She looked up at him anxiously and he grinned. "We don't have much choice, do we?"
She turned and led the way across the plateau, picking her way between great boulders. When they reached the base of the rock Lomax saw that it wasn't actually perpendicular, but tilted back slightly in great slabs, most of which were split and fissured into a thousand cracks.
Katina started to climb at once and Lomax followed her. He didn't look down until he had climbed forty or fifty feet. For a moment he appeared to be floating in space and a giant hand seemed to be trying to pull him away from the face of the rock. He breathed deeply and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, everything ùwas all right.
He didn't look down after that, but climbed steadily and strongly. Five minutes later, he came over the edge of a wide ledge which was partly sheltered by an uptiked slab and found Katina waiting for him.
"Are you all right?" she said.
Now that he had stopped climbing, he was conscious that his limbs were trembling slightly, but he nodded confidently. "Are we stopping here?"
She shook her head. "We can't afford the time. Even this way, we'll be lucky to reach the temple before the best of the mountain men using the track."
She started to climb again quickly. Lomax followed her, trying to forget his aching limbs, concentrating on the rock, and a wind moved in from the sea, cutting through the woollen sweater, and thunder rumbled again, but much nearer this time.
He moved over the edge of the last great tilted slab of rock and found Katina waiting for him. Above them a perpendicular wall of rock lifted a hundred feet into the night and Lomax craned his neck, gazing up at it, the sweat on his face beginning to dry in the cold wind.
She turned and indicated a dark chimney that cut its way straight through the solid rock to the top of the cliff. "It looks bad, but it's the easiest part of the climb."
He found it an effort to smile. "I'll take your word for it."
He waited until she had disappeared into the darkness above him before following. He hung the Winchester around his neck and used the common mountaineering technique, bracing his back against one wall and feet against the other, resting every fifteen or twenty feet, his body firmly wedged.
After a while, he found that it was possible to climb properly and the handholds were good and plentiful. Ten minutes later he scrambled over the edge and joined Katina.
They stood on the rim of the main plateau at the top of the mountain and the temple and tomb of Achilles were three hundred yards to the rear. Below them the whole of the south side of the island swept down through moonlight into the sea.
It was an incredible sight, but Lomax was still conscious of that unnatural stillness and a blanket of dark moved in fast from the horizon, blotting out the stars as it came.
Thunder sounded overhead and Katina said, "The storm should break soon. It will give us good cover on the way down."
They started forward and there was a faint cry, carried on the wind from somewhere on their right. Lomax turned as three men emerged over the far rim of the plateau accompanied by two hounds. They were no more than two hundred yards away and clearly visible in the bright moonlight.
He raised the Winchester and fired once and one of the hounds jumped into the air and disappeared over the edge.
"That should hold them for a while." He pushed Katina forward. "Let's get out of here."
They ran towards the temple, Katina leading the way. When Lomax turned and glanced towards the right, he saw that the three men and the other dog were moving very fast on a parallel course with the obvious intention of intercepting them. One of them was a good fifty yards in front of his companions and gaining steadily. A moment later they all disappeared behind a slight rise.
Lomax followed Katina between great boulders, slipping and sliding over the rough ground, and mounted the steps to the terrace. As they started across the mosaic floor between the pillars, Nikoli Aleko emerged from the shadows on their right and ran towards them.
The black eye-patch stood out prominently against his face and his teeth were bared in a savage grin. He carried a gutting knife hi his right hand and the blade gleamed dully.
Lomax pushed Katina violently to one side and met him on the run. As the knife came up, he parried it with the barrel of the Winchester and swung the butt against the unprotected jaw. Aleko staggered back into a pillar without a sound and rolled on to his face.
As Lomax went down the slope to the hollow, there was a tremendous clap of thunder. Rain began to fall as he moved past the shepherd's hut and started to follow Katina across the treacherous apron of shale and loose earth that spilled down three or four hundred feet through the great, sloping ravine.
When she reached the half-way mark, she paused and glanced back and her foot slipped. She dug in her heels desperately and a ripple seemed to pass over the surface of the shale. Lomax kept on going and a moment later they were together.
By now the rain had increased into a torrential downpour that drowned all sound. He leaned close and nodded encouragingly and then a tremendous sheet of lightning momentarily turned night into day and her mouth opened in a soundless scream.
He swung round. On the rim of the hollow no more than twenty yards away stood Aleko's two companions and the remaining dog. In the same instant, the animal sprang out into space.
As it landed,- Lomax struck out wildly with the Winchester and the whole earth seemed to move beneath him. He was conscious of Katina's cry of alarm and the snarling of the dog and then they were all sliding down through the ravine on a great wave of earth and shale.
He dropped the Winchester and clawed at the slope with both hands, but it was too late. For a terrible moment he seemed to ride the wind through the darkness and the rain and then the movement slowed as the ravine levelled out.
He heard Katina calling to him through the darkness and went sliding down the slope to join her. She was standing beside a large boulder in two feet of water and he reached out for her anxiously. "Are you all right?"
She fell against him, her arms sliding around his neck. "I thought I was never going to stop."
"At least we've come a long way down in a hell of a short time," he said. "We'd better take advantage of it."
As he finished speaking, shale and loose earth showered down on them and the dog snarled somewhere above. It erupted from the darkness and landed with a splash about six feet away.
