Authors: Ekaterine Nikas
“On
a normal day, yes, it would be, but as I said, I had risen early. As for my
friend -- he had not yet gone to bed.”
Mavros
nodded and turned his attention to Demetra.
A charged look passed between them, then she began to speak,
giving a description of events that was terse in the extreme.
She had dined at home, gone to bed
early, and risen late.
At his
prompting she admitted that yes, she had seen me at breakfast.
Finally,
it was Spiro's turn to be quizzed.
Five listeners turned their attention to him, waiting to hear his
answers.
Robert seemed expectant,
Demetra anxious, Lieutenant Mavros tense, while Geoffrey sat grim-faced and
aloof.
And I?
I'm not sure what expression I wore; my
emotions were as roiled as the sea had been that first morning, when the storm
had blown in and brought Michael.
"Spiro,
I am waiting," Mavros repeated.
"I must know where you have been the past few days, and where you
were at six-thirty this morning."
Spiro
regarded him steadily for a long moment and then said, "I am sorry, Ari,
but I cannot answer your questions."
A
palpable stillness filled the room.
"This is a serious matter," Mavros snapped in Greek.
"The events of yesterday make that
clear.
The boy was attacked and
now is missing.
You are my friend,
but I warn you: I will do whatever is necessary to discover who has taken the
boy and insure he returns safely."
Demetra
whispered something under her breath, but Spiro shook his head
impatiently.
"Ari, I give you
my word that I did not kidnap the boy.
For God's sake, why should I?"
His voice grew scornful as he switched back to English,
"What do I gain from his disappearance?
Nothing.
What
do I inherit if he dies?
Nothing."
He gestured
at Geoffrey.
"Can that one
say the same?"
The
stark words hung in the air like a challenge.
Attention swivelled back to Geoffrey, but he just sat there
quietly, refusing to be baited.
It
was Robert who broke the silence.
"Look
here, Mavros, you haven't yet explained how
anyone
could have taken the
boy from right under your nose.
I
thought I understood from our conversation last evening that you intended to
station one of your men by the boy's door throughout the night."
"And
so I did," the Lieutenant replied, tight-lipped.
"But early this morning, near to the time when my man
was due to be relieved, he received a phone call telling him to report back
here and not wait for his replacement.
The boy's room was unguarded for only ten minutes, but it was
enough.
When the day officer
arrived he found the room empty and the boy missing."
"But
surely somebody must have seen something!" I exclaimed.
The
policeman shrugged.
"It was
early and there were few people in the halls.
The nurse who knew about the boy's case had gone home for
the night, and the morning nurse saw nothing unusual.
An orderly saw a young boy walking toward the entrance at
about the right time, but the boy was alone, and when the orderly asked him
what he was doing there so early in the morning, the boy told him he was
visiting a sick sister."
"Hardly
the behavior of a boy being abducted against his will," Spiro murmured.
Mavros
nodded.
"My thoughts
also," he agreed.
"Indeed, I did not think it could be the same boy.
However, I sent someone to show the
orderly young Redfield's photograph just in case."
"And
did the man recognize him?" Robert asked.
"Yes,”
Mavros said.
“Which unfortunately
leaves us with an even greater mystery than before."
"This
orderly," I asked, "he's sure Michael was alone?"
"Very
much so, Miss Stewart."
"There
couldn’t have been someone else he didn't see?
Someone who threatened Michael and forced him to say what he
did?"
"It
was an empty hallway," he replied patiently.
"If anyone had been hidden, he would have been too far
away to threaten the boy in such a way."
"But
the answer is obvious!" Demetra exclaimed impatiently.
"The boy was not kidnapped.
He simply ran away!"
Her voice shook with satisfaction at this
solution, and she gazed around the room in surprise that we did not all
immediately accept it.
“I’m
afraid it’s not quite that simple,” Robert said quietly.
"There’s still the telephone call
to the policeman to be explained.
Isn't that right, Lieutenant?"
Mavros,
who was gazing apologetically at Spiro's sister, nodded.
"I'm afraid that is so,
Demetra.
Otherwise, I would never
have --"
He was interrupted
by a knock on the door.
"
Embrós
!"
he snapped impatiently.
An
unhappy looking policeman with drooping mustaches and a wrinkled shirt entered
the room.
He crossed to his
superior's desk and murmured something that caused the Lieutenant to snap in
Greek, "Then she will have to wait.
I am not finished with Mr. Redfield yet."
The policeman bent over and murmured something else.
A look that was part irritation, part
resignation crossed Mavros's face.
"Oh, very well.
Send
her in!"
The
mustachioed policeman hurried out the doorway, and a moment later a woman
appeared, gazing in at the room and its occupants.
Even in the ugly light from the hallway it was apparent she
was beautiful: tall, blond, slim, with skin smooth as velvet and eyes the color
of a lion's mane.
