold trim.

“Here we are. Please help yourself.” He took the tray from the boy and held it toward us. We each took a cup, and Mikolas set the tray on the desk.

He templed his fingers like people do when they have something important to say. “Your aunt is a cordial person, quite polite and cooperative. We have tried to make her as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. Unfortunately, we found some priceless antiquities in her carryon bag.”

He grimaced like the coffee he sipped didn’t sit well in his digestive tract. “This is a very serious offense, Miss Lowell. I hope you can appreciate the gravity of what has taken place.”

“I understand about gravity, but this is absurd. My aunt is not the criminal type. Someone planted those statutes in her bag to get them out of the country. Maybe they used her as a conveyance and were going to retrieve them once she was on the plane. That means that everyone on her flight is suspect, the real culprit is home by now, and my aunt is in jail.”

Mikolas sat, nodding. “We have considered this, Miss Lowell. Believe me when I tell you that this is a complex case. We have been working on it for some time. The people involved are clever. We have good reason to believe that on Cyprus the ringleaders, I think that is how you say it, include three widows with whom you aunt was cordial. Unfortunately, your aunt was the one who got caught.”

I moved to the edge of my chair, but Yannis spoke up before I could fire my next barrage.

“Claudie’s concern is getting her aunt out of jail. What does she need to do?”

Mikolas cleared his throat and looked at me, his heavy brows adding to his serious demeanor. “You will need to post bond to secure her release. But she cannot leave the country.”

“Not leave the country?” I was out of the chair and pacing the room, my strappy black sandals making hollow clicking sounds on the terrazo floor. “You mean this could take weeks to resolve? We can’t live here indefinitely. I’ve got a mutual fund to manage.” I couldn’t help throwing my arms about as I paced.

Mikolas started owl-like blinking which evolved into a fit of throat clearing. Finally, he said, “Please do not be upset. I am sure we can resolve this matter. I know this is difficult for you. Please sit down. I will summon the Chief of Investigations, who came today to help you. I will get him.”

He hurried from the room, and I collapsed into my chair.

Yannis slid his arm around my shoulders. “We will secure your aunt’s release. Don’t worry.”

I was scowling. My mood didn’t want a comforting arm.

“Yannis?”

“Yes, Princess?”

“Who are the three widows?”

“He didn’t say.”

“We need to find out.”

“All right, we will.”

Double footsteps echoed in the hallway, and we both looked up in expectation.

“Here you are,” Mikolas said. “This is Chief Inspector Polydeuces.”

The Inspector bowed to the room in general. We all murmured introductions at once, and Yannis spoke up. “Inspector, can you help us? We would like to see Miss Davies and secure her release today.”

The Inspector looked like a younger version of Mikolas and was, indubitably, a cousin.

“It is possible to see her, but I am not sure about leaving today. It is Sunday, you see, and the people who process the paper work do not work today. Tomorrow perhaps, but that may depend upon legalities. However, I can allow you to visit her.”

“Thank you, Inspector,” Yannis said.

Clueing me with a smile, he said in a low voice, “One step at a time.”

I wasn’t pleased but acquiesced, grateful for some action.

“Follow me then,” the Inspector said.

* * *

“Marie-Claude! Marie-Claude! Over here, dear. Oh, I am so glad to see you.” Aunt Elizabeth bounced on her toes and stretched her arms through the bars to try to reach me. I shoved past my escorts and rushed toward her voice. Awkwardly, we embraced through the bars of the door. I pushed back, still clasping her shoulders.

“Am I glad to see you,” I said, trying not to tear up. She looked so forlorn. Her fly-away white hair was pulled back into a wilting French twist. She wore her favorite olive traveling trousers, the ones with all the pockets, and white cotton pullover. Judging by her bare cell, the clothes on her back were all she was allowed. Her face was crinkled into unhappy lines, not at all in keeping with her usual perky smile and lively blue eyes.

“However did this happen?” I needed to hear the story from her.

“Marie-Claude, this is such a mystery. I don’t know how those relics got into my bag,” she said, lowering her voice. “My souvenirs were neatly packed into my canvas bag. You know, the pretty green tapestry carry-on I use on trips. My needlework was on top along with my paperback romance, and I had my purse, my red leather one with all the compartments that I just adore for traveling. You know the one.”

I certainly did. It was never far from her side.

She hurried on, as was her custom when she was nervous, her words tumbling over each other. “I got pulled out of line as we waited to board, you know in one of those random searches they do now, and they brought my check-in luggage and went through everything.

“Wouldn’t you know right there under my needlework in a cotton sack carefully wrapped in what looked like gauze were these adorable little statues and four very small pots. They looked like they had been broken and glued back together.

“The man asked me where I had gotten them and did I have a permit. Of course, I didn’t. I mean they weren’t mine. I had never seen them before. So he asked me would I go with him to talk to the head of customs security. They wouldn’t let me go, and I missed my flight.”

Tears spilled down her cheeks, accompanied by intermittent sniffles. She dabbed at the tears with a crumpled tissue she retrieved from her pocket.

“Excuse me, ladies.” Inspector Polydeuces interrupted our whisperings. “We need to observe regulations and have you visit in the waiting area.” He ordered one of the guards to open the door to her cell.

“Really, Claudie, this has been so humiliating,” my aunt grumbled under her breath, as we walked down the corridor. “There’s no privacy, I haven’t had a decent bath, and the smell in here is just horrid.”

I nodded in agreement. “I can imagine how awful it must be for you. We’ll get you out of here as quickly as possible.” I patted her arm, trying to comfort her.

We seated ourselves across a table in a large open area, and our Cypriot entourage collected at the other end of the room for a cigarette. Yannis joined them.

“How are you holding up? Do you have enough to eat? Are they treating you okay?” I asked, grasping her hands and searching her face for signs of maltreatment, as we sat across the table from each other.

“Oh, of course, I’m all right, dear. Cyprus isn’t a third world country. I haven’t been tortured or anything. I imagine a jail is a jail though,” she said, philosophically. “One should just never have the occasion to be in one.”

I had to smile. “But what a shock to be innocently waiting for your flight and the next instance to be accused of being a thief.”

She nodded. “It has the element of the surreal, like the Twilight Zone. Any minute I think I will wake up from the nightmare.”

“Nightmare, yes. But someone had to plant the antiquities in your bag.”

“But, of course, dear. It’s the only explanation.”

“The next obvious question is did you see anyone near your carry-on?”

“I have thought and thought about that. You know how I sometimes leave the bag with another passenger while I visit the restroom? Well, I didn’t this time, use the rest room, I mean. But Mrs. Crawford brought me to the airport.”

“Who’s she? You’ve never talked about her before,” I asked, leaning closer.

Her eyes brightened, and she tried to tuck some wisps of white hair back into the bedraggled French twist. I could tell she was warming to the subject of a new friend.

“She’s one of my new traveling companions, dear. We were on the Escort Tour together the second day I arrived. Mrs. Kelly and Mrs. Ryan were along, too. You know how I love to take the Land Rover tour into the Troodos Mountains. Well, these three ladies were on the tour along with a few English magazine writers. We had a marvelous time and stopped in a little village for a long lunch with entremezzas. I even treated myself to a little wine,” she said and blushed.

She only had wine at lunch when she really let go.

“Where are they from?”

“Who, dear?”

“Your traveling friends.”

“Oh, from England. They have the most elegant accents. Like the Queen herself. They are on holiday here and come every year and rent a house in old town Pafos. They had rented a car, and we went everywhere together. They were ever so friendly. Always wanted me with them. Being an American, I think I was a novelty for them.” She looked down at her hands folded in front of her on the table but seemed to struggle with her next bit of information.

“We did go to the Turkish sector,” she finally said. “But only for the day, Claudie,” she added when I frowned, as she knew I would. “We drove to Nicosia and walked across the border. That was all. We just looked around a bit.”

I was suspicious about the other three women. “Did you meet or talk to anyone while you were in the Northern section?”

“Oh, no dear, not a soul.” She hurried on. “But what I was saying before was that Mrs. Crawford brought me to the airport and while I stood in line to check my luggage and get my seat she sat in the waiting area with my carry-on. That’s the only time anyone else had it. Then, because the plane was delayed, we said good-bye, and she left.”

“Those English women may be smugglers.” I recounted the suspicions of the Cyprus authorities. “They don’t have much evidence. Catching you red-handed is their first break.”

“How preposterous. My friends are not thieves. I’m not either. The idea.”

Yannis came up behind Aunt Elizabeth and whispered in her ear. “But what do you really know about them?”

She turned around. “Yannis, it is so nice to see you. I didn’t get a chance to greet you. Can you help me, dear? I can’t spend another night in this dreadful place.”

He sighed and sat down beside her. “Unfortunately, you are not being accused of lifting a few tomatoes at the market. You are being tied to a circle of international thieves, and one which the Cypriot authorities are trying hard to break up.”

“Please,” she said, resting her fingers on his arm to strengthen her plea, “help me. I can barely organize my kitchen, let alone mastermind an international smuggling operation.”

“We know.” He patted her hand. “But we need to convince them.” He nodded toward the police. Then he broke the good and bad news. “They will let you go, but not until tomorrow. They say they need to process the papers, and we will need to post 50,000 Cypriot pounds as bond.”

“Good heavens,” she said. “Isn’t that a bit much?”

“They don’t want to lose you,” he said. “You cannot leave the island, and they will have twenty-four-hour surveillance on you.”

“My, oh, my.” That’s all my aunt could say.

“But I assure you,” he said, “we’ll be here at nine A.M. when the office opens to post bond.”

He helped us both up from our seats.

“Yes, of course, you will, dear ones,” said Aunt Elizabeth, but her voice started to quiver. “I know you are doing everything possible for me. I’m sorry to be so much trouble.” Tears filled her eyes, but she looked away and fussed with her hair. She wasn’t big on public displays.

I hugged her tight, struggling to keep my composure after seeing her lose hers.

The Inspector came over and broke in. “Miss Davies, I must escort you back to your cell. If you will allow me.” He offered his arm to her.

He turned to me. “I promise we will take good care of your aunt. We will see you tomorrow morning.”

I nodded and thanked him for his help.

“Come, Miss Davies.”

My aunt walked away on the Inspector’s arm. I felt helpless and inept. She would be all right, I kept telling myself. But I couldn’t help a pathetic sigh. Yannis grabbed my arm and hurried me from the room. At the car he smiled and showed me a slip of paper with a list of three names.

“My aunt’s friends?” I asked.

He nodded. “One of the policemen is a friend of my brother and is involved in the investigation. I persuaded him to share the names with me.”

“Well done, Yannis. Shall we look up Aunt Elizabeth’s friends in Pafos?”

Three

Looking out to sea from a hill overlooking Pafos, I watched the sun sparkling on the Mediterranean. Thousands of gems shimmered on top of an azure sea. Sun flashing on water is Cyprus, at least for me, and I got lost in the beauty of it for a moment.

Yannis and I were waiting for an answer to our knock at the door of a home perched on the hill. From where we stood, I could see pleasure boats on the harbor and the lighthouse near the Forty Column Castle. The breeze off the sea carried a warm caress.

On the drive to Pafos I had called Zach’s cell phone. Since I had sleuthing to do, I wanted to tell him I wouldn’t be able to meet for a swim. He didn’t answer, so I left a message that I’d call later. I had to get this mess with my aunt resolved. If it meant taking matters into my own hands, I’d do it.

Yannis knocked again on the weathered wood door. Just as I was beginning to think no one was home, the door opened and a Cypriot woman, attired in a plain cotton dress, greeted us.

“Is Mrs. Crawford in?” Yannis asked her in Greek.

The woman said the lady was sightseeing and would be back later.

“Efkaristo,” I said. At least I knew thank you in Greek.

I climbed in the left front passenger side of Yannis’s Mercedes. He yanked the steering wheel and gunned the motor to get back onto the narrow street.

“I don’t understand why you had to come with me,” he said. “If this is an international smuggling ring, they could be dangerous.”

“Because, my handsome friend, you might have needed someone to rush you to the hospital in the event an elderly woman tried to beat you to death.”

I got a half smile and a look out of the corner of his eye.

“Besides,” I said, “I wanted to meet my aunt’s new friends, the ones who might have led her astray. These fine palatial homes don’t look like a smuggler’s neighborhood.”

“Not in the daylight,” Yannis shot back. He was more than annoyed with me. “We’ll try later this evening since the widows aren’t at home.”

We rode in silence for a while, bouncing down the uneven, worn pavement.

“We’re at a dead-end,” he said. “Let’s go to the beach you like above Ayios Georgios. It will cheer us both up and help our thinking process.”

I pictured my aunt sitting in a jail cell while I was sunning on a beach. But I had done everything possible, down to arranging for bond and a lawyer, a relative of Yannis, of course. Her friends wouldn’t be around until later, and the beach wasn’t that far. We could go for an hour or two, then come back to try to find the widows. The sun was high in the sky, and it would be good to feel it on my skin. I needed to relax before I tied myself up in a super Gordian knot.

“Okay, you’re right, let’s go to the beach.” I rummaged in my Coach purse and came up with the business card Zach had given me.

“Zachariah Lamont, Security Consultant,” I read aloud. “Look, Yannis.” I held up the card for him to see. “Zach, my friend from the plane trip over, is in security. He never mentioned exactly what kind of consulting he did. Maybe he would know how to catch smugglers.”

“I doubt it.”

Being the perceptive person I am, my radar picked up on Yannis’s lack of enthusiasm for the addition of a male companion to our twosome.

“Maybe not, but I’d like to talk to him. The Coral Beach Resort is on the way to the Ayios Georgios. Let’s stop by and invite Mr. Lamont to accompany us.”

A grunt was his reply.

* * *

The man at the desk at the Coral Beach Resort said Mr. Lamont could be found in the health spa on the lower level. We crossed the lobby decorated in bright white lattice work and polished wood floors. Everything was open to the outside, and a pleasant breeze stirred the potted palms.

The spa wasn’t big, and I spotted Zach on the Nautilus leg press. He was clad in white gym shorts. His muscular body glistened with sweat. His abs were model perfect, his deltoids nicely defined. He wasn’t bulky like a weight lifter but had the smooth lines of a competition swimmer.

I discreetly took a deep breath to slow my pulse.

He lowered the leg lift and smiled, as I walked toward the machine.

“Hi,” he said. “Nice surprise.”

I smiled but my tongue seemed to be glued to the roof of my mouth. The display of beautiful male flesh had rendered me speechless.

Yannis came over and stood behind me.

Zach shifted his gaze to take in the intruder.

“He’s with me,” I said, ungluing my tongue. “This is my old friend, Yannis Vasilis.” I caught Yannis scowl out of the corner of my eye, like he didn’t care for the term old.

“Zach Lamont.” He held out his hand and the two shook, Zach with a friendly smile, Yannis without one.

I cast about for something to say. “How do you like the hotel?” I asked. I decided to stick to the mundane. It was funny how my tongue was getting all twisted up trying to talk. I hadn’t had that problem before.

“It’s improved greatly since you arrived,” Zach said, smiling into my eyes. “I have the day free day to relax.”

“Speaking of relaxing,” I said, rushing, hardly taking a breath between syllables, afraid if I stopped I’d never get the words out, “we’re going to a lovely, rather isolated beach north of here, above Ayios Georgios, the church that sits near the beach. Would you care to join us?”

He picked up a towel and wiped the sweat from his face and neck, as if giving the invitation serious consideration. He slid the towel over his chest and arms. I followed every move. My eyes were bolder than my tongue.

“I’d like to,” he said with a grin. “Let me shower and change. Have you had anything to eat?

“Yes, but I could use another cup of coffee. Couldn’t you, Yannis?” I hoped my pleasantries would offset Yannis’s frowning face.

He crossed his arms and grunted.

“Why don’t we wait for you at the restaurant on the outside terrace?” I said.

“Great, I’ll see you there in fifteen minutes.”

I slipped into the ladies room on the way to the restaurant and changed into black bikini bottoms under my skirt. I never traveled anywhere on Cyprus without bikini bottoms, beach towel, and sun tan lotion. Topless saved on half the price of a bathing suit, and I loved the feeling.

I ransacked my brain for the right way to tell Zach about my aunt and enlist his aid, as I walked out to the terrace where Yannis was seated at a table decked out in blue and white checked cloth. If I could get my tongue to work, coming right out with the truth would probably be best.

Yannis stood and helped me into a chair with a cushion that matched the table cloth. The table was next to the railing and overlooked the cove that the Coral Beach claimed as its own. A huge, meandering swimming pool stretched below us and beyond that a beach with a small harbor filled with pleasure craft.

“We don’t need this guy’s help,” he said. His face was fixed in an unbecoming scowl, and he drummed his fingers on the table. “I have important contacts that we haven’t used yet.”

“I’ve been mulling that over.” I propped my chin on my hand and looked at him. “I want to know what a security consultant does. Let’s ask and then decide.” I gave him a smile, trying to dispel the frown he’d adopted at the sight of Zach. “We may need all the help we can get.”

Zach joined us in less than fifteen minutes. The waiter brought him a fresh cup of coffee and refilled ours.

“Great coffee,” Zach said after sampling his. “Sure is nice to be back on Cyprus.” He looked around, taking in his surroundings. “This is my kind of living.”

I nodded in agreement. The setting was spectacular.

The waiter returned to take Zach’s order. He ordered breakfast even though we were well into the afternoon. We faced the sea, and the sun blazed on the water. Fair skinned Northern European tourists were scattered around on blue and white lounge chairs, working on a sun burn. A slight breeze blew the place mats up on the table, and Zach leaned forward to catch my napkin, as it tried to follow the breeze. Yannis seemed unaware of his surroundings. He sat with his arms folded across his chest, scowling into the distance.

“What have you been doing?” Zach asked, directing his gaze at me.

I shifted my gaze to the beach area, not wanting to rush into a reply. A striking couple who had very little on between them caught my eye. I watched them, as I thought what to say.

At last, turning to him, I said, “I’ve been trying to get my aunt out of jail,” like I was giving the weather report.

Zach’s reaction was in his eyebrows. They rose ever so slightly. “Nice way to spend a vacation,” he said. “What’s she in for?” He spoke as if we were discussing the possibility of rain.

“Smuggling. Do you know anything about antiquities smuggling?”

“I might,” Zach said.

I returned his gaze. “You have my attention.”

Yannis unfolded his arms and leaned in. At last, his interest was engaged.

“Maybe you should elaborate on your aunt’s predicament first,” Zach said.

I told him about the call from my aunt and her detainment at the airport. Zach interrupted with questions about small details. I went over Yannis’s efforts to get her out of jail and how we would bail her out in the morning.

The smell of fried eggs and sausage wafted over the table, as the waiter set Zach’s meal in front of him. I continued as he ate.

“The problem is it’s going to be hard to prove that she wasn’t trying to take a few small souvenirs out of the country, and the penalties are stiff.”

“Yes,” Yannis said. “She could have remained in jail for a long time, but I have important connections, so I was able to convince the authorities that she should be out on bail.”

I fixed an appreciative smile on my Cypriot friend and patted his arm to acknowledge his connections and his help. He was absolutely right. Without his web of relatives I would never have gotten to see my aunt today or arrange bail and a lawyer.

A smile softened Yannis’s face, and he relaxed back against his chair. The sound of glass tinkling and the murmur of voices around us grew louder, as bathers wandered up to the patio for afternoon refreshments. Fragrance of coconut oil filled the air. The heat of the day intensified as the sun blazed overhead.

Zach finished his last bite of chips and laid his fork over on the plate. “I did some private investigation in Texas a while back.”

“Private investigator sounds good,” I said. “We could use that kind of experience on this case. Do you think you can help us?”

Zach gave me a look, as if trying to assess how much it was worth, or if he wanted to get involved.

“I mean, maybe you’re too busy,” I said, thinking I was taking a lot for granted.

He kept looking at me and narrowed those intense dark eyes.

Maybe his seeming reluctance had to do with money.

“I will be more than happy to pay you. I guess I should have asked what your rates are.”

The waiter took away Zach’s plate and topped off our coffee. Zach settled in a hunch over his.

In that soft, Texas drawl he said, “We might be able to work something out.” His eyes said even more. I don’t think I was imagining what he meant, because Yannis picked up on it.

“We don’t need to work anything out,” Yannis said. “I am perfectly cable of handling this for you, Claudie.”

“My,” I said, “it’s getting hot. Anyone for a swim?”

* * *

Yannis’s Mercedes lurched down the gravel road, around a curve and up a rise that brought us to the beach. It was in a small bay covered with pebble sand, high cliffs on two sides where swallows darted and swooped, indifferent to our intrusion onto their private beach. No one else was around and that was the reason I liked coming here. It was isolated from the tourists.

The waves lapped gently on the beach. The water was clear turquoise with flashing rhinestone top. I liked to snorkel in deep water, and on this beach the bottom dropped off to over thirty feet a short way out. The sea nettles tended to stay in the rocks in deep water, so they usually weren’t a problem.

I put my beach towel close to the water’s edge so I wouldn’t have to walk on blistering pebbles, stripped down to my bikini bottoms, deciding it was Zach’s choice where he wanted to put his eyes. Yannis had seen me topless a hundred times before on the beach. I sat on the towel and smoothed coconut tanning lotion over my breasts, arms, legs, torso. Yannis stretched out on a towel on one side, propping up on an arm to watch. Zach sat on the other side and stared straight out to sea behind extreme dark sunglasses.

“Zach, what’s your assessment of my aunt’s case?” I completed my beach ritual and lay back on propped arms, breasts tilted up to the sun, hair pulled into a loose knot on top my head. It felt great.

“Her three women friends have to be found,” he said, turning his head in my direction but returning his gaze quickly to the sea. “You say you tried to contact these women. Would there be anyone else who might know something about them?”

Yannis spoke up. “Lonnie Walters, the man who runs Escort Tours, would know who they are,” he said. “I hadn’t thought of him before. We found where the women are staying because my father knows the man who rents to them.”

“Then we need to talk to Mr. Walters and the landlord,” Zach said. He kept his gaze trained on the sea.

The view in my direction must have been blinding. I liked his use of the word “we” and smiled. A new member had joined the investigating team, payment to be worked out later.

“Lonnie’s usually around on Sunday evenings,” Yannis said. “He hangs out at the California Bar along Pafos harbor. He’s American and that’s the place where you’ll find ex-pats Sunday evening.”

“He’s supposed to be CIA,” I said. “But who knows? People speculate on it when conversation runs out over a drink.” I looked overhead. “What time is it?”

Zach checked his watch. “About five.”

“We can have a swim and then head back to track down Lonnie.”

I waded out into the water, splashed around to stir up my blood, dove in head first, and came up facing them. “C’mon in, the water is freezing.” It was May, and the Mediterranean hadn’t warmed up yet.

Zach stood and pulled off tan shorts and a deep blue polo shirt. He wore black Speedo bikinis. We matched. He sure did fill his out nicely. Yannis scowled his way into the water in navy bathing trunks.

As I surveyed the beach from my vantage point in the water, parked on the cliff I noticed a battered blue Maruti that hadn’t been there when we arrived. A man stood beside the jeep-like vehicle. His arms were raised to his eyes like he was holding binoculars, and they were trained in our direction.

Now why would anyone be watching us?

Four

I caught sight of Lonnie as soon as we walked into the California Bar. He was hard to miss since he was semaphoring and yelling my name from his perch on a seat at the beat-up, old wood bar.

Locals frequented this place. It couldn’t be described as upscale. A faint odor of stale beer collided with the fishy smell from the harbor. The street side was open and small unmatched tables sat one deep on the sidewalk with a view of Pafos Harbor on the other side of the street. The water was dotted with small, open fishing boats at anchor filled with the paraphernalia of the occupation, everything from fishing nets in canvas bags to dirty yellow and red plastic gas cans. Pleasure craft with outboard motors and sail masts mingled with the fishing boats.

It was early for the regular crowd, and Lonnie was alone. I recognized Kevin, the bartender, and he waved.

I waved back in acknowledgement. Lonnie hustled over, drink in hand. He wore a T-shirt with green geckos in a variety of obscene positions, army fatigue shorts, and a well-worn pair of blue flip-flops. His blond hair was slicked back, still wet. He looked ready for some serious socializing.

“Jeez, it’s good to see you.” He gave me a neck hug with one arm and a big smack on the cheek. I could smell pine soap on his skin. He pulled back to look me over. “What are you doing here? No one told me you were coming. You’re making surprise visits now?”

I laughed and shook my head. “It’s a long story. I need a drink first.”

Lonnie signaled to Kevin, who sauntered over. “What’ll you have?”

“One of those.” I pointed at Lonnie’s half empty glass of Cyprus brandy sour. “Looks yummy.”

“Make it two, Kevin. What’ll you guys have?” Lonnie asked Yannis and Zach.

“Commandaria for me,” Yannis said.

“I’ll have a Keo beer,” said Zach.

Lonnie and Yannis were old friends, and they punched each other in greeting. I introduced Zach, who shook hands with a half smile. He hooked his fingers on his hips, his eyes slipping from me to Yannis to Lonnie, possibly trying to figure out the relationships. I had a big collection of male friends, but this wasn’t the time for explanations.

“Hey, let’s sit down at a table,” Lonnie said.

I sat down on a scarred straight-back chair at one of the unsteady round tables on the street. Zach slid into the chair beside me and pulled it closer. Lonnie parked himself on the other side. Yannis frowned his annoyance at the two of them and sat across from me. The drinks arrived while we chit-chatted and exchanged pleasantries.

“Claudie, my good woman, to what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?” Lonnie asked, getting back to his original question.

“Mind if I ask you a question first?” I sipped the brandy sour, savoring the pungent sweet taste on my tongue.

“Fire away.”

“Do you know three widows that are on the island by the names of Crawford, Kelly and Ryan? English, wealthy.”

“As a matter of fact, they were on my tour today,” Lonnie said. “Lively group. Besides the widows, we had a few Scandinavians and the American couple who travel with that archaeological group working on the Forty Column Castle project. They wanted to do the Troodos Mountains from a different angle. Had a helleva day. Great company.”

“How well do you know the widows?”

He shrugged. “Can’t say we are bosom buddies, but they’re regulars on my tours when they’re in the country. They’ve been coming for several years. Your aunt was with them while she was here. She’s left, hasn’t she? She didn’t mention you were coming over.” Lonnie bent closer and in a loud whisper said, “Why all the questions?”

I explained, and Lonnie’s smile faded as I told the story.

“I know there’s been trouble,” he said. “I hear it in the gossip. But your aunt? A smuggler? Wild, pretty wild. Do you think she’s in this ring?”

“Of course not. Lonnie how could you even ask that question?”

Zach broke in. “Why would you ask that, Lonnie? Don’t you know Elizabeth Davies pretty well?”

Lonnie pushed back on his chair, balancing on two legs, working on his drink at the same time. “I’ve been in the people business for a long time, and some people surprise you. Remember that Brit, Ron Hanley, that use to hang out here on Sunday evenings?” He directed the question to Yannis, who nodded.

“Real friendly, outgoing guy. Said he was a writer, but no one could ever figure how the guy supported himself. Turned out he was working for the Irish Republican Army laundering guns through the Middle East. He disappeared one day, and we never saw him again.”

“People say that you’re a CIA agent,” I said.

He laughed. “Yeah, I know. I’d never tell if I was, now would I? So y’all will have to go on speculating.”

“We all could have double lives,” I said. “But my aunt? For heaven’s sake, be realistic. What does your gut instinct tell you?”

“My gut instinct told me Ron Hanley was a regular guy. I mean, he was a friend, and bingo, one day he’s gone. My instincts let me down. Some people are good actors. Of course, your aunt doesn’t seem the type. But what does she do when you aren’t around?”

I swizzled my drink, not meeting Lonnie’s eyes, trying not to take offense at the question. I could feel Zach’s eyes on me, and then he said in his soft drawl, “What about Robert Hanssen, the FBI agent that was arrested for passing secrets to the Soviets? He was everybody’s next door neighbor. Lonnie’s right, Claudie. Appearances can be deceiving.”

I stopped stirring my drink. “My aunt is innocent.” I enunciated each word carefully. I did not want to hear about people with double identities. This conversation was going in a direction I did not want it to go.

“Look,” I said, taking a deep breath to calm the quaver I heard in my voice. I didn’t want to sound like I was falling apart. “I lived in the same house with my aunt in Boston until I went out on my own after college. I knew her daily routine. Up at six A.M., bath, have a cup of coffee, listen to the Today Show while she dressed, off to her job at the library where she had worked for thirty years. She never married, never had a serious beau. I knew her friends, some of them men. I wasn’t with her every waking moment, but she always liked to chat about her day and, if she went out, about the people she was with, what she had done. We shared secrets. This is not the kind of person with a double identity.”

The three of them kept their eyes on me while I talked, like they wanted to believe me. But I knew in the back of their minds lingered that niggling doubt, the idea that double identities led very ordinary lives on the surface. Did my aunt have another life under her very ordinary surface? The doubt was in my mind. I had to get to the bottom of this.

“If I have to get her out of this all by myself, I will.” I spoke it like a dare, and my bravado created a huge, uncomfortable silence. I didn’t care. I didn’t need their doubts. I needed their help.

Finally, Yannis, the diplomat, spoke up to smooth the waters. “Of course, your aunt is innocent, Claudie. We are just asking the tough questions that need to be asked.”

“Let me throw another stick on the fire,” said Zach. “Lonnie, do you know anyone who drives a beat up blue Maruti? It looks like an American Jeep. This one had no top, medium blue color, bad paint job. Today at the beach up on the cliff a guy was standing by a Maruti with binoculars trained on us.”

Zach and Yannis had seen the Maruti, too, and we had talked about it on the way to the California Bar. None of us had recognized the vehicle, and by the time we had finished our swim the Maruti was gone. It seemed odd to all three of us and maybe more than a coincidence that we were at that beach and the Maruti was, too.

“A beat up Maruti? asked Lonnie. “The American couple from the archeological project drives a blue Maruti this trip. They said they rented it.”

Zach sat up straighter. “Did they say where they rented it?”

“Probably the place out along Tomb of Kings road. That’s closest to where they stay.”

“Thanks,” said Zach, and he looked at me. “We’ll pay that place a visit.”

“It would be worth a try,” I said. “I want to talk to the widows, and I’d like to talk to their landlord to see what he knows about them. Can we do this tonight because tomorrow morning at nine I have to get my aunt out of jail?”

“I’ll go by to see the landlord,” Yannis said. “He doesn’t speak English well, so it’s best if I go.”

“Since the car rental place is probably closed for the evening, I’ll visit the widows again,” I said.

Zach held up his hand. “I think going alone might be dangerous, if these ladies are mixed up in something.”

“Wait,” Lonnie said, “I could pay the widows a visit since I know them the best, and I wouldn’t be like a total stranger calling. I’ll try to find out who they were socializing with when they weren’t on tour. I’ll pretend like I’m checking to see if they want to go on a special tour this week. Mrs. Crawford’s been flirting with me, so I’m sure she’d invite me in for a drink.”

“Going for older women these days?” I asked.

He laughed. “Hey, she’s not bad looking for an old lady and flirting with the ladies is good for business. But, you know, I find it hard to believe that any of these old gals could be criminals.”

“My aunt isn’t a criminal,” I said, pounding my fist on the table, hard enough that everyone grabbed their drinks.

“All right, all right,” Lonnie said and put his arm around me. “Don’t get riled. It’ll give you wrinkles.”

I forced a smile but shrugged out of the hug and looked to Yannis. “Would now be a good time to call on the landlord?”

“Yes, he’s probably in about this time.”

“Thank you, Yannis.” I squeezed his arm. He was being a dear, and I appreciated his graciousness even though Zach’s presence disgruntled him.

“Lonnie, thanks for agreeing to be the front man with the widows. The rest of us look like we’ve spent the day at the beach. I could use a shower and some chow.”

“Come,” Yannis said. “You can shower at our place. My mother will have lots of food. I’ll go by to see Mr. Philipides while you’re recharging.”

We downed our drinks, and Lonnie settled the bill with Kevin at the bar.

“Where you off to?” Kevin wanted to know.

“To meet some smugglers,” Lonnie said.

“Right,” Kevin said,”and I’m a Palestinian terrorist.”

“You just don’t know.” Lonnie winked at me and that gave me pause.

Cyprus is tucked up into the Eastern armpit of the Mediterranean formed by Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Israel, not a day’s boat trip away and an even shorter flight by jet. For thousands of years it’s been the crossroads of the Mediterranean Sea. Given the upheaval in Middle East, we might not like what was under some of the rocks we turned over.