Lomax pushed Katina to one side and picked up a large stone in his two hands and brought it down with all his force as the animal surged forward. There was a terrible cracking sound and the hound gave a strange, whimpering cry and fell to one side, thrashing the water.
Lomax turned away, sobbing for breath. He took Katina by one arm and together they scrambled over the slippery boulders and up out of the pool. A moment later they were moving down the side of the mountain through the heavy rain.
Confessional
When they reached the villa Katina was limping heavily and Lomax supported her as they climbed out of the ditch and crossed the road.
The gates stood open and the lamp suspended from the archway above swayed in the wind, a pool of light constantly reaching into the darkness and retreating again.
They moved along the narrow flagged path between the olive trees and the rain seemed to drown all sound. Lomax was soaked to the skin, dark hair plastered across his forehead. Every muscle in his body ached and he found it an effort to place one foot in front of the other.
Katina was almost at breaking point, nerve and sinew stretched to the limit. She stumbled as they came to the edge of the trees and he caught her hi his arms.
He held her very close and said softly, "Not long now. It's almost over."
And then he heard the sound of the piano as he had heard it once before hi this place, nostalgic and wistful. He was trapped again at the crossing point between the present and the past and he stood there hi the rain holding the girl, the music filling him with a strange, aching sadness.
The french window was ajar, one end of a red velvet curtain billowing into the rain as a gust of wind lifted it. Katina pulled it back and they moved inside.
A log fire burned on the wide stone hearth and the room was illuminated by the lamp that stood on the piano. In its light, Van Horn's hair gleamed like silver.
He was wearing a smoking jacket in corded green silk and he jumped up and came forward, a frown on his face.
"I thought you were never coming. What happened?"
At that moment Katina sighed and started to slide to the floor. Lomax caught her in his arms and carried her across to the divan.
Van Horn sat beside her, rolled back an eyelid with his thumb and took her pulse. After a moment he looked up. "She's completely exhausted. Get the brandy. It's in the cupboard under the bookshelves."
Lomax found the bottle and two glasses and returned. He filled one and gave it to Van Horn and used the other himself.
The liquid burned its way down into his stomach and he filled his glass again and watched Van Horn raise Katina's head and force open her mouth. She choked and started to cough and then her eyes opened.
She tried to sit up and Van Horn said, "It's all right, my dear. You're at the villa."
She stared blankly at him and then something clicked in her eyes. "Is the boat ready?"
He nodded and she swung her legs to the floor. "Then what are we sitting here for?"
She tried to stand up and Lomax pushed her down. "There's no hurry, Katina," he said. "Not any more. I'm not going anywhere."
She stared up at him, a slight, puzzled frown on her face, and Van Horn said, "Don't be a fool, Lomax. I heard you'd accused Alexias of murdering Dimitri Paros, but you haven't a hope in hell of proving it."
Lomax helped himself to a cigarette from the silver box on top of the piano. He lit it slowly and blew out a long column of smoke. He felt very tired and there was a slight, persistent ache just behind his right eye.
"But I don't think it was Alexias who murdered Dimitri," he said softly. "I think it was you."
Thunder rumbled again and the rain increased in a sudden rush, hammering against the window. There was no change of expression on Van Horn's face. He said calmly, "Are you quite sure you know what you're saying?"
Katina stood up and moved forward, her eyes very large in the white face. "What are you trying to suggest, Hugh?"
He placed his hands gently on her shoulders. "Someone tried to kill me in the alley at the back of the prison tonight. Someone who knew I was coming out. And the automatic you gave me. For some strange reason it wouldn't fire."
She looked up at him, horror in her eyes, and he went on, "Did Van Horn know that your uncle played chess with Father John Mikali every Thursday night?"
She nodded. "Everybody knows."
"Then why didn't he tell me I was wasting my time when I said I intended visiting your uncle?"
She turned slowly and looked at Van Horn and Lomax went on, "When I got to the farm, Dimitri and the Samos brothers were waiting for me hi the dark. There was only one possible explanation. Dimitri was expecting me because someone had warned him I was coming. But only one person knew."
Van Horn smiled lightly. "It doesn't even hang together. How on earth could I have got in touch with him hi time? Katina took the jeep."
It was Katina who answered him. "You were on the telephone to someone when I came up from the kitchen and Dimitri worked most nights at The Little Ship. Everyone knew that."
Van Horn lit a cigarette, his hand as steady as a rock. "You still haven't placed me at the farm at the tune of the murder. No jury in the world would accept for one moment that a man of my age and condition could cross the mountain twice on the same night within a matter of hours,"
ISO
"That worried me for a while," Lomax said. "Until I remembered Katina once telling me there was a jetty at the bottom of the cliffs near the farm." He glanced down at her. "How long would you say it would take from here to there by sea?"
"Twenty minutes," she said. "I've done it often. So has Oliver."
Lomax looked enquiringly at Van Horn. "Would you care to guarantee the launch hasn't been to sea tonight? We could always check."
"You're not making sense," Van Horn said. "What possible motive could I have had for killing Dimitri Paros?"
"It's only a guess, but I'd say he'd discovered you were the man responsible for the death of his father," Lomax said.
Katina's breath hissed sharply between her teeth. For a moment Van Horn's composure almost broke, but he rallied strongly. "It won't do, Lomax. Everyone knows what I went through at Fonchi."
