The Lost Labyrinth (4 page)

The door pushed open abruptly. Theofanis, the sprightly police officer who’d taken Knox’s statement earlier, walked back in. A second man followed. He was informally dressed, though from his manner and the way Theofanis deferred to him, he was obviously the boss. He came to stand in front of Knox and glared down at him. ‘You speak Greek, yes?’

‘I get by,’ agreed Knox. He’d studied the ancient language at Cambridge before adding its modern counterpart in less happy circumstances in Thessaloniki ten years before, running a failed campaign to gain justice for his murdered parents and sister.

‘I am Chief Inspector Angelos Migiakis,’ he said.
He had an unhealthy, man-in-the moon kind of face, with a partial eclipse of black beard. ‘I am taking personal charge of this case.’ He jabbed Knox’s statement at his face. ‘Theofanis tells me you’re the one who found Alexander’s tomb. He tells me you’re quite the celebrity.’

‘I helped find Alexander’s tomb, yes.’

‘You think this entitles you and your friends to assault my officers while they’re carrying out their duty?’

‘Since when has it been the duty of the Greek police to grope women and put their husbands in hospital?’

‘There was a dying man in the room. My officers were taking charge of the scene, as they’re supposed to do.’

Knox closed his eyes. It was the first confirmation he’d had that Claire’s efforts to keep Petitier alive had failed. ‘He’s dead, then?’ he asked.

‘Yes. He’s dead. And I want to know why someone should want to kill him.’

‘How should I know that?’

Theofanis had gone over to the boiler, looking in vain for ways to turn it off. He gave it an irritable thump and then turned around. ‘You said he tried to tell you something before he died. Could it have been his killer’s name?’

‘I suppose,’ acknowledged Knox. ‘It sounded like “Elysium”, but I wouldn’t swear to that.’

‘Elysium?’ frowned Angelos.

‘Where virtuous and heroic souls spent eternity in Greek myth. The Elysian Fields. They were a kind of paradise.’

‘You’re not trying to tell me that Petitier thought he was off to paradise, are you?’ scoffed Angelos.

‘I don’t know,’ said Knox. ‘I never knew the man. But I’d say it was more likely it had something to do with his talk tomorrow.’

‘His talk?’

‘Yes. We’re all in Athens for a conference on the Eleusinian Mysteries.’ He paused to look for any sign of recognition on Angelos’ face, but didn’t see any. ‘They were a very important religious festival that took place at the port you now know as Elefsina, but which used to be called Eleusis.’ The Mysteries fully warranted their name, for the ceremonies that had taken place there had been protected by high walls, closed doors and an almost pathological insistence on secrecy that had worked so successfully that almost nothing was now known about them. It was a tantalising ignorance, not least because Sophocles, Pindar, Aristotle, Cicero, Plato and many other sophisticated, intelligent and sceptical people had considered the Mysteries to be among the greatest experiences of their lives. All the experts therefore agreed that something remarkable must have taken place there; the trouble was that no-one knew precisely what. ‘Eleusis was
very closely associated with Elysium by the ancient Greeks, partly because their names were so similar, but also because the Mysteries were believed to offer celebrants a glimpse of life after death.’

‘And Petitier was due to give a talk to the conference tomorrow afternoon,’ nodded Angelos. ‘On what aspect, precisely?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Knox. ‘The organisers wouldn’t say, other than vague hints about how sensational it was going to be. But I’m sure they’d tell you, under the circumstances. Or maybe the text is on that laptop of his you took.’

Angelos raised an eyebrow at Theofanis. ‘Laptop?’ he asked.

‘I gave it to Stelios to check out.’

‘Go see if he’s made any progress, would you?’ He waited for Theofanis to leave, then turned back to Knox. ‘Your friend Augustin was also to give a talk tomorrow, yes?’

‘Yes.’

‘But he lives in Egypt, as I understand. A Frenchman who lives in Egypt. How precisely is he qualified to give talks on ancient Greek ports?’

‘The Mysteries weren’t just celebrated here in Greece,’ replied Knox. ‘When Alexander the Great went conquering, he set up offshoots all over the ancient world, including Egypt. There’s a whole district called Eleusis in the southern part of Alexandria, and Augustin has been excavating
there recently. That’s what his talk was to be on. My girlfriend and I have been helping him with it, so we decided to come along too, make a holiday of it.’

‘Your girlfriend?’ asked Angelos.