* * *

“How’d it go?” I greeted Lonnie when he arrived back at Yannis’s house. He took a place at the family dining table where Mother Vasilis had cleared a place. The table was smothered in food. Fresh fruit, rice, lamb kebobs, salad, goblets, glasses, coffee cups. The heavenly smell of rosemary and garlic laced with coffee drifted in the air. Yannis had just sat down and was loading a plate. Zach was still working on his. I was having coffee.

Lonnie grinned. “Mrs. Crawford and I had a nice chat, even though she was on her way out and didn’t have a lot of time for an unexpected guest. But I found out something real interesting.” He paused for dramatic effect. “She said that Elizabeth had an admirer while she was here, an Italian by the name of Salvatore Bellomo, who’s in wine and olives. He took a tour one day with us, now that I think about it. Did you know your aunt had a beau?”

“A beau?” I said, trying to buy myself a little time to recover from the surprise. My aunt had never exhibited much interest in men. She was the kind of woman that seemed to enjoy having them around but didn’t need one to make her life complete.

“Mrs. Crawford said that Mr. Bellomo seemed to be quite taken with your aunt.”

“That’s hard to believe. My aunt is a confirmed spinster.” Or I thought she was. Another niggling doubt took its place by the double identity one.

“Maybe there’s more to your aunt than you realize,” Lonnie said.

“Don’t start that again, Lonnie.” I gave him a squinty eyed look. “A beau just seems out of place for her.”

I wasn’t going to admit that doubt devils had taken up residence on my shoulder. Maybe I didn’t know my aunt as well as I thought I did. A beau was so unlike her. So was smuggling.

“I remember,” Lonnie said, taking a slug of beer, “that Mr. Bellomo was a quiet guy, dressed expensive, very neat and drove a white Mercedes with gold trim.”

“Oh, great, an Italian in olives with gold trim.”

“And wine.”

“Next you’ll tell me he is from Sicily.”

“Don’t know, but we can track him down. He has an office in Limasol. We can go over there tomorrow after you spring your aunt. She might like to see him again.”

Lonnie grinned.

I was not amused.

My cell phone rang, and I fished in my purse. Lena, my partner, was calling. I got up and walked into the hall.

“How’re things going?” she asked.

I filled her in on my frustration with not being able to get my aunt out of jail and of the investigative team I had put together or rather that had fallen together.

“I think I’d better come over to help balance the team. Sounds like it’s a little heavy on the testosterone.”

I laughed. “Sure fly over. One more amateur sleuth won’t hurt.”

“Claudie, I’ve been doing a little checking around like you asked. Did you know that all kinds of heavy hitters are involved in antiquities smuggling? Like gallery owners, auction houses, museums, insurers, security companies, collectors, the Mafia and, get this, law enforcement agencies.”

“This is getting complicated.”

“Art crime is the third most lucrative criminal activity in the world, right behind drugs and arms trafficking. Guess who has the most voracious market?”

“The U.S.?”

“Right.”

“I had no idea though I can’t say I’ve had much interest up to this point.”

“But there’s more bad news. Terrorists deal in the market.”

“To finance terror,” I said. Here we sat right off the coast of the Middle East. Great.

I let go a big sigh. “This is not good. We’re going from petty theft to major league crime. I can feel my stomach knotting up.”

“You need to hire a lawyer to protect your aunt.”

“You’re right. Thanks, Lena. If you find out anything else, give me a call, any time, day or night. I’ll be staying at Yannis’s tonight. I don’t know what will happen after tomorrow morning. I’ll let you know.”

“Okay, and Claudie? Don’t worry about things back here. I got the info you emailed. I agree with your buy and sell recommendations. I can handle this for now. Get things straightened out over there and come back soon. Take care.”

I hung up and studied the icon of Saint George the Dragon Slayer that hung on the wall next to the entry way mirror. I might need a dragon slayer. Real soon.

I returned to the group around the table and gave them a rundown of my conversation with Lena. Mother Vasilis, humming a happy tune, moved around the table clearing dishes and replenishing food and coffee.

“We haven’t had problems with terrorists that I know of,” said Yannis. “We’ve had more problems with organized crime on the island. Back in 1995 a big scandal hit that involved the upper echelons of the police in gangland shootings and car bombings. Mafia kingpins fight over gambling, drugs and prostitutes. Smuggling could be in their league.”

I hoped Lena was wrong about the terrorists. The thought made my skin crawl. I couldn’t get excited about running into members of the Mafia either. Was Salvatore Bellomo connected?

Zach had been silent, but now he spoke up. “Do you know a good lawyer, Yannis?”

“Sure,” he said. “My brother-in-law. He lives in Limasol. Lawyers are a tight group on Cyprus, and he’s well-connected. He’ll know what to do. He arranged bond.”

“What did Mr. Philipides say?” Lonnie asked.

“He says,” said Yannis, “that the ladies in question are loaded with money. His cousin, who lives in London, referred them. They always pay their rent in advance. Mrs. Crawford seems to have some business savvy so he deals with her. They aren’t extravagant in an obvious way. And get this, his cousin said that Mrs. Crawford enjoys art collecting.”

“Does she enjoy it enough to steal is the question?” Zach said. “Does she prefer art or antiquities or isn’t she particular. Would she frame a fellow tourist?”

“Isn’t that the million dollar question?” said Lonnie. “But why would these women get into smuggling, if they are so wealthy. They seem very respectable.”

“Seem is the key word in this puzzle. Maybe they need the thrill,” Zach said. “I’ve seen stranger things.” He stood, signaling his intent to leave. “Claudie looks tired, and we could all use some sleep.”

He thanked Mother Vasilis for dinner.

She was a tiny lady with gray streaks in her midnight black hair that she wore in a tight bun. She didn’t understand English but nodded and smiled like she did. She clasped his hand in both of hers and squeezed.

“I better get back to the Coral Bay. Claudie, call me tomorrow after you bail out your aunt. You can reach me on my cell phone or through the hotel. I’ll help any way I can.”

“Thanks. You’ve been a great help already.” I smiled up at him.

“I can give you a lift, Zach,” Lonnie said.

“Thanks. I might live another day if I don’t have to be driven back to the hotel by a Cypriot taxi driver.”

Five

A phone was ringing. I couldn’t get to it. I ran to the kitchen. Couldn’t find it. Ran to the living room. Searched. No Phone. Still ringing. I couldn’t tell where it was. The bathroom. The linen closet. Not in the towels. It rang and rang and rang.

Where was I? What day was this? I couldn’t remember. The phone was still ringing. A funny ring. Two quick short rings. What was wrong with my phone? It never rang like that. The ringing stopped. Something was wrong. Whose voice was that? A man? In my loft? What was a man doing in my loft at this hour? That wasn’t English.

My eyes flew open.

It was Greek.

The door to my room slammed open, and Yannis burst in. “Claudie, wake up. Your aunt’s gone.”

I threw the sheet back before Yannis finished the sentence and was upright on the floor by the time he did. My night shirt was twisted around my body. I swiped tangled hair from my face.

“What? What are you talking about? What are you saying?”

Yannis grabbed my shoulders and shook me. “Listen to me. My cousin on the police force just telephoned. Your aunt is gone. The guard reported her cell door wide open about half an hour ago. The police are on their way here. You’re wanted for questioning. You’re a suspect.”

I sank onto the bed. “Gone? Where could she go? Who would take her?” I scrubbed my face trying to think straight, trying not to let desperation and fear overpower me and render my brain useless.

“That’s what the police want to know. They think you have the motive. You may be arrested.”

“Arrested?” That word wiped the confusion from my brain and motivated me into action. “I’m getting out of here.” I grabbed the shorts and tank top I had thrown on the chair by the bed, searched the room for my backpack.

“Out of where?” Yannis asked. “This is an island. It’s not that easy to hide.”

“I’ve got to find who’s behind this, and I can’t do it from a jail cell.” I scooped up the paraphernalia of my life from the dresser top and tossed the stuff into the backpack.

“Yannis, call a taxi. Quick.”

“Where will you go?” He stood there, hands clenched at his sides, watching me pack my things.

I stopped the packing frenzy and looked at him. “I don’t know, maybe North. I’ll get word to you. Yannis, please help me.”

He looked in such pain I thought he might burst into tears. At last, he moved toward the door. “I don’t think it looks good your disappearing when you’re wanted for questioning.”

“I can’t be worried about how it looks. I need to find some answers.”

He succumbed to the pathetic look in my eyes and left the room. I could hear him on the phone requesting a taxi, as I pulled on my clothes and shoved my feet into flip-flops. I stuffed underwear, cotton tops, jean skirt, shorts into the pack and paused to consider the large suitcase by the bed. No, I wouldn’t take it. Too big, too cumbersome, it would slow me down. My hands shook so bad I couldn’t get the brush through my hair, so I smoothed it as best I could into a ponytail and secured it with a scrunchie.

Yannis returned, unhappy. “The taxi is here. I didn’t know what to say about where you were going. The driver speaks English. He’ll take you wherever you want. You can trust him. He’s a cousin.”

“Thanks. Tell the police I left for Limasol to consult my lawyer.” I pecked him on either cheek, grabbed my pack and purse, and hurried from the room.

I figured the town of Polis on the northwest tip of the island was my best bet, since it was close and in the opposite direction of Limasol. That’s where I told the driver I wanted to go. The early morning was bright, blue and cloudless. I checked my watch. Almost eight A.M.

The driver flew low, the speed most Cypriot drivers favored. As we approached the turnoff for the Coral Bay Hotel, I debated whether to see if Zach were in. Maybe just maybe, he could help. Who else did I have to turn to on the island? Everyone I knew was related to Yannis in some way, and I didn’t want to pull him any further into this fiasco.

I told the driver to turn in and wait with the motor running while I went into the hotel. At the reception desk I asked for Zach’s room number and walked to his room in the left wing of the hotel which overlooked the bay. I beat on the door and heard a muffled voice call to come back after ten A.M. to clean.

“Zach, it’s me, Claudie. I need to speak to you.”

I heard footsteps, and the door burst open. He stood there in briefs and tousled hair. He pulled me into the room. “What happened? What’s going on?”

I slipped by him and went to stand before the open doors of the patio. He followed, and I could feel him behind me, waiting. In the distance the sea lapped in and out in gentle waves, oblivious and uncaring about the melodrama of human life, in general, and mine, in particular.

“Someone kidnapped Aunt Elizabeth,” I said, addressing the indifferent scene before me. “About forty five minutes ago Yannis’s cousin called to warn us that the police were on their way to his house, that they wanted me for questioning, that I’m a suspect. So I took off. I have a taxi running outside.”

I turned around to face him. I didn’t know this man well, but maybe he could help me find my aunt. I took a leap. “Do you have any connections that could help me find out what’s happened to my aunt? This is a nightmare, and I need help.”

I must have looked pathetic standing there in my bedraggled ponytail, no makeup, my backpack slung my shoulder. What I felt was frightened, like the walls were closing in. I didn’t know who had my aunt or where she was.

He pulled me into a hug. Not a romantic hug, but one you would give a child. I could feel his warm breath on my hair and he said in that soft drawl, “I’ll help you. Tell the taxi driver to leave while I pull on some clothes.”

I started to protest but Zach placed his finger on my lips.

“I rented a Land Rover. We can go anywhere in that. I’ll explain in the car. Go. I’ll get dressed and be out in ten minutes.”

I left the taxi driver with a generous tip then walked through the lobby with my backpack and huge purse slung over my shoulder. People sat about the lounge in resort garb, waiting for tours. The sitting area had carved chairs with cushions in a tropical green pattern. A white grand piano stood to one corner. The area was open to the bay.

It would have been perfect had I been a mere vacationer. But I wasn’t. I was hunted and I felt conspicuous, like people were staring at me. There was a line for breakfast, so I went to the coffee bar by the swimming pool and ordered two coffees and sweet rolls. The waiter was young and Nordic-looking. He asked if I cared for anything in the coffee.

“Black, thank you. Cream on the side.”

He gave me a once over and that should have made me feel attractive and flirty, but instead it made me uncomfortable, although I knew he couldn’t possibly know the police were searching for me. He winked as I paid him. If I needed a date, I knew who to look up.

When I had opened my wallet there wasn’t much Cypriot currency, so I changed five hundred U.S. dollars to Cypriot pounds at the banking window. Hoping that by now he was ready, I walked to Zach’s room with the coffee and tapped at the door. He opened the door dressed in long tan pants and a bulky black shirt.

“Oh, thanks,” he said, as I handed him the coffee. “I’m almost ready.”

“Do you have business to attend to today?” I asked, sipping coffee as I watched him.

“Not until later.” He was packing a black sports bag on the bed and threw in his shaving gear. “This should do.”

“Do you plan to stay out overnight?”

Zach shrugged a shoulder. “Just playing it safe.” He shoved a roll of money from the dresser into his pocket and slid a small pile of plastic cards into the other pocket. “I have some friends, a trustworthy couple who live in a small place in the Troodos Mountains. You can stay with them a few days. They’re retired Brits. I worked with him on a few projects some time back. They’re well-connected. They might be able to help.”

Zach picked up his bag, looked around to be sure he hadn’t left anything. He held out his hand. “C’mon, we don’t have much of a lead on them.”

Like a trusting child, I took his hand. He led the way to the parking area and opened the Land Rover, throwing our bags on the back passenger seat. Out of the corner my eye I caught a flash of blue and turned enough to make out the blue Maruti sitting in the parking lot. Zach followed my eyes then got in the driver’s side and started the Rover.

“He must have followed you from Yannis’s house. Let’s see if we can lose him.”

We sped past the Maruti and out onto the main road, headed south to Pafos.

I looked at Zach. “It looks like there are two in the front. Did you notice?”

“I only saw the car. That is double bad news.” He glanced over. “Any guesses who they are?”

“Given the circumstances, they might be interested in antiquities. They aren’t any friends of mine. They looked more Arab than Cypriot.”

“They might be tied to the smuggling operation in some way.” Zach peered into the rear view mirror. “I’m going through Pafos and on toward Limasol to get to the Troodos since the access road into the mountains is better. We should be able to lose them in town. I don’t want to get caught on back roads with these guys following us.”

He floored it, and we streaked down the highway. As we neared the outskirts of town, traffic slowed us down. The Maruti caught up, staying a few car lengths behind.

Zach wove in and out of town traffic, horns blowing as we sped by. “Scoot down onto the floor, just in case.”

“Good idea. I don’t fancy being picked up.” I slid off the seat on to the floor and hunched up facing him. I judged our progress through town by the tops of the buildings flashing by.

“I admire your skill at evasive driving. Where’d you learn it?” I held on to the seat to keep from sliding into the dashboard.

“On the job. I’ve done this a few times before.”

“I see. Feel like telling me where? You haven’t told me much about what you do for a living.”

He shrugged. “I do contract undercover work, mostly with local law enforcement agencies. I’ve done some work for the FBI. Some international jobs for the CIA.”

“And this time? What brings you to Cyprus?”

“Antiquities smuggling.”

My heart started to hammer. “As in the Elizabeth Davies case?”

Zach nodded, keeping his eyes on the road.

My stomach clenched, doubled over and turned inside out. “Whose side are you on?”

“I’m working for the New York City Police Department, anti-terrorism unit.”

“Why is NYPD interested in antiquities smuggling on Cyprus?”

“Terrorists deal antiquities to finance their operations.”

My stomach caught fire, and I could feel flames at the back of my throat.

“Where do I come in?”

“I thought maybe you might tell me.”

On two wheels he turned the corner onto the main road out of the east end of Pafos. I peeked over the seat. The Maruti got caught behind a car at the red light we had just run.

He checked the rear view mirror. “We may have lost them.”

We were out onto the open road, passing everything in our path.

“Don’t you think speeding might attract the police?”

“On Cyprus? You have to be joking. No one was ever pulled over for speeding on this island.”

I eased back onto the passenger seat and checked behind. “I don’t see them. You may have lost them.”

“Maybe, but I don’t intend to let up the pace. When I take the turn off for the Troodos Mountains on the west side of Limasol, I want to make sure that they aren’t behind to see where we turned. We need to make it into the mountains without our rear guard.”

“Do you think the guys following us are terrorists?”

“Don’t know.”

We rode in silence, the tension in the air hovering between us like an angry thunderstorm. I was overwhelmed with the inference in his questions. Did he think I was part of the smuggling ring? By association with my aunt?

Ridiculous.

Zach broke the awkward silence. “Feel like sharing any information with me?”

“Like what?”

“Like who you’re working for?”

“Me? I work for myself, I told you I own and manage a mutual fund in Boston along with my partner, Lena.”

“Are you sure that’s all you do?”

“You’re kidding right? What was all the stuff about helping me?”

“I’ll be glad to help you, especially if you can lead me to the leaders of the smuggling ring on Cyprus.”

“Don’t you hear well? That’s who I’m trying to find. You offered to help me.”

“You and your aunt work together. Am I right?”

The blood drained from my face, out through my fingers, and stained the clear blue Cyprus sky. Somewhere I had made a big mistake. What had Lonnie been saying about instinct going haywire?

Zach pulled off the road onto one of the scenic overlooks, one perched on a cliff with no guard rails. The sea sparkled and danced far below.

He studied the road behind us. “You see anyone?”

I checked again but I had just checked an instant before. “No one.” I wished I did see another vehicle, a truck, a police car, anyone, anything. But nothing. How could such a busy road be so deserted?

He got out of the Land Rover, pulled a pair of binoculars from the door pocket and scanned back over the road we had just traveled. The spot he had picked to stop afforded a clear view of the road and the cliffs from whence we’d come.

“They seem to have given up. The turn I want is just up ahead. I’m going to take it. Keep watching our back.”

It was an order, not a request. I nodded but I wasn’t looking at Zach. I was watching the sea, the way the sun glistened off the clear, turquoise blue water. Small waves capped in the distance. The sun shone hot, bright, dazzling on the sea. My beloved Cyprus had become a nightmare.

I tried to think of my life back in Boston, but it seemed light years away. Life right now boiled down to this spot, a Land Rover and a man I didn’t know but thought I did, if only a little, if only by instinct. His come on had been a ruse. Nice acting job. The nightmare was closing in, and I couldn’t escape. Was he kidnapping me? It felt that way.

Zach started the engine, and I hopped back on the seat which was hot from the sun beating on it. I didn’t have much choice. How could I get away? Who could I trust?

I had not told Yannis where I was heading for fear the police would force his hand. I didn’t want to implicate him more than I had already. He could get sucked in by knowing me. So much of the nightmare was by implication.

“You can’t be cold,” Zach said, as I rubbed my upper arms. He took his eyes off the road long enough to give me a quick once over. “You are cold.”

Goose bumps stood out on my flesh.

“It doesn’t have to do with the temperature,” I said.

Zach kept his eyes on the road that climbed into the mountains.

“I’m not a thief,” I said.

“I’d like to believe that,” he said, his face unreadable. “But understand that the conditions of your aunt’s stay on this island are suspicious. You’re implicated in the crime by being her niece and coming to help her.”

“What’s my motive?”

“Money, power, excitement, notoriety. Pick any one of those. People do strange things.”

“Have you run a background check on me?”

I grabbed the hand strap above my door window as we lurched over a pothole in the road.

“Yep.”

“And?”

“Clean.”

“So at my age, having my own successful business with an impressive income, with a cushy loft at a nice address in Boston, I turn to antiquities smuggling? C’mon.” I shook my head in disgust. I could have worked myself up into a good raging anger, if I hadn’t been so scared.

“Maybe for you it’s the excitement.”

I snorted real unladylike, but who cared? “I have all the excitement I can handle. I don’t need to create international excitement, particularly one that has a prison term attached to it.”

He was studying the road behind us in the mirror and eased up on the gas, slowing down as the road got rougher. “I think we lost them.”

I wasn’t sure that was a blessing.

He glanced at me. “What if I told you I know where your aunt is and who sprang her from jail? Would you be willing to cooperate?”

My eyes widened at the turn of the conversation. “You can’t be serious.”

“Would you cooperate?” He enunciated each word.

I exploded. “I’m telling you I don’t know a thing about smuggling nor does my aunt so there’s nothing to cooperate.”

“Okay, okay. Calm down.”

We drove on in silence, and the knots in my stomach turned into waves of nausea. I felt dizzy, and it wasn’t the increase in altitude. I had to get away. I peered over the side of the car into the chasm we drove along. Rocks and dry brush peppered the canyon. The area around us looked like the desert country of New Mexico. I considered jumping from the car but where would that leave me? Dead, probably, or badly broken and bruised, if I were lucky. My aunt would still be at the mercy of unknown assailants. She must be terrified, simply terrified. She was the type that screamed at mice and cockroaches. She’d probably have a heart attack. Then where would we be?

Zach tapped the master lock on the door, and the door locks clicked. “Don’t even think about it,” he said.

“It wouldn’t work. I’m not much good to my aunt dead.”

“Smart girl.”

I studied his profile. He said he knew where my aunt was and who had taken her. I could pretend that I knew something and try to negotiate a deal, buy some time.

“What kind of cooperation do you want?” I decided to play along and hope that I wasn’t digging myself in deeper than I already was.

“Names, places, plans, contacts. Can you supply me with that?” He hadn’t missed a beat in his response like he knew all along I was a thief and would fess up to save my skin.

“And if I could?”

“You would get off easier than the rest of your operation. I could try for reduced jail time for you and your aunt.”

There was that word jail again that made my stomach sick and my head hurt. I couldn’t believe I was having this conversation. Then again I couldn’t believe where I was, what I was doing, and who I was doing it with.

I watched Zach, but he kept his eyes on the road, head straight, neck rigid, maybe refusing to think about the fact that there was a red-blooded woman sitting on the seat next to him, and he was talking to her about going to jail. The same woman he had promised to help.

The liar. I wanted to slap him. Instead I said, “You operate in some pretty powerful circles, if you could pull off a reduced jail sentence.”

“I have good connections.”

“I would have to see my aunt first. I need to know she is okay.” I hoped this crazy scheme to play along worked.

Zach nodded. “That can be arranged.”

We turned off the rough road onto an even rockier one. Zach kept taking right turns up the mountain. We climbed in a great circle. Cedar and cypress trees lined the road. Gray dust sprinkled the ground cover.

My cell phone went off, and I pulled it from my hand bag and glanced at the incoming number. Yannis. Before I could hit the talk button, Zach reached over, snatched it, and flipped the case shut.

“You don’t need a phone.”

I was getting the distinct feeling I was a prisoner.

The road leveled off, and Zach turned into a lane that led to a clearing where a solitary house stood. He pulled in front of the house, switched off the motor and sat looking around, a perplexed look on his face.

“Something’s wrong,” he said. “It’s too quiet.” He looked at me. “Can I trust you to wait here?”

“I don’t know where I would go even if I could.”

“I’m going to look around. Can you shoot a gun?”

“My Dad was a hunter. He taught me to shoot a rifle.”

He pulled his bag from the back seat, extracted a heavy, black gun and checked the ammunition.

I was struck dumb. I thought the bag held his overnight gear, not heavy metal. He pulled out a second smaller pistol, checked it and handed it to me. The thought crossed my mind that now was the time to shoot him. Then where would I be? Would killing a cop get me life or the electric chair? On Cyprus they probably gave life sentences without possibility of parole. I’d look it up later.

“No, you aren’t going to shoot me,” he said.

The guy was uncanny.

“You need someone on your side. I just might be that person. Remember that. Now I’m going to look around. Normally, my friends would be out in the yard on a day like this. Maybe they went into town, but I don’t like the feeling I have.”

So he worked on intuition, too. I’d have to ask him what his intuition was for me. He trusted me enough to hand me a gun.

He nodded toward a half open window in the front of the house. A lace curtain fluttered in and out. “They don’t ever leave a window open like that. The wife is too fastidious.”

His eyes locked on mine.

“Don’t leave the Rover. Stay right here and cover me. And please, don’t shoot me in the back.”

“I couldn’t do that. How would I ever find my way back to town? Besides, you know where my aunt is.”

He smirked. The first time I saw him come close to a smile since Pafos. “Smart girl.” He eased open the door of the Land Rover, stepped cautiously out, and headed toward the front of the house, gradually circling to the back.

I watched from my post in the Rover and studied the yard and the house. To the left was an open shed that held what looked like wood working tools. A saw, shovels, tools hung in rows above a workbench. A wash line strung from the house to the shed held three men’s work shirts, pinned upside down and blowing in the hot breeze. Beyond the shed and house was a vegetable garden surrounded by a wire fence with a gate. I could see plump, red tomatoes hanging from the vines. The gate was open.

I froze.

What was that on the ground in the garden beyond the open gate? I reached over and pulled the binoculars from the side pocket of the driver’s door, sat forward in the seat and focused on the garden gate. The first thing that came into focus was the bottom of a pair of shoes. Women’s shoes or maybe sandals. The feet were small. I felt beads of sweat break out on my upper lip, even though a breeze came in through the open windows.

“Dear sweet Jesus.”

I looked around for Zach. He must have entered the house through the back door. He couldn’t have seen the feet from his vantage point because he had circled on the opposite side of the house from the garden.

I did a 360 degree check on the clearing where the house stood. It was clear only for about fifty feet on all sides then the forest took over. I couldn’t be sure if anyone was watching from the forest and was torn between whether stay put or go looking for Zach. Neither was safe, but I knew action was better for me, as opposed to sitting here wrapped in sheer terror. I picked up the gun and eased from the Rover.

The air was as tense as my tautly bunched muscles. It was quiet. No birds sang. Was that because someone was in the forest to disturb their singing? If they were still around would they try to kill us, rush us, overpower the Rover? Who were they? The unsettling image of terrorists crept into my mind, the black hooded variety.

What was I doing here?

I ran from the Rover to the shelter of the house and circled to the back on the side where the garden was. The house was typical construction for the region, stucco with red tile roof. Giant rose bushes lined the side of the house blooming profusely in red and yellow.

I saw the body stretched full length in the garden, like taking a nap. But a red stain on the head of the figure belied the image of a peaceful nap. Nausea welled up in my throat, but I kept going. I had to find Zach. A Mediterranean style arbor, slats of wood crossing open beams, covered the patio to the back of the house. The door to the house stood open. I drew near and peered in.

“Zach?” No answer. I eased a few steps into the kitchen.

“Zach?”

I heard footsteps overhead. Maybe the man of the house was okay, but why was his wife laying in the garden? There was only one pair of footsteps. If they weren’t Zach’s …

I peered up the stairs.

Zach crouched over a body at the top of the landing. I only saw the top of the head covered in thick white hair, stained dark red on one side.

“I told you to stay with the Rover.”

“Zach, there’s a woman’s body in the garden.”

“I saw her from the upstairs window. They’re both dead. Shot in the head at close range.”

He moved quickly down the steps, gun upraised, and brushed past me. Standing back from the window, he studied the yard and garden.

“Are you going to report it to the police?”

“I can’t, this couple isn’t really here.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just what I said. This is a safe house. This couple doesn’t exist, so there is no one to report missing.

“What?”

He ignored my question. “I’ll call someone to dispose of the bodies later but for now, we get out of here. I’ll go first. If I draw fire, run out the front door in a zig-zag line to the Rover.”

He turned and his gaze held my eyes in a moment of connection, the connection we had had before this awful ride had begun. Those hard, dark eyes softened.

“If I don’t make it, leave in the Rover without me.” He grabbed my chin and held it. “Don’t play hero, okay?”

I nodded and before I could say anything he was out the door, gun in hand, running. A rifle cracked, and he dropped to the ground.

“Zach,” I screamed from the open door. “Zach!”

He rolled over and over into the cover of shrubs by the shed. “Get down.” His hand waved. “Get down. Go out the front door. I’m going for the Rover.”

Another shot cracked and hit the side of the shed above the bushes where he hid, and he returned fire. I stood paralyzed by the sound of the gunfire. It sounded like the shots I had heard fired at target practice. But this was not target practice.

I whirled and ran through the house and out the front door, propelled by some hidden banshee that shrieked inside my head to get the hell out of there. I ran for the Rover, dove and crashed into the passenger door as a bullet flew by my ear and ricocheted off the fender. I yanked open the door and crawled inside, slamming the door and cowering on the floor. A rapid exchange of gunfire heralded Zach’s approach to the Rover, and a bullet hit the driver’s side of the vehicle. Zach sprang in, turned over the motor and slammed the gears into reverse. The Rover squealed back through the clearing making a wide circle on two wheels, screeched to a halt, roared into forward and out of the clearing followed by a barrage of bullets.

I hunkered down on the floor and squeezed my eyes shut until we were out of the clearing and lurching down the rocky lane.

“Damn,” said Zach.

I opened my eyes and looked up at him.

“Another shirt ruined,” he said.

Three explosion holes on his shirt front marked the spots where bullets had hit.

“I’m glad I thought to put on a bullet proof vest today.”

Six

My pulse was hammering so hard in my head, I thought it would explode. I looked behind us but whoever had attacked made no attempt to follow. Our attackers had had no vehicle, or if they had, they weren’t using it to pursue us. I couldn’t believe Zach had put on a bullet proof vest in anticipation that our flight might involve gunfire. I was in way over my head. I should have gone to the Cypriot authorities. In hindsight, it would have been much wiser. Too late to think about that now, wasn’t it?

Zach’s sun-bleached hair was hardly ruffled, and beyond the holes in his shirt he looked like he hadn’t done anything more exciting than spend an afternoon at the racetrack. I had the uneasy feeling that Aunt Elizabeth and I were pawns in a game, and this game involved criminals. The man sitting next to me was a player in the game. The thought was unnerving, and my opinion of him underwent a serious overhaul.

He slowed the Rover to maneuver the ruts better. I thought my neck would snap in the attempt to get away from the so-called safe house, and my demise would involve a broken neck instead of flying bullets.

“Where are we going?” I asked when I had a chance to calm down.

Zach didn’t reply, his attention focused on putting distance between us and the flying bullets. He appeared to be scowling at the question and the answer to it.

“I’m not sure. I’m thinking,” he said, not taking his eyes off the road.

“Who were those people? Do they have names?”

“Max and Irene.”

“How could they not exist?”

“They decided long ago to go under cover and not come back. They led a simple existence, and they helped a lot of people in trouble. I’m sorry to see them go out like they did. They were the best, but they knew the risks.”

Like that justified everything. “I hadn’t bargained for running into bullets, but you had.” Truth be told, I hadn’t bargained for any of this.

Zach glanced at me like he didn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth and looked back to the road. We turned right at the end of the lane leading away from the safe house and headed higher into the mountains. In greater abundance were the tall, biblical cedars of Lebanon that I loved so much. Seeing them now brought me no joy.

“We’ll try to find your aunt,” Zach said. “Or would you like to tell me where she is?”

My mouth dropped open, and I looked at him in astonishment. “I thought you knew. Wasn’t that the bargain? That you would take me to her?”

“I was playing a hunch. You said you would cooperate.”

“I was lying,” I said.

“So was I,” he said.

We bounced along in strained silence, me trying to make sense of the situation and having no luck. My stomach had settled down enough that it began to rumble. I realized I hadn’t had anything to eat. I fished in my bag for the sweet rolls I had bought at the hotel. It wasn’t much, just two small rolls, but I needed something to settle my stomach. I debated whether to offer one to my kidnapper, and my nicer side won out.

“Would you care for a sweet roll?” I asked. It seemed an inane thing to be talking about after the scene we had left.

He looked at me and half smiled. “Kind of you to share with me.” He took one. “Look behind you and get a couple of bottles of water from the case on the floor.”

I added two bottles of water to our repast. He pulled open the console between us and fished out two power bars and handed one to me. That completed the feast.

We munched in silence until I voiced my suspicion. “This is kidnapping, you know.”

“Hardly. I’m helping you get away from the Cypriot authorities so you can find your aunt.”

What a lying son-of-a-bitch. I had had such hopes for Zach. Men were the same when you peeled off the layers and got to the core, but this one was worse. He wore a bullet proof vest and carried a gun.

I looked at the gun on the floor between us. His lay beside it. I thought of trying to overpower him which was a joke, but what did I have to lose? I shouldn’t have been so overt about looking at the guns. He picked up both and put them under his seat. He possessed an uncanny sixth sense. I wondered if they taught that in law enforcement school.

We jolted up over a rise and looked out over the forested mountains below. We had reached the top of the mountain. Ahead lay a paved road that ran along the ridge.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“I’m not exactly sure,” he said. “But if my memory serves me well, we are not far from the border of the Turkish section of the island. I think there is a small inn along this road with some decent chow and a place to stay for the night.”

Food and bed were appealing, as long as the beds were in separate rooms. I wasn’t in the mood for sharing one with a kidnapper. I might be able to get away if we had separate rooms. The problem was where I would go. On foot I’d have to trek through unfamiliar mountain terrain in flip-flops. To try to take the Rover would be difficult unless somehow I could get the key. A drug in Zach’s drink? With what?

Isolated lights started blinking on along the forest ridges as twilight settled in. We were almost on top of the lodge before I saw it. A solitary lamp lit a short driveway. We pulled in.

I fretted that I might make the news, and someone at this inn might recognize me. The lodge didn’t look like a place that got much traffic. I saw no satellite dish or outside antenna that would indicate TV reception.

“I’ll wait here,” I said. “You see if they have any news of an escaped criminal tourist and her niece.”

Zach laughed. “You’ll come with me. I don’t want you wandering off, looking for your aunt, and falling off a cliff.”

I sighed, knowing I wouldn’t win this one.

The lodge was cut into the side of the mountain and had winding stairs leading up to the front entrance. The structure had an alpine look with carved shutters and roof trim and window boxes on the railings. Bright red geraniums bloomed in the boxes.

Zach steered me by the elbow up the stairs and into the front entrance. There was not a soul in sight. We walked to the check-in counter. He tapped the bell, and we waited. The room stretched the full length of the building. It was combination reception sitting room with worn overstuffed chairs clustered around a fireplace that was not lit and didn’t look like it had been in a long time. A solitary lamp burned on a pine end table. The glare of a bare light bulb lit the check-in counter. The atmosphere was on the cozy side of seedy.

A thin, wiry man limped down the hall toward us after Zach tapped the bell at the desk again. He didn’t look Greek, at least not short and barrel chested but more Turkish, taller and gaunter in the face. I didn’t think we had crossed over into Turkish Cyprus. We would have had to cross the Green Zone with U.N. border guards.

The man greeted us in Greek. Zach responded, carrying an entire conversation in what appeared to be fluent Greek. Surprise. There was no sign of TV, radio, or general interest in life with the innkeeper.

Zach bent over the register. I watched as he signed Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dellinger. Now we were traveling under assumed names. Mr. and Mrs. was not a good sign.

“I’d like a room of my own,” I said.

“No,” said Zach in a low voice. “Don’t try to make a scene.” He straightened and put his arm around my shoulders. “You don’t think I’d let you out of my sight, do you, my darling Claudie?” he whispered into my ear.

Chills pricked my spine, but it was fear not sexual excitement. The innkeeper watched the little display of affection. The honeymooners.

“If you promise to be really good,” Zach said, “you’ll get a ham sandwich for dinner.”

I gave him a thin smile and patted his cheek, figuring I might as well keep up the charade, if it kept the bullets from flying. I was definitely not partial to flying bullets.

Zach pulled a wad of bills from his pocket and paid the innkeeper, who gave him a receipt and the number of our room. I smiled as pleasantly as I could under the circumstances to the gaunt-faced man. He must have honeymooners come by the wagonload. Zach took my hand which made me jump, my nerves being just about shot, but he held on tight and led me down the hall in pursuit of room 113.

In spite of everything his touch reassured me because a sense of being out on a limb all by myself had set in. Even though I didn’t know whose side Zach was on, at least he had found us shelter for the night. I worried about the bed arrangement. He could have the floor I decided.

“What did the man tell you? He looked Turkish but he spoke Greek. What time is dinner?”

Zach laughed softly, almost a snort. “I didn’t exactly get the in-country report. I just signed us up for a room for the night and arranged for some sandwiches, which they’ll bring to our room along with a few Keos. For your information his Greek had a Turkish accent.”

We stopped outside room 113 while Zach fiddled with the key to unlock the door.

“Where did you learn Greek?”

“In Greece.” He smiled down at me and pushed open the door.

A double bed. I held back but he put his hand to my waist and pushed me in. The room was small with a tiny bathroom and shower. A window looked out on the road we came in. We were two stories up on the hillside. There was another set of rooms under us looking at the same scene. The double bed took up most of the narrow wall. With a straight back chair and a lamp on a stand beside the bed, there wasn’t much sleeping room for a person on the floor.

Zach stood in front of the window and seemed to be studying the lay of the land although what he could see in the gathering dusk I didn’t know.

I cleared my throat. “This is not what I had in mind for sleeping accommodations.”

“I know,” he said, not turning around. “But it’s what we’re going with. I’m going out to bring in our bags and lock up the car.”

He turned dark, inscrutable eyes on me. “Don’t try to take off. These are isolated mountains. It’s cold up here at night even though it’s hot down at sea level. You wouldn’t last long in that outfit.”

We both looked over my shorts and tank top.

His attitude was wearing thin. I was tired, hungry, confused, frustrated, needed a drink bad and was beginning not to care about anything.

“I’m taking a shower,” I said with a look that dared him to stop me. I wasn’t concerned what he thought at this point. “When you bring my bag in, leave it by the bathroom door.”

I went into the bathroom and slammed the door hard, sharing my pent up frustration with the wood door. Not that it mattered much to the door but that simple act felt good. I couldn’t get the instant hot water switch to work so I bathed in a trickle of water from the solar tank. At least the water wasn’t ice cold. Using the small cake of soap, I washed my hair but had a hard time getting all the soap out. By the time I was finished the water was cold. In a perverse way I was pleased he would have to take a cold shower. Maybe it would calm him down.

I pulled my bag into the tiny shower room and got out a pair of fresh shorts and tank top. When I came out of the bathroom, he wasn’t there. I checked the door. Locked. I tried to open the deadbolt but it was jammed or locked from outside. I kicked the door in frustration.

On the stand beside the bed was a tray with several small hard roll sandwiches and two bottles of Keo beer. I could really tie one on with two beers. I took a long, thirsty swallow and smacked my lips good enough for a beer commercial back home.

Zach’s bag was no where to be seen.

By the time I had eaten one of the sandwiches and downed a beer, exhaustion overtook me. The day had started too early and involved too much drama. I stretched out on the bed and turned off the light. I remembered looking out the window at the stars blazing away in a crystal clear night and must have drifted off.

I started awake.

Someone was standing by the bed.

The faint illumination from the lamp on the driveway outlined Zach’s profile. He wore only a pair of shorts and his hair was slicked back wet, like he had just showered. I could see the well-defined contours of the muscles in his chest. Any other time I could be real interested in those muscles but now I tensed, waiting to see what he was going to do. I didn’t have long to wait.

“Time to get up,” he said with no more effort than was needed for a night time conversation.

I propped up on one elbow. “What time is it?”

“Around four A.M. We’re pulling out.”

“Do I get to brush my teeth?” I felt cranky and difficult. And not refreshed at all.

“If you hurry.”

I pushed the hair out of my eyes and tried to finger comb it but ran into too many snarls. It would be impossible to untangle now.

He pulled me from the bed and headed me in the direction of the bathroom. “If you’re cooperative, I’ll buy you a coffee.”

I slammed the bathroom door again. That was beginning to feel really good.

Seven

We watched the sun come up over Chrysochou Bay on the northwest tip of Cyprus. A new day dawned. I didn’t know where my aunt was, I had no cell phone, I was sleep deprived, the police were looking for me, and my kidnapper thought I was a thief.

We had stopped at a café in Polis, a town right on the bay, and sat outside at a small table shaded by a mimosa tree in bloom. The café was no different from hundreds of cafes frequented by Cypriot men drinking coffee, a national past time. I was the only woman as other sane tourist women were no doubt sleeping. Cypriot women didn’t do the café thing.

I was nursing my second small cup of the black tar they call Greek coffee. From the corner sundries store across from the café, afro pop music blared from a CD player. It was a little early in the morning for that level of noise. But it was a catchy tune, and I tapped my fingers on the table top in time with a female rapper who sang in French.

Breakfast arrived as Zach sat down across from me. He had phone calls to make and left, I guess, to have a private conversation. We were the only two tourists in the café accompanied by several Cypriot men engaged in noisy conversation.

“Who’d you call?” I asked, not that I expected a civil answer. I shoved eggs and potatoes in alternate forkfuls into my mouth. I was starved. Adversity had not affected my appetite.

My kidnapper, as I thought of him now, hadn’t said two words the whole trip down from the Troodos Mountains. I had slept most of the way, or tried to while my head banged on the window that I was using as a pillow.

He gave me his half smile like he was trying to decide if he would take me into his confidence or not. “I had to report yesterday’s incident. This morning was the first time I was able to get through.”

Incident? He looked so nonchalant about murder. Two people were dead, and he was reporting an incident. Cool customer. I wondered what he was going to do with me. Being in an altered state, it was hard to get up enough energy to care. He didn’t look any the worse for sleeping in the Rover last night. I figured he thought I would steal it and make my getaway. So much for the sizzling sparks I thought were flying between us.

His wet hair had dried, but he must have used the unfriendly hotel soap because he sported the same wild flyaway hair. That and his unshaven jaw gave him a piratical look. But his unsmiling face said he was angry about something. He sat with his shoulders hunched over like he was guarding a secret.

“I want to call Yannis,” I said, laying down my fork and heaving a satisfied sigh. At least my belly was happy.

Zach chewed silently, studying my face. He didn’t respond but washed down a swallow with a coffee chaser.

“I need to know what is going on and let Yannis know that I’m okay.” I didn’t say safe, just okay.

Zach fished in his pocket, pulled out my cell phone and handed it to me.

“Don’t give him any more information than that. Not right now.”

This guy was something. What did he possibly think I could do by calling Yannis? Unless he thought that Yannis might be in on the smuggling ring. I was afraid of that. That’s probably why he permitted me the call. Two thieves making contact.

I hoped I could catch Yannis before he went to work.

“Ney, ney.”

“Yannis.”

“Princess? Where are you? Are you all right? We are worried to death about you.”

“I’m okay. Have you heard anything about my aunt?”

“Nothing. She seems to have disappeared into thin air. The police were here after you left, and they want you to come in for questioning.”

“Don’t think I will right now.”

“They have an all points bulletin out on you. You are on a wanted list.”

“Me? Gosh, that sounds kind of criminal.”

“If you don’t want them to find you, you better lay low. This is a small country. With your movie star looks, people will recognize you if the police post a photo of you.”

“You didn’t give them one, did you?”

“Not yet. But if they keep the pressure on I may have to. Our police are very efficient. We don’t have a high crime rate and don’t want one. They appear to be getting extremely impatient with the smuggling ring and are eager to make some arrests and have done with it.”

“Gosh.” I didn’t know what else to say. This all sounded so serious. Up until yesterday morning I thought this would be an open and shut case, but now two people were dead. Things were a lot more complicated.

“Where are you?” Yannis asked.

An innocent enough question.

I looked at Zach who was listening to every word, of course. “Hold on a second, Yannis.” I put my hand over the mouthpiece.

“Yannis says there’s a bulletin out on me and wants to know where I am. Are you going to let me go?”

I felt stupid asking permission but this guy had the gun, after all.

He shook his head. “Let me talk to him.” He reached for the phone. I reluctantly handed it over.

“Hi, Yannis. Claudie is fine. She stopped and asked for my help yesterday. I’m taking good care of her.” He smiled at me like he was doing a good job of it. “Yes, we’re making the best of an unfortunate situation.”

He listened for a moment, then said, “Better we don’t tell you where we are.”

Poor Yannis. I know he was thinking the worst. He had warned me about Zach, but for the wrong reasons. I wanted to snatch the phone away and pour out the whole long, pitiful story to Yannis, but Zach had the cell phone firmly in his grip.

“We need to do some investigating of our own. Can you give me the address of Mrs. Crawford, the English widow you went to see?” He patted his pocket. “Got a pen?” he said to me.

I rummaged in my purse and came up with a bright purple one. He scribbled on his napkin. “You don’t happen to have the address of the Italian, what’s his name? Bellomo? Okay, thanks. You have the number here. Sure, call anytime.”

He clicked off without letting me talk again and stuffed the cell phone back in his pocket.

“The police may have tapped his phone. Let’s hope they don’t have a GPS that can locate the position of the phone signal. I’m not surprised you’re on a bulletin.”

“Doesn’t that make me a criminal?” I asked.

“Not exactly. You haven’t been convicted of anything. Yet.” He smirked at me, like it was only a matter of time. He sounded so pleasant.

“More investigating today?”

“You bet. We’ll find the car rental place and see if we can track down the Maruti. Then we’ll call on the Crawford widow, see what she knows.”

That sounded okay to me. “This won’t involve any bullets, will it? What about burying your friends?”

“No bullets. None planned anyway. I didn’t wear my vest today.”

He pulled his shirt up so I could see his tight abs. Was he doing that on purpose? I could have been wrong, but he seemed conflicted about our relationship. I could see it in his eyes. Maybe that was why he was so irritable. He wanted the bait but he didn’t like the barb that came with it. The irony was that the barb was of his making. I wasn’t a thief.

He dropped his shirt. “Max and Irene are being taken care of. Don’t worry. You ready?”

He paid the check, and we walked toward the Land Rover. I put my hand on his arm to stop him. He looked at my hand, then into my eyes.

“What’s going on?” I said. “I feel like a prisoner. Is that a correct reading?”

“No, it is not. I have you under my protection.”

“I’m not sure that’s a comfort. What about Yannis?”

“What about him?”

“You aren’t thinking he is in this, are you?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m keeping an open mind.”

That sounded like a yes to me.

Then he did something unexpected. He put his hand on my neck and stroked my cheek with his thumb. His touch sent shivers through me like the touch of Dracula, sexy but with the potential for a lethal bite. I forced myself to focus on our conversation and pulled his hand away.

“Yannis is an upstanding citizen. He would never do anything like this.”

“Yannis has access to crucial information with his job in the antiquities department.”

“So you ran a background check on him, too?”

Zach nodded.

I searched his eyes for some clue that this was all a joke, but I only found dead serious in the dark shadows.

“Look,” I said, “I promise I won’t try to get away, if you promise to keep an open mind. We’re both trying to find out who did this to my aunt, so why don’t we cooperate?”

“I like that.”

“We’re a team.”

“It’s a deal… Princess.”

His using Yannis’s term of affection gave me pause. I searched his eyes looking for any sign that there was a decent human being inside. The moment passed, and I turned away without an answer.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“For a morning swim until the car rental agency opens. You up for it?”

A morning swim sounded cold but all right with me, as long as it didn’t involve bullets. Where was that blue Maruti and whoever was shooting at us back at the safe house?

“Okay,” I said, “as long as it’s an isolated beach. I need to stay out of the limelight and away from people who have TVs and radios.”

We headed out of town on the road going south toward Pafos.

“The beaches along Lara Bay are isolated,” Zach said, “and they’re on the way. We’ll go there.”

I knew where he meant but was surprised he knew about the Lara beaches. They were not on the usual tourist routes. This man knew more about the island than he let on. I didn’t think my asking how he knew so much would give me a straight answer. But I wondered about it just the same.

The car rental agency was on the north side of Pafos. We were making a giant circle of the West end of the island and would end up back where we started yesterday, a yesterday that had happened centuries ago. There were so many questions not answered. I took deep breaths of the cool morning air flowing in the open windows of the car and tried to stay calm. I was running on adrenaline.

We turned west onto a badly maintained gravel track with rocks the size of footballs in the middle. Zach dodged them with skill but the effort produced a wrenching that made my head nearly hit the ceiling several times. The road wound along a cliff with spectacular views. Zach stopped so we could admire the vast expanse of blue sea sparkling with precious gems.”

I loved Cyprus. I watched the sun play over the water, the wind shoving it into waves. I loved its beauty and its peace and calm and the people, and I hated that I had gotten into this mess. Smuggling didn’t go with the beauty and tranquility of the island. When I found out who the culprits were, I was going to make them pay, if I had any say in the matter.

We stopped at a small cove at the bottom of the cliff. There wasn’t a soul around, not even a lizard in sight. I jumped down from the Rover to have a look. The sand was coarse and heating up. I could tell by the light blue of the water the cove was shallow. I had never been here, and I thought I knew all the coves along Lara Bay. From our position I judged it to be above the turtle hatchery, a popular tourist spot along the west coast of the island north of Coral Bay.

I didn’t happen to be wearing my bikini briefs so I pulled open the back door to get my pack and rummaged around for my bottoms. Zach did the same. Our eyes met over the back seat.

“Going topless today?”

Did I catch a gleam of hope in those big brown eyes?

“I never bring tops to Cyprus.” I pulled my shirt up over my head. I hadn’t bothered with a bra this morning. The actress in me was in overdrive. I had missed my calling. I could have sworn I heard a loud suck of breath as my arms went over my head, and it wasn’t from my mouth. I unzipped my shorts and looked over to see if Zach was still watching.

He was.

I dropped them. “You going to hang in for the finale?” I hooked my fingers through my thong ready to strip.

He half smiled and pulled his shirt over his head. I chickened out and turned my back, slipping off my thong and pulling on my bikini. He won that round.

Nude bathing was not unheard of around the island and not infrequently I had been on beaches where whole families bathed in the nude, usually the Scandinavians, certainly not the Cypriots. But I found some amount of modesty can be sexy so I elected for bottoms for this swim.

Zach did not. He wore not a stitch.

I watched the real attractive end of him head into the water ahead of me. I had a weakness for nice buns. These were exceptional.

I waded in, gasping at the chilly temperature of the Mediterranean in May, scanned the water for undesirable sea creatures like nettles then swam out toward the deep blue water.

Zach swam ahead of me with long powerful strokes like he had a destination. I followed slower then rolled on my back and floated, my hair fanning out around me in the water, the sun warm on my breasts. What a way to live. If I didn’t end up in a Cypriot prison with my aunt, I’d move to this lovely island. I certainly could manage the mutual fund from here.

The mutual fund.

I hadn’t thought about it in over twenty-four hours, and I was to have called Lena yesterday. Geez, it wasn’t any big deal, because Lena could handle the fund without me for a few days. She might be worried, but I was sure that Yannis would have filled her in if she had called his house. I couldn’t believe I had totally forgotten.

I did some surface dives, looking around the rocky sea bottom for ancient treasures someone may have missed, then remembered why I was here, and the allure of antiquities dimmed.

I surfaced, swiped the hair from my eyes, and came face to face with Mr. NYPD.

“Enjoying yourself?” he asked.

My breath caught in my throat.

His hair was slicked back from his forehead accentuating the breadth and strength of his brow. Drops of water glistened in his eyelashes, and the sun reflecting on the water made his eyes bright and his tan deeper. His face could have been sculpted by Michelangelo. The lines were clean and strong.

“Yes, you?”

“Yeah, but I’m heading in.” He turned and swam to shore with those long, determined strokes. On the beach he stood to dry off, and I got a glimpse of all of him. Breathtaking.

I stumbled out of the water, sweeping the hair from my face. He caught my elbow and pulled me against him. My lord, he felt good. I discovered I wanted him as bad as he wanted me. Right then and there we satisfied our desire for each other, standing on that deserted beach with the heat of the sun beating on us, the waves lapping at our feet.

What a swim.

Eight

“What about you and Yannis?” Zach asked.

I blinked out of my post-coital haze. We were on the highway, speeding south toward to Pafos.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, don’t you two have something going?” Zach stared straight ahead, eyes on the road.

“No. He’s a dear friend, and our relationship has stayed that way all these years. He gets jealous, but it doesn’t mean anything. He has plenty of women to comfort him.”

Zach was silent. We were testing new ground after the interlude on the beach at Lara Bay. I hoped I wasn’t getting into one of those sicko arrangements where nice girl falls for kidnapper. I never bought those stupid stories, but I might be living one now.

“Will you pull over at that tourist store up ahead?” I asked.

He glanced over with a puzzled look.

“I need a disguise like a big hat, bigger sunglasses, long pants, loud shirt. After all, the police are looking for me. Probably wouldn’t hurt if you looked more like a tourist, too.”

He cracked a grin and swung into the dusty parking lot.

The Park ‘N’ Buy was like hundreds of little tourist stores all over Cyprus. You could buy anything from drinks to snacks to T-shirts to reproduction pottery with ancient Greeks doing obscene things around the sides. Everything was open air. Hanging shirts and purses were blowing in the warm breeze.

I picked out white Capri pants and a pink blouse with Pafos scrolled across the pocket. A floppy black straw hat caught my eye with Cyprus written across the band in red italics. I found big black rimmed sunglasses with black lenses and a cheap gold chain necklace with Saint Christopher medallion that appealed to me. I needed all the help Saint Christopher could give.

Zach picked out boat shoes, tan Bermuda shorts, multi-hue floral shirt, and a panama style straw hat with a black band. His day’s growth of dark brown beard with sun streaked brown hair gave him a trendy look.

The feeling between us had changed. I wasn’t sure who he was or what would happen, but I was enjoying today better than yesterday.

I changed in the car as we drove down the highway with Zach exhibiting an extraordinary amount of interest as I pulled off my top, replacing it with the blouse and shimmying down my shorts and pulling on the longer pants.

“Nice legs,” he said. “Nice breasts. You ever been a model?”

“Not yet, but it might be my next career if I ever get out of the fix I’m in.”

He grinned and pulled out a cigar. A long, fat cigar.

“You don’t smoke cigars,” I said.

He shrugged. “It goes with my tourist image.” He glanced at me. “I won’t light it. Just chew on it,” he said and grinned maliciously.

“Are you really NYPD?” I asked. Something I couldn’t put my finger on made me ask that question.

He nodded. “Really am.”

“Where’s your badge?”

He fished in his pocket and pulled out the pile of loose cards he carried, flipped through them while alternately watching the road, and passed one over.

The man looking back at me from the badge had a beard, dark hair, looked thirty pounds heavier and wore no uniform. But it had New York Police Department on it and his name, Zachariah Bronsen Lamont. It wasn’t a police badge. It was one more like tech geeks wore around their necks.

“This doesn’t look like you.”

He shrugged and chewed on the cigar. “I’m in disguise, and I was a little heavier then.”

He flashed me another grin.

The man in the photo resembled Zach, but the thought occurred to me that he said he had three brothers and what if one looked a lot like him and was NYPD. A niggling doubt. The man in this photo might not be Zach Lamont, although the name said it was. Forgers could remedy that. I handed it back.

We hit the outskirts of Pafos and more tourist stores. Hotels and restaurants increased in number and intensity. Most buildings were two story stucco types, white with archways, some with balconies, a style found all over the world in countries with warm climates.

Zach turned into the car rental agency. It was just opening. “Wait here. Even though you have your disguise on, we don’t want to arouse anymore suspicion than necessary.”

I nodded. I had fixed my hair into a knot on top my head and with the floppy hat, my hair and forehead were totally covered. The big sunglasses hid a good part of the rest of my face.

Zach went in to the small building that served as an office. The cars on the lot were in various stages of disrepair. This was not Hertz. The blue Maruti looked like it could have come from here. He came back out with a barrel-shaped man sporting a bushy black mustache who pointed like he was giving Zach directions. Zach nodded and they talked, the man making a waving gesture over his collection of cars. Zach pointed to one of the Honda SUVs on the lot, a muted green color with hardly any dents. They shook hands, and the mustachioed man went inside.

Zach came over to my side of the car and leaned in. “Get your stuff together and put it in the Honda over there. We’re changing cars.”

I sighed. I rather liked this luxurious Land Rover, but I guess a fugitive had to be more careful than comfortable. Zach came back out with keys and moved his stuff and the supplies in the back that included a heavy duffle bag.

I didn’t want to know what was in it.

As we pulled out, he said, “The man says the American couple have rented the Maruti for a month and gave me directions how to find the address they listed on the rental agreement. We’ll pay them a visit. He also said the police had been here and asked him about the same Maruti.”

I stared at him. “The police? Geez, Yannis must have told them about the Maruti.” The thought that the police were closing in gave me an attack of claustrophobia.

The house we sought was at the end of a dead end street. Zach made a U-turn at the end and parked on the opposite side of the street a few houses away. He pulled down both sun visors.

“What are we doing?” I asked, as he settled down to chew on his cigar.

“This is called a stake out. Take your hat off but keep the eyewear on.” He took his hat off and laid it on the console between us.

I did as requested. “What are we staking out?”

“We’re going to watch the activity around this house and on the street for a while. If we become too obvious, we’ll drive away. I want to see who is staying in the house, what they do, where they go. Unfortunately, the Cypriot police might have the same idea, so keep your eyes peeled for another stake out car.”

I laughed to myself. How would I know what a stake out car looked like? But I didn’t want to appear that unversed so I put on my best stake out face. We waited. And waited. I nodded off at some point for lack of sleep and the creeping heat of the day. I started awake at the touch of Zach’s hand on mine.

“I’m going to walk to the back of the house and look around. Can I trust you to stay here?”

I looked at the ignition.

He smiled. “I’m taking the keys with me.”

“Then I won’t be going anywhere, will I?” I closed my eyes again and leaned my head against the seat.

He squeezed my arm. “You’re supposed to stay awake and watch the house.”

“Okay, chief. Will do.” I sat up and tried to appear alert.

He put on a navy blue NY baseball cap he had bought at the Park ‘N’ Buy and eased out of the car. Very clever disguise. No walkers, no runners, no residents out for a stroll or going to the store. If my memory served me correctly, it should be Tuesday. Most Cypriots would be working. It was getting on toward noon, so the tourists had probably drifted away to the beach or sightseeing. If the American couple were tourists, then they were probably at the beach or sightseeing. Or maybe they were helping with the archaeological dig at the Castle of Forty Columns, since they were supposed to be part of the team. If they were, Zach and I should walk over there since it wasn’t far to walk to the dig by the beach road.

My thoughts wandered to the guy holding binoculars and looking at us on the cliffs above Agios Georgios. Was he driving the blue Maruti that the American couple had rented? Why had two guys pursued us through Pafos? Had they been watching Yannis’s house? If so, why had they followed me to the Coral Bay, unless they were watching the Coral Bay or vacationing there and didn’t have anything better to do and decided to follow me.

I mulled over something that was bothering me. The first time we saw the Maruti was on the cliff at the beach. Zach and Yannis were with me. The second time was Monday morning at the Coral Bay. Zach was staying there.

They were following Zach. Why?

Who were those guys? Did they kill Max and Irene? No, they couldn’t have killed them. They were following us, and we lost them on the other side of Pafos. They were behind us. Then who killed Max and Irene and why? My partner wasn’t offering any explanations, but I could ask him again.

And here he came looking like he was trying to hold a run to a walk. He jumped into the car and took off flying to the intersection and hung a right without stopping. Thank all the Greek and Roman gods, no traffic was coming.

“What happened? What’s the rush?” I said, as I clutched the hand hold to keep from flying through the window as we careened around the corner.

“I found the Maruti.”

“Where?” I looked around, bobbing back and forth, trying to see through the traffic behind us.

“It was parked in the drive behind the house, accessed through a narrow alley at the end of the dead end.”

“So?”

“You see anyone following us?” Zach looked in the rear view mirror.

I checked. “No blue Maruti, if that’s what you mean. Would you please tell me what is going on?”

“I slipped in the back through the sliding glass doors.”

“Great, breaking and entering we add to the list.”

“No, that’s not breaking and entering. I was just visiting friends if anyone asked.”

“Then what?”

He slowed down, made a series of right turns, pulled over into a crowded parking lot in front of a downtown restaurant advertising the world’s best seafood, found a parking space, and cut the engine.

“Slide down in the seat,” he said, and I, being the obedient slave that I was, obeyed.

“Will you please tell me what is going on?”

“Two guys were in a room upstairs. It’s packed with communications equipment, computers, routers, radios. Maps on the wall.”

“What would they be doing with that?”

“Fomenting terror, maybe. That’s what I’m here to find out. I’ll go back when they aren’t there and check out the computers.”

“They didn’t see you?”

“I don’t think so, and I don’t think they followed us. But let’s wait here for about five minutes just in case.”

We waited. It got miserably hot in the car real fast. I had a better idea. I was hungry.

“How about we wait in the restaurant and get something to eat while we do?” I asked.

“All right. Walk as quickly as you can but don’t look like you’re being pursued.”

It was awfully complicated being in law enforcement, I was beginning to find out. I waltzed into the restaurant with Zach right behind me.

“Table for two?” the waiter asked.

“Please,” said Zach. “How about the booth in the corner?”

“Certainly, sir. This way, please.”

Our table was private, even intimate. White table cloth, white cloth napkins, bud vase with single, plastic pink rose. We looked out on the parking lot.

“What will you have?” asked Zach.

“A glass of red wine.”

“Anything beside?” He arched an eyebrow.

I could see his eyes again since he had taken off the sunglasses along with the Panama hat he laid on the seat beside him. I took off the sunglasses but opted for leaving on the black, floppy hat with wide brim.

“Want to split a bottle wine?”

He shook his head. “I’m driving. I’m having a beer and steak.”

“This is a seafood restaurant.”

“It says here they have porterhouse steak, and I’m having one.”

The waiter came to our table, looking expectant in crisp white shirt and black trousers. Zach gave him our drink order.

“You know what you want?” Zach said.

“I’ll have fish kebab and chips.”

He gave the order, and the waiter walked away, humming.

The restaurant was noisy and packed with the mid-day lunch crowd, more Cypriot than tourist. We stood out, but maybe I was being paranoid.

The waiter came back with our drinks. I held my glass up for a toast.

“To a quick end to the smuggling caper.”

“I’ll drink to that,” said Zach. We clinked bottle and glass.

He slouched back against the booth and ran a hand through his hair. He looked smooth and unruffled. His floral shirt gave him a laid back tourist look. I wish I could feel like he looked.

“You have anybody back home?” Zach asked.

He caught me off guard. I took a sip of wine. “What do you mean?”

“You married?” he asked.

“No.” I snorted, real unladylike, but I couldn’t help it. “After this morning you think I’m married?”

“Some women don’t make a distinction.”

“I’m not married.” That gave me pause. He might be. “You married?”

“No.”

“Ever?”

“Yep, didn’t work out. A life in law enforcement is hard on marriage. You have anyone waiting back home for you?” He certainly was being persistent.

“Not anymore,” I said and left it at that.

I looked away. He was trying to figure our relationship and so was I. I wasn’t real comfortable with the subject, since I hadn’t figured out if this was a pre-jail fling, vacation dalliance, seduction of Mata Hari, or what. So I changed the subject.

“The men in the Maruti are after you.”

He nodded. “I know.”

“I thought they were after me.”

“No.”

“Are you going to tell me why?”

He looked at me like he was trying to decide what he could and couldn’t say and for good effect looked over his shoulder and around at the people dining near us. Everyone jabbered away in Greek as far as I could hear.

“NYPD had a tip that a terrorist cell was forming on Cyprus. It is my job to find out if that is true. What I saw this morning looks like I might have found it.”

“Do you know who they represent?”

He shrugged. “Not yet. But I will.”

“Where do Max and Irene fit in?”

He blew out a breath, looked out the window into the glare from the parking lot. “They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. If I’m getting closer to the terrorists, they’re getting closer to me. They are well-organized, well-funded, and have sophisticated communications equipment. Cell phones are easily monitored. You don’t see me with one, do you?”

I shook my head no.

“I make calls from public phones when I need to and only when I need to. Max and Irene have been at that house for a while. It was a matter of time until someone figured out who they were. I’m sorry they thought killing Max and Irene would solve anything. But then these are people that blow themselves up to take a lot of other people with them. They use airplanes as weapons. They’re insane.”

Our meal arrived on that cheery note. I was once again famished. Along with our entrees the waiter placed before us a salad of tomatoes, green peppers, black olives and cabbage drizzled with olive oil and feta cheese.

We spent a few moments in silence as we demolished our food. I sighed in contentment.

“Your kebabs okay?” Zach asked.

“Delicious. How about your steak?”

“Perfect.”

I waded in again. “What about my aunt? You can’t possibly believe she fits into this terrorist thing, do you?”

“She might have inadvertently wedged herself into the smuggling shoe along with the terrorists. That’s how they finance a lot of their operations. They’ll smuggle anything from potsherds to F14s. You wouldn’t believe the smuggling market worldwide. It’s probably double the size of the legitimate market.”

“That’s incredible. You don’t think my aunt’s in any danger, do you? The terrorists wouldn’t be interested in an eccentric old lady, would they?”

Zach put down his knife and fork. His eyes met mine.

“Claudie, terrorists don’t stop at eccentric old ladies. They stop at nothing. Your aunt could be anywhere. This is the first time she came up on my radar screen. I have to follow any lead that might help me crack this case.”

I looked out the window and pushed my sunglasses back on, not wanting him to see me tear up. I was surprised myself at my reaction. He still thought of my aunt as a suspect. I had to prove him wrong. In doing that I’d clear myself of the cloud hovering over me. I willed myself to calm down and think level headed.

I guess it was good I had a partner like him to help me find her. Unfortunately, he was into something much deadlier than smuggling a few small statues. I didn’t want to get involved in terrorism. But by association, I already was. I had to depend on him whether I trusted him or not.