For a moment, as
those golden eyes scanned the room, I thought I saw a startled flicker of
surprise cross her beautiful face, but before I could think to wonder what had
caused it, Geoffrey called out her name.
"Elizabeth!"
he exclaimed in a stunned voice.
The
golden eyes turned his way and the perfectly shaped coral lips curved into a smile.
Chapter Twenty
"Forgive
me for interrupting your meeting, Lieutenant,” Elizabeth said, “but I've come a
long way to see my brother-in-law, and when I overheard some of your men say
that Geoffrey was to be brought here --"
Mavros
interrupted sharply, "One moment, please, Miss Conner.
I wish to understand.
How exactly is Mr. Redfield related to
you?"
"It's
Mrs
., Lieutenant.
Mrs.
Elizabeth Redfield Conner.
I was
married to Geoffrey's brother, William, a long time ago."
"But
it cannot be!" Demetra exclaimed.
"William's first wife is dead!
She was killed in an airplane crash!"
Elizabeth
glanced briefly at her and then turned away -- obviously uninterested in the
successor to her first husband's affections.
"An unfortunate misunderstanding.
I think it's obvious I'm very much
alive."
"Quite
obvious, madame," replied Mavros drily.
"And now, so that I may be clear on the details, may I
ask a few questions?"
"Of
course."
"You
were the late Mr. William Redfield's first wife?"
"Yes."
"And
the boy, Michael Redfield, he is your son?"
She
nodded.
"For
several years, then, you have allowed your family to believe you dead?"
Her
eyes narrowed.
"If you refer
to my late husband, yes, I let him think I was dead.
Ours was not an amicable divorce, and I didn't really think
he'd care one way or the other."
"But
your son?
He did not deserve to
know the truth?"
The
golden eyes glittered.
"You'll excuse me, Lieutenant, but I don't quite see how any of
this is your business."
"Ah,
but you see, your son has disappeared, and on the very day you decide to
reappear into his life.
It is
quite a coincidence, that, is it not?"
"Stop
it, Mavros!
You have no
right!"
Geoffrey crossed to
Elizabeth, took her arm, and led her to sit down in the chair Robert, looking a
bit dazed, had gallantly vacated for the purpose.
"Don't you realize what a shock you've just given
her?"
"Disappeared?
Michael?" she murmured faintly,
her left hand clutching at Geoffrey's arm, her right flying dramatically to her
mouth. "But how?
When?"
It
was Robert who answered her.
"This morning, I'm afraid.
It seems he wandered out of the hospital, and there's some worry someone
may have abducted him."
She
looked up at that, and despite my skepticism about her maternal instincts, her
face looked quite pale.
She said,
in an almost accusing tone, "What was he doing in the hospital?"
This
time it was Lieutenant Mavros who answered, but I didn’t pay much attention to
his explanation.
I was too busy
staring at Elizabeth’s possessive grip on Geoffrey’s arm.
Her tight hold on him seemed to
generate an ache deep in my chest.
I gazed at her long, tan fingers.
They were as beautiful as the rest of her, the only flaw in their
appearance being a slightly reddened knuckle on one of the fingers of her left
hand.
Had the lovely Mrs. Conner
been brawling?
It was a tempting
thought, especially as I realized I wouldn’t mind squaring off with her myself.
Sensing
my scrutiny, she glanced over at me.
Seeing my expression, the corner of her mouth tightened into the
faintest of smiles, and with an exaggerated sigh she leaned toward Geoffrey,
resting her head against his side.
As she nestled there, she flashed me a look that made me grit my
teeth.
It was the look of a woman
staking her claim, and it hinted at such a level of confidence and assurance in
her position that I was hard-pressed not to ball my hands into fists.
She
acted as if Geoffrey was hers for the taking.
Perhaps
she was right.
I looked at
Geoffrey's face.
He was staring
down at her, his expression almost painfully anxious.
Lieutenant
Mavros finished up his description of Michael's disappearance, and Elizabeth
recalled herself to the matter at hand.
"But no one could have any reason to harm Michael.
Don’t you think it more likely he
simply ran away?"
"That’s
definitely a possibility," Geoffrey assured her, flashing the rest of us a
warning to be silent.
"In
which case, he’s bound to show up soon.
In the meantime, you need some rest."
He took her hand and then turned to Mavros.
"Can I be excused to escort Mrs.
Conner back to her hotel?
I'll
answer more questions later, but in the meantime, the lady has suffered a
considerable shock and I think she'd be more comfortable lying down."
Mavros
threw up his hands in resignation.
"Go, go, by all means go!
We have accomplished little enough as it is.
Take her back to her hotel.
The rest of you may leave as well -- except for you,
Spiro.
I wish to speak with you further."
And with that pronouncement he rose to
his feet and stalked from the room.