‘Gaille Bonnard,’ said Knox, nodding at his statement. ‘She was at the conference all afternoon.’

‘So why weren’t you with her?’

‘I wasn’t in the mood. Besides, I promised Augustin I’d drive him to the airport to pick up Claire.’ He suffered a sudden memory of her emerging from the arrivals hall with Augustin, incandescent with the joy of reunion, clutching a huge bouquet of white roses against her chest, while Augustin pushed a trolley laden with luggage. ‘Travelling light, huh?’ Knox had grinned, kissing her cheek, catching a distinctive chemical-lemon whiff of disposable face-wipe.

‘The damned shipping people!’ she’d exclaimed. ‘They screwed up like you wouldn’t believe. I had to bring everything with me. It’s cost me a fortune in freight!’ She’d shaken her head and turned to the trolley. ‘Pathetic, isn’t it? My whole life, and that’s all I’ve got to show for it.’

‘Your life’s with me now,’ Augustin had said.

Her eyes had glittered; her complexion had turned a glorious glad red. ‘Yes,’ she’d agreed. ‘It is.’

The interview room door opened and Theofanis came back in. ‘I need a word,’ he told Angelos.

‘What about?’

His eyes darted to Knox. ‘Not in here,’ he said. They went out into the corridor, where Theofanis explained something to his boss in a voice too low for Knox to overhear. But it clearly wasn’t good news, if the cry of exasperation that Angelos gave was any guide, or the sound of something glass smashing against a wall.

The door opened again a few moments later and Theofanis came in, looking a little shaken. ‘I’m to take you down to the holding cells,’ he told him. ‘We’ll pick this up again later.’

Olympia’s arms were aching as she looked up Ayiou Konstandinou for any sign of her bus. The schoolbooks she’d borrowed from Demetria were growing heavier by the minute, but the pavement was too wet from the recent shower to set them down. She longed to take the weight off her feet, but there was only one bench nearby, and the man sitting there was watching her out of the corner of his eye, his hand in his lap, tickling himself with his thumb. And while it excited her when handsome young men stared at her that way, creeps like this merely left her feeling soiled.

The gold Ferrari caught her eye at once. It wasn’t
just that it was absurdly sexy with its low deep growl and long bonnet and polished bodywork, it was the way the driver handled it, straddling lanes and dawdling like a parade lap, showing off his trophy. She watched enviously as he drew nearer, for she liked nice things, Olympia. It gave her something of a shock, then, when the car swerved across traffic and pulled up alongside her. She stooped by the window, assuming the driver wanted directions. But he got out instead, slammed closed his door, smiled pleasantly at her.

‘Do I know you?’ she asked.

He didn’t answer directly. Instead, he walked around to join her on the pavement, his hands held unthreateningly down by his sides. He was a little taller than medium-height, burly and blessed with the kind of tough good looks that made her feel a little strange inside. Mid-to-late twenties, from the look of him, perhaps ten or twelve years older than her. A high forehead and a flat nose and a thin goatee beard, his dark hair cropped short as a soldier’s—though how many soldiers could afford cars like that? Wolfish sharp canines and eyes of such dazzling pale blue that she assumed he had to be wearing contact lenses. A perfectly tailored suit over an open-throated white silk shirt, his shoes soft sheathes of calfskin-leather, his gold watch a little loose around his left wrist, so that it jangled like a bracelet. ‘Let me help you
with those,’ he said in correct yet heavily-accented Greek, taking the top two books from her.

‘What are you doing?’ she protested. But she couldn’t exactly stop him, not while still holding the rest of her stack. Besides, there was just something about him, the kind of man who’d do exactly as he wanted, whatever anyone said. He popped his small boot, stowed her books inside and came back for the rest. She watched as he packed those away too, then slammed the boot closed. ‘What are you doing?’ she asked again.

He rejoined her on the pavement, still smiling blandly, as though this was all the most natural thing in the world. But the hammering of her heart assured her that it wasn’t natural at all. ‘What’s going on?’ she asked, her voice crumbling just a little. She looked around for someone to help, someone from the world of adults. But they were all involved in their own business: even the creep on the bench was now looking the other way. ‘Please give me my books back.’

‘They won’t come to any harm in there,’ he said.

‘But they aren’t even mine.’

