The Silver Stain Read Online Free PDF

New York, but had moved to Los Angeles after college. She’d worked her way up the ladder as a personal assistant with actresses – most of whom Mavros had never heard of – until striking lucky with Cara Parks. She had been with her since Spring Surprise and was an integral part of her team.
    ‘OK,’ Mavros said, leaning towards Alice Quincy. ‘Tell me what isn’t in the file.’
    She pressed herself back in her seat. ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Oh, come on, Alice. You’re the director’s number one girl. You know what goes on behind the scenes, so to speak.’
    Spots of red appeared on her cheeks. ‘Well, it would be fair to say that Ms Kondos isn’t the most popular person in the crew.’
    She stopped, making Mavros give her an encouraging smile.
    ‘Her job is to look after Ms Parks and she does it very effectively – but sometimes with a distinct lack of diplomacy.’
    ‘Tell me more.’
    ‘She can be very blunt, even to Mr Jannet and the producers. And there are rumours that she provides certain special services for Ms Parks.’
    Mavros raised an eyebrow. ‘What are we talking about here? Middle of the night omelettes? Drugs? Sexual favours?’
    Alice Quincy looked queasy. ‘I wouldn’t know about the first and second, but perhaps the third. I repeat, these are rumours.’
    ‘Any particular quarrels that might have driven someone on the crew to get violent with her?’
    The American woman’s doe eyes widened. ‘Good Lord, that’s ridiculous. Film shoots are full of clashing egos.’
    Mavros wondered how Alice survived in such an atmosphere – there must have been steel beneath the soft exterior.
    ‘Have the local police been involved?’
    She nodded. ‘An Inspector Margaritis came to the shoot hotel and expressed concern, but Mr Jannet thought he was just going through the motions.’ She gave a tight smile. ‘Which is where you come in.’
    ‘Hey, Al!’ Jannet’s voice sounded from the rear of the plane.
    ‘Excuse me,’ Alice said, adapting into slave mode, though Mavros noticed she wasn’t keen on that form of her name.
    He looked out of the window and saw a lengthy mass of rock topped by snow. The White Mountains were as striking as ever. He remembered staying with Anna and Nondas one summer and snow-covered areas still being visible. As the Learjet lost height on its way to the private airport at Maleme, a conversation he’d had with Nondas came back to him.
    ‘The Germans should never have been allowed to capture the airfield,’ his brother-in-law said. ‘The Allies made so many mistakes. As it was, the invaders only made it by the skin of their Nazi teeth.’
    They had been looking around the battlefield sites and memorials. Thousands of paratroopers had been killed in the first days of the assault, Nondas had told him, but still they came. If Freyburg, the Allied commander, had armed the gendarmerie or taken on the locals as irregulars, the result could have been very different.
    The model/hostess checked that he had his safety belt on with a stunningly fake smile. Alice Quincy did not return, presumably now nailed to a seat opposite her boss. As the plane slowed, three things struck Mavros. The first was that he was out of his comfort zone on an island whose inhabitants, apart from Nondas, had always seemed to him very unlike other Greeks. The second was that Hollywood film people were unlike any other human beings. And the last was a question – why had a major director broken into his schedule to spend a morning flying to and from Athens when Alice Quincy could easily have done the job on her own?

THREE
    M avros followed Luke Jannet off the plane and was hit by a blast of heat – Crete was hotter than Athens had been. Then he got a surprise.
    ‘Neat, aren’t they?’ Jannet said, following the direction of his gaze.
    ‘Something like that,’ Mavros muttered. His Greek heritage had asserted itself and the World War Two German aircraft with swastikas on their tails did