Our being lovers complicated things a bit, didn’t it?

He touched my finger tips with his. “Hey, I’ll help your aunt, if I possibly can. I promise. Don’t go crying on me.”

“I’m not crying,” I said, still hiding behind the glasses.

“Yeah, then why is your nose red?” He pulled a handkerchief out of his back pocket and handed it to me. It was clean, white and pressed.

I wiped at my nose and eyes. He paid the bill and stood. “C’mon, we’ll try to find who your aunt was associating with while she was here, including Mr. Bellomo.”

I scooted out of the booth and followed him from the still crowded restaurant, and thanked the ancient gods for another good meal on Cyprus. I don’t think I had ever had a bad one.

Zach eased into traffic and headed for old town Pafos where Mrs. Crawford lived, the same place Yannis and I had visited only two days ago, more like two millennia. I doubted she would be home. More than likely she would be out with her friends having lunch and doing the tourist thing. There were tons of Brits on the island. She was sure to have connections and a multitude of opportunities for socializing.

We decided since I had been there before that I would do the front work. The same Cypriot woman answered my knock and said no, Mrs. Crawford was with her friends and no, she didn’t know where that would be, but she would be home later, if I cared to call again. Would I like to leave a card? I declined since I didn’t have any on me. I thanked her in my hesitant Greek and tried to tell her I would call again. I hope I said it correctly. In Greek inflection is everything.

“Where to now?” I asked, back in the car.

“To see if we can catch up with Escort Tours. Maybe Lonnie is having a tour today, and the widows are with him.”

We wound through old Pafos through narrow streets with brightly painted houses built smack up against the street to an open-sided store with an Escort Tours sign hanging off the building. The interior was painted an amazing green. We had missed the tour, but the old man with grizzled hair and sunken mouth, who served as Lonnie’s assistant of sorts, said that no English widows were on the tour today. Sorry.

We sat in the car and shared a bottle of water.

“Zach, what about the American couple? Are they living in the house with all the communications equipment and the blue Maruti?”

“I couldn’t tell, but they’re on the list of people to see.”

“We could go by the dig where they are supposed to be.” After I thought about it, I said, “But probably they won’t be there. Lonnie said they were dig groupies which means they’re probably on the beach or sightseeing, since they don’t actually work the dig. They came on the trip for the tax break.”

We were at a standstill.

“Mind if I call Lena?”

He shook his head in the negative. “Cells phone can be traced and conversations listened to. Can’t take the chance. The vibrator has been going off all morning so someone is trying to get through to you.”

“Maybe it’s my aunt. She knows my number. Can’t I at least see the caller ID list?”

He pursed his lips and seemed to consider the request. He wore his NY baseball cap and dark glasses so I couldn’t read his eyes. He pulled the cell phone out of his pocket.

“Okay, read the numbers, no calls.”

“Right.”

I studied the numbers. Yannis had called six times. Lena twice. The last number was an unrecognizable jumble, and I told Zach about it.

“Okay if I listen to the messages?”

He nodded once.

All of Yannis’s calls said to call him, it was urgent. Lena said to call her, it was urgent. The last caller, in an accent I couldn’t place, said, “Kill the man with you, if you want to see your aunt again.”

Nine

When Zach heard my gasp, he yanked the phone away and played the message. He swore and said, “That might be our friend in the Maruti.”

I braced my hand on my forehead to still the dizzying spiral in my brain. A level of fear far beyond anything I ever experienced seared through me, destroying all reason and logic. My heart beat staccato time. I was falling apart. It was taking everything I had to hold myself together. Every moment I was sinking deeper and deeper into the quagmire.

“I want out, Zach. I can’t be a player in this game. People are getting killed and talking about killing. I want out.”

The Honda inched down the hill from old Pafos toward the harbor area. The street was narrow. The traffic was picking up. People were heading to the evening openings of stores and shops after being closed for the mid-day meal. Everything looked so normal. Zach said nothing. A big lead ball of fear expanded in my belly.

The beautiful Mediterranean Sea sparkled in the distance. Diamonds played across her surface. I was paralyzed not by her beauty but by fear. Stark, spine numbing fear. Who were these people who so easily spoke of murder? I did not want to know them.

“You can’t get out now,” said Zach. He spoke in a soft voice but somehow it sounded sinister, threatening. Fatal.

“Who are you?” I yanked off my sunglasses. “Look at me and tell me who you are.”

He kept on driving, eyes fixed on the road.

“Tell me who you are.” I screamed, hurling all my anger, frustration, and fear into the scream. “Tell me the truth.”

We were back out on the main drag through Pafos. He pulled over to the sidewalk, cut the engine and turned to face me. He took off his sunglasses and met my frantic, teary, terrified gaze. He didn’t try to touch me and spoke without anger, without any kind of emotion. “I can’t share what I know with you. If you know and they get to you, it might put you in a more danger. I might endanger a lot more people than just you, me and your aunt. I could ask you to trust me, but I know you can’t. All I can say is that I’ll help you.”

I searched his eyes, those deep brown eyes that hid a thousand secrets. “I am terrified. Don’t you understand? I am terrified.”

He nodded. “I know, but this is more than you and me.”

“I’m afraid they’re going to kill my aunt. They want me to kill you. Don’t you understand?”

Zach blew out a breath and shoved his baseball hat back on his head. “That’s what they want. They want you to be terrified, to make irrational decisions, to run scared. It might be an idle threat. It’s designed to frighten you, and it did. These are terrorists, remember. They create terror to paralyze us all, and they’re doing a good job of it.”

I kept searching his eyes, kept looking for answers.

“They know we’re together,” I said. “They know what we are doing. I keep watching my back, like any moment someone will jump out with a gun and do something awful. Do you understand what I have been through in the last two days? You might be used to murder and cloak and dagger stuff, but I’m not. Please believe me. My aunt and I are not criminals. We are not thieves.”

My voice hit high, piercing decibels. I bit my lip to try to get a grip. I was loosing it, and he was right. I wasn’t holding up well.

He looked away and seemed to study the street. Then he did that funny little thing again. He turned back toward me, reached out and cupped my neck with his warm hand and caressed my cheek with his thumb.

“Claudie, I want to believe you. I’ll protect you as best I can. Try not to let them get to your mind. Now I’ve got to make a call.”

He pulled away from the curb. “There’s a public phone around the block. I’m going to park on the side street and make the call. After that you can call Yannis on that phone and have him call Lena and tell her you are okay, that we’re trying to find your aunt. He’s the only one you will stay in contact with and the call cannot be more than sixty seconds. After that it could be traced to where you are by the police or by our terrorist friends. You understand?”

“Sixty seconds?”

“That’s all you have. That’s all if you want to stay alive, and you want to keep me alive.”

I slumped back against the seat. I felt forsaken by all the ancient gods of the island.

He pulled around the block, found the sparse shade of a young mimosa tree and parked.

“Stay here while I call.”

I put my sunglasses back on and didn’t reply. What was there to say? I reflected on the irrational world I was in and the rational world I had left. Maybe it wasn’t as rational as I thought it was. Maybe it was crazy, and I was an ostrich with my head in the sand, like millions of other people. Maybe the world had never been rational. I had the unnerving feeling that the glue that held me together was unstuck and small pieces of my sanity were flaking off and blowing away.

Zach walked back to the car from the telephone booth. He wore the boat shoes, floral shirt, baseball cap, looking for all the world like an American tourist, not a guy on a mission to clear out a terrorist cell on the most beautiful island in the Mediterranean.

“Your turn,” he said, as he slid behind the wheel. “Remember, sixty seconds. You don’t want to give away our position.”

“What happens after sixty seconds?”

“Electronic positioning equipment will trace the call to the exact location from which it is placed. Please do not try anything funny, like calling anyone else. I need to trust you.” His eyes held mine. “And you need to trust me.”

I nodded, got out of the car and hurried over to the phone. I would have to trust him. I would make one call to Yannis. I called his office, but the phone rang and rang and rang. He wasn’t going to pick up. I tried his home. No answer.

I hung up and walked back, no spring in my step. I got into the car and closed the door and sat there staring straight ahead. “He wasn’t there. What do we do now?”

Zach passed me a bottle of water. “Let’s go to the beach near the Forty Column Castle. We could rest on the beach for a while, walk around, look at the dig, ask a few questions.”

I remembered our beach time this morning and looked at him.

One side of his mouth twitched up. “This time we really will rest and catch some rays.”

I smiled. “Sure, why not?”

The beach Zach had in mind was on the west side of Pafos north of the Agora, castle and mosaics sites. We bounced along an unpaved road we accessed from a residential side street and pulled into a sandy parking lot that sat far back from the water’s edge. The site wasn’t great for swimming because of the rocks in the water along the beach. The shore was peppered with only a few European bathers, taking the sun. Cypriots didn’t swim this time of year, the water was too cold and most of them would be working or keeping house this time of day.

I hopped out and stood by the open door, checking out the scene. There were two other cars in the parking lot. I had put on my back up pair of bikinis when I dressed at the beach this morning after that incredible swim. I wasn’t sure what Zach would do, since he’d have to wear a suit at this beach.

He opened both car doors to serve as a dressing room, pulled out a pair of Speedos, and started to undress. I watched from across the front seat. It was a welcome diversion from the nightmare. He glanced at me and saw that I was watching. He flipped off his hat, unbuttoned his shirt one button at a time, pausing a mini-beat between buttons, shrugged it off and threw it on the seat. His muscles flexed and bunched, his chest and back a rich tan. He didn’t have an ounce of fat on him.

Fear heightened sensibilities still gripped my insides. But the promise in his eyes soothed my frazzled nerves and diverted my attention away from the nightmare.

He slipped off his shorts. His long, bare legs were heavily muscled. He turned full frontal toward me, knowing I was watching him. And grinned.

I could feel the steam rise in me from far down in my toes. Bracing his arms on the car door frame, he leaned his head against it, looking into my eyes. He was something else. How I would ever survive the extremes of emotion I was living through today, added to the sexual juices that this man stirred up in me, I didn’t know.

My tongue slid over my lower lip. His eyes fixed on my face and what I was doing with my lips and tongue. I pulled my pants down, dropped them to the ground. Taking my time, I unbuttoned the shirt and let it drop on the ground. He watched, no longer grinning, with a light in his eyes that said unguarded, all out sex. I was ready.

He straightened and looked around the parking lot. Not a soul in sight. He waved his head toward the back seat. We got in and shut the doors. No kissing for openers this time. Our bodies molded together like spoons stacked in a drawer. This time it was like he was trying to calm me, caress me into thinking this was the most important happening in the world, and it would go on forever. There was nothing else.

And I wanted it to go on forever.

After, we slumped in the seat, draped over each other in a protective cocoon. The heat, the climax, the extremes of the day overtook me, and I fell into a delicious half-doze with Zach wrapped around me.

“Claudie.” He whispered in my ear. “You okay?”

“More than okay. Can’t you hear me purring?”

He kissed my ear. I turned over to face him. We smiled lazy smiles at each other. He cupped by neck and caressed my cheek with his thumb. I sighed many unsighed sighs. A sea breeze from the open windows flicked over my hot skin, cooling some of the slick sweat that covered us both.

“Want more?” he said to me, his face a whisper from mine.

I nodded.

Cramped as we were in that back seat, the thought that someone might find us at any time and the shear wantonness of what we were doing added to the thrill. We took our time and used our mouths and bodies to work out the seductive chemistry between us until we were both spent once more.

“God, you are incredible,” he said in a husky voice.

I traced the outline of his lips. “So are you.”

The crunch of footsteps going by outside the car gave us pause. Zach looked up over the seat. The footsteps kept going, unaware of two lovers in the backseat of a Honda SUV.

“Want to sit up?” he asked.

“Okay, sure. I don’t know how the two of us managed all that in this back seat, being the size we are.”

“We didn’t think once we got started.”

He helped me into a sitting position, and I pushed my hair from my eyes. My top knot had come undone, and my hair fell around my face and shoulders. He swept his hand through my hair, pulling it off my shoulders and planted a kiss on my neck.

“Maybe,” I said, “we should rent a hotel room and get this out of our systems.”

“I don’t know if that’s possible. You have the most luscious body I have ever had the pleasure of lusting after.” He passed my shirt. “Not that I want to stop, but there’s a couple coming up from the beach, and it looks like they might be headed for that car.” He nodded in the direction of one of the two other cars in the lot and passed me a bottle of water, warm but thirst quenching.

The sunburned couple got in the car and left, never noticing us, intent upon their own life, their own pleasures. The few bathers still on the beach were packing to leave.

We sat, sharing the bottle of water, looking out to sea. Zach placed his arm around my shoulder, and we watched in silence together. The steam in the back seat of the rented Honda SUV gradually dissipated.

“Doesn’t it look like diamonds,” I said, “the way the sun catches the light on the water?”

“Yes, millions of them.”

“That has always been Cyprus for me, the diamonds, the breathtaking blue of the sea, the gentle waves. The endlessness of it. Always changing, always the same.”

“You waxing poetic on me?”

I laughed. “It’s a state of mind I escape to sometimes.”

“You are more breathtaking than the sea,” he said and kissed my temple through my hair.

“You want to go for a swim?” he asked after we sat for a while longer enjoying the silence and the sea and each other.

“Sure. The beach here is rocky. We’ll need to be careful.”

“I know.”

My bikini was wedged under the front passenger’s seat, and I wiggled into it. Zach found his Speedo suit and slipped it on.

We walked barefoot to the beach, treading carefully on the pebbles. I spotted a clear path through the seaweed and rocks out to open water, and we swam out together. The shock of the cold water cooled my body and my brain.

Rolling over onto my back, I looked at the beach. The tops of the buildings in the distance marked where the main street ran parallel to the beach. Above the roofs of the houses and stores the dim outline of mountains rose like a mirage. The lighthouse near the Forty Column Castle loomed on the south horizon. The sun moved lower in the sky in its never ending cycle, the shoreline remained unchanging, the rocks and waves coupled in an eternal dance with the sea. The beautiful scenery hadn’t changed, but I had.

Ten

“Where to now?” I asked after we had dried off and dressed by the car. We were the last to leave the beach.

“Let’s walk over to the ruins and get a drink at the harbor. We still need to kill some time before we make our round of calls. We can blend into the tourist crowd. You hungry?”

I smiled. “Starved. You kidding? After all that exercise?”

He smiled back, and the glow in his eyes told me he had had as much fun as I had.

We could see the tops of the arches in the Forty Column Castle from where we stood. The walk was short. The evening, lovely. We could watch the sun set. I was putting a romantic spin on the whole affair, wasn’t I?

He held out his hand, and I took it, still glowing from the intimacy we had shared. Don’t overdo this I warned myself. Enjoy this for what it is. Let it go when it’s over.

We walked south along the goat path that wound through rocks and over the beach to the ruins of the Odeon, an amphitheater that dated back to the 2nd century AD. We stopped, so I could show Zach how the acoustics worked. I stood center stage. He sat halfway up the amphitheater. I talked in a normal voice and gave a blow by blow description of our lovemaking session in the car. He heard every word and clapped in appreciation. Those Romans knew how to build a theater.

We headed for Saranta Kolones, Greek for the Forty Column Castle, not one column of which was still standing. Only a few arches and the massive walls remained of the Byzantine fortress, destroyed by an earthquake in 1223. On our way we passed the tents of the archaeological dig at the ancient Roman villa where they had uncovered spectacular mosaics. The tents served to protect the excavation and the diggers. When I had helped, one of the archeologists had splashed water on the mosaics to show how the colors came alive. Photos in books did not do justice to the real mosaics.

The sun set, the breeze died. The light was clear and low horizon clouds made the western sky glow with gold and crimson. We walked in silence for most of the way, hand-in-hand when the path was wide enough.

A kaleidoscope of images tumbled through my mind — my aunt gripping the bars in the jail cell, the interlude in the back seat of the car, the bottoms of the shoes lying in the garden at the safe house, Zach’s naked body standing in the waves of Lara Bay, the rifle crack of flying bullets, the message to kill the man who was with me. The images were at odds with the peacefulness of the scene through which we now strolled.

Where was my aunt? What was she doing and how would I ever help her? I hoped she was safe, but when my mind replayed the frightening images of the last two days, fear spiked through me again and scorched my nerves.

As we passed the castle I shivered, remembering the excavators’ stories of how they had found people buried in place as they fell inside the castle during the earthquake. They had lain as they had fallen all these years. Stories abounded in the local community of lost treasure yet to be found. As far as I knew it was all myth and rumor. That all was so very long ago and so very far away from my predicament. No one was hanging around the site. Work had stopped for the day. Not that I had entertained hope of finding the American couple around the dig.

“Have you ever eaten at Hondros?” Zach asked.

“Many times. Let’s go there. Good Cypriot food.”

“I don’t think we’ll be recognized but keep your hat on just in case. Besides it looks good on you.”

He had donned his Panama for the walk over and looked the tourist. The floral shirt put him over the top. The short gravel road we followed from the castle brought us to the main paved street out of lower Pafos. On the corner sat the Hondros restaurant. I was primed for a glass of wine and good food, especially Cyprus chips.

The waiter seated us, and we studied the menu. It was too early for Cypriot diners. A party of Brits sat at a table across the room enjoying cocktail hour. We sat facing the street, everything open air. Our drinks arrived, a Keo for Zach and a glass of red wine for me.

As I sipped the wine I engaged in some serious people watching. A scruffy looking guy in fatigue shorts and flip flops walked by, trailing a group of people that included three gray-haired ladies.

I grabbed Zach’s arm and in a low voice said, “There’s Lonnie and look who’s with him.”

“The widows.”

“I’m going to talk to them.” I got up to go but didn’t make it half-way out of my seat before Zach had his hand on my arm to restrain me.

“Wait. Let me go. They don’t know me, and they might have heard about you.”

He gave me a hard stare. “You wait here.” His look softened. “Please. Stay here until I get back, okay?”

I nodded and smiled and as soon as he left the restaurant, I looked around for a pay phone. The waiter said there was a pay phone on the corner half a block down. I told him we both would be back and took off down the street. First I dialed Yannis’s number.

“Ney, ney.”

Oh, thank you Sweet Jesus, it was Yannis.

“Yannis, it’s Claudie, we have sixty seconds, tell me what’s so urgent?

“Princess? Where are you? Are you okay? What is going on?”

“I’m fine. Please I only have sixty seconds, what’s so urgent? Have you heard from my aunt? Is she okay?”

“We have heard nothing from your aunt. The police, of course, are looking, but she seems to have vanished from the face of the Earth.”

“Then what was so urgent?”

“Zach Lamont is wanted by the FBI in the United States for smuggling antiquities and weapons. He is a felon and a criminal and has served time in jail. The Cypriot police are looking for him. Are you still with him?”

Holy Mother of all the Greek gods. “You can’t be serious.”

“Princess, I have never been more serious in my life. Where is he?”

“I was with him, but I’m not right this instant.” I knew I was stretching the truth, but I couldn’t tell Yannis. It could put him in danger. What if someone was monitoring the call? “He’s been protecting me, sort of.”

“Claudie, you must go to the police. Get away from him.”

Sixty seconds. I hung up and faded into the shadows by the building on the corner that housed a noisy music store. I flattened myself against the warm concrete of the building, hoping I might disappear. I needed to think.

Zach, a smuggler? How did he know about the safe house? And the NYPD badge? Of course, it had to be a forgery. If he circulated in the world of criminals, forging documents was probably an everyday necessity. What was Zach’s motivation in holding me captive? An easy piece? That was comforting. If he thought that I was tied up with my aunt, my value to him was a way to access what he wanted. He must really think I was a thief. Maybe that was the attraction. And the men following us? Zach must have something they wanted. A horrible been-had feeling crept through my gut. My skin felt like it was crawling with worms. Slippery, slimy, creepy worms.

I took stock. I had the clothes on my back and my purse. Zack had the keys to the car. I had to get a taxi and go to the police. But if I went to the police, they might throw me in jail, and I still wouldn’t know where my aunt was. If I went to Limasol which was over an hour away, maybe I could find my aunt’s boy friend. Maybe he knew where she was. But Zach had the address. That meant I’d have to call Yannis again. But not from here.

Taxi. I needed a taxi. I needed to get away from Zach. I didn’t want to think about what we had been doing back there in the car. Making whoopee with a criminal? I was slipping to a new low.

I peeked around the corner of the building, back toward the restaurant. No Zach or Lonnie or gray haired old ladies in sight. I crossed the street and headed toward the main boulevard that would take me to Limasol, scanning for a cab while I walked, trying not to hurry, trying not to look like a woman on the run. Surely, there would be a cab on the main drag. Another block and I was there, half way into the street, holding up my hand, waving the universal signal for a taxi. With the honking of the horns and the noise from the traffic I didn’t hear the footsteps until they were right beside me.

A big, strong muscular arm went around my shoulder and another arm joined mine waving for a taxi. I yelped and jumped straight up three feet.

“Where are we going, darlin’?”

I looked into Zach’s dark, unfathomable eyes.

“You weren’t going to leave without me, were you?” His smile had an edge to it and wasn’t sexy in the least.

“No, of course not.”

“Do we need a taxi? We have a car waiting for us back at the beach. And you haven’t had dinner yet, have you?”

His smiled got even tighter, definitely false around the edges. We stood in our ridiculous tourist get ups, squared off in mid-traffic, angry drivers honking and shaking fists at us. I was at a loss for words. How did he find me so fast? He pulled me out of harm’s way and back onto the sidewalk.

“We’re creating a scene. Would you like to tell me what you’re doing?”

Evening strollers passed by on both sides of us, some staring at the strange tourist couple. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. “You didn’t mention you are wanted by the FBI.”

“Ah.”

I saw the light of understanding in his eyes.

“You talked to Yannis. Not the police, I hope.”

“Yannis. But I’m on my way to the police. I’m going to get a taxi and ride away, and I don’t ever want to see you again.”

“But what about the beach this morning and our play time in the back seat of the car? Doesn’t that mean anything?” He cupped my neck with his warm hand and smoothed his thumb across my cheek.

I slapped his hand away. “Stop it. You’re a criminal, a fake, you lied to me and I …” The tears started and that infuriated me more. “I hate you.”

Geez, that was real adult. Now we were starting to draw a crowd.

He grabbed my elbow and propelled me forward. “Walk with me. We’re making a scene. You’re upset. Try to calm down.”

I trotted away from him, and he hurried to catch up.

“Calm down? Me calm down? After your lies?”

I stopped and poked him in the chest with my finger. “My aunt could be dead by now. Yannis says she has disappeared off the face of the Earth. Because of you, I’ve lost two vital days trying to locate her. Two whole days.”

“Walk,” he said again, pulling me along, as a crowd started to form around us. “You haven’t lost two days because we’ve been looking for her. You’re being unreasonable.”

“Don’t let him get the best of you, honey,” shouted one tourist, shaking his fist.

“You’re creating a scene,” Zach said, “and if we are both wanted, that wouldn’t be such a good idea, would it?”

He steered me down a side street. We were heading back to the beach. By now it was dark. Maybe I could out run him on the beach and hide somewhere in the ruins. The sunset had dimmed and an evening star glowed on the west horizon. Around us the shop lights burned bright. Street lights flickered on. I didn’t know what chance I stood running on the beach in the dark, but it was worth a try. I had to get away from this maniac. Our fling was over.

I hurried ahead, but he was right behind me. We were on a rough side road that led to the ruins, a road used only by the archeologists and excavation workers that was more rock than road. As soon as we were out of the glare of the street lights and surrounded by darkness, he yanked on my arm forcing me to stop.

“I can’t let you go, my dearest Claudie.”

I refused to look at him, so he grabbed my chin hard and turned my face so I had no choice.

“You know too much. Besides, aren’t we one of a kind? Aren’t you in this with your aunt? It will be much easier on both of us if you tell me where she is.”

“Why? What could she have that you want?”

This was the part that baffled me.

“Your aunt’s the head of the smuggling operation on the island along with those three widow friends of hers. All she has to do is tell me where they stashed the antiquities that they stole. That’s all I want. I wouldn’t report her to the police now, would I, if I’m a thief myself?”

I thought that one over. But something he just said gave me pause. What stash of antiquities? And who did they steal this stash from?

“Let’s back up. You say there is a stash of antiquities involved, not just a few statues and potsherds?”

“Don’t play dumb, Claudie. You know about this.”

“Let’s pretend I don’t, just for the heck of it. You tell me what’s involved.”

He crossed his arms and stood studying me. A rainbow of emotion flickered over his face. Disbelief, suspicion, caution, calculation, doubt.

I knew what the problem was. If I wasn’t a thief, and he told me about the stash, I could do a number of things that might dig him in deeper if I ever got to the police. Like tell them about the stash he was after, what was in it if he would tell me, what the stakes were in the smuggling operation.

He came to a decision. “All right. Let’s pretend you don’t know the stakes in this game. Here it is. Berengaria’s jewels were found in the excavation of the Forty Column Castle.”

I looked at him and a smile spread across my face. “Are we talking gold jewelry set with precious stones worth maybe two to three million on the black market?”

His eyes lit up, and I could tell by the lively interest in those deep brown eyes that I was getting close.

“I’ve never seen them,” I said, “but I heard about them when I worked on the excavation.” I started laughing. “Give it up, Zach. It’s all rumor and legend. Those jewels don’t exist. There never was such a find at the Forty Column Castle. It’s just one of those funny stories that circulate around digs about buried lost treasure.” I smirked at him. “You’ve been had, and, you know what? I’m glad.”

He smirked back.

“No, darlin’, I’ve seen the jewels. I had them in these hands.” He held up his big hands. “They were stolen from me. Why do you think Max and Irene are dead?”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Why do you think the guys in the Maruti are following me?”

My eyes widened. “Why?”

“They want the jewels, and they think I have them.”

“Do you have them?” I asked. This was getting ridiculously confusing. The whole thing had always been confusing, hadn’t it?

“Of course I don’t. But your aunt might know where they are and that’s why we need to find her.”

Something then occurred to me. Was it possible that during her vacation this time in Cyprus my clueless aunt had unwittingly gotten these jewels? But how? Now I was thinking like the jewels were real. Zach said he had them in his hands, but he had a way of saying things that weren’t always true.

“Isn’t that a coincidence? We both want to find my aunt, but for different reasons.”

Zach looked uncomfortable. He wouldn’t look me in the eye but seemed to be studying something in the darkness.

I found a big rock to sit down on and let out a soul draining sigh. “Unbelievable.” Then I remembered that I never had had dinner, and my stomach was growling with no hope of respite any time soon.

I was at a loss. I was no good at being a detective. The Great Above only knew what was happening to my mutual fund although I had great confidence in Lena’s ability to carry on without me, maybe permanently but I hoped not. My aunt could be dead if those desperados thought she had the mythical jewels. The police were looking for me and Zach, and he was a bona fide criminal. But the sex was great.

I realized I was studying Zach’s muscular, hairy calves. “You have nice legs,” I said. I couldn’t think of anything else to say. “And I need a bracer. A raft of Cyprus brandy sours might do it.”

“Thanks but I need to lie low, and you will have to lie low with me. How about we get the car, drive over to Limasol, and look up Mr. Bellomo.”

I squinted up at him, not finished with the inquisition yet. “Did you find Lonnie and the widows and what did they say?”

Zach stared off into the darkness of the night. I looked over my shoulder to see what could be so interesting. Only blackness as far as I could see. He took off the baseball cap, smoothed back his hair, put the cap carefully back on. The breeze was picking up and ruffled the lapels of his ridiculous shirt.

“You didn’t talk to Lonnie?”

He cleared his throat. “Yes, I did.”

“And?”

“It seems the widows have gone on to Jerusalem to complete their vacation. Those weren’t our girls with his touring party today. They’ve left your aunt twisting in the wind, I do believe.”

“That’s fine, just fine.” I stood, dusting off my Capri pants. I was beginning to like them and thought about picking up another pair. My bikini bottoms were in a wedgie under the Capris, and I was sticky and sandy from the beach. I wanted a nice hot shower and a comfortable bed. By myself.

We started trudging in the direction of the car. I stumbled and had to resort to holding on to Zach’s arm. The stars and a bright half-moon provided some illumination. Those lovely ruins that looked so romantic under a setting sun now looked spooky.

I was jumpy, and my skin was crawling. As a kid I always hid my head under the pillow when ghost stories started flying around Girl Scout campfires, and I hated horror films. Stephen King? Never. I didn’t like being terrified. So what was I now?

We passed the castle then the mosaics. Ghosts might be hanging around an old ruined castle. I clutched Zach’s arm tighter. We passed the Odeon with the fine acoustics. The breeze blowing through the ancient rocks whistled eerily, making me more jittery. The place had to be haunted with all those people dying over the centuries. I hoped I didn’t see any ghosts. They were in the same class as terrorists. It would be too much for my heart.

We neared the beach where we swam earlier, picked our way down the old goat path, Zach helping me over a rock or two, when he stopped so suddenly I stumbled right into him. He steadied me but continued to look over my head in the direction of the parking lot.

“I don’t see the car.”

I squinted, trying to make out the form of the Honda SUV with the memorable back seat. Nothing. We studied the area.

“Maybe we’re at the wrong place. It has to be there. Did you lock it?”

“Yep, but that wouldn’t stop a tow truck from hauling it away.”

I took a few steps forward. It had to be there. Auto theft was unheard of on Cyprus.

Zach held my shoulder. “Better not go any closer. They’re probably watching the area. They might already see us.”

“They?”

“The police. They probably tracked us through the car rental agency.”

“But why would they take the car? Wouldn’t they just put a watch on it until we returned?”

“Maybe. Or our friends in the Maruti might have taken it. They’re good at stealing cars. Might have wanted my gear.” He looked sad at the thought. “I guess we’ll have to spend the night in the ruins.”

I gave him a you-got-to-be-kidding look. “Not this lady. I want a shower and a bed, bare minimum. Why don’t we go to Yannis’s? His house isn’t far.”

“So he can call the police to pick us up?”

I shrugged happily. “Worse could happen. Your friends could shoot you.”

He frowned at me like he didn’t like my use of language. “I have a better idea. We’ll walk to the main drag and catch that taxi you were trying to get earlier to Limasol. Excellent choice, now that we have no car.”

I didn’t think my legs would carry me back out to the street. These flip-flops were not made for rough terrain, and I could feel a new blister forming every minute. But I had to find my aunt.

“Do you have the address of Mr. Bellomo?”

“Right here in my pocket.” He held up the corner of the napkin from this morning’s breakfast. “Let’s get a taxi to Limasol.”

Eleven

“A five star hotel?” I asked, as we pulled up in front of the Amathus Hotel complete with beach on the Mediterranean and private pools. I’d only fantasized about a room here since it was a bit pricey for my vacation budget.

“Thieves don’t normally stay in five stars, do they?” Zach said. “This would be the last place police would look. Thieves normally stay in seedy hotels with bare light bulbs and half-lit neon signs, don’t they?”

I sighed but didn’t move from the back seat of the taxi. “I thought we were going to find Mr. Bellomo first?”

He shrugged. “We need a land line phone. It might as well be in a posh hotel room as the pay phone on a dark street corner.”

“I notice you are making decisions without consulting me. Are we back to the captive-captor thing? I had gotten the impression we were moving toward team work a bit earlier today.”

I gave him a big, false smile.

He grasped my chin like a lover this time and brushed his lips across mine. Like that made up for everything. I still didn’t know what the score was.

He came around and helped me out. I tried not to hobble and was dying to take off the flip-flops. The lobby was huge with marble floors, chandeliers, big vases of cut flowers, heavy on the bird-of-paradise. I had once enjoyed lunch in the terrace restaurant that overlooked the sea. Lots of palm trees in big terra cotta pots. Warm sea breezes. Patrons loaded with gold jewelry and sporting expensive hair cuts. Superb food.

Zach strode to the check-in counter like he owned the place. I stood close and smiled. He asked for one of the rooms with private pools, avoiding my raised eyebrows. Our registration name was Mr. and Mrs. H. Moon. He pulled out the stack of plastic cards, flipped through and selected one. Did he have a collection of cards with various aliases? But he pocketed the cards before I could get a better look. The transaction went through without a hitch. We had a place for the night.

The clerk in spiffy gray uniform trimmed in gold and maroon looked us over and peeked over the counter.

“Your luggage, sir?”

“The airline lost it and said it will follow later. We’ll step over to the gift shop and pick up a few things.”

“Of course,” the clerk said with a hotel smile and turned to help the next customer.

