Four hours later, Elaine was headed to Lyon, taking the
same route back through Munich. She hoped that Cattoretti would come up with
something, and soon. He had assured her he would do his best, whatever that
meant.
She was glad she had taken the risk and gone to see The
Cat. The trip had cleared up her thinking about her mother and Spyro Leandrou. She
decided that Luna was right. The man who had murdered her father in his
Pittsburgh jail cell was probably just a thug, somebody who was eager to make
some money or in a financial bind. It was Spyro Leandrou who had decided that
one of his best friends from high school needed to die and had hired someone to
kill him. That quote in their yearbook stuck in her mind:
A true friend is
one who watches your back instead of sticking a knife in it.
Spyro Leandrou was the one they needed to focus on now. The
other lowlife could be dealt with later.
Luna was picking her up at the Lyon Airport. As she
deplaned and rolled her carry-on suitcase down the corridor towards Baggage
Claim, her personal phone started ringing. The display indicated an unknown
number.
Elaine pulled her carry-on over to the side and answered
the call, making sure all the other passengers kept moving and that nobody was
paying attention.
“It’s me,” Giorgio said. “I already have an answer for you.”
That was fast, Elaine thought. “I’m all ears.”
“The man you asked me about is definitely involved in some
sort of illegal trade.”
“Trade? What do you mean?”
“He’s moving contraband across international borders.”
“What kind of contraband?”
“I’m not sure. My contact wouldn’t say. I don’t think he
actually knows for sure what the man is moving.”
“No, definitely not that.”
Elaine had guessed that Cattoretti had probably called his Ukrainian
arms dealer friend, who she had a feeling was the most powerful and
well-connected criminal he knew. It seemed she was right.
She racked her brain to think of what other “contraband”
Spyro could be dealing in. “What about human trafficking?”
Human trafficking was an egregious crime. If that’s what Spyro
was doing, and any of his trafficked people had lost their lives, he could be
put away for life. It occurred to her that Greece was in the direct path of the
refugees migrating from the Middle East into Europe.
“How certain are you of this?” she said.
“One hundred percent certain.”
Elaine felt a wave of relief pass through her. “Thank you.”
“You owe me one,” he said, and she could hear the smile in
his voice.
Just as she was about to cut the call, he said, “There’s
also one more thing I can tell you about Spyro Leandrou with one hundred
percent certainty.”
“He’s capable of murder. More than capable. Be careful,
cara.”
As soon as Elaine climbed in Luna’s SUV, she relayed all
the information she had gotten from Giorgio Cattoretti. She also explained the
microprinting she discovered on the Panacea business card.
Luna mulled it all over as they rode along Boulevard
Périphérique Nord, the divided highway that ran around the north side of Lyon. Elaine
could tell from the wrinkles on her friend’s forehead that she was thinking
hard, and didn’t want to interrupt. Elaine’s own thoughts on the situation had
taken a certain direction now, and she wondered if Luna’s would do the same.
They crossed the Rhône, and the road curved around to the
left and followed along the north riverbank. After a moment, the sprawling
Interpol Headquarters came into view on the other side of the river, half the
windows still illuminated even though it was almost ten p.m.
They both watched it slide by in silence.
Luna finally glanced over at Elaine. “I’ve been doing a lot
of soul searching about all this today, and I believe the best course of action
is to try and penetrate Spyro Leandrou’s operation.”
“Go in undercover, you mean?”
Luna nodded. “Exactly. Either me, you, or Nick.”
“I’ve reached the same conclusion.”
Glancing at Elaine again, she said, “We need to grill Kathy
and see if we can find some hole in his armor, some way we can get inside.”
They soon reached the
Presqu’île or “peninsula” section of the city, where Luna and Walter’s
apartment was located. A narrow strip of land separating the
Rhône and the Saône Rivers, the historic
area was well known for its preponderance of cafés, restaurants, luxury shops
and elegant old buildings. Luna and her husband had decided that if they were
going to live in France for a few years, they might as well do it in style and
soak up the best culture that Lyon had to offer.
The flat they had rented was beautiful, within sight of the
spectacular baroque facade of the Hôtel de ville de Lyon, which was famous for
its charging marble horse statues with fountain-powered “breath” steaming from
their nostrils.
