Mykonos After Midnight Read Online Free PDF

managed to get to the bathroom door before Lila’s pillow caught him from behind.
    ***
    Kouros sat in a marked blue and white police car in front of the apartment building.
    “Morning, Chief. I see you have breakfast.”
    “As a matter of fact we do. Lila had it packed for two.” Andreas held up a spanakopita as he slid into the passenger’s seat. “A bit heavy for breakfast, but easier to eat in the car than yogurt.”
    Kouros pulled away from the curb and reached for the spinach pie. “Any idea what has Tassos so wound up he won’t talk over the phone?”
    “Not a clue.” Andreas pulled another spanakopita out of the bag and took a bite. He struggled to speak around his chewing. “But whatever it is, it must be serious. Tassos is not an alarmist.”
    “Can’t wait to hear what’s on his mind. What time’s your flight back so I can pick you up?”
    “Pick me up? You’re coming with me.”
    Yianni smiled. “I hoped you’d say that.” He pointed with the spanakopita toward the back seat. “I even packed a bag. Just in case.”
    “We’re not staying overnight.”
    Yianni smiled. “Better safe that sorry.”
    Andreas took another bite. “Damn it, I should have packed a bag. But if I had, Lila would have thought I actually intended to stay over.”
    “We bachelors always plan ahead. You do remember those days, don’t you?”
    “Detective Kouros, just get us to the airport.”
    ***
    Andreas spent most of the flight reading the report Tassos had faxed to Kouros covering what he’d come up with so far in the investigation. The rest of the time Andreas stared out the window at a deep blue sea, white-edge waves, and beige-brown islands flecked with green and white.
    Mykonos lay ninety miles southeast of Athens and less than thirty minutes away by plane, or two hours and fifteen minutes by high-speed catamaran. Approximately one and a half times the size of the island of Manhattan, it had a population of ten thousand year-round citizens that swelled to fifty thousand during tourist season.
    The island differed greatly in season from its agrarian and seafaring roots. In summers Mykonos drew a monied crowd relatively immune to the worldwide financial crisis. And, for the most part, Mykonians put aside their way of life during those months as they braced for a tsunami of rich and super rich from around the world, joined by hordes of poseurs, flocking to their island on holiday.
    Mykonos also served as a cruise boat mecca, drawing day-trippers to tourist shops and coffee at the port. But it wasn’t the rich or the cruise boats that Mykonos relied upon to support its many hotels, shops, bars, restaurants, and clubs. For those, the island looked to sun worshipers drawn by the island’s dozens of breathtaking beaches and partiers chasing after its world famous 24/7 action.
    Yes, serious cultural reasons also drew visitors to Mykonos, most notably the intensely spiritual holy island of Delos. There one could walk amid restored, millennia-old ruins of the once thriving center of ancient Cycladic life. But one had to get up early to catch a boat to Delos because the last boat back to Mykonos was at three in the afternoon, and that sort of early morning pilgrimage rarely worked for the late night partier, no matter how sincere intentions might have been when falling asleep at dawn.
    Tassos stood on the airport tarmac just outside the terminal’s arrivals door. He held a briefcase but managed to exchange embraces with his friends.
    Andreas pointed at the briefcase. “Never knew you to carry one of those.”
    “Follow me,” was all Tassos said. He led them inside the terminal, through the baggage claim area, and past a doorway to the right leading out of the building.
    “Where are we going?” said Kouros.
    “I’ll tell you when we get there.”
    At the south end of the terminal building they took a flight of stairs up to the second floor and stopped at a door marked OFFICE OF DIRECTOR OF AIRPORT