Zach steered me into the designer gift shop. We both picked out clothes. They even had underwear. I picked out two pair of thongs, Zack intent upon my selection but speaking only with his eyes, a pair of tan Capri pants, white cotton blouse, and sandals resplendent with fake green jewels and copper sequins that were so tacky I loved them. I saw a slinky little black sundress and threw it on top of the pile. Zach put my stuff with his selection — a pair of tan pants and a white polo shirt.

Our room was to- the-extreme with balcony, sitting room and its own private pool with Jacuzzi. That had possibilities, but I was too tired to think. Muted dove gray and cream colors gave the room an elegant air with more cut flowers and a bottle of champagne chilling in a bucket. Nice touch. I checked out the bath with Jacuzzi and turned on the hot water tap to fill the tub while Zach worked on opening the champagne.

He came into the bathroom and handled me a glass of bubbly. “I ordered room service. They are sending up wine and mezzas. Room for two in there?”

“No, I’m tired and have a headache.” The satisfaction in saying that was enormous and appropriate punishment for a thief and liar.

He looked so sad I almost relented, but I knew I had to stand firm. “What about Mr. Bellomo?”

Zach sat on the side of the tub and took a long sip from his glass of champagne. “I’m going to track him down as soon as I finish this champagne. I’ve worked up a terrible thirst.” He finished it off and sat the glass down. “If you won’t let me into your bath, I guess I’ll have to shower.”

He unbuttoned his shirt, dropped it on the floor and shed his shorts. I looked away. It would be the end of what little self-respect I had left. I busied myself at the tub facet, playing with the hot and cold to get it just right. A line of bottles on the sink gleamed in the bright lights over the mirror. I found ambrosia bath bubbles and dumped in half the bottle. Perfect.

I tried hard not to look in Zach’s direction. With a huge, sad sigh he had entered the shower and sang away. He had a baritone to equal Sherrill Milne. I love baritones. My insides got all squishy. He was singing “On the Street Where You Live” from My Fair Lady. Why that song? Why now? There was no end to his bag of tricks.

I started to strip and realized I might sneak in a phone call while he was preoccupied in the shower. I grabbed a towel and went into the bedroom to take off my clothes. Purse. Where was my purse? I couldn’t find it anywhere. I looked through the drawers of a very large dresser, under the bed, in the closet, pulled on the door of the armoire. Locked. The guy trusted me, didn’t he? He had locked up my bag with all my numbers.

I couldn’t remember Yannis’s number. There was no time to look up the police. I wasn’t sure I wanted to call them anyway, but I did know my own office number and Lena’s home number so I pushed hers in. It would be middle of the night in Boston. Hopefully, Lena would be in and not spending the night with her latest flame. It rang eight times. C’mon Lena, answer. The message machine came on. She was out. Didn’t she know I was trying to reach her?

“Lena, wish you were in. I only have sixty seconds. I desperately need you to do a background check on Zachariah Lamont who uses aliases H. Moon and Henry Dellinger. Please, as soon as possible, send me a text message on my cell phone. I’ll try to call later.”

Less than sixty seconds. I hung up, striped off my clothes, wrapped the towel around my body, and strode into the bathroom.

Zach was nonchalantly toweling off. “Who’d you call?”

“Me? Call? I was taking off my clothes, look.” I flashed open the towel, dropped it and stepped into the bath. It was deliciously hot, and I sank in like a hippo in a mud wallow.

He smirked, wrapped the big white, fluffy towel around his waist in sudden modesty and stepped into the other room.

My hand enveloped the stem of the tulip champagne glass and I took several, long smooth sips. Dom Perignon. I saw the bottle. My taste buds are not that discerning. Very, very nice. The sedative effect of the alcohol and the hot, bubbly water made my muscles go limp. I closed my eyes to enjoy the sensation.

“Lena. You called Lena.”

I didn’t bother to open my eyes. “So?”

“Want to tell me what you told her.”

“I asked her to run a background check on you.” What was the point in lying?

He came over to stand by the tub. I opened my eyes to find him staring down at me, those deep brown eyes looking oddly troubled.

“A background check?” He moved his head in that funny way someone does when he doesn’t quite believe what someone has told him.

“Yes. I want to know who you really are.” I smiled. “Unless you’d like to stop lying and tell me yourself.”

He laughed. “Room service has arrived. If you’d like to join me, I’ll be on the terrace enjoying the evening and dinner. Would you like me to wait for you?”

“You go ahead. I’m going to luxuriate here for a while longer.” I held up my glass. “But I would take another glass of champagne, if you wouldn’t mind.”

He took the glass and brought back two filled to the brim.

“Here, you look like you need it.”

He left me to my bath. I frowned. My self-image took a little hit. Did I look that bad? Oh hell, who cared? I sank back into that delicious bath and pressed the Jacuzzi switch. I must have dozed because Zach came looking for me after a while.

“I wanted to make sure you hadn’t drowned.”

I half opened my eyes. I hadn’t even drunk the second glass of champagne. “Lord help me, I’m tired.”

“Time to sleep later. Better get dressed and have something to eat. I talked to Mr. Bellomo.”

I was instantly awake. “What does he know about my aunt?”

“He says he is willing to meet with us.”

“What if it’s a set up? What if he calls the police? Then where will we be?”

“I told him that wouldn’t be a good idea, if he wanted to see Elizabeth again.”

I stared at Zach. “He bought that?”

“He laughed and invited us to his house. A good way to control people is to threaten them.”

“I’ll remember that.”

Zach studied me for a few moments.

Lord help me, he looked good. He had dressed in his new tan slacks but hadn’t pulled on a shirt. His hair was slicked back. He’d even shaved. He stood there half-dressed, muscles bulging. It should be a sin to be that handsome and well-built, know it and flaunt it.

“Excuse me, but I’d like some privacy to finish my bath.”

He smirked. He was getting that facial expression down. “I’ll fix you a plate while I wait on the terrace.”

I smiled, and he left.

“Oh, would you mind bringing in my new clothing?” I called out as I lathered up.

The bag from the fancy shop sailed through the door and landed on the floor by the tub. Special delivery. At least they had decent hair dryers at a five star hotel. I was able to blow dry mine into something presentable, sort of flipped up. I admired my new duds as I pulled on a hot pink thong, Capri pants and white shirt. I love new clothes. I slipped into the sandals and wiggled my toes. They were so cute.

On the terrace I smelled the cigar before I saw it in Zach’s hand. He hadn’t put on his shirt and held a brandy snifter in the same hand as the cigar. He stood looking over our private pool into the courtyard beyond. His back was to me, and I admired the lines. Sculpted came to mind. This man knew how to live. A high class thief. But was he?

Would that this be any other time, any other situation. It would be perfect. I could anticipate the night to come in bed with Zachariah Lamont. All night long. I had a hot flash thinking about it. But I was wrapped up in a crazy, deadly game. There would be no long night ahead to enjoy. I had to find my aunt. Then this whole misunderstanding would be cleared up.

He turned and seemed to drink me in. “Wow, you look two hundred per cent improved. Nice outfit, the sandals especially.”

I said in my sweetest voice, “Would you mind unlocking the armoire so I can get my purse and makeup?”

“You don’t need any make up. You look great without it.”

My smile stuck to my face. “I’d like my purse. A girl feels naked without one.”

“Naked I like.” He grinned, fished in his pants pocket, and tossed the key to me.

I put on black mascara and rose blush, decided that would do since that’s all I carried with me and went out to join Zach, carrying my glass of champagne with me. I put the key to the armoire in my pocket.

He had fixed me a plate of grape leaves and salad and sat beside me. I wasn’t in a chatty mood, more pensive than tired. I ate in silence, relishing the feeling of food in my belly.

“You okay?” he asked, working on his cigar and brandy, a tiny note of concern in his voice.

I leaned back in the chair and sipped the champagne savoring its dry, brisk taste. “Things could be better.”

I looked over at him and something in the way the soft area lighting caught in his eyes, something about the way his mouth turned up, made me laugh. Like he understood how okay things weren’t. He started laughing, and I couldn’t stop, and then it turned to tears for me.

“Hey,” he said and handed me a clean napkin from the room tray. “Don’t cry. I hate to see a woman cry.”

“Right,” I said, sniffing and dabbing at my eyes so my mascara wouldn’t run. “How many have you made cry in your life?”

“I’m making you cry? Me? Why me?”

“Oh, shut up. Nothing you say makes any sense. I don’t know who you are, or where my aunt is. And why stay in a five star hotel with a drop dead gorgeous man, if you can’t screw your brains out all night long.”

“We can still do that,” he said in the soft, sexy voice, “after we come back from our visit with Mr. Bellomo.”

“Ha. If we come back,” I said. “He probably called the police after he got off the phone with you.”

Zach shrugged. “Maybe, but I doubt it. Mr. Bellomo is from Sicily. I don’t think the police play a big part in his life. He’s a business man in the import-export business. You ever run into any of those guys?”

“No, but you probably have, seeing as how you are a smuggler.”

He studied my expression and sighed. “Claudie.” He was back to the soft, sexy voice. “Look at me.”

I turned and met his gaze.

“Everything will turn out okay, I promise.”

I hated the tears in my eyes, but they wouldn’t stop. I wasn’t sure why they were there in the first place. “How can you be wanted by the FBI? What did you do? Why were you in jail?”

“Darlin’, this place doesn’t lend itself to the sad story of my life. It’s too beautiful here. The night is too young, the breeze too exotic, the air too laden with romance and excitement.”

I wasn’t buying the romance line. “Why does the FBI want you?”

“I got in with the wrong crowd a while back. We did a little antiquities trading, not entirely legal. I ended up doing a little bit of time in a nice white collar prison and was out as soon as I was in.”

“But you’re wanted again.”

“Yes, unfortunately. This time it’s weapons. I got a little greedy and did a little weapons trading, an F14 here and there, mainly to China. There are people in the federal administration that frown on that sort of trading. I guess I’m on the list again.”

“And the men in the Maruti? Is it the jewels or is there more to the story?”

He took a long drag on the cigar and exhaled, tossed the cigar into the potted palm, swirled the brandy and finished it off. I waited, feeling my twisted up guts twist tighter. This man was a higher roller than I figured. Unfortunately, he was rolling in the wrong circles for me.

“Don’t answer that,” I finally said, when he didn’t speak.

He glanced at me, a Pierce Brosnan 007 look.

Of all the Olympic Airways flights in this world, why did he pick mine? I froze. Because he knew who I was. He was following me, setting me up. Just like my aunt was set up. Why did it take me so long to figure it out?

The fluted champagne glass stood empty, looking bereft, a few bubbles clinging to its smudgy sides. That’s how I felt, smudgy. I needed action. I needed to find my aunt and get back to the good, old U.S. of A.

“Shall we?” I stood and walked back inside. “Will you be going like that or will you wear a shirt tonight?”

He laughed and followed me in, grabbed my arm, turned me around, and tried to kiss me. Attraction, repulsion. This was a deadly game. I pushed him away, scooped up my purse and walked out the door. I had stuffed the cute, little black dress in my big purse, just in case we didn’t make it back. Leaving clothes behind was getting to be a bad habit, and I liked that dress.

He caught up with me in the lobby. I didn’t have one second to look for the phones. We edged around the Amathus grand lobby, keeping to the shadows behind the potted plants like little cockroaches. How had my nice, safe life in Boston running my nice, successful mutual fund turned into this?

We stood outside in the semi-circular drive while the valet motioned to a taxi, an old black Mercedes with a few dents in the fender. Zach gave the driver the address, and we headed out. We hadn’t gone a kilometer before Zach asked the man something in Greek. The driver shrugged his shoulders and pointed his hand in from of him, repeating loudly the word for correct way in Greek.

Zach settled back into the seat, put his arm around my shoulder and started a neck nuzzling routine. Between nuzzles he whispered in my ear, “I think we just got kidnapped. The taxi driver is heading in the opposite direction of the address I gave him. I don’t want to spook him, so play along and try to stay calm.”

My shoulders clenched immediately.

“Relax,” he said. “Pretend you don’t suspect anything. How about we make out for a while to throw him off?”

He continued with the neck nuzzle routine, opening the buttons on my blouse and trailing kisses down my neck. What a way to relax. Was this man insane? We were being kidnapped, and he was getting amorous. The guy in the front was going to watch us. This was voyeurism at its finest.

The light bulb blinked on. Zach wanted to distract the driver. I gave it my all and started moaning away. Zach had a slow, mind frying way of attending to a lady’s needs. I gasped and moaned louder and added a little verbal encouragement to the show. “Oh, yes, do it, oh, like that. Umm, that’s so good.” Trouble was I meant it. It did add to the excitement, knowing someone was watching. What I had to do to save my hide.

The taxi driver stretched his neck to see into the rear view mirror better. This was insane but the actress in me kicked in again. I should have tried out for porn movies.

“Oh, darling,” I said and slipped lower on the seat. “Oh yes, oh yes.” I panted and squirmed. “Do it.” Zach obliged and by gum he was up for it. The man was amazing.

The taxi swerved, and Zach whispered in my ear, “Great job, keep it up.”

The driver slowed down. I could see his neck stretch harder to see what we were doing. He tried to turn around to see. Brakes squealed as he wrestled the car to the side of the road and stopped. Traffic on the two lane highway zoomed past us, headlights catching portions of our writhing bodies, oblivious to the show going on in the taxi.

Zach, the incredible man, let out a few impressive baritone moans then flipped around and shoved a gun in the driver’s drooling face.

“Hold it right there. If you move one muscle, you’re dead. You understand, Bruno?”

The gun was pressed up into the guy’s nose. The car was still running. Bruno gulped and blinked.

“You know this guy?” I asked, wide-eyed.

“Yeah.” Zack ripped off the baseball cap the guy wore. “He normally doesn’t wear a mustache, but I won’t rip that off. He’s one of the guys in the Maruti.”

“Now,” Zach said to Bruno, “real slow like, you turn off the ignition. Don’t try anything, or I pull the trigger. You understand?” He pressed the gun barrel further into the driver’s face.

Bruno blinked in reply. He reached behind him and felt for the ignition.

“Let me move,” he said in accented English.

“Don’t try anything funny. Hurry.” Zach pressed him back toward the wheel with the tip of the gun.

The engine died.

“Claudie, get your clothes back on,” Zach said, addressing me but never taking his eyes from Bruno.

“Right.” I sprung into action, buttoning up my blouse and fixing my pants.

“Ready,” I said.

“Okay. Claudie, you drive. Bruno comes into the back seat with me. We’re going to continue on to Mr. Bellomo’s. Everybody understand?”

“Sure,” I said and jumped out of the car. I didn’t hear Bruno’s reply, but I bet he was with us.

Zack sat back in the seat. “Now easy, Bruno, you climb over that seat and come sit back here with me.” He patted the seat beside him.

“Move,” he said, when Bruno hesitated.

He lumbered over the seat, being a bit on the bulky side. I slid into the driver’s seat.

It occurred to me that I was now in control. I wondered if Zach would shoot me, if I didn’t do what he said. Damnation. I forgot I would be driving on the wrong side of the road. I never drove on Cyprus.

“Zach?”

“Yes, Princess.”

I loved when he called me by my pet name.

“I can’t drive on the wrong side of the road. You sure you want me to drive?”

“You want to hold a gun on this man?”

I considered for two seconds. “I’ll drive.”

The car started with the simple turn of the ignition key. So far so good. I put it in gear.

“Where to?” I looked in the rear view mirror. You could see a lot of the back seat in this mirror, when the lights from the traffic weren’t blinding.

Zach spoke to Bruno in Greek, and they seemed to get into a tight argument. Zach positioned the gun against Bruno’s jaw and growled at him. Bruno spit out a raft of Greek and Zach translated that to, “Turn around.”

“Sure.” I inched out into a hole in traffic and crept away. On the wrong side of the road for me. The right side of the road for Cypriots.

“Claudie, you can go faster than a crawl,” Zack said from the back. He sat on the opposite side of the seat from me, and I could see him in the mirror.

“Sure, okay.” I pressed on the gas, and we hit ten kilometers per hour.

I found a crossover street and swung a wide U-turn. Horns blared. An oncoming car barely missed us. I ducked my head in reflex and kept turning, praying no one would mow us down.

Zach kept doling out directions. We meandered through the city, me white knuckled on the wheel. We took a right turn and drove into an upscale neighborhood. After several streets of large homes and flowering trees, we pulled up to the gate of a walled house. From what I could see through the bars, it was a palace.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“I’d say in one of the nicer neighborhoods in Limasol,” said Zach. “Stop here and cut the engine. Get out, Bruno.”

I jumped out and opened the door for Bruno. Zach shoved him out, but Bruno, being the lumbering, quick-witted oaf that he was, plowed into me, knocking me onto the pavement and out cold.

Twelve

I didn’t realize what Bruno had done until I came to.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Bruno knocked you down and ran off before I could get out of the car,” Zach said. “I didn’t even get a good shot at him. Besides, I couldn’t shoot because I might have hit you in the scuffle and didn’t want to attract the police.”

I was lying on some sort of divan, my eyes closed, my head killing me. But I recognized that voice. I didn’t want to open my eyes because I was afraid what I’d see.

“What’s going on?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know.

“Everything is okay,” he said.

Did I detect a hint of gentleness in his tone of voice?

He took a cool compress off my forehead. “Try to sit up and take some of these pain killers. Here, I’ll help you.”

I wasn’t that stupid. “No, not me. I’ll take the pain. You leave me here, go on about your business and pick me up on the way out. I need some sleep.”

Then I was aware of movement in the room, and it dawned on me that there was at least one other person beside me and Zach. Curiosity got the best of me, and I squinted open one eye.

Mr. Bellomo. I’d never seen him, but this guy looked about right. Small, silver hair, decked out in French cuffs, gold cufflinks and gold rimmed glasses. Italian cut suit. A kindly look about him. Was he a member of the Mafia? The photos I had seen of Mafia dons had always looked more New Jersey than this one.

“Do you know where my aunt is?” My eyes were wide open now.

He smiled at me. Good teeth, too.

“You do not have to worry about your aunt. I know where she is. She is safe.”

“But you aren’t saying where she is?”

He shook his head. He looked like the kind of guy you could trust but you didn’t argue with. Funny, but I liked him.

“What about …”

Zach cut me off. “The police talked to Mr. Bellomo yesterday. He knows they’re looking for you.”

I struggled to sit up, deciding it would look better if I did, only to discover that my blouse was buttoned the wrong way and my breasts were trying their best to bulge out through the mismatched button holes. I rearranged things as best I could. My hair fell into my face and felt like I had combed it with an egg beater. I must have looked like a loose woman to Mr. Bellomo. I gazed about me. Everywhere my eyes turned they ran into Italian Rococo. A little fussy for my taste, but it worked here.

“I would be pleased if you spend the night in my home,” Mr. Bellomo said in good English. “You will be safe with me.”

“We have a hotel room,” I said.

“We’d be delighted to accept,” said Zach. “The hotel room can wait.”

I looked at him, annoyed. We hardly knew Mr. Bellomo. “No, really it is kind of you to offer, but we must be going.”

“We’ll stay.”

“In that case,” I smiled to Mr. Bellomo, who was looking back and forth between the two of us, “I’d like my own room. I sleep so much better by myself. That is if you have enough room.” I remembered the palatial look. I wouldn’t be surprised if he overlooked the Mediterranean.

“No,” Zach said. “We’re a couple.” He pointed back and forth between us. “You know, we travel together and always share a room. We wouldn’t want to put you out.”

“Not a problem. I understand completely.” Mr. Bellomo smiled. “I insist that you stay. This arrangement will be much more comfortable for you. In the morning when you feel better, we will talk. You shall have a room overlooking the sea.”

What did I tell you?

I tugged my blouse over my breasts trying to look a bit more presentable. “All right then, I do believe I shall turn in. I have a bad headache, and I’ve been up since the crack of dawn. We did an awful lot of sightseeing today, and I’m exhausted.”

“Of course. I’ll have Luigi show you to your rooms. Rest well.”

Rooms. With an s.

Luigi turned out to be about 6’5”, around three hundred pounds, built like a grizzly bear. He nodded to us. I guessed that was the signal to follow him, which we did, me leaning on Zack.

The floors were marble in the foyer as were the winding stairs we climbed to the second floor. I had never seen so much marble in one place in addition to a few well-placed Roman and Greek statues that I’m sure were the real thing. The stairs spiraled around the most opulent chandelier I’ve ever seen in my life, replete with hundreds of crystal prisms that reflected light into a million colors onto the stairway walls.

“Pretty impressive,” I said to Zach under my breath as we followed Luigi down a long hall.

“A little small for me,” he said and gave me that half grin of his.

I wondered what he was up to and as soon as I got him alone I was going to find out. Like I had ever been successful at that.

The upstairs halls were carpeted down the center with rose and cream Persian carpets. Not Pakistan, not Afghan, nor Chinese but real Persian carpets because they had the more figural patterns produced in Iran than the geometric patterns popular where I came from. I could only imagine what he had tied up in the upstairs carpets alone. That must be some export-import business he had.

Luigi stopped outside a white double door with large, ornate brass handles. He waved his ham of a hand toward the door. I took it to mean here was our room. He opened the door and gave us the hand wave in.

“Chatty,” I said to Zach when Luigi had closed the door behind us.

We heard a click. We were locked in.

“Zach, what’s going on?”

He reached out and pulled me against him.

“Now where were we?” He brushed his lips across mine but I didn’t respond.

“Are you angry?” he asked, working his way around my face with the most exquisitely soft kisses.

“It’s not going to work this time. I want answers. Why did Luigi lock the door? Why are we staying here when we have a perfectly good hotel room? What’s going on?”

He sighed and tugged me along behind him to a huge sectional cream leather sofa, pushed me down and flopped down beside me. He laid his head back and closed his eyes. That’s the first time I’d seen him looking half-way tired.

“Start at the beginning,” I said.

“I can’t,” he said, eyes still closed. “If we ever get out of this mess, I’ll tell you everything.”

“Out of this mess are the key words here. I’m glad you finally admit that we are in a mess. But the important question is — are you in the same mess I am?”

He chuckled, opened his deep brown eyes and looked at me. “Claudie, you are the most extraordinary woman I have ever met.”

“Don’t go trying to flatter me to change the subject because I’m smarter than that.” I frowned. I guess he was flattering me.

“My point exactly,” Zach said, sitting up and taking my hand. “By the way, that is a sexy shirt. I particularly like the button arrangement.”

I looked down at how I had buttoned the shirt. It wasn’t just one button out of alignment, it was two off, and I looked like the town drunk. I sighed and rebuttoned them, Zach watching the operation with intense interest.

“Better?”

He grinned. “As I was saying, you are extraordinary. That performance back in the taxi was A-1. I’ve not seen better on Broadway.”

“Thanks. I thought I got it into it pretty good.”

“Want to continue?” The mischief in his eyes would have done the devil proud.

“I’ll think about it. You haven’t answered my questions.”

He sighed. “All right. Would you believe your aunt is in this house?”

“No.”

“Or at least I think she is. We’re going to look for her as soon as everything quiets down.”

“We are? How? The door’s locked.”

He patted the pocket with the plastic cards. “I’m world class when it comes to opening locked doors. Failing that, there’s always the balcony.”

I eyed him suspiciously. “How could Mr. Bellomo have her in this house?”

“Because he’s the one that sprung her from jail.”

“You’re kidding.” I searched his eyes. “You’re not kidding. How do you know? I mean, how did you figure that out?”

“The way he talked when you were passed out. I know for a fact that Mr. Bellomo deals in antiquities among his many other businesses.”

“You mean he smuggles, too.”

Zach frowned. “I don’t think he does directly, like we would never find his fingerprints on the goods. Others would do it for him.”

I sat forward. “How do you know all this?”

“The Internet. You can find out just about anything you want there.”

“What? You mean they have Smugglers.com, and he’s listed?”

He snorted. “No, I mean you can access a boatload of useful info on the Internet, and then you connect the dots. Understand?”

I nodded my head and thought about that. I used the Internet extensively, and it was amazing what one could find with search engines and a little ingenuity.

“But I don’t understand how nice, grandpa Bellomo, got her out or why he wanted to.”

Zach leaned close to my ear. “Because he happens to be one of the most powerful men in the Mediterranean basin. It would be nothing for him to arrange for a few well-placed bribes and bingo,” he snapped his fingers, “she’s sprung. Bribes are not unheard of in this part of the world, you know,” saying it like he was imparting a big secret.

“But why would he want to do this for Aunt Elizabeth?” I was baffled.

“Love.”

“Love?”

“He’s in love with your aunt.” Then he tapped the air with his finger. “But his romantic interest in your aunt doesn’t quite fit the picture.”

I was still grappling with the idea of someone having a romantic interest in my Aunt Elizabeth. “You mean you think he’s in love with her? Isn’t he married?”

“That wouldn’t mean anything in this part of the world. But no, he isn’t married. He’s a widower. Married for years, has kids but the wife died several years back. He keeps this house for business purposes, but he seems to spend a lot of time here. Must like the weather.”

“Wow.” I slouched back on the couch to digest that one. I kicked off my cute sandals, since they were starting to pinch and dug my toes in the fluffy beige carpet in front of the couch. Most of the room was beige, cream and dove gray. He must use the same decorator as the Amathus Hotel.

Could Mr. Bellomo be in love with my aunt? No, too far out. Too, too far out. All the women in the world, glamorous, wealthy, well-placed, and Mr. Bellomo falls in love with Aunt Elizabeth?

“No, I don’t believe it,” I said aloud.

“Don’t believe what?”

“That he’s got a thing for my aunt.”

Zach shrugged. “Stranger things have happened. Some men find the matronly type a real turn on.”

I looked at him.

“Not me, but everybody’s different.” He spread his hands like it wasn’t his idea.

“But even if he were in love with her, why take the chance to get her out of jail?”

“Because he thinks she knows where Berengaria’s jewels are, and he’s interested in the jewels. And maybe he is in love with her.”

“Now you are smoking something. You’re saying Mr. Bellomo wants my aunt out of jail because she knows where these phantom jewels are and because he’s fallen in love with her?”

“Yes. Make a great book, wouldn’t it?”

I ignored the comment. “Why does he want the jewels?”

“Because he’s in the antiquities business and because they’re worth a lot of money, that’s why.”

“But he’s an upstanding business man.”

Zach hooted. “Oh, c’mon Claudie, you are about to ruin your extraordinary reputation. He’s a business man in the big leagues. They don’t live in a black-white world like ordinary citizens. Everything for them is shades of gray.”

We sat silent for a spell, heads back against the couch, staring up towards the ceiling.

Unbelievable.

“You think there’s anything to eat or drink around here?” I asked. My processing functions were on overload and needed fuel. “I don’t want to think about what time it is.”

Zach stood and looked around. “Looks like we have one balcony, a room leading off from this one, probably the bed room.” He wiggled his eyebrows, and I ignored him. “Wet bar over there. There’ll be a refrigerator with the wet bar, so let’s have a look.”

“Great,” he said, showing off an amber colored bottle. “Wild Turkey. Perfect.” He banged around some more. I heard cupboard doors open and close. “What do you want to drink?”

“How about a big bottle of water.”

“Coming right up.”

He shuffled over, arms laden with junk food. Potato chips, crackers, cheese, nuts, and a big bottle of water.

“Ice?”

“Not for me, it’s cold.”

He sighed over the Wild Turkey like Don Giovanni over a beautiful woman and poured a healthy slug into a whiskey glass. I worked on my water and helped myself to potato chips. Better than steak.

My mind was whirling trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. If my aunt were here did that mean she was shacking up with Mr. Bellomo? Had he seduced her? I didn’t even want to think of it. Visions of a love slave, my aunt in a harem costume chained to a bed came to mind. I shook that one away. She wasn’t the type. How did she know where the jewels were, if there were jewels?

Zack was doing neck nuzzles again, pushing me gently into the couch that would have fit three couples easy.

I pulled away and tapped on his chest. “Hold on. What about my aunt? When are we going to look for her?”

He unbuttoned my blouse.

“Yum. These are very ripe.”

“Zach?” I was having a hard time concentrating.

“We need to wait a bit longer before we look for your aunt. We might as well make good use of the time.”

“I love the way you do that.”

He had the rest of my clothes off in no time. He had a devastating way of overcoming my defenses with his mouth.

A while later he said, “I take it that was to your liking.” He stroked my thigh and sipped Wild Turkey.

I blew out a breath. I was the love slave. “I can’t move.”

“As soon as you recover and feel up to it, we’ll have a look around and see if we can find your aunt.”

I dozed off. And awoke snuggled up on the couch with a white soft-as-silk blanket over me with bright sunshine pouring into my eyes. And no Zach.

I groaned. My head was pounding from hitting it on the concrete pavement. I inched up on my elbow, shielding my eyes, trying to figure out where the bright sunlight and breeze were coming from and discovered French doors wide open onto a balcony. Beyond the bars in the balcony rail floated the beautiful blue, dazzling Mediterranean Sea.

I could live like this. I could also use some orange juice for my dry mouth, so I threw off the lovely soft blanket and padded my way to the wet bar in search of refreshment. And yelped. There stood a man I had never seen before. I tried to cover my naked body with my arms but that didn’t conceal anything, so I ran back to the couch and retrieved the blanket and wrapped it around me. Only then did I dare look at the man who stood at the wet bar, watching me.

“Who are you?” I asked in my most commanding voice. “What are you doing in my room?”

“I am Rodolfo. I have brought you something to eat.” He spoke in a good English butler I-see-naked-women-all-the-time tone.

That was the problem with having servants. You never knew where they were going to turn up and at what embarrassing moments.

“Thanks,” I said, trying to sound casual and cool and not at all mortified that he had seen me naked. Me naked with observers was becoming a too frequent occurrence.

“I will leave it here. Is there anything else you will need?”

“Yes, could you tell me what time it is?”

“Lunch time. Twelve noon.”

“Holy Smokes.”

The man walked stiffly across the room to exit through the massive white doors we had entered sometime last night.

“One other thing, sir. Could you tell me where my friend, Mr. Lamont, is?”

“I believe he left early this morning. Is there anything else, madam?”

I didn’t reply, and he left. I didn’t reply because my brain was in a tail spin. Zach left? How could he leave me? But if he left, then I was free to go and find Aunt Elizabeth.

Thirteen

I ran around looking in every corner of the suite to make sure no one else was there. Satisfied I was alone, I headed for the shower. I’d find my aunt and get us both out of the palace before Zach came back. I wasn’t sure how I would do that, but it was worth a try.

The bath room, a term that didn’t do it justice, was a thousand times more sumptuous than the Amathus Hotel with a fabulous in-ground Jacuzzi that I was dying to try. But I made do with a quick shower in a pearl gray marble stall. Those might have been solid gold shower fixtures. Mirrors abounded on three sides of the room. Four sinks. I wasn’t sure what you could use all those for. Group teeth scrubbing maybe.

I let the hot water steam over me, all the while thinking over why Zack had left when we were supposed to be looking for my aunt. Maybe he had found her. I hoped he hadn’t kidnapped her and gone off in search of those stupid, non-existent jewels.

The shower revived me. Exotic creams stood in alluring rows along the sink. I treated myself to “Ancient Breezes”, helped myself to toothpaste and fresh never-out-of-the-package tooth brush, and dragged a comb through my wet hair. No time to dry it.

Clothes. I shook out the little black dress. At least Zach hadn’t locked up my purse again. I searched and found my cute sandals. The aroma of food overcame me, and I hurried over to the tray Rodolfo left, ate a few grape leaves, downed a glass of orange juice from the frig.

Now to find my way out. I slung my purse over my shoulder and stopped. Take my other pants and top or no? Maybe I’d be back, maybe not. A scary thought hit. I was on my own. No Zach to protect me, although I couldn’t commend him much on his protective skills. I shook my head. I couldn’t let fear find a foothold. I squared my shoulders and marched to the door.

Gently, I pushed the handle down and pulled. The door opened. Success. I peeked out. Luigi was sitting on a chair by the door, dozing. At the sound of the door, he sputtered awake and glared at me.

“Hi,” I said. “Nice day. I thought I’d go for a walk.”

He shook his head and waved that great, shaggy appendage in the direction of the room. I got the message, backed in and shut the door. No sense making Luigi mad. He was bigger than I was.

Now what?

Zach had mentioned the balcony if he couldn’t get out the door. I’d give it a try. The sound of the waves said the beach was not far away. I looked over the balcony. The beach was directly below. Far below. We were on the second floor, and the house seemed to sit on an outcrop of rock. Under me was nothing but rock. I looked to see if there were any other balconies.

One. There was one about a half a mile from mine, or so it seemed. I had a corner room. Along the smooth, white wall from my room to the other with the balcony were several large windows, the crank out kind. Some were open. On more careful study, I saw that a ledge ran the length of the building between the balconies. A ledge that maybe one foot would fit on. If I did the unthinkable and walk to the next balcony on that skinny ledge, what guarantee did I have that there would be a friendly face in the room?

I studied the landscape below. If I did the bed sheet thing like in the movies, my homemade rope would drop to sharp, black volcanic rock and a narrow beach, one washed by waves right up to the rocks. Where would that leave me? I wished I knew where I was and looked around for landmarks. Nothing. This side of the house sat on rock looking out to sea. Maybe the front of the house had more beach. I recalled the drive and entrance gate and tried to place where they were. But I couldn’t remember well, seeing how I wasn’t in a conscious condition when I entered the house.

I focused my attention on the balcony. The rails were polished stone. Three potted palms stood to one end. My eye followed the palms upward to the roof which appeared flat and maybe six feet above the balcony door opening. A flat roof a person could walk across. The tops of the palms cleared the roof.

Great. Now how to get to the roof without killing myself. Who knew what other rooms I could access if I could get to the roof. I looked over the side of the balcony again. It was a long way down. If I was going to be doing any scaling to get to the roof, I was going to have to be darn sure I made it. If not, I’d end up as hamburger on those black rocks below.

I eyed the palms. I wondered how strong palms were, especially rooted in pots. I read in National Geographic, my favorite magazine, that palms had shallow roots and not an extensive root system. Did that mean that they toppled over easily? As a child I had never been a tree climber. It didn’t appeal to me. Nor did heights. They still didn’t.

I surveyed the three palms, trying to decide which one looked the sturdiest. I walked closer looking for hand holds, touched the bark. Rough and jaggy. I wished I had been more of a monkey as a kid. This endeavor might be more palatable to me if I had.

I decided the palm nearest the wall would be my best bet, but climbing a palm in a dress wouldn’t do it. I recalled in the movies little boys sort of shimmied up the trunk of the trees after coconuts.

Back inside I hurried and changed into the blouse and Capri pants. Thank the stars I had pants so that the probability of my legs getting ripped to shreds would be lower. I decided to abandon the purse and lamentably my black dress. I stuffed what money I had, ID and credit cards in my pants pocket. I considered my cute sandals and decided to leave them behind.

Of course, even after I got to the roof there might not be much of anything up there. But I couldn’t think about that now. There was no other escape from the room. I had noticed that when I was scurrying around after Rodolfo left to see if there was anyone else in the room. I had checked for phones in my search. None. Zach had a way of thinking of everything. Except the palm trees. I chortled to myself. He had underestimated my resolve.

Back out on the balcony I studied my chosen palm, calculating my hand holds. I glanced over to the other balcony. There were about as many palms as here, and they cleared the roof, too. I spit on my hands and rubbed them together because that seemed to be the thing to do and mounted the pot. It held my weight. I tried a hand hold on the palm. It was jaggy. I gritted my teeth and put my foot on one of the frond cuts at the base of the tree. Painful. I jumped down and rushed back inside and slipped on my cute sandals. They were at least some protection for my feet. I rushed back out and climbed up on the pot.

Stop thinking, I told myself and climb, even if it hurts. You got to get out of here. So up I went. Painful frond by painful frond. Maybe I should have put on a lifeline rope in case I fell.

Stop thinking and climb.

Sweat was running between my breasts and down from my armpits. I should have pulled my hair back because it kept falling in my face.

Stop thinking and climb.

How did those monkeys do it anyway? I must say the cute sandals didn’t work out as bad as I thought. They had rubber soles and at least gained me purchase on the palm cuts.

Up I climbed. Where was Zach anyway? Why did he leave? Did he think I’d be around when he came back?

Stop thinking and climb.

My muscles started shaking. I wasn’t exactly in the greatest shape in the muscle department. I wasn’t one of those work-out-in-a-gym types.

Stop thinking and climb.

Finally, I was level with the roof and peered over. Flat as far as the eye could see and populated with water tanks. My palm tree was about a foot from the edge of the roof. It was going to be tricky getting from the palm to the roof. I tried not to look down, but out of my peripheral vision I caught glimpses of pounding waves and sharp rocks. It was breezy, and I was far enough up the tree that palm fronds waved around me and whacked me in the face a time or two. My muscles were starting to give out.

I took a deep breath and shimmied up high enough to get my butt even with the roof ledge. The palm creaked back and forth in the breeze and as it leaned toward the building, I heaved myself onto the roof, rolled away from the ledge and lay there gasping for breath.

I stayed on my back until my breathing quieted, and my muscles stopped shaking. The blue sky stretched horizon to horizon. My eyes drifted shut, and I pretended I was on Lara beach without a care in the world. But it didn’t work. My mind was in extreme frantic mode, plunging about trying to find a way out of my predicament.

I struggled to my feet and stood for a moment trying to get my bearings. The view went on forever, most of it sea. The house was on the edge of a rock cliff and looking back toward land there were few homes, all of them large and walled. We were at the end of a cul-de-sac. That would make it hard finding a taxi or using other houses as cover.

I’d have to steal one of Mr. Bellomo’s cars. If I could get to a phone, I could call Yannis to come get me, but I hesitated to do that because I didn’t want to pull him into this mess. Yannis would be at work. Knowing him, he would drop everything to help me out.

I walked the perimeter of the house, which was a feat in itself, keeping careful watch that no one would be peering back at me. On two sides rock met sea. On the third and fourth were gardens with several acres of swimming pool, sloping down to beach area complete with dock. A yacht was moored at the end of the dock which extended out a considerable distance into the water. A large gazebo sat on an extensive deck area about half-way out. The fifth side of the house was the main entrance and driveway, gated, of course. The house was a pentagon, two story, flat roof. Why one man needed so much square footage was beyond me.

There were two balconies each on the sea side of the house. An extended balcony swept the garden and beach sides of the house and columns stretched the height of two floors on the entrance side.

I scurried around half bent in my reconnoitering, then lay down on the entrance side of the house and peeked over the edge. A white van stood in the semi-circular drive on the entrance side. Maybe a delivery vehicle. No other cars in sight although there was a separate garage removed from the house with eight doors. Did that mean eight vehicles? For one man? I could borrow one of those.

A stakeout was in order. I watched the front entrance. When I had almost decided the effort was an exercise in futility, a silver SUV pulled up at the entrance gate and passed through, stopping below me. The windows were tinted, but I could make out two figures inside. I flattened down as best I could but with enough eye showing to catch what was going on.

Out of the driver side stepped Luigi’s twin. I didn’t think there were two men that big on the island. He opened the passenger side and helped Zach out. He was ruffed up. Hair mussed, shirt tail out in the back. This was not Mr. Neat and Cool. As the pair passed below me, the driver helping Zach, I caught sight of the red welt under Zach’s eye and what looked like blood oozing from his lip. One sleeve of his shirt was ripped nearly off. Great Zeus and all the Greek gods. What had happened?

I shrank back from the edge of the roof and hid until I thought they were inside then peeked over. A boy drove the SUV to the garage and parked. I wondered if he left the keys inside. One thing I did know. I had to determine if my aunt was in the palace, since she wasn’t with Zach. I hoped he hadn’t taken her anywhere. Then I’d find out what happened to Zach.

Crouching as low as I could, I ran along the edge of the roof. The best approach, I figured, was to check out all the balconies to see if any of them looked different than mine. What I expected to find, I couldn’t say. Maybe my aunt would hang her undies out to dry on the balcony or something. I didn’t think she’d be in the front on the garden and beach side of the house, but I ran along those two sides of the pentagon first, just to make sure. More potted palms and smaller shrubs adorned these balconies. I scanned them and found nothing that caught my eye to tell me human beings inhabited the rooms.

That left the two sides facing the sea. I checked the one opposite our rooms. On closer inspection the long balcony on that side displayed a virtual forest of palms, an awning, lounge furniture and table. No one was outside but it didn’t take much imagination to figure that was Mr. Bellomo’s room or the master bedroom suite. The palms cleared my roof top viewing platform. That would be my second choice in the event that they would be sharing a room. Perish the thought. I didn’t see any ladies undies hanging anywhere on that balcony.

I decided the balcony closest to mine was the most likely place for my aunt, if she were here. I crouched and looked over the edge of the roof onto a balcony that looked identical to mine. Small, with potted palms, no awning, no table, one lounge chair. On the lounge chair a paperback book lay open, like someone had been reading and gone inside for iced tea. I strained to read the title. I could make out a man and woman in the clutches on the cover. A positive sign there was a woman in this suite.

I nearly fell over myself trying to get down the palm tree. It scraped the roof’s edge. I hugged the palm, holding on to the edge of the roof, and inched down the trunk. I was getting the knack of palm tree climbing. My feet touched down on the pot, sandals still in tack. I jumped the rest of the way to the deck of the balcony and ducked behind the potted palms on the outside chance that this might be a female relative’s room.

After a glance at the paperback I knew. It was a title from the collection of Zazora Deville, my aunt’s favorite romance author, and it looked like a new copy. At least she wasn’t tied up. Maybe she was even enjoying herself. Wouldn’t that be funny if, after all this worrying, she were having a good time?

I dared a peek into the interior of the room but the glare from the window glass made everything inside look black. I inched to the open door and peered in. There standing not five feet from me was Aunt Elizabeth, hand over her mouth and eyes wide.

“Lordie, Claudie, you nearly gave me a heart attack. Why on Earth are you on my balcony and how on Earth did you get here? Why didn’t you come in by the door?”

I rushed over to give her a hug and a squeeze then stepped back for a once over to make sure arms and legs and other body parts were intact and unscathed. She wore a black and gold caftan decorated with Greek gods and goddesses, some in rather suggestive positions. Her bright white hair was neatly coiffed in a French twist and gold bangles danced from one wrist. The other held an iced drink half the contents of which were now on the soft, white carpeting. The real eye opener was the huge rock on the third finger of her left hand. She saw me staring at it, blushed and stammered and sighed but no words of explanation made it from her lips.

“You aren’t … you didn’t … he didn’t …” I wasn’t doing much better.

“Oh, Claudie, Salvatore Bellomo is the nicest, kindest man I have ever met. He gave me this lovely diamond.” She held up the huge thing. It sparkled in its gold setting. A lot of gold was in that setting.

“You mean …”

“Yes, he proposed, but we haven’t set a date yet.”

I stood shocked into silence. She was lost in admiring the rock. It was gorgeous. I was not expert on diamonds but it looked real. It had a carved gold setting, giving it an antique look. It gleamed and shone brighter than any diamond I ever saw.

“I need to sit down. Do you have anymore of that?”

She glanced at the glass in her hand. “Of course, here take what’s left of this one. I’ll get another.”

Her room was a carbon copy of mine but in a different color scheme. Hers sported mauves and turquoise and lots of gold trim everywhere. Definitely a Cypriot decorator. But the huge couch and wet bar and room layout looked the same.

I followed her to the bar. “Aunt Elizabeth, how did you get out of jail?”

“Oh, that.” She waved her bangles. “Salvatore came to see me early Monday morning. It was odd because it was so early, and I was expecting you. But he came with an official looking gentleman, I didn’t catch his name, who opened the cell door. Mr. Bellomo offered me his arm and off we walked. We were over here by nine in the morning about the time I was expecting you.”

She calmly poured another iced tea.

“Didn’t you think to call me to let me know you were okay?”

She looked at me like I had two heads. “Marie-Claude, I didn’t have your cell phone number because the police took my phone. They took my purse. I assumed that man at the jail would let you know that Mr. Bellomo had come to get me. Why didn’t you come before now?” She made a pouty face like she was hurt. “I thought sure you would. And why did you come through the balcony? Wasn’t that rather dangerous, dear?” She peered at me. “You are acting rather strange.”

I was acting strange? “I didn’t know about Mr. Bellomo until Lonnie, the tour guide, told us about your widow friends. One of them told him about Mr. Bellomo. How was I to know?”

“Dear me.” She shook her head, moved to the sofa and sat down. “I thought I had mentioned him to you.” She patted the seat beside her, and I dutifully sat.

“Let me get this straight,” I said. “You’re having a fine time, Mr. Bellomo is taking care of everything, and you are engaged to be married. Is that an accurate summary of what is going on here?”

She pursed her lips and scrunched her nose in a funny little way she had. “Yes, I think that covers it. His home is quite comfortable. This is my suite. He has his own, of course. This is all on the up and up. I told him no hanky-pank until after the wedding. It will be a small one, I think. He’d like us to be married in Sicily. I haven’t met his family yet. Of course, I want you to meet him. But,” she looked me over, “that outfit will never do.”

I stared at her. Was this my Aunt Elizabeth? She sounded like Cleopatra surveying the empire. This from the person who lived in a tiny apartment surrounded by people she had known her entire life. She was going to marry a foreigner and live in Sicily? And hanky-pank? At her age? I was impressed. Would that I were still interested in hanky-pank when I reached her age. I was speechless.

She sipped her drink like it was the most normal thing in the world to be discussing getting married to a multimillionaire, maybe billionaire, wine merchant. She, who had never been married a day in her life.

“Would you like to go out on the balcony, dear? The view is spectacular. I guess you already know since you came in that way. However did you get on my balcony?”

“From the roof.”

She raised her eyebrows, something she used to do when I was a teenager, indicating I was going a bit too far.

I blew out a breath and leaned my head against the back of the couch. Exhaustion was getting harder to keep at bay. I knew if I closed my eyes I might drift off. Where to start and what to tell her? Maybe partial truth. Nope, couldn’t even do that. I gnawed on my lip.

The image of Zach being helped into the palace popped into my thoughts. I couldn’t imagine what had happened to him. He looked like he had been in a fight. Where was he now? Maybe he needed help. No, I couldn’t let him distract me. I had to help my aunt.

Salvatore Bellomo must have legitimate feelings for my aunt because she was an absolute nobody and lived on social security, her library pension, Medicare and a small amount of money saved for a rainy day. Any extra money she had went for travel, and I supplemented that at times. He couldn’t be after her money.

Then again he might be after those mythical jewels Zach swore he had touched. If my aunt, knowing or unknowingly, knew where the jewels were, and if Mr. Bellomo played along like he wanted to marry her, then maybe she would tell him where they were. If the jewels were worth two million dollars that was a nice piece of change for not very much work.

That was it. Grandpa was going to make an absolute fool of my aunt, take the jewels and break her heart. I wondered if she would get to keep the ring. I could work up an indignant rage, given half a chance.

“I’m waiting for your explanation, Claudie. Have you fallen asleep?”

My eyes snapped open.

“Before I go into that rather long story,” I said, knowing evasion of the truth was the best I could come up with at the moment, “did you hear of Berengaria’s jewels?”

My aunt stopped playing with the ice in her glass and looked at me. “Of course. Everyone’s heard of that legend, and everyone knows there are no jewels.”

“But did you hear anything during these last few weeks while you were on the island? Did anyone joke about Berengaria’s jewels or about finding them or about seeing them?” I tried not to prompt her with a hopeful face.

She frowned, pursed her lips, scrunched her nose. “Let me think. Maybe there was some mention. Someone on every trip talks about them.”

“Yes, about how they were lost when Berengaria’s ship wrecked off the coast, and how they were never recovered but people keep finding bits of gold and a precious stone or two on the beaches around here.”

“Yes, that’s it.” She smiled. “Such an enchanting legend. I was always partial to it.” She paused and cocked her head. “You know, now that you ask, I do remember Mrs. Crawford mentioning jewels to a man at lunch one day. She was waiting for me outside the ladies restroom and when I came out she broke off, and he walked away. I thought it might have been about the legend because I heard Berengaria’s name. It’s hard to mistake such a name, you know.”

“What did this man look like?” I asked.

“American. He and his wife are that American couple that come every year with the group from Boston College. He’s rather tall. A beefy sort of man, rather dull face. She’s a bit horsy looking, long head. They rented a blue Maruti this year. Quite an ugly thing, but I guess it gets them around well enough.”

That’s all that I had — a passing reference in a conversation overhead by accident. Was Zack right that Berengaria’s jewels really existed?

Fourteen

In all the excitement I had forgotten my aunt might have a phone in her room. I needed to get her away from this place. I decided to appeal to her sense of propriety.

“Aunt Elizabeth, I don’t think this arrangement looks quite right for you to be shacking up with your intended. How about I call Yannis and have him pick us up? We can check into a hotel. Where’s the phone?”

She frowned and scrunched her nose. “You think it looks bad my being here? I’m not shacking up. After all, I have my own room.” She gazed about rather wistfully at the sumptuous furnishings. “I don’t recall a phone in here, now that you ask.”

My nerves were getting the best of me. I had to get her out of here. Mr. Bellomo did not have honorable intentions as far as I was concerned. I debated over confronting him and telling him we were leaving or trying to sneak her out. I wondered if Luigi was watching her room and walked over to the door to poke my head out. I listened before I opened then cracked the door. No one in the hall. That was a plus.

“What are you doing, Claudie?” she asked, as I quietly shut the door.

“I was checking the layout in the hall. I think we need to go to a hotel to keep this on the up and up. Why don’t you pack a few things while I have a look around?”

She didn’t budge from the couch and looked awfully comfortable seated there. I couldn’t blame her. Being seated in the lap of luxury who would want to move?

She changed tactics on me. “Claudie, you still haven’t told me how you got here and what took you so long. Sal said he tried to contact you.”

I decided to level with her as she sat so magnificently on her throne surveying her queendom. “I met a man on the plane who helped me to find you but we ran into some trouble. Mr. Bellomo might be tied up in a scheme to steal Berengaria’s jewels. Have you seen some of the men he keeps company with?”

She giggled. “Of course, they do look like a rough bunch, but they’ve been absolute gentlemen with me. They are his bodyguards. Do you know he has had threats made on his life?” Then she frowned. “Are you saying he’s a thief? My Salvatore? How can he be in a scheme to steal jewels that don’t exist?”

Now we had possessiveness and disbelief involved. This was going to be harder than I thought. I could not appeal to reason, not that I had an open and shut case.

“But maybe the jewels do exist. Besides, do you want to marry someone who employs bodyguards?” This added a level of danger to her life that I didn’t think was computing with her. This group we were dealing with wasn’t stopping at a few statues and potsherds. They were going for the crown jewels. Berengaria of Spain had been a crown Princess, the intended of Richard I the Lionhearted, who married her right here in Limasol on his way to the third crusade.

“Sal said it wouldn’t be like this in Sicily.”

I rolled my eyes and was interrupted in my astonishment by a rap at the door.

“That will be Sal now. He said we would take a walk along the beach this afternoon.”

She got up to go to the door.

“Wait a minute,” I whispered. “Don’t tell him I’m here.”

“Why ever not?” she whispered back. “Claudie, I don’t understand your hesitation. Aren’t you happy for me? You haven’t congratulated me on my engagement.” She held up the rock and gazed at it fondly.

I grabbed her arms. “Look, humor me for now. You go for a walk. I’ll look around and come up with something.”

She smiled. “Good idea. I was looking forward to this walk with Sal.”

“Mum’s the word, right?”

“Okay, mum it is.” She giggled in delight at our big secret. “You can go into the bedroom and hide in there. I’ll be back.”

I disappeared into the bedroom and hid in a gargantuan closet that most people would call a room. I listened but couldn’t distinguish the conversation. The lovebirds must have been whispering to each other. I heard the door close and hoped I was alone and checked to be sure.

I did a quick search, looking for a phone. How could I be living in the 21st century and not have a phone? But there was not a one in the room which told me Aunt Elizabeth was not exactly a guest in the house. More like a hostage.

Hostage? The idea sent a chill through me. Bellomo might be holding her, thinking she would lead him to the jewels. On the bright side, I had found my aunt. She was unharmed and cheerful and engaged. Maybe.

Now I had to find Zach. Crazy as it sounded, since I had spent so much time trying to get away, I needed to talk to him because doubts were brewing in my brain. I was worried he looked so bad when he came in. Where had he gone this morning anyway?

I crept out of the room and down the hall, trying to get my bearings. I headed in the direction of the rooms I had shared with Zach. More rose and cream carpet lined the center of the white marble floors, making the hall look more like a hotel than a home. Recessed alcoves showcased statues of more Greek and Roman gods, goddesses and half-man-half-animal creatures, all looking quite authentic with chipped shoulders and missing noses. No Luigi guarded our door. Curious. I listened at the door. Not a sound, so I tried the handle, and the door swung open.

Zach lay stretched out on the couch fast asleep, or so it would seem from the way he was snoring. His mouth hung open at an odd angle. I rushed in and checked him over. A nasty swollen lip replete with dried blood accounted for the lop-sided quality of his mouth. It looked like he had been hit across the left side of his beautifully sculpted face, and his cheek and eye area were angry red. Scrapes on his knuckles indicated he had gotten in some licks of his own. His shirt was open down the front, and his exposed ribs were an ugly shade of purple.

I found ice, wrapped it in a cloth, sat on the floor in front of him, and put the ice pack against his lip.

He groaned. One eye inched open.

“Claudie,” he mumbled, not able to work his mouth very well. “Where have you been? You weren’t here when I got back.” He had trouble forming his words with the puffy lip and slurred his speech like a drunk.

“Right and what happened to you? Did you step on a rake?”

“Press that harder against my lip, will you? That’s good.”

“Where did you go? When I awoke, you were gone.”

“I left with Lucca.” He spoke in fits and starts. “We tried to find the taxi driver who took off last night and traced him to an unsavory neighborhood in Limasol.” His eyes fluttered shut.

I gently shook him. “Zach, wake up. Who drugged you?”

“What?” His eyes rolled around crazily as he tried to focus on me. “Lucca gave me something for the pain.”

“Must have been powerful stuff. What happened to you anyway? You look like you were run down by a semi.”

“We got into a little rumble with Bruno and the boys. Lucca pulled me out of the ruckus and got us both away. I was trying to find out who they are working for. It backfired on me.”

He slipped back into a doze.

I shook him again. “Zack, listen. I think I know who might be involved in Berengaria’s jewels. Wake up.”

He groaned into the couch.

What a time for him to be out cold.

I ran to the bar and searched the cupboard for coffee, got a pot going, drew a big glass of ice water, filled a bowl with same, soaked a towel and wrung it out. I carted towel and glass over to the coffee table and wrestled Zach into a sitting position which took a while since he was dead weight.

“No time to sleep now, Zach, dear. We need to talk.” I placed the towel around his neck and put the glass to his lips.

“Try to drink this.”

He curled his lips around the rim and slurped a few gulps, most of it dribbling down his chin. His eye was turning an unhealthy shade of magenta and, with his unshaved face, he looked decidedly derelict.

He gazed at me, bleary eyed.

“Zach, do you think you could walk?”

He wobbled at me like one of those dog statues on the back ledge of a car that bobbles its head as you drive by.

“Claudie, I can’t keep you focused. Forgive me for shutting my eyes. I’m afraid I’m no good to you right now.”

“Hold on.” I jumped up and rushed over to pour him a cup of black coffee.

“Here, it’s coffee, try to get some down. Maybe it will help you wake up.”

“Don’t want to wake up. Just want to sleep,” he said and flopped over. He mumbled into the couch.

I pushed him carefully over on his back so I could understand him.

“They know …” and the words slurred into a burble.

“What do they know?” I shook him. What was he trying to say?

“Claudie …”

“What Zach? Take your time. Tell me what you want to say. It’s important.”

“You need to get out of here. I’m sorry I pulled you into …” He drifted off.

I blew out a breath. This was exasperating. What was he trying to say?

“Zach, listen to me, please. My aunt is here. She thinks she’s engaged to Mr. Bellomo. I think he wants her as a hostage till he gets the jewels. The American couple may be the link to the widows and the jewels. Zach, can you hear me?”

His eyes blinked open, and I thought I saw recognition. I wondered how long the drug would take to wear off. One thing I knew, I wasn’t going to abandon Zach at this stage after all I had invested in him. How was I going to get us out of here? I stared out the French doors to the sea, turning deeper blue in the waning light of day.

Water. The yacht. We could leave by sea. The yacht was at the end of the peer. I’d never piloted a boat in my life, but I was a fast learner, and I needed one for our escape.

“Zach, I’m going to leave. You rest. Do you understand? I’ll be back. I’m looking for a way to escape. Do you know anything about boats?”

“Boats,” he whispered as I arranged his limbs in a more comfortable position. I applied more ice to his cheek and checked his bruises and cuts. He had bruises down his right side over the ribs. I hoped the other guys looked worse. I propped his head so the ice pack lay against his cheek and sat back to drink the cup of coffee I’d poured. And think.

The lovebirds might be back from the beach by now. Long shadows were creeping into the room. The lowering sun lit the eastern horizon in rosy hues. Sitting there watching the light change through the French doors, I could have been enjoying the aftermath of a day on the beach. But I wasn’t. I had gotten sucked into the world of criminals, and Zach was one of them.

I decided as soon as it was dark, I would try to get to the yacht. My aunt and I could go for a walk. That was it. I jumped up, decided to put on the little black dress that was still flung over the couch where I had left it, make myself presentable and find my aunt so she could take me for a walk. The two of us could get to the yacht which might have a phone. I’d call Yannis, alert him, and arrange a rendezvous.

I checked myself out in the mirror and shrieked. I looked like a witch. I took a quick shower, pulled my hair back into a ponytail and brushed on some mascara and blush. That was a bit better. As I was smoothing on lipstick, inspiration struck. In mysteries there was always a hidden staircase. I shook my head. No, that was farfetched. But this was a big house and every time the servants came upstairs did they use that long winding staircase in the main hall? I bet not. I bet they had their own staircase. Why not hidden ones? I started to check around.

The hidden stairs were always in the library in mystery novels. But this suite had no library. However, there was a little alcove in the bedroom that had bookcases. I went to investigate. From the edge of the king size bed, I studied the alcove with the bookshelves and cabinets. There wasn’t much in the way of books. The shelves sported figurines and bowls with Greek designs in gold and black enamel. A rather ornate candelabrum sat in the middle of the bottom shelf, gold of course.

To the side of that cabinet was a floor-to-ceiling louvered panel that matched the white shelves. This panel seemed to have no function beyond mere decoration. I walked over and started pushing the panel, looking for something like hinges or door knobs. I didn’t have long to look. The louvered panel had a recessed hold on the side. I slid the panel to the right and exposed another door that opened to descending stairs.

Why hadn’t I thought of this before? Eureka. The question was, where did the steps go and did they offer any means of escape? Down I went. These were no back stairs in the sense of cement steps and cinder block walls. No, they were polished wood as were the walls, and they had the fragrance of the cedars of Lebanon. Even the back stairs were first class in this palace.

As it turned out, they were not the servant stairs at all. They were stairs to a corridor that led to the patio surrounding the acres of pool I had seen from the roof. Of course, why wouldn’t each room have their own access to the millionaire’s playground?

Beyond the ameba shaped pool, sporting a fountain in the middle, was the beach, the dock, and the yacht. Lounge chairs lined the side of the pool, enough for a cruise ship. Palm trees swayed in the breeze. The black rocks that formed the cliff side of the house gave way to a beach of white sand, bright even in the dimming light. Underwater lights in the pool lit the area. I kept to the shadows and shrubbery around the perimeter of the pool.

Not a soul enjoyed the beauty of the beach area. No one swam in the pool. A breeze off the sea ruffled the palms. The sound of water splashing from the fountain in the pool made me want to jump in. The scene was a good time waiting to happen.

I found it odd that such a gorgeous house had so little activity. It seemed like there should be a crowd of party people having the time of their lives. But no one crowded around the bar with thatched roof at the end of the pool nearest the house. Maybe this was an off day.

Alone, I stood in the shadows watching to see if anyone moved, if anyone came out for an evening swim or to enjoy a cocktail by the pool. Not a soul. Keeping to the shadows, I followed the house, peeking in windows. They were enormous, the kind you’d find in a room with a view, with crank out side windows. A little further on light spilled out a window onto the walkway. I eased along in the shadows toward the light, my black dress helping me blend in. I inched between shrubs, the mulch warm against my bare feet, giving off the heat it had stored up during the day. I stopped short of an open window. A single lamp gave off weak light onto the soft gray of the stone walk.

I ventured a peek in the window. There, reading a newspaper, sat Mr. Bellomo looking like anyone’s favorite Grandpa. He held the newspaper at arm’s length, demonstrating a need to pay a visit to the optometrist for a new prescription. The gold frames of his glasses glittered in the lamplight. Half a glass of red wine sat on the table beside him. The brilliant white hair on his head, worn short and brushed back, was thinning in the back. His fingernails were perfectly manicured. He wore a short sleeve shirt that showed off his tanned arms. He looked like your local friendly golfer on the nineteenth hole.

What mesmerized me was not how he looked, but what he was reading. He was staring at the front page of the English newspaper, the local paper that served the British population. My photo looked out from the front page side-by-side with a photo of my aunt. The caption read “American Tourists Sought in Antiquities Theft”.

Fifteen

Mr. Bellomo knew he was harboring two people wanted by the authorities. One of the two he had personally helped out of prison. He didn’t look surprised or concerned about those photos, but I was. I wanted to talk to those authorities now. I whirled and hurried back from whence I’d come.

I had to get the three of us out. If Mr. Bellomo knew the police were looking for us, and he wasn’t making any attempt to report us, something was terribly, terribly wrong. Now the thought of being in the custody of the police gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

I nearly killed myself tracing my steps back to the stairs, but instead of going to the one to my room, I kept going down the corridor, searching for the door that should be in the wall below the balcony of my aunt’s room. It stood open as had mine. I took the steps two at a time and found the top door closed but not locked. I eased it open and slid the louvered panel door aside.

My aunt was stretched out on the bed, taking a nap.

“Wake up.” I gently shook her, hoping not to scare her.

She mumbled and sputtered, and her eyes flew open.

“Claudie? Where did you come from, dear? Goodness, I was having a bad dream. Someone was chasing me, and I couldn’t get away.”

I didn’t want to tell her that we were living that dream.

“Aunt Elizabeth, we have to leave here as soon as it’s dark.”

“Whatever for? I like it here.”

“I bet you do. This place is palatial, but Mr. Bellomo may not have your best interests at heart. We need to go to the police.”

“But, Claudie, dear, he got me away from the police. Why would I want to go back?”

“Because our photos are on the front page of the newspaper. We could be doing Mr. Bellomo real harm, since it could look like he is harboring criminals.”

“We aren’t criminals. What are you talking about?” She sat up. “Now look, Marie-Claude. I waited all my life for someone like Salvatore Bellomo to sweep me off my feet. I’m in love, and he loves me, he said he did, and I’m not getting any younger, and we’re getting married, and I’m not going back to jail. That is that.”

I sat down beside her on the rose satin bed spread and put an arm around her shoulders. The bed could have been made of clouds, it was so soft.

“What if Mr. Bellomo is leading you on, hoping that you’ll tell him where Berengaria’s jewels are, because he thinks you have them?”

“For heaven’s sake. I don’t have any jewels. How can I? They don’t exist, and he’s never asked me the first thing about them. We don’t talk about antiquities or my being in jail. We talk about books and fine art and the weather and our new life together. We talk about wines and food and his family in Sicily. He came from a poor family and is a self-made man, and I admire him. You know I come from humble beginnings, and we have that in common.”

“For all this wealth,” she waved her hand in a gesture that encompassed the whole room, “he’s a very humble man and a dear and I am going to marry him and no one is going to stop me.” She looked at her watch, a new, sparkling gold filigree adornment that I had never seen before.

“Oh me, now we are going to be late for dinner. Hurry and get some shoes on, dear. I’ve got to change. Sal and I have been having lovely dinners in the garden, and I like to fancy up a bit. Hurry now. He wants you to dine with us this evening.”

“He does?”

“Yes, now hurry. Where are your shoes?” She trotted over to the closet which contained minimum two dozen dresses.

“Where did you get all of those?” I asked.

“Salvatore bought them for me and had them delivered. He buys me the nicest things and has excellent taste in clothes.”

She held up one in the mirror. It was a deep blue sundress that would bring out her cornflower blue eyes, had plenty of room for her ample bosoms, and sported a slightly flared skirt.

“This will be perfect. I wear a different one every evening. I’m going to freshen up in the bath and slip this on. Hurry now, Claudie, we don’t want to be late.”

She bustled into the bathroom and left me sitting on the edge of the bed wondering what to do. Get my shoes, obviously. If I dined with the lovebirds, I might be able to find out why Mr. Bellomo chose to harbor criminals, and if his intentions were honorable. Maybe he would have the chief of police to dinner or whoever the guy was that helped him spring my aunt from jail.

I hurried back to my room via the empty hallway to find Zach stretched out on the couch in the same position I had left him. I freshened his ice pack and tried shaking him awake.

