uncontrollably. In his arms, he held the little black dog.
Katina was akeady running to meet him and by the time Lomax arrived, she was on her knees in front of the boy. "What is it, Yanni? What's happened?"
He held out the dog in his arms. Its head lolled to one side, the neck obviously broken, and there was froth on its mouth.
"It was Dimitri," he said. "Dimitri killed him."
"But why?" Katina demanded.
"Because I helped Mr. Lomax," Yanni sobbed. "Because I helped Mr. Lomax."
The rage that erupted inside Lomax was a searing flame that seemed to fuse with his whole being. He started forward and Katina said, "Hugh!"
When he turned, her face was very white, the eyes so dark a man could never fathom them.
"Be careful," she said. "He's already served two years in prison for manslaughter. When he's been smoking hashish, he doesn't know what he's doing."
He turned and walked quickly across the square and when he entered the street, he started to run. By the time he merged on the waterfront he was soaked in sweat and people turned to stare curiously at him.
This time he could hear no music coming from The Little Ship and he went straight down the steps without pausing and came to a halt just inside the door.
There were perhaps a dozen people sitting drinking and none of them had been there on his earlier visit. The man behind the bar was one of those who had held him across the table for Alexias, He was hi the act of pouring wine into a glass and his mouth went slack in amazement.
Every head turned and Lomax examined the faces quickly and then crossed to the bar. "I'm looking for Dimitri."
The barman shrugged. "Why ask me? I'm not his keeper."
He picked up a glass and started to dry it with a soiled cloth and Lomax turned slowly and crossed the room.
Dimitri's bouzouki still leaned beside the chair where he had left it and Lomax picked it up and smashed it against the wall in a single violent gesture.
He turned to face the room and no one moved. "I asked for Dimitri," he said calmly.
For a moment, they all sat there looking at him quietly, and then an old man with white hair and a moustache burned brown by tobacco said, "He is on the pier waiting to see you leave."
Lomax turned and went back up the steps into the hot sunlight. He crossed the road on the run and moved along the wharf.
The steamer was almost ready to leave and he could see Papademos up on the bridge leaning out of an open window, shouting down orders to the sailors on the pier as they started to loosen the mooring ropes.
There were perhaps two dozen people standing about in small groups. Alexias leaned against a pillar, a cigar between his teeth, and little Nikoli with the scarred face stood with him.
It was Nikoli who saw Lomax first and he tugged at the big man's sleeve and pointed and Alexias said something quickly and every head turned.
Half of them were young waterfront layabouts in brightly checked shirts, hair carefully curled over their collars. They were of a type to be found in every country in the world. Mean, vicious young animals who thrived on trouble.
One of them turned and made a remark and they all laughed and then Lomax saw Dimitri at the back of them. He was leaning against a windlass, a cigarette smouldering between his lips as he shaved a piece of wood with his gutting knife.
As Lomax approached, the crowd parted and he paused a couple of feet away from Dimitri. The bouzouki player was humming tunelessly to himself. He didn't even bother to raise his head.
Alexias moved forward, Nikoli at his side. "This is the wrong time to seek trouble, Lomax. The boat leaves in five minutes."
Lomax turned vdry slowly and looked at him contemptuously. "When I want to hear from you I'll let you know. Once you were a man, but now..."
As he turned away,