Читать книгу The Meaning of Friday - Vanessa Gordon - Страница 19

10

When the policeman had left and they had eaten a little lunch, Helen spent the afternoon reading. Day had failed to sleep during the siesta hours and was not in a good mood when he appeared on the balcony at the hour of aperitifs.

“Gin?“ he muttered.

“Looks like you need one, Martin.”

“I didn’t sleep. I’ve been on the laptop for the last hour, and you might be interested in what I’ve found. However, we also have a problem.”

“Oh? Let’s move indoors, I’ve got chilly sitting out here. Then you can tell me what the problem is.”

Martin prepared the drinks with generous quantities of gin and ice, placed them on a small table, and lowered himself into an arm chair.

“First, I looked into this Frenchman, Emil Gautier. Nothing on the Internet, but then I wouldn’t really expect anything, given the information I subsequently turned up about him. I contacted an old Cambridge pal who works at the Sorbonne. He’s got a prestigious title but a deadly dull appointment, so he dabbles in certain circles in Paris, circles in which art is bought and sold. I’m not saying he’s shady, but he undoubtedly knows people who are. Very nice objects change hands, I believe. He told me that Emil Gautier is one of the most top people in Paris if you want to buy something rather old and rather special which won’t appear in any auction house. So far, like my Sorbonne friend, Gautier seems to have stayed just on the right side of the law, but he’s very, very pivotal in the world of extremely wealthy private collectors.”

“Good work, Martin. But does that mean Michael too was involved in something murky?”

“I’ve thought of lots of scenarios. Michael could have been a customer of Gautier’s. Worse still, he could have supplied Gautier with antiquities. Neither option seems in character to me. Another idea is that Michael could have discovered Gautier doing an illegal transaction and was threatening to report him to the police. If that was the case, I can imagine that Gautier would be desperate to silence Michael.

“There’s another possibility, one connected to the sanctuary puzzle. If Michael was right about a new site, Gautier might see an opportunity to get his hands on some valuables, items that could disappear onto the collectors’ market without even being catalogued.”

“I’m getting confused now, Martin! And you’re making Gautier out to be a man of action, rather than an intermediary. What about Michael, do you think he was corrupt?”

“Anything’s possible, I suppose. If Michael was here with a woman other than his wife, that would have given Gautier leverage over him. Whatever the truth is, I hope Michael stayed well away from Emil Gautier.”

Day took a sip of his drink and looked a lot happier.

“Now, here’s what I discovered about Jim Grogan. He’s a very different kettle of fish. An extremely wealthy American, his name appears all over the Internet. He travels a lot, and even wrote a book about taking some long journey on foot round Greece and Turkey with a backpack.”

“Very Paddy Leigh Fermor,” Helen murmured.

“This character isn’t remotely in the same class as Fermor, Helen!” Day said sternly.

“That would be hard to imagine,” she conceded.

“This Jim Grogan is now in his early forties. He’s known to collect rare antiquities and has a special interest in ancient Greek artefacts. He reportedly collects a wide range of objects, but all of them are rare, expensive, sought-after and not necessarily catalogued in the public domain.”

“How do you know all this if his collection is so private?”

“People like him have ways of spreading the word when they’re in the market for a certain item. It wasn’t too hard to find out that he’s currently after a large black-figure hydria vessel with a particular octopus design, and the word is that he wants perfection. If such a thing could be obtained under the counter, it would be worth a fortune to a private collector. In reality it’s priceless. It’s also illegal to export such a thing from Greece, or have any part in such a trade. Emil Gautier, however, would be the perfect middle man.”

“Right. So we’re dealing with some really shady people.”

“Indeed. Even though I haven’t found a specific connection with Naxos, I think those pieces of information do get us a bit further, don’t you? It’s up to the police to find these people now, if they’re on the island at all. But my real problem is Alex Harding-Jones. I need another gin before I explain. Want one?”

“I wouldn’t say no.”

Day returned with the drinks and a bowl of savoury Greek biscuits.

“Now, this is my problem. When Inspector Cristopoulos mentioned Alex Harding-Jones, I didn’t tell him that he’s a particularly good friend of mine. We’ve known each other for years. Alex is the foremost Mycenaean ceramics expert at the British Museum, and it won’t have taken Cristopoulos ten minutes on Google to find out about him. He’s written an array of papers and several excellent books, and he’s known for his lectures at the BM. A wonderful man, too. I’ve got a lot of time for him. I hope to God he’s not mixed up with these other two, but his name is alongside theirs on that computer.”

“As you know Alex so well, couldn’t you just call him? Just ask him if he knows Michael Moralis.”

“I need to think about it some more. God, I’m suddenly really hungry. Are you ready for dinner? If I have any more gin without proper food I shall be very drunk.”

***

They walked as usual to the taverna. It was dark, the cool breeze had disappeared, and it was warmer than a few hours earlier. Helen loved this about Greece, the dark warmth of the night, eating late.

Thanasis’s son, Vangelis, was on duty in the restaurant and introduced himself. Thanasis then arrived at their table with a half litre of white wine in a chilled metal jug, before Day and Helen had even ordered.

“This is on the house,” said Thanasis. “It’s a white wine made by my family in their own small vineyard. I’d like you to try it, and I’ll bring you some small dishes to have with it.”

The small dishes were more generous than Helen and Day expected. There was aubergine dip, vinegary ‘politiki’ salad and delicate pieces of boiled octopus in lemon juice. All talk of the Moralis question was postponed as they ate and drank. The wine was dry but quite tasty, and the sharp little salad and fresh fishy bites complimented it well.

Day used a piece of bread to finish the aubergine dip. “Very kind of Thanasis. To be honest, though, I could murder a plate of chips and a glass of red,” said Day in a low voice.

“Since we’re being honest, Martin, I’ve eaten enough already to last me till morning. Not to mention the wine.”

All the same, Day ordered a plate of lamb chops and a portion of fried potatoes to share, and some red wine ‘from the barrel’.

“Before I forget to tell you, Aristos and Rania can’t come to dinner because they have Rania’s niece and her family staying with them for a while. I said we’d see them another time.”

“That’s a shame. But maybe we wouldn’t have been very good company. All we can talk about is murder.”

“Good point, Helen. I can’t stop worrying about Alex, you know. I don’t think I’ll call him just yet. He’s a good friend, but we see each other rarely. I don’t like to think he’s involved in anything illegal, but he and Michael are linked by an obsession with the Mycenaean era, and there’s an apparent connection between Michael and those two disreputable characters. I don’t know what to make of it.”

“So you’re going to do nothing?” asked Helen, sounding surprised.

“Of course not, just nothing about Alex for the moment. I think I should go to the Sanctuary of Flerio tomorrow. Of the sanctuaries on Naxos, the one at Flerio has the most scope for further discoveries, it’s a big sprawling site. I’ll just ask around, see if anyone remembers Michael. I don’t hold out much hope, but I don’t know how else to find where he was looking for an undiscovered sanctuary on an island this size. Want to come?”

“Yes, of course,” she said. “But you could just leave it to the police, you know, Martin.”

“Mmm. I can’t do that. I owe it to Michael to do something.”

“Let’s go tomorrow then. But on one condition. We visit the Flerio kouros at the same time.”