“What?” he said, eyes fluttering open.

“Zach, are you okay?” I wasn’t hoping for much of an answer to that question.

“Claudie? I’m okay,” he said, “just a little sleepy. Ouch, my jaw is killing me.”

His eyes were drifting shut again. “I had this dream about fists raining down on my face.” His speech was halting, and I couldn’t make sense of it. A dream? The way he looked was not a dream.

“Okay, rest. I’m going to dine with my aunt and Mr. Bellomo. I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere soon. I’ll be back, and then we’re leaving.”

“Right.” He conked out again.

I sat, hunched on the floor beside the couch looking at him and brushed his hair back in place. He looked so vulnerable and beat up. He was in no shape for anything. His face felt hot to the touch. I worried he might have a fever.

Lord, what a mess this all was. How was I going to uproot my lovesick aunt and drag her from the dragon’s lair? How was I going to help Zach? He was a felon and a wanted man. Didn’t we make a pair? I wished it were on the right instead of wrong side of the law. I wondered how much a good lawyer cost in Cyprus, as I trudged to the bathroom to pull myself together.

I fixed my hair into a top knot, fussed with my makeup, sprayed on more Ancient Breezes, its crisp fragrance growing on me, found my cute sandals and slid them on. I had no jewelry except the gold hoops I wore, but I liked the little black dress which hugged my curves. Since I didn’t have rubies and sapphires this evening, the gold St. Christopher medal would have to do.

I tucked the silky soft blanket over Zach and kissed his forehead. One side of his mouth tried to twitch into a smile. The evening breeze off the water was cool, so I closed the French doors to the balcony. I dimmed the overhead and left the table lamp burning at the end of the couch. I looked back one last time as I left the room. Zach looked so peaceful stretched out on that humungous couch. A scene of domestic felicity. One could wish.

Aunt Elizabeth was ready when I arrived in her room.

“Does a limo come for us or do we walk to dinner?”

She laughed. “Oh, Claudie, dear heart, don’t be silly, of course we’ll walk.”

She sprayed a few squirts of expensive perfume behind her ears. “There, all ready. How do I look?”

“Great.” I had to admit she had always been an attractive woman in a matronly sort of way, always had a neatness about her. She wore a gold chain with a blue pendant that looked like a sapphire with drop earrings to match. Salvatore sure was into gifts.

Her hair was soft white, easy to coif, and pulled back in her signature French twist. The blue dress showed off her hour glass figure. With strappy gold heels and painted red toenails, she looked like an AARP fashion model. I was proud of her. If only she weren’t in love with a Mafia don.

She led the way at a brisk anticipatory trot to our garden setting for dinner. Salvatore was waiting, glass of wine in hand, which he set on the table to greet my aunt with a generous smile and a kiss on the cheek. He wore a white, open neck shirt and dark blue European cut pants with tan Italian loafers.

The outdoor dining area featured an oval white wrought iron table with matching chairs and glass top. The table sat twelve. I wondered where the rest of the party was. A silver candelabrum with electric white candles glowed at the end of the table set with three places. The army of glasses, plates, silverware and napkins was daunting to someone who never had more than one course for dinner. I decided I would follow my host’s lead to navigate my way through the courses.

My aunt blushed prettily when her betrothed whispered in her ear, and she giggled in return.

They turned to me.

“I am so very happy you could join us for dinner,” Salvatore Bellomo said, extending his hand to me. “I trust you are feeling better.” His handshake was firm but tolerant of a woman’s hand.

On studying him closer, I could understand my aunt’s attraction to him. He was elegant like an Italian aristocrat of the Renaissance, a self-contained man with an easy smile that made one comfortable. I could see why he had become a successful businessman, if his easy manner with people were any indication.

“Can I offer you something to drink? A glass of wine perhaps? We have some excellent Cypriot wines this evening.”

I accepted the offer of wine. My aunt requested a Cyprus brandy sour. She was fairly tittering, and I had to admit they looked cute together. He was only an inch or two taller than she was, and I could imagine them on the dance floor whirling around the room to a rumba or chachacha.

“Please sit down. Over here, shall we?” He indicated a wicker arrangement overlooking the pool. We settled onto bright yellow flowered cushions. Maybe his decorator was someone out of Architectural Digest.

Rodolfo arrived with our drinks and placed them on a glass top wicker table along with a small tray of meze, a mixture of dishes, a favorite way of eating on Cyprus. I anticipated one of those meals that would go on forever. I loved the round flat Cypriot bread that was great for dipping hummus and eating talatoura, a light cucumber and yogurt concoction. I sighed happily when I saw the variety and started out with fried calamari.

It didn’t seem to bother Salvatore that I was there, that I had found my aunt. I didn’t know if she had mentioned I came in through the balcony. He didn’t bring up Zach in the conversation which seemed odd since we had come together. I had heard somewhere that Mafia types never discussed business around their women. They were family men. They discussed family things, as did we.

He directed his questions to me about my life in Boston and demonstrated a keen interest in the mutual fund. This was the man who had gotten my aunt out of jail, held her hostage in his house, and was reputed to be in the smuggling business. Here we sat discussing family and fine art. But I needed some answers, and I was American and straight forward, so I launched my barrage.

My first question was “Mr. Bellomo, how did you get my aunt released from jail?”

He set down his glass of wine, dabbed at his lips with a white linen napkin and helped himself to a stuffed grape leaf. He munched a bite and seemed to savor the taste.

“I know you must have been surprised that I secured her release, but I have done business and lived on this island for many years. I know many people. I have done favors for some, they do favors for me. I called in one of those favors, I believe you say. That is how I got her out.” He stopped, only answering the question asked, not volunteering any more information.

That was that. Very simple. The favor system.

“Then why did you bring her here?”

He smiled and looked at my aunt. “Because I care for your aunt very deeply, and I wanted her to be safe. I did not trust what was going on. You can see this is an ideal place for her to be.” He waved his hand in a circle to encompass the house and our surroundings.

“I have to admit this house is lovely and more than adequate, but I was worried about her and was trying to find her.”

“Yes, I tried to get word to you, but it seems you disappeared.” He smiled that warm, friendly smile, without accusation or judgment and took another sip of wine.

He sat forward in his chair. “Marie-Claude, if I may call you by your formal name. It is so lovely this name. I can transport both you and your aunt from the island. It is not a problem to get you out of Cyprus. But,” and he paused to emphasize the word, “but that will not clear up the accusations against you. This is what we must do. This is what I would discuss with you, you see, because your aunt and I wish to marry.”

So it was true. This was right from the source. I sat back to think that one over.

My aunt sipped her brandy sour, a particular weakness of hers, and sampled mezes while she listened to our conversation. She had an uncanny sense of when to speak and when not to. She had never been a confrontative type which made her easy to get along with and a pleasant companion. I realized that this quality was probably one that Salvatore found attractive, as well as her ability to laugh at life and its absurdities and enjoy a good joke.

What I wanted to say to Salvatore was — sir, are your intentions honorable and. is that huge diamond on my aunt’s finger real? But I didn’t. How gauche would that be?

He continued on when I wasn’t forthcoming with more questions. “Maybe you think it odd this match between us, your aunt and me.” He picked up her hand and gave it a squeeze and looked at her with a little smile. My heart began to melt. It was obvious that he indeed did care about her. I felt like the father of the bride.

“After all,” he went on, “we are not young, and we are from different cultures. But we spent much time together while she was here, and I found myself enchanted. Myself, I lost my wife to cancer several years ago. I did not think ever to re-marry. My wife was a good Sicilian woman and gave me four beautiful children. But they have their own lives now. They have all married and have children. I still have some life left in me. I feel the need for companionship, and Elizabeth is a wonderful companion. I feel like I am a young man again with her. It is good for me.”

I glanced at my aunt while he said this and noticed her eyes glistened. I almost choked up myself. I knew how she felt about him. Why not? What a life of comfort she would have with a man that adored her. She deserved it.

“I understand,” I said. “When do you think to set a date for the wedding?” I thought I should press him for a date to see if he was going to carry through on his proposal.

“First,” Salvatore said, “we will clear up this unfortunate matter of the antiquities, and then we will decide.”

Then, I thought, you will break my aunt’s heart by dumping her after you get the jewels. Over my dead body.

“What do you say, my precious Elizabeth?” Salvatore was again gazing upon his intended.

“Whatever you say, Sal.” She blushed. “I would like a little time to plan, don’t you think, darling? I mean, we talked about a little family wedding. We’d want you there, Claudie, of course.”

I smiled. It was wonderful for her. I prayed she wouldn’t be disappointed. ”I’d like to be there. I’d be thrilled, and I wish you both no end of happiness.”

This was bowling me over. My aunt was getting married. She looked so happy. I decided then and there that I would cut this guy off at the knees, if he didn’t carry through.

“Mr. Bellomo, how are we going to get this little matter of antiquities theft cleared up?”

“Let us talk about that later. Now we will have a nice meal, some wine, and good conversation. Do you like opera by any chance, Marie-Claude?”

I sighed. My aunt adored opera, and Verdi was her favorite. I rather liked it myself. We’d gone to hear James Levine conduct Rigoletto at the Met in New York as a special treat one Christmas.

He led us to the beautifully set table. I saw that besides being an easy man to be around, he was excellent at evasion. He pushed in both our chairs, and Rodolfo began serving. The soft strains of Verdi’s La Traviata floated out over the garden. A little wine, fine food, a little candlelight, and Verdi. What a seduction. The guy was smooth.

I wished Zach could be there with us. Mr. Bellomo didn’t seem in the least phased that Zach was not there. He had the ability to create an atmosphere that said only you, only me and tonight.

I enjoyed the evening, ate well, swooned over the seafood paella, had one too many glasses of wine, and found Mr. Bellomo and my aunt could talk endlessly of their travels, of the art world, of Cyprus and how much they loved the island. I excused myself after chocolate baklava and coffee to allow the lovebirds time to themselves and walked back to my room alone.

Zach was sitting up on the couch with the icepack on his head.

“How do you feel?” I asked.

He looked like hell. His face was puffy and swollen on one side. He was unshaved and his shirt disheveled but he was alive, and I was glad for that.

He patted the seat beside him. “I’m recovering. Come sit by me.”

“I found my aunt. She’s in the room down the hall. I had dinner with her and Mr. Bellomo. They’re going to get married.”

“He’s quite a catch.”

The way he said it gave me pause.

“You don’t approve? What do you know about him?”

Zach looked at me, searched my eyes. “He’s a powerful man. He doesn’t look like it, but he controls a lot of the trade between Italy and Cyprus. I hope your aunt can handle him.”

That was like an ice water bath.

I lay my palm along his puffy cheek. It was still hot and angry. “Would you like something to drink, some water or something stronger?”

“Wild Turkey with a splash would be perfect.”

I fetched the Wild Turkey, fixed a glass and settled beside him with a bottle of water.

“What next?” I thought I’d keep the conversation moving.

Zach yawned then took a long swallow of his drink. “Delicious.”

“You’re stalling,” I said.

“I’m leaving.”

“Leaving?”

“Yes, I need to find the jewels. You found your aunt, so you should be happy. You and your aunt will be safe here. Mr. Bellomo will pull some strings to get you both off the antiquities charge, but he can’t help me. He and I have already talked about that. So I’m leaving.”

“You can’t. You mean leave just like that?” I snapped my fingers.

“Yes, Claudie Princess, just like that.” He mimicked my finger snap.

“I’m going with you.”

Zach stopped in the act of taking another swallow of Wild Turkey.

“You can’t. I’m officially releasing you to your own custody. This isn’t a caper for girls.”

I had to laugh. “It has been so far. What will change?”

“The stakes are getting higher.”

“How do you know?”

“I found out this morning. That’s why I got beat up. Mr. Bellomo is harboring me, and I can’t let him do that. The exposure is dangerous to him. Besides, he’s quite besotted with your aunt and wants to clear her name as quickly as possible.”

“Is he one of the good guys?”

Zach nodded. “As good as good can get in the world of trade. Like I said, there is no black and white in business, only shades of gray.” He finished his drink and set the glass on the coffee table. He turned to look at me with those wonderful deep brown eyes. “I am going to miss you, Claudie Princess.”

He leaned over and kissed me chastely on the lips. His were still puffy.

“How are you going to leave?”

He held up a set of keys. “Mr. Bellomo is loaning me the use of his yacht. Now I think I shall make use of the shower in this palatial establishment. Care to join me?”

“I’ll wash your back.”

He grabbed my hand and lead me into the bath room.

“Wait a minute,” he said. “Look at that bathing pool. Let’s have a go.”

He turned on the gold faucets full blast, and the tub began to fill. I selected bath oil called Aphrodite’s Secrets from the array of glistening bottles in an alcove by the tub and dumped in half the bottle. He pulled me into the shower while the tub filled, and we washed each other with a huge bar of exquisite lavender soap. His bruises were discolored, and I tried to be careful washing the tender flesh. While the water poured over us, our bodies did the talking. By the time we had finished and shut off the shower, the bath pool was filled. We slid into its comforting warmth. I could get used to luxury.

“A Ben Franklin for your thoughts, Claudie Princess.”

We were lying in the pool, steam rising around us, my back to his chest, his arm under my breasts.

“Be careful, Princess,” he said, as I tried to turn over and caught him in the bruised ribs.

“I want to see your face,” I said.

“How do I look?”

“Not so puffy. But purple and yellow aren’t your colors.” I hesitated. “Zach?”

“Yes?” he said, resting his head on the rounded lip of the tub, his eyes closed.

“I was thinking. Maybe there’s someplace you and I could go no one would ever find us. We could disappear and find an island and live in a grass shack and fish for our food.”

Zach laughed. “Great fantasy. You would want to spend the rest of your life with me on an island? I’m flattered Claudie Princess. What about your mutual fund?”

“I can manage that from anywhere. What about your smuggling business?”

He smirked. “I can manage that from anywhere.” He searched my eyes. “You really want to go with me, don’t you?”

I nodded.

“I’m flattered. But it will be too dangerous for you. Look what happened to me this morning. I couldn’t have that happen to you. You would leave me vulnerable, and I can’t have that.”

“How will I ever know what happened to you?”

“I’ll get a message to you. We’ll rendezvous on that island you’re dreaming up for us.”

Sixteen

Of course, I had no intention of letting him leave without me. Even though I harbored doubts about what would happen to my aunt if Mr. Bellomo found Berengaria’s jewels, I felt she was safe for the moment. On the other hand, I wanted to know who was smuggling antiquities on the island of Cyprus. I was not going to sit idly by with the love birds while Mr. Bellomo pulled some strings. Paying people off to drop the charges against us wasn’t my way of clearing my name. Pieces of the puzzle were not fitting together, and I had some hunches. I intended to hitch my wagon to Zachariah Lamont’s star and hope that he would lead me to the answers.

After our interlude in the bath, Zach insisted I get into bed and tucked me in with the tenderness of a mother with a new born babe. I thought for an instant that he’d change his mind and crawl in beside me, but he left after a wistful look back. Something was driving him, and I wanted to find out what that was.

As soon as I heard the door close and click, I was out of bed and into my black dress. He thought that locking the hall door would keep me in. Wrong I figured if I could make it to the dock and gazebo before he did, half my battle would be won. I scurried down the back steps to the pool area and, keeping to the shadows, ran to the beach and out onto the dock. I kept looking back as I ran, to see if anyone was following. I made it to the gazebo half-way out on the water and crouched down, looking to see if Zach were on the beach. Nothing. Something must have delayed him. I ran the final distance to the yacht where it sat at anchor, leaped up the steps and on board. This was a big boat. Sixty feet long, easy.

The secured area around Mr. Bellomo’s house included the beach and, in my opinion, was the weakest point in the defense of the Bellomo fortress. No one guarded the boat as far as I could see. I watched the house, crouched inside the well that housed the cockpit. I wondered if the police were watching Bellomo’s house. I couldn’t see the main street. There were no other boats anchored on the water.

Two figures emerged from the pool area, walking slowly. The one with white hair gestured with his hands and the other, much taller, was intent on listening. They paused at the water’s edge and faced each other, still engaged in conversation. They shook hands, and Zach walked out onto the dock that led to the yacht. Mr. Bellomo waved and headed back to the house. What had they been discussing?

I had to find a better hiding place on a boat that was so sleek and smooth, it looked like something from outer space. The cabin door was unlocked. I slipped inside where I could watch Zach through the cabin windows. He went to the cockpit and started the engine, then expertly cast off. He didn’t turn on lights, not even the running lights. The light of the moon and stars were bright enough. The sleek yacht headed straight out to sea instead of turning toward the east. Zach was headed west toward Pafos but had to go quite a distance out before he cleared the cape just west of Limasol.

Of course, I didn’t want him to find me so he could turn around and dump me off. I searched for someplace to hide. I was in the living area, furnished with a big, cream leather couch and matching chairs. A long galley and dining area ran the length of one side and doors opened off the other. The last door looked the most promising. I opened that one and entered the master suite replete with its own bath and king size bed. The room had a new smell to it. The carpet was thick and furnishings were Italian Rococo. I kicked off my sandals and lay down on the bed. Zach would stay at the helm, I figured. I could get some rest.

But sleep wouldn’t come. I stared at the ceiling, watching the play of water shadows. Somewhere out there were thieves who had started all this. Thieves to whom Zach had a connection. I wondered what he would to do now. My bet was that he was going to rendezvous with a few more thieves since his objective was retrieving Berengaria’s jewels.

Footsteps jarred me from my reverie, and before I could move, the door opened. Zach walked to the bed and turned on the lamp. A curious glow lit his eyes. The lamplight cast shadows across his face. Discoloration from the fight lingered around his eye.

“You don’t listen,” he said with his hands stuffed in his pockets. Somewhere he had found clean pressed khaki pants and crisp white short sleeve shirt.

“I couldn’t let you continue on by yourself. Who would bail you out, if you got into trouble?”

I scooted over on the bed. He joined me, putting his arm around my shoulders. The bedclothes rustled as he settled in beside me and leaned against the headboard.

“Who’s piloting the boat?” I asked.

“The computer.”

“How did you know I was here?”

“I watched you run across the beach from the house. I was waiting for Sal in his study, the one that fronts on the pool area. You looked like a gazelle, fleeing the lions. Were you fleeing?” He looked at me, his eyes questioning. “Or were you running toward me?”

“I was coming to help you. My aunt will be safe with Mr. Bellomo for the moment. I couldn’t let you go by yourself.”

He kissed the top of my head. I wanted to think that was a show of appreciation.

“You don’t understand the stakes in this game,” he said. “Sal’s been trying to buffer us, but his reach only extends so far into the underworld. He had to step back and leave me to my own devices. This trip will be dangerous.”

I snuggled closer, hugging his mid-section, like that was going to keep us safe. “Where are we going?”

“To Pafos to get Berengaria’s jewels.”

“Who has them?”

“The American couple.” He paused. “Or that is my best guess.

I sat up to look at him better. “The American couple?”

“They head the smuggling operation.”

He had my full attention. With my palm I turned his face so I could see his eyes. “They’re with the group of excavators at the Forty Column Castle.”

“The excavation is a front. They come to Cyprus on a regular basis with the archeology project and arrange their smuggling ventures on the side. They’ll deal with anybody, including terrorists. Not smart on their part.”

“So they’re responsible for planting the statues on Aunt Elizabeth.”

“That’s my bet — to throw the police off their scent.”

Pieces of the puzzle that had been troubling me started to fit into place. But I still didn’t understand how Zach got beat up and why. “Where did you really go this morning?”

He smiled ruefully. “You aren’t going to let it go, are you? All right. To Max and Irene’s place to retrieve the jewels.”

“Max and Irene had the jewels?”

“Not exactly. I hid the jewels in the wood shed.”

“Max and Irene didn’t know,” I said.

He shook his head. “No, they didn’t.” It was his sigh that said he regretted what happened to Max and Irene.

“The jewels weren’t where I hid them. The American couple must have figured out where I had stashed them. Max and Irene got in the way, and they killed them. We showed up too late to stop the murders and the theft. This morning Bruno and friend tailed us and tried to rub me out, so their American bosses wouldn’t have to pay for the jewels. You see, the American couple neglected to pay me. I had approached them about the jewels, and they wanted them. But they wanted them for nothing so they stole them. I’m going to find them and collect.

With his big, warm hand against my ribs, he eased me onto my back. “But all this talk is tiring me. Let’s not talk anymore. For some reason, my dearest Princess, I cannot get enough of you.”

I pulled him to me. “This time I will have my way with you.” Soon I had him calling on the whole Roman and Greek pantheon of gods to help him bear what I was doing to him. Never, ever was I going to meet a man like this again. I couldn’t shake the feeling I would not see him after tonight. Later we helped each other dress, savoring the act like a fine glass of Dom Perignon.

He took my hand. “We need to go topside so I can steer this magnificent craft. Who knows? After that session, we may have made it across the Atlantic to Brazil.”

I followed him to the cockpit and looked around. The scene took my breath away. Moonbeams bounced off the waves of the Mediterranean. I leaned into the breeze created by the yacht and inhaled the sea air into my lungs. Looking across the water, the line of the waves seemed to go on forever. I fantasized that we owned this proud vessel. We’d sail off to some obscure island and never be heard from again.

“What’s her name?” I shouted to Zach over the hum of the motor and rush of the wind. The yacht was a beauty, cutting through the waves like a knife of fine honed steel, like she owned the sea.

“The Elizabeth,” he shouted back.

“You’re kidding.” I moved back under the protection of the canopy. “Zach, do you really think Mr. Bellomo loves my aunt?”

“I think he is bonkers over her. He bought this yacht and named it after her. There’s a wedding in the making.”

“I find it hard to believe, but I hope for her sake it works out,” I said, a squishy feeling welling around my heart. To think she had fallen in love at this late stage of her life. There’s hope for all of us.

He cut back on the throttle and started a wide sweeping turn. “I’m going to show you Aphrodite’s birthplace from the sea.”

“Petra Tou Romiou where Aphrodite emerged from the foaming waves. What a romantic setting. Are we going to do something romantic there?”

“No, we’re going to meet someone there.”

“In the middle of the night? In the water? With all those rocks?”

“Correct.”

The plot thickened.

I had to admit I had never seen Aphrodite’s birthplace from the sea. Many times I had walked the beach and imagined her emerging from huge, foaming waves, the mist of the water her robes, voluptuous arms outstretched, the Goddess of Love. The moon cast its silver glow on the white cliffs along the shore, outlining the two giant rocks where Aphrodite emerged from the waves. Having swam around and climbed those rocks, I knew how dangerous they could be, especially with the collection of smaller rocks scattered about.

Zach cut the engine, and the yacht sat off shore rocking in the gentle waves. He put his arm around me and pulled me close. We listened to the sea and the waves against the boat. The night was still and washed by the moon.

“Do you see Aphrodite yet?” he asked. “They say she walks these beaches looking for hapless lovers.”

The road along the cliffs was empty. The beach was quiet. There was no movement anywhere.

“I guess this is her night off,” I said. “Who are we looking for besides Aphrodite?”

“A rubber raft with my partner in it. She’s going to join us.”

I turned to look at him. “A partner? The one you made the mysterious calls to? A partner in crime? A female?”

“Yes. What’s wrong with a female partner?” He sounded rather defensive.

“Nothing, I’m just surprised, I guess, I think.”

Sure enough, like a phantom conjured out of the night, a figure emerged from the rocks along the beach, as if she had been hiding and on cue from Zach she let herself be seen. She was tugging a small rubber raft and the way she pulled, it was loaded. She maneuvered the raft into the water, got in, and started rowing toward us. She was dressed in black, maybe a wet suite, and rowed with strong, swift strokes.

Zach’s attention focused on the raft. He moved to the rail to follow its progress, everything else forgotten.

I’d stay true to my promise to help him if I could and hope in the bargain I didn’t serve time for aiding and abetting a criminal and his female partner. Had I known he was going to have help, I might have stayed with my aunt. But he didn’t tell me, and he didn’t try to stop me. If he was using me, I was a big girl and it was my choice now, wasn’t it?

The raft came along side the stern. Zach lifted in two duffle bags and his partner. She was small and built like a gymnast. The wet suit outlined her trim figure. Zach gave her a quick hug and turned to me.

“Helena, this is Marie-Claude, who’s come along to help.”

Helena gave Zach an are-you-crazy glance and then stared at me. She looked Cypriot which was all the more unusual because my idea of Cypriot women was more traditional. They wouldn’t be out on a caper in the middle of the night. She was a young sprite with a mane of black curls that were tamed with a loose ribbon at the nape of her neck. Her facial features were stark, sharp nose and chin, winged eyebrows and dark, dark eyes.

She held out her hand. “My pleasure. Zach didn’t mention a helper.” She looked back at him, shook her head, and said, “Does she know?”

If Zach shook his head, I didn’t catch it. He was preoccupied with unzipping the bags and searching them. He pulled out what he sought. A very large gun. Back we were in that world I only read about and saw in the movies. I was living it. We watched him, waiting to see what he would do, waiting for orders from the commander, because it was clear that Zach was the one who called the shots.

“Helena, you have a gun?”

She nodded and patted the black bulge on her hip.

“All right, help me haul the raft up, and we’ll be under way.”

They sprang into action and stowed the raft. Zach powered up the yacht and turned out to sea.

Helena stood by him at the wheel. They talked in low voices, and I couldn’t hear a word of what they said. But I knew the next step. We were going to Pafos to find Berengaria’s jewels.

Seventeen

Darkness still reigned over Pafos Harbor when we motored in. Some pre-dawn fishermen were on their way out to sea, caught up in their own world and not interested in the domain of the wealthy and the criminal. Zach dropped anchor at a long dock filled with fishing boats. Helena had changed into shorts and tank top. She was all business and had spoken only a few words to me for the remainder of the short trip to Pafos Harbor like she was afraid she would give away secrets.

Zach had changed into black shorts, T-shirt and running shoes. In my black dress and cute little sandals, I felt over dressed. They each shouldered a duffle bag, and I followed them down the dock and over to the harbor parking lot. Helena opened a Honda SUV, a blue one this time. It brought back memories.

Zach stowed the bags in back and turned to me. “Claudie, when we get to our destination, promise me you’ll find a taxi and go back to your aunt. You won’t be implicated in this unless you tell the authorities.”

He pulled me close and searched my eyes. “I wish things had turned out differently. I tried to figure how we could disappear to that island you wanted, but this planet is small, and they’d eventually find me.”

“Of all the lives in this world, why did you have to walk into mine?” I said.

He tried to smile but ended up embracing me. “Things will move fast from here on. Here’s money.” He placed a wad of bills in my hand. “I’m asking you not to make any calls until I’m gone. Deal?”

I nodded, not trusting to speak. I wouldn’t jeopardize his getting away.

“Okay, here we go.”

We sped up the street from the dock and out onto the main drag of Pafos, Helena driving. I was in the back staring into nothing, overcome with weariness. A few late night revelers were on the streets, but the night was winding down, and they were on their way home or back to their hotels.

I thought of that long ago phone call from my aunt. I didn’t feel like the same person who had answered the call. My cares and worries from that world seemed light years away. I counted the days since the phone call. Less than a week.

We passed the same stores and hotels in Pafos that I had known and visited for the last ten years. My favorite restaurant, the street where we rented a house, the highway stretching up ahead to all the beautiful beaches on the west coast of Cyprus. All in the dim past.

Helena parked a few doors from our destination — the house the American couple had rented. They put on vests, the kind that camera buffs wore with tons of pockets. There wouldn’t be cameras, film, and lenses in those pockets.

As he walked away, Zach blew me a kiss. I couldn’t smile. I watched them disappear into the dead end alley. They’d be circling around to enter the back of the house. I got out of the car.

The air possessed the stillness of dawn. A lone mongrel dog trotted down the street intent on his next meal and didn’t give me a glance. The exit scheme involved the car so I put some distance between me and it and found a low stucco wall to sit on and figure out the rest of my life.

Gunfire might be part of this caper, and I prayed that no one would get hurt. Not the neighbors who snuggled in their beds, not Zach who had the most to lose, not even Helena. I couldn’t move my butt from that wall or get my feet to move down the street and away from trouble and out onto the street and to a phone. I waited.

The sky lightened and a breeze blew off the sea. The restaurant across the street cranked up the metal screen, and the smell of coffee stirred the air. Still they didn’t return. Half an hour passed, forty five minutes. I imagined them dead inside, killed with silencers. I imagined them tied up, gagged, unable to breath. Indecision settled in a cloud over my mind. Should I go around and see what I could find? They should have been back by now. Even if they searched the house, it wouldn’t have taken this long.

My feet on their own volition walked to the two story adobe house with red geraniums. I slowed as I neared, searched the second story balcony with hanging ferns. Dark green plastic trash cans stood in a row by the rounded door which was not closed. It stood wide open. At first I didn’t see the figures standing in the shadows, looking out. I froze. Then I recognized the familiar outline. Zach and Helena were watching me approach. He motioned me in.

“What happened?” I whispered, I’m not sure why. Didn’t want to wake up the neighbors, I guess.

“They cleared out. Their gear is gone,” said Zach. “It took us a while to search what was left.”

He studied me. “I thought you were leaving.”

“So did I.”

Zach and Helena looked like a tourist couple ready to meet the day, ready for a walk around town, having breakfast, taking photos to send back home to the family. She was petite against his height and dark to his sun-streaked beauty.

“Now what?” I said.

“We’re going to have breakfast. Care to join us?”

I smiled and nodded. When was I not ready to eat?

Over eggs and beans and chips with big, red slices of juicy tomatoes we talked. Helena excused herself to go to the ladies room.

“You’re only implicating yourself more,” Zach said.

“When you didn’t return, I got worried so I came to see what had happened. I imagined the worse.”

He laughed. “Of course.”

“What will you do now?”

“I can’t tell you, not anymore. I can’t open you up to any more danger. I have been foolish and selfish.” He took my hand in his warm, strong one. “I want you to call Bellomo and have him come get you and forget about me and all this.”

He saw the objection in my eyes before the words formed in my mouth.

“Claudie, someday, I promise you, when this is over, I’ll try to contact you. I know where you are in Boston. For now you must trust me and leave. Sal will get you both off the hook, your aunt will marry, and who knows she might even invite you to live in one of Sal’s palatial homes. Wouldn’t you like that?”

I wasn’t going to be put off with those crazy dreams. “Zach, Helena doesn’t look like a thief, nor do you. You don’t act like some sleazy criminal. If you are, you’re in a class with Cary Grant.”

He squirmed in his seat and would not meet my eyes. Was I getting too close to the truth? Who was Zach Lamont working for?

I stood up. I felt ancient. Every cell in my body ached for sleep.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

I laughed. “To the ladies room. I’ll check and see what’s keeping Helena.”

He grabbed my hand. “She’s gone. She’s my back up, my link. You don’t need to find her. She won’t be there.”

I sank into the chair. It was hard not to scream, to shake him, to make him share what it was that he was doing. I looked at him and when he wouldn’t turn toward me, I caught his chin in my hand and made him meet my eyes.

“I have a feeling,” I said, “the authorities know exactly what we are doing, that they haven’t picked me up because you are one of them. You have been lying double time all along.”

He shrugged and smiled wearily. “I could use some sleep and a shower and shave.” He rubbed his hand over the stubble on his face. “How about you?”

I smiled at him. “What hotel this time?” The grit in my eyes was the size of boulders, and my dress was all over wrinkles. “I could use some freshening up myself.”

He helped me up. “You pick the place. How about we crash, and when we’ve slept it off, I’ll tell you what we’re going to do to find Berengaria’s jewels.”

“Isn’t someone watching the airport for the American couple?” I asked, playing my hunch.

“No one is watching the airport. They’ve escaped to the Turkish side. That’s how they smuggle the goods for their terrorist friends. They’ll be back. While we’re waiting, let’s get some sleep.”

“Sounds heavenly to me.”

We ended up in a modest, clean establishment after stopping to buy me yet another outfit of shorts, top, and undies.

“You mind if I make a call?” I asked.

We had not turned on any lights. The curtains were closed, creating a false, cool dimness. He was lying on the bed naked after a shower and could barely keep his eyes open.

“Don’t call Yannis. Don’t bring him into this. I know you want to protect him. I’m hoping no one has figured out the connection and gone by his house and done something stupid.”

“You mean someone would?”

“I said I hoped no one would but if you want to protect him, don’t call. Yes, he’ll be worried, but your aunt knows you are okay. At least we know she’s okay.”

“Right.” I put down the receiver.

I stood under the shower head for a long time, the lukewarm liquid splashing over me, feeling the water slide over my body, wishing it could wash away all the bad memories. By the time I collapsed beside him on the bed, he was snoring softly.

I glanced at the clock. Nine A.M.

* * *

In the far recesses of my sleep encrusted brain I heard a click. I opened my eyes to a dark room. The clicking sound came again. Zach was not on the bed. I scanned the room. The time must have been close to sundown because dim light outlined the floral pattern in the curtains that covered the windows. I shifted up on one elbow and wished I had put something on to sleep in. I hated the thought of facing a new crisis in the buff.

Damn Zachariah Lamont if he had skipped out on me again. I searched for my shorts and top and in the process saw with a leaden heart that Zach’s things were gone.

The clicking sound came again.

I pulled on shorts and top and listened. The sound was coming from the door. It sounded like someone was in the hall outside my door, trying to pick the lock. I couldn’t see if the deadbolt was on. On more careful scrutiny I found there was no deadbolt, just a simple hotel door with a button lock on the door handle. I couldn’t remember locking it.

As carefully as a tomcat backing away from a bigger tom, I picked up my purse, found my sandals and tiptoed to the window. At least we were on the ground level this time. As I was trying to crank open the window wide enough to crawl through, the door swung open.

“Don’t move.”

The voice was female, low, hard.

I froze.

The light from the hall outlined the figure of a tall woman with a gun in her raised hand.

“Who are you?” I managed to get out of my constricted throat.

“I ask the questions,” she said and motioned with the gun toward the center of the room. “Over there.”

I held up my hands, I didn’t know why, maybe I had seen too many Westerns. Maybe I wanted to show her I was unarmed.

“Where’s Lamont?”

“He was gone when I awoke.”

“Deserted you, did he?”

I shrugged and tried not to bristle at the ugly broad. “Move toward the door.”

The gun spoke louder than the thousand protests I wanted to make.

“There’s a blue Maruti outside. You are going to get into it without any trouble. I’ll be right behind you and remember I have a gun.”

I nodded.

Outside the last light of sunset turned the air to rose and gold. The battered old Maruti stood at the curb. I got into the passenger seat in the front, the one the dark skinned driver indicated with his hand. The motor was running. The woman climbed in the back. She was broad hipped, clad in baggy jeans and a blue blouse knotted over an unbecoming belly. Her stringy, brown hair was caught back in a scarf. Her tan was the kind that made the face leathery.

My hopes turned to stone. There was no sign of the blue SUV Honda in the parking lot. My situation brought to mind the saying seduced and abandoned. Somehow it wasn’t funny.

We took off down the highway, away from Pafos, onto the road north to Polis. We turned west onto the road to the Tombs of the Kings. My claustrophobia went into overdrive. I had been in the tombs before or rather I had waited outside while my companions explored the dark and gloomy interiors. The tombs encompassed seven different groups of underground tombs dating from the third century BC and were thought to be the burial place of Roman noblemen. I had a feeling I might be exploring them tonight.

We bumped over the road to the tombs as the last of the tourists drove past us, going in the opposite direction, taking my hopes with them. I tried to study the profile of the driver with my peripheral vision. He was small and had the seat up close to the steering wheel which he clasped with large knuckled hands. He had to be the one who had been watching us all along. There was no top to this old Jeep style vehicle. The bangs of his military hair cut stood up in the wind. His clothes were unremarkable and frayed on the cuffs. He looked like the street people that I had seen on my trips to Jerusalem. Would that he were not a suicide bomber.

In some ways I didn’t care where they were taking me. None of it could be good. Zach was gone. Again. Maybe to protect me, maybe to give me the freedom he wanted me to have. I wondered what Miss America in the back seat wanted with me. If she had the jewels like Zach thought, maybe she needed me dead. On the other hand if she didn’t have the jewels and if she hadn’t caught Zach, I might be the ticket she used to get them. I hoped her methods didn’t involve anything with razor blades or electricity.

The setting for the tombs was another spectacular performance by the Cyprus Great Views Department. From the cliffs where the tombs were carved out of rock, you could stand on top and look out to sea. The tombs themselves were built around courtyards with colonnades and open to the sky. You stood on the rocks that made up the roofs and looked down into them or walked down steps that led to a labyrinth of holes and niches that served as the tombs. A person could get lost in those passageways.

The driver jerked the Maruti to a halt, and the woman jumped out.

“Move.” She pulled open my door and motioned for me to exit. “Wait here,” she said to the driver. “If anyone comes and questions you, you’re watching the sunset.

My heart sank into the tombs. I looked around for help of any kind. No guard to be seen, only cars driving away, leaving me with a mad woman.

“Hurry,” the woman said and gave me a nudge toward the most isolated of the tombs. I started walking, trying not to stumble on the uneven rock surfaces.

“Down those stairs and don’t try anything funny. I have the gun, and I will use it.”

Reluctantly, I started down the remains of a stairway into a hole in the ground. Nausea started in my gut and rose into my chest like black bile, bitter and unrelenting. Panic I could no longer keep at bay. From behind me the beam of light from her flashlight illuminated the stairs that the darkness enclosed. I yelped as a fluttery creature exited the black hole.

“Get going,” she said and shoved me. “You aren’t afraid of a little bat are you?”

“As a matter of fact, they give me the creeps,” I muttered to myself.

I picked my way down the steps the flashlight illuminated. So much for any hope of rescue. No one seemed to have seen or cared that we came in late, that two women had disappeared into the tombs.

Zachariah Lamont where were you now?

The further we descended into the tomb, the more I wheezed and fought for breath. Claustrophobia made me want to push the walls apart. I had had nightmares about places where there were thirty feet of dirt above me and no way out, trying to scream but I could make no sound. I shrank from stories of people buried alive in earthquake rubble.

“Stop,” the hateful woman said.

Like a mindless little ant, I obeyed.

“Sit down.”

I looked down at the dirty, dusty rock floor and thought of scorpions and rats. “No, I’m not sitting down. Who are you and what do you want with me?”

She flashed the light into my face, and I jerked away from the blinding beam. “I told you I ask the questions. Where’s your boyfriend?”

“My boy…” The rest of the words died on my lips. They hadn’t gotten to Zach.

“Don’t play stupid, answer the question.”

“He left while I was asleep. I don’t know where he went. Get that light out of my eyes.” My near hysteria made me bold. “I don’t know what you are involved in, but I am an innocent bystander and don’t have any information.”

“You might not have information, but you’ll make a good hostage.” She fumbled in her bag and came up with a length of leather cord.

My eyes widened. If she thought she was going to tie me up and leave me in a tomb, she was mistaken.

“Sit down,” she said.

I swung.

Between the flashlight and the leather cord, I found my opening. I had never socked anyone with my fist before, but terror put so much adrenaline and determination in my swing, I connected with her jaw before she knew what was happening. The woman careened back. The flash light ricocheted crazily around the chamber. She crashed to the floor, hitting her head against the rough wall of the tomb.

Hopefully, she was dead. The hateful woman.

I snatched up the light and her purse and ran.

Life giving air greeted me at the entrance where I gulped in great lungfuls. No sounds of pursuit followed. The island night had descended. I switched on the light and searched her purse like it would have snakes or some other hideous creature inside. A gun, some money, no identification. No make up. It would have to do since I no longer had my purse. I dowsed the light.

I crept up more stairs, my whole body shaking with the near encounter of being left tied up in a tomb. That had scared me worse than being held hostage. I peeked over the ledge at the top of the tomb. The Maruti sat in the parking lot. Using tumbled rocks as cover, I crouched and crawled as close to the Maruti as I could then ran like a banshee toward the driver’s side of the vehicle.

“Hands up,” I screamed, pointing the gun in the general direction of the driver’s seat. I was determined to get control of the Maruti and get away from these creeps.

“Don’t shoot,” said an accented, quavering voice.

“Get out and leave the keys in the ignition.”

The door opened cautiously, and the little man climbed out.

“Keep your hands in sight. I’m shaking and very nervous, and I might pull this trigger at the slightest suggestion of a wrong move.”

“Please, I have wife and children.”

“You should have thought of that before you hooked up with that ugly broad. Now walk to the front of the car.”

As soon as he cleared the front of the car, I whacked him on the back of head with the butt of the gun. It worked famously. Now I had to figure out how to drive that stupid vehicle and get the hell out. I jumped in, slammed it through its gears and didn’t turn on the lights till I was well away from where I had dropped the guy.

I was shaking so bad I could barely grip the wheel. My entire arm hurt from socking the woman and whacking the guy. But I was alive, and I wasn’t going to be tied up in a tomb for the rest of the night.

Eighteen

I drove that sorry excuse for a car, pedal to the floor the whole way back to Pafos, passing with reckless abandon any car that slowed me down, not caring what side of the road I was on. I headed for Yannis’s house. Nothing was going to stop me. I would turn myself into the police and tell them about the American couple and Zach. I couldn’t help them with where he was, but I could tell them everything.

Everything.

And I did.

After I got to Yannis’s and he had hugged me to oblivion, we called the police, and they came to his house. Inspector Polydeuces, the same cousin I had met on Sunday, listened attentively to everything I said. His assistant, a neat looking woman in uniform, made notes as I spoke.

The Inspector nodded gravely at the part about Zach being wanted for smuggling, Mr. Bellomo harboring my aunt, the American woman kidnapping me, and Berengaria’s jewels. After asking me every possible question relating to the antiquities theft, he remained in silence, looking troubled and pulling at the corner of his bushy moustache, as if that would help him think.

Finally, he said, “Miss Lowell, there are one or two facts of which you may not be aware. I need to share these with you, as you are now in our custody and under our protection.”

That gave me pause since I expected him to haul me off to jail. My heart sank into my cute little sandals which had stayed faithfully on my feet through the whole ordeal. I waited on the edge of my seat.

“You see, Miss Lowell, Zachary Lamont is a double agent. He works for the New York Police Department anti-terrorism unit but is on assignment with a consortium team through INTERPOL. They are trying to help us destroy this terrorist cell we know is forming on the island of Cyprus.”

“He’s wanted by the FBI for smuggling,” I said. “Yannis said you are looking for him.” I stared at Yannis while I was saying this. He gave me a don’t-ask-me shrug.

“Yes, I know. That is his cover. We gave Yannis that information so that no one would suspect Mr. Lamont’s true identify. It was crucial that his cover not be blown, I think you say. The American couple is the front for the cell that is trying to build an operation here. They had to believe Mr. Lamont was a criminal. You see, they were monitoring Yannis’s phones.”

“Oh,” I said, a rather lame response to the information bomb the Inspector had dropped. I wanted to get the whole picture, so I pressed on with my questions.

“Who is Helena then?” I asked.

“She is a Cypriot police woman. She is his contact here, his go-between.”

“I see.” She had been his partner, but as one of the good guys. This was comforting. Some things that didn’t make sense before made sense now.

The Inspector had more to say. “We know that your aunt did not steal those statues. The American couple planted them on her to throw us off the scent. We had to detain your aunt, as we at first suspected she might be involved. We apologize for the inconvenience to you and your aunt. As fate would have it, when the American couple heard we had retained your aunt, they got bolder. They took more chances. They believed the story that Mr. Lamont had Berengaria’s jewels.”

“You mean there are no jewels?”

“They are part of the deception.”

“Then in our own blundering way, my aunt and I helped the cause.”

The Inspector nodded.

“But Zach didn’t let me go when he could have,” I said almost to myself.

The Inspector cleared his throat, as if he had just swallowed something unpleasant like a scorpion. “That was Mr. Lamont’s doing. Perhaps he wanted to keep you with him. Perhaps there was something else going on between you that he wanted to work out. Keeping you was not part of his orders. He was to monitor your activities.”

I narrowed my eyes. The Inspector loosened the top button of his shirt and didn’t meet my gaze. Wait till I got my hands on Zachariah Lamont. “Where is Zach now, and why did he leave me at the mercy of that horrid American woman?”

The Inspector pressed his lips together. “I cannot say where he is or why he left you. I would speculate he didn’t realize the American woman was close at hand, and, of course,” he cleared his throat behind his hand, “he had work to do.”

Red heat crept up my neck into my face until I was a tomato, I’m sure. I didn’t want to know how much the Inspector knew about our relationship. What a spider web this was. I felt its sticky tendrils clinging all over me.

The Inspector stood and shook hands all around. “I fear it is late and that you might want to get some rest. You have had a difficult experience. In the morning we would appreciate your coming to the office to sign a statement, if you would be so kind. There will be a twenty four hour watch placed upon you so that nothing untoward happens again. Good night.”

“Wait, what about my aunt?”

The Inspector smiled for the first time, a slight turn of his lips. “Mr. Bellomo takes good care of her. Such good care, I believe he is talking of marrying her. Good night.”

Yannis and I sat looking at each other while his mother brought plates of sliced lamb and a salad of tomato and cucumber. She poured tiny cups of coffee and placed them before us.

“Yannis,” she said, placing her hand on his shoulder, “A little wine perhaps or some brandy.”

“Brandy, mother, please,” he said and looked at me. “Make it two.”

“He’s a double agent,” I said. “The dirty rat. Why didn’t he tell me?”

“He could not is the obvious reason.”

“Then why did he keep me with him?”

Yannis rolled his eyes. “Claudie, have you looked in the mirror lately? You’re gorgeous. You possess a body that any man has trouble keeping his eyes and hands from, you’re intelligent and fun to have around. I can understand why he didn’t want to let you go.”

That was a powerful statement coming from Yannis. However, at the moment I felt ninety-two and like a wrinkled old hag. It was hard to believe what he was saying.

“Do you know where Zach is?” I asked.

Yannis shook his head. “I’m just a government worker in the Department of Antiquities. Zach operates in rare circles. At this moment, I wouldn’t even hazard a guess as to where he was.”

I shivered.

“You cold?” he asked.

“No, just a passing thought of that tomb. Yannis, what if the terrorists got Zach, and he’s laying in one of those tombs?”

“Zach is a big boy. He’s trained. He’ll get himself out, if he is in a dangerous situation.”

Yannis’s mother sat brandy snifters before us and a plate of home made baklava, my favorite dessert in the entire world.

“Thank you, Mrs. Vasilis, you are very kind,” I said in my dilapidated Greek.

Even though it was late, she had that endless energy that all Cypriot mothers seemed to have, especially when it came to feeding her brood and friends. She beamed a wide, warm smile in my direction. She said something in Greek that translated into her wish that I rest well because I looked tired.

Yannis agreed. “Would you like to call your aunt?”

“What time is it?”

“Around one A.M.”

“I’ll wait and call her in the morning even though it already is morning.”

I sipped the brandy, thinking over the evening’s events. The police had been dispatched to search the tombs for the hateful woman that had kidnapped me. They were sure to find Zach if he had ended up there which I hoped he hadn’t. But even if they found the woman, they could only charge her with kidnapping not antiquities theft. Her husband partner was still free. I hoped I hadn’t killed either one of the two that I had whacked. I wondered what kind of murder that would constitute.

Yannis gave me a warm hug. “I’m glad you are safe, Princess. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get some rest so I can go to work in the morning.”

“Thank you dear friend for all you have done for me.”

He brushed my cheek with a kiss and smiled into my eyes then wandered out of the room, yawning and scratching his belly.

I remained at the table and helped myself to another baklava. Mrs. Vasilis brought more coffee, gave me a kiss on the cheek, wished me good rest, and left the room. The windows in the dining room were open to the night. No screens. Cypriots didn’t believe in them even though they shared the island with the ubiquitous mosquito. I turned out the over head light and sat in the moonlight.

I was wide awake but lost in thought when the stone hit the table. My automatic reflex was to look in the direction the stone had come. There, leaning through the open window, was Zachariah Lamont.

“Busy?” he asked, nonchalantly, and climbed through the window. “I thought Yannis and his mum would never go to bed.” He studied the food on the table and pulled the platter of lamb to him. “I could eat a whale.”

“Where have you been?” I asked, like a kidnapping had not occurred since last we were together.

“Trying to get back to you.”

I moved the salad toward him and the plate of baklava. He topped Yannis’s glass of brandy from the decanter and drank deeply.

“How are you, Princess?” Our eyes met. I knew he could see the smoke coming out my ears. He held up one hand, nails neatly trimmed. “Don’t give me the details. I heard your recitation to Inspector Polydeuces.”

“How long have you been out there?”

“Since the police arrived. I came running as soon as I found out that you had re-surfaced here, and they were on their way to question you.”

He looked none the worse was the infuriating part. Like he had just come from the library or something. He had on a new outfit, pressed black slacks, collarless gray silk shirt, hair neatly combed. He continued to sip his brandy and study me.

“You’re gorgeous, has anyone ever told you that?”

“Yes, Yannis did a few minutes ago.”

“I thought I was the only one who noticed.”

“Not according to him.” I wanted to rub something gooey and sticky into his smug face.

He cupped my neck and smoothed his thumb over my cheek. “She didn’t hurt you, did she?”

I shook my head. “I gave her a headache though. The driver, too.”

“Well done, Princess.” He ran his hand down my back and up under my shirt. “Have anything on under here?”

“Stop that.” I socked his arm as hard as I could. “If you think you’re going to get off easy, you aren’t. Where did you disappear to?”

“Claudie, I felt certain you would be safe in the hotel room. Besides, I had to find the American couple. I found him, but unfortunately she found you. I’m truly sorry.”

He scooted his chair over so he could put his arm around my shoulders and pull me into him.

I resisted his embrace and pulled away. “You’re a cop, not a criminal. Why did you play that infernal game with me of suspecting I was a criminal when it was all a game, and you knew it?”

He shrugged. “It wasn’t a game at first. I did suspect you, because I didn’t know who had planted the antiquities on your aunt, or if in fact she was involved. So I tried to draw you out, hoping, of course, that you weren’t involved. Besides, I have this gorgeous creature who comes to me, damsel in distress, and you think I’m going to let her out of my sight?”

“Likely story. I’m not buying it. You nearly got us both killed at your so-called safe house. What about Max and Irene? That was carrying things a bit far, don’t you think?”

With the tip of his finger he moved my chin so I had to look into his eyes. “I told you that wasn’t in the plan. The whole business was unfortunate. You fitted into my charade, and we started to enjoy each other.” He grinned into my eyes. “Tell me you didn’t relish our interludes.”

I huffed and looked away. I hated giving him the satisfaction of saying yes. “What happens to the American couple?”

“He’s still on the loose. She’s in police custody, thanks to you. They found her in the tombs. I need him to lead me to the jewels. Tonight I hope to catch him in the act, and we’ll have all of them, if everything goes according to plan. With their demise the terrorist cell’s source of funding will be gone and their operation, too.”

Moon glow lit his face. Maybe it was the silvery play of moonbeams around us that threatened to weave me back into his spell. I was relieved to see him in one piece.

He checked his watch. “I’ve got to go. I wanted to make sure you were all right. Wait for me here, will you, so I know you’re safe?”

I avoided his eyes, and he moved his face into my line of vision. “Promise me, you’ll wait here. I’ll come back for you in the morning. Okay?”

I had to look into those deep brown eyes, and I searched the darkness and depth of them.

“Okay,” I said in a small voice.

He left through the kitchen and went out the back door. As he crossed in front of the window, I saw he was carrying the duffle bag. He couldn’t be going that far I reasoned, since he was walking and carrying a heavy satchel. Of course, I wasn’t going to allow him go without me. Not after all we had been though.

I followed him along several back streets through a Cypriot neighborhood lined with small, neat, adobe houses and shadowed by orange and lemon trees. He was headed in the direction of the ruins at the west end of Pafos. He ended up at the beach parking lot where we had parked and enjoyed each other in the back seat of the green Honda SUV. The blue Honda SUV was the sole vehicle parked there. I took cover behind the rocks on the beach. He changed clothes, put on the photographer’s vest and loaded it from the duffle bag, then took off across the rocky terrain. I followed at a distance, using the light of the moon to keep track of where he was going and praying the rocky goat path would not be my undoing. The surf pounded to the west. I hoped the sound of it would cover my footsteps. The only breeze was off the sea, for which I was grateful.

His destination was the Forty Column Castle. The moon shone on the ruined castle, the arches shadowed and menacing. I lost him as he rounded one of the massive walls outside the main entrance to the castle. I hurried so not to lose sight of him. As I rounded the wall, an arm snaked out and covered my mouth and crushed me against him. I was forced into a crouch, and a familiar voice said, “You promised to stay at Yannis’s house and wait for me.”

I couldn’t say anything because he had his hand clamped hard over my mouth. I didn’t make a squeak. He hauled me to the shelter of a mound of rubble from the excavation. I could tell by his ungentle manner of dragging me that he was mad.

“Why can’t you do what you promised,” he said in a hoarse whisper.

“You need help.”

“I have help.” He blew out a breath of frustration.

I was almost sorry I had come. Almost.

“Look, there’s no time now for talk. I don’t want to blow this sting operation. I’ve worked a long time to nail this bunch. Don’t blow this for me.”

I shook my head, not daring to talk.

“Here.” He pulled a small pistol from his vest pocket.”Take this. I’ve got to go closer and watch the entrance. Stay right behind me and don’t make a sound.”

He led the way to another pile of rubble where we had a good view of the entrance. I crouched beside him, and we watched for signs of activity. The moon slowly traveled across the sky. The shadows changed shapes in the ruins but no one showed.

“Do you really think they buried the jewels in the ruins?” I whispered.

“Yes, because we got the captured Maruti driver to talk. This is where the American couple is to meet the terrorists tonight. The jewels are hidden here. The husband is to show up and retrieve the jewels. Then we arrest him when he passes the jewels to the terrorists.”

My nerves were humming, and it wasn’t the cold since the night was mild. It was extreme fear. Zach was sitting with his loaded gun and vest filled with bullets and heaven knows what else. All I could think of was how scared I was. My small pistol had the safety on. Just thinking about the damage it could inflict made my stomach heave.

My eyes played tricks on me. I saw movement where none was. A small animal, maybe a desert rat, skittered in the bushes to the back of us. I pressed closer to Zach. I could feel the tense alert of his body in the hardness of his muscles. Mine were starting to cramp. I shifted position to take the strain off my back.

He put his finger to his lips and pointed to a spot at the far side of the ruins near the corner where an arch met the massive wall. A shadow moved stealthily, then quicker and with purpose.

We hunkered down lower in unconscious reaction. My breathing was so loud I thought the shadow would hear. But the shadow seemed intent upon its mission and scurried along the front of the castle and ducked through the first arch and into the interior.

“There has to be a second person,” Zach said so low I could barely make out his words. Sure enough, another shadow materialized from the same corner and hurried along the same route. Both figures were black and hooded.

Zach had explained the strategy. Wait until they had located and retrieved the jewels then stop them one way or another. But don’t let them leave the ruins of the castle.

“I’m counting on them leading us to the spot where they hid the jewels. If they don’t, we’ll have to dig up the entire complex up, and the Department of Antiquities would frown on that. I’m going closer.” He reached into one of his vest pockets and pulled out my cell phone. “Here, I’ve been meaning to give this back to you. If something goes awry or you hear gun fire, run away as fast as you can and call for help.”

“Right.” Running was within my range of capabilities.

I watched him do a running crouch closer to the outer wall of the ruin.

The two shadows had disappeared into the interior court of the castle. The ground inside was uneven packed dirt. There were drains inside that had been excavated but mostly hewn rock abounded. I couldn’t imagine anyone would bury treasure where it wouldn’t be obvious it had been recently dug unless they had moved rocks from the walls or drain and replaced them.

I was a lot happier now that my supporting role was on the side of the good guys and that Zachariah Lamont had turned out to be NPYD instead of a felon.

Pop. Pop. The sound was so soft, I almost didn’t hear it. But my mind knew. Silencer. Those were the popping sounds that a gun with a silencer makes. What if I were wrong? I nibbled on my nails in indecision. If I called for help now, and Zach hadn’t caught the thieves red handed, then I’d have blown the whole sting.

What to do? I wasn’t going to run away. Creep closer, I decided, to see if I could see anything. I would have to peer around a good twenty foot wall or climb up over it which meant scaling the loose rubble at the top. But creep closer I did, my heart in my mouth. My creeping consisted of a crab walk and silent cursing as my toes hit unseen rocks and plants with stickers that I never recalled seeing during the daylight hours. I heard nothing more after those two pops. I could not recall Zach saying he had a silencer for his gun.

I made it to the outer wall of the castle and listened. The night was quiet. We were so close to the harbor I could hear the lines clinking against the masts of the sail boats at anchor. No people sounds emanated from inside the roofless castle.

I took several deep breaths to try to quiet my inner trembling. It didn’t help. Everything was chattering — my teeth, hands, legs, gut, breath. I was a veritable bowl of quivering jelly. I knew if I had to use a gun it would jump right out of my hand.

I leaned close to the wall. The stones still retained the heat of day. The warmth helped calm me till my nerves were humming instead of jangling. I had to go on. I had to find out what those pops were. I inched around the opening and ducked into the niche in the wall to the entrance. From there I was able to view into the interior court but saw only more walls made of blocks of hewn rock.

I hesitated. Maybe I should go back, get clear of the ruins and call. What if Zach had been shot? I kept going and cleared another one of the interior walls which were labyrinthine in nature. I pressed close to the wall, trying to stay in the shadows. I heard another pop and almost in the same instant a bullet ricocheted off the wall about three inches from my nose. I ducked and streaked back toward the entrance of the castle. But I wasn’t alone. The pounding of footsteps behind were as loud as the beating of my heart. I hurtled through the entrance and smacked into the waiting arms of a midget. It wasn’t really a midget, but he was small and our grunts were about the same volume. I walloped him with my pistol before he had time to recover which bought me enough time to get away from the little guy but not from the hand that grabbed my shoulder and spun me around.

“Stop,” said the hooded figure.

The gleam of the gun barrel gave it a silver moon hue. It was pointed at my face. It had a big, long silencer fitted onto the end.

“Drop your gun.”

I stopped in mid-struggle and dropped it. When the gun pointed at you is bigger than yours, drop it. Or at least I did. It was an automatic reaction. No thought involved.

“Walk.” The arm gripping my shoulder pulled me back into the interior of the castle, none too gently might I add, and not where I wanted to go. The voice was rough and hoarse, like the man who owned it had been shouting all day. This was the part of the caper in which I had not wanted to get involved. But I wouldn’t listen to Zach, would I?

We wound our way into the smaller interior rooms that had probably been used for milling and baking. Unfortunately, I recognized the path. We were on our way to the six latrines that had been excavated. They had hidden the jewels in the latrines. Clever.

Two shadowed figures worked at the end of the main drain, which emptied into the exterior ditch that encircled the castle, where the remains of a man were found during the excavation. The unfortunate gent had tried to escape the falling debris of the earthquake in 1223 by crawling down through the latrines to the drain. But the drain exit was blocked by narrow slits that only allowed liquid waste to dribble outward into the ditch. The poor man had died in place with a blue glass bottle in hand. In the exact spot where the excavators had found the skeletal remains of the hapless earthquake victim, two men were digging at the stones blocks of the drain.

To the side against the wall Zach lay face down in a pool of blood. My heart hit the stone floor of the latrines. He was dead.

My hooded captor shoved me. I hit the wall and sank onto my knees. I wished I had called for help. I could have wished a lot of things in that instant, but my most fervent wish was answered. In the dim light I saw the rise and fall of Zachariah Lamont’s back. He was still breathing.

I counted four thieves including the little guy lying outside. None seemed interested in me. It appeared that the stones of the latrine were being a bit testy about being moved even though they must have been before, if the jewels lay hidden beneath.

Something occurred to me, as I inched as close as possible to Zach’s prone body and clasped his ankle for comfort. His ankle was warm and that cheered my quaking little heart. What occurred to me sitting there watching the three thieves curse and bang their chisels against the reluctant stone was that Zach said this was a sting operation. That meant there had to be more good guys somewhere. My bet was that Helena was waiting in the wings. I tried hard not to look around. But my head wanted to swivel all over, trying to see if I could spot her.

A cry of elation went up from the diggers. All three worked at pulling out the reluctant stone they had been chipping around the edges. I looked around for a rock or something to throw or hit with, just in case. Sure enough, they held up a metal box. One thief lifted the lid and in the ray of a moon beam, I caught the glint of something shiny. The other two grabbed the box at the same time.

“Stop right there and freeze.”

I recognized that female voice. Helena. There she stood on the wall above the latrines, gun in hand, looking like a dark Athena. The thieves looked up at the same time, more surprised than I was to see Helena standing over them. Through the archway trotted Inspector Polydeuces with three other police men, guns drawn.

I sighed out all the breaths I had been holding. Then Zachariah Lamont rolled over onto his side and sat up much to the astonishment of the thieves. He stood, brushing himself off and dabbing at the sticky liquid on his shirt.

“Bullet proof vests do come in handy, Princess, but this catsup-honey combo is a bit too sticky sweet for my taste.”

Nineteen

The wedding took place in July.

Aunt Elizabeth declared that since this was the first time she was getting married she wanted a properly planned affair so all her friends could attend. It took that long to arrange all the guests’ trips to Sicily.

The three English widows came, as well as Salvatore’s children and their families, who took to my aunt with wide open Sicilian arms. According to the relatives, their mother had been quite severe. Aunt Elizabeth was quite the opposite, always with a twinkle in her eye and a funny story to tell. She fit right in to the warm, happy side of Sicily.

Salvatore, I could tell, was enchanted. His home in Sicily was cut out of a hillside dotted with Cypress and pines, overlooking the sea near Taormina, a popular resort, complete with Greek and Roman ruins, sandy beaches, and a phenomenal view of steaming Mt. Etna. The family was from a village in the hills surrounded by countryside alive with citrus groves, vineyards and walnut trees. The village church was no bigger than a small chapel, and the entire village turned out for the party which was held outdoors under the olive trees in Sal’s personal olive grove. They honeymooned in a Tuscan castle, where I’m sure they got into some hanky-pank.

The thieves were awaiting trial. Word was that the prison sentence would be a long one. Inspector Polydeuces rounded up the rest of the terrorist cell which fell apart without the front thieves, who provided the cash for the operation. Inspector Polydeuces came to the wedding, too.

Lena came after she got over being furious for my not contacting her for five whole days. She got over it fast when she realized my aunt and I were both fine. The mutual fund survived. We added an office manager and were looking for another financial partner to add to the fund management, as new opportunities were opening up all the time in Europe and the Mediterranean, Africa, Asia, Latin America.

As for Zachariah Lamont — we walked back to the car after Inspector Polydeuces hauled the four thieves away from the Forty Column Castle.

“What now, Princess?” Zach said.

We walked arm and arm over the stony path along the shore as the moon set. The sky began to lighten in the east over my beloved island of Cyprus. I walked under his clean arm as the side with the catsup and honey was pretty disgusting.

“I’m hungry, how about breakfast?”

“Excellent idea. But I was referring to your longer term plans after we have breakfast.”

“That’s real long term.” I laughed, feeling tired but a good tired that permeated every cell in my body. “I intend to get some sleep.”

“Yes?”

“Real sleep as in eyes closed, alone in my room at Yannis’s house.”

“Princess, you make me sad. I was hoping I could entice you into a nice breakfast at the Coral Bay Resort and then a wonderful relaxing bath in a big Jacuzzi and then a nice, cool lay on the clean sheets of a king size bed. What do you say?”

“You’re wounded. I don’t think you should overextend yourself.”

“This is nothing.” He brushed over the holes the bullets made in the front of his shirt. “Just a few bruises. My face is healing up. Look, hardly any black and blue.”

I examined his eye and cheek. “I’ll take you up on the invitation. But I’m calling my aunt, Yannis and Lena as soon as we get to the hotel to let them know we’re all right and that life can proceed on.”

“It’s a deal.”

Later, as we lay together entwined on top of that king size bed in the coolness of the room, another fiery sunset splashing over the skies of Coral Bay, Zach said, “What I am really asking is what will you do now that all this is over?”

I sighed the wonderful contentment of a well-sated woman. “I’m going to stay on a few more days in Cyprus and recover my strength. How about you?”

“Me, too. I have some R & R coming. I take a few weeks off after an assignment. But what about after that?”

“I’ll go back to Boston. But I might be back. I’m thinking of opening an office on Cyprus. How about you?”

“I’m going shopping for an island.”

THE END

About the Author

Marjorie Thelen lives and writes novels outside a small town on the Oregon frontier. She enjoys writing stories that entertain her and, hopefully, her readers. The Forty Column Castle is the first in the series Mystery-in-Exotic-Places. The next in the series is The Hieroglyphic Staircase set in Copan, Honduras. If you would like to learn more, visit her web site:

www.MarjorieThelen.com

Content

The Forty Column Castle
First Novel in the Mystery-in-Exotic-Places Series
by
Marjorie Thelen

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

About the Author