‘They’ll be fine,’ he told her, taking her hand. ‘Trust me.’ His skin was faintly scratchy to the touch, like the finest imaginable sandpaper. He smiled into her eyes with a directness and self-assurance that made her feel ridiculously weak, like
on those mornings when her pillow fell to the floor and she couldn’t even grasp it to pick it back up. He nodded as if he understood exactly, and wanted her to know that she shouldn’t worry, because it was going to be okay. Then he opened the passenger door of the Ferrari and made the tiniest gesture for her to get in. She hesitated, aware she’d have to be crazy to comply, but somehow she found herself doing so. He slammed the door emphatically, walked around to the driver’s side, climbed in beside her. ‘Your seat-belt,’ he said, reaching across her to click it into place. ‘We wouldn’t want you coming to any harm, would we?’

‘Who are you?’ she asked.

‘My name’s Mikhail,’ he told her. ‘And yours?’

She hesitated a moment. ‘Olympia.’

‘Charmed to meet you, Olympia,’ he said. He looked at her in that unblinking way he had, reached across and brushed a strand of hair on her temple back behind her ear, then gently stroked her cheek with his thumb. Her skin tingled where he touched her, her heart twisting and dipping on a fairground ride. There was a moment of almost complete stillness as he smiled more broadly and she found herself smiling in response, unable to help herself. ‘You’re very beautiful, you know, Olympia,’ he said. ‘You’re going to break a lot of hearts.’

She didn’t reply to that. She didn’t know what
to say. He settled in his seat, turned on the ignition. The engine made a glorious roar, like some savage beast caged at the zoo. He released the hand-brake, glanced over his shoulder for a gap in traffic. Unfamiliar sensations cramped inside her, hot and icy, sharp and sweet. Strange thoughts had been coming to her at night recently, thoughts of men just like this. But not for a moment had she imagined that one would come into her real life. A voice in her head, her mother’s voice, beseeched her to get out while she could, yet she knew she wouldn’t. ‘Where are we going?’ she asked. But really she was asking: ‘What are you going to do with me?’

‘You’ll see,’ said Mikhail, as he pulled away.

A young man with flaming orange hair watched intently as Knox was led into the holding cells. He frowned and sat forward, the strangest expression on his face, as though he recognised Knox and had something of vital importance to tell him. Then he promptly vomited onto the floor.

A mop was brought, but the orange-haired youth simply lay shivering on his side on the wall-bench. None of the cell’s other occupants seemed bothered, so Knox cleaned it up himself. The main door opened at regular intervals, police escorting suspects in and out of the various steel cages. A forty-something man arrived, struggling with his police handlers, accusing them of stitching him up; but, the moment they left him there, he laughed and winked as though it were only a game. A youth
with a swollen lip kept testing his front tooth to see if it was loose. An elderly man in a shabby suit wiped his face with his handkerchief in an effort to hide the fact that he was crying. But then the main door opened one more time and Gaille came in, talking intently with a policeman. Knox’s heart leapt, he jumped to his feet and hurried over to the cage door, waited impatiently for the policeman to open it.

‘Christ!’ he muttered, taking her in his arms, hugging her tight, not realising until now quite how much he’d needed to see her. ‘What news of Augustin?’

She gave a little grimace. ‘He’s in intensive care at Evangelismos Hospital. He hadn’t regained consciousness last I heard. Claire’s out of her wits. I promised we’d go straight over, if that’s okay?’

‘I’m free to go?’

‘You will be any moment. Nico called in his sister-in-law.’ She glanced around, lowered her voice, wary of being overheard. ‘Her name’s Charissa. She’s only about two foot tall, but my god! We were getting nowhere until she turned up, and suddenly the police were jumping through hoops and barking like seals.’ Her brow knitted. ‘It is seals that bark, isn’t it?’

‘Dogs have been known to, as well.’

She took his wrist. ‘Listen, I had to make a promise on your behalf. I’ll explain later, but I
gave my word you’d stand in for Augustin tomorrow morning and give his talk. Is that okay?’

‘Is that how you got the seal-trainer to come?’

‘Sort of.’

‘Then it’s fine,’ said Knox.

Nico appeared at the door, dabbing his throat with a green-and-white handkerchief. He was about the unhealthiest-looking man Knox had ever met, fat to the point of caricature, mere stubs of arms and legs, so that in his dark shirt and suit he looked like some gigantic anthropomorphic beetle, a character from a children’s book brought miraculously to life. ‘My dear Knox!’ he exclaimed. ‘I can’t believe they put you in such a place!’