Luna pulled into a tiny garage at ground level that was
barely large enough to accommodate her SUV and Walter’s car, and they both went
inside.
Elaine lugged her suitcase up an
impossibly narrow set of stairs.
“
Bonjour, bonjour!” Walter cried, when they entered
the apartment. He rushed up to Elaine and gave her three overly-affected air
kisses, alternating between her cheeks, French style.
Elaine laughed. “How are you, Walter?”
“Tryin’ to get this damn French language under control,” he
said, motioning to some books scattered over the couch. “Those nasal vowels are
killing me.”
Elaine laughed again. “Yeah, they’re not easy to master,
and the French are proud of that.”
Luna and Walter made an odd couple. He was a good six
inches shorter than she was, with a bald head and neatly trimmed,
salt-and-pepper beard, his skin as dark as any of the Sudanese Elaine had seen
in Central Africa. He was the most laid-back person Elaine knew. He and Luna
were a great match. His light, easygoing character balanced out Luna’s serious
and sometimes intense personality. He had two children from a previous
marriage, but both of them were in college now back in the States.
Elaine apologized for missing the lunch that Walter had
prepared yesterday.
Luna and Elaine then
went into the den, which doubled as a home office, and shut the door.
They used the Secret Service server in Lyon to establish a
secure video conference link to the computer in Elaine’s sunroom office—Nick
handled everything on that end.
A moment later, Elaine and Luna were sitting side by side
in front of Luna’s computer in Lyon, and Nick and Kathy were visible on the
screen, sitting side by side at Elaine’s desk at the farmhouse.
Elaine summarized everything they had learned about Spyro,
and that Panacea might be a top secret clinic and wellness spa.
Nick immediately asked, “How did you find all this out?”
“Just more desk research,” Elaine said, as if exhausted
from staring at computer screens. She wasn’t about to tell him that she had gone
to Croatia to visit Giorgio Cattoretti.
Nick looked skeptical, but he let it pass.
Luna said, “Kathy, we’re thinking of sending someone to
Greece to figure out exactly what your husband is up to.”
“You mean, like undercover?”
“Yes, maybe someone Spyro would hire as an employee, as a
guard, for example.”
She chuckled. “No way, that would be impossible.”
Luna and Elaine exchanged a glance. “Why?”
“Spyro is extremely careful. He only hires Greeks, and
almost all of them are family—he has a zillion relatives there.”
“Who’s around him on a day-to-day basis?” Nick said.
“Well, he has a cook, a driver, a housekeeper, and all
that, but all of them have worked for Spyro for years. They’re all Greeks, of
course. Locals.”
“What about security?” Nick said. “Maybe I could apply for
a job as a—”
“His security team is all Greek, too.”
“Isn’t there anyone around him who’s
not Greek?”
Elaine said. “There must be somebody...a gardener maybe?”
Kathy thought for a moment. “Well, there is only one
position I can think of that has to be filled by a foreigner”
“Alexander’s governess. He’s very picky because he wants Alex
to study with a native English speaker and use an American or UK home schoolin’
package. It’s a challenge to fill that position. Spyro has hired seven or eight
of them by now. None of them are good enough for him, and he always ends up
firin’ them. This latest one, Gwen, is from Canada—he just hired her in
October. The one before her was American, and the one before her was British.”
“What exactly do you mean by ‘governess’?” Elaine asked. “What
are her specific duties?”
“Well the main duty is home-schoolin’ Alexander. Alex also
participates in a lot of sports and the governess has to participate, too, to help
him practice. That’s the problem Spyro has with them. If they’re athletic
enough, they’re not competent enough to teach the home classes, and if they’re
good enough teachers, they can’t keep up with the sports. Alexander plays
basketball and soccer, takes tennis lessons, karate lessons, rock climbin’,
scuba—I can’t even keep track of it all.”
Elaine and Luna looked at each other. “You could do that,”
Luna said to her.
“Has Spyro ever seen a picture of me?” Elaine asked Kathy.
“Well, no. I always avoid the subject of children with him,
because I don’t want to have any with him. But—”
“Did he ever see Elaine when she was a kid, or a teenager?”
Luna asked.
“No. He avoided contact with our family because of what he
and Patrick were doin’ together.”
Luna looked at Elaine and said, “You and your mom don’t
look anything alike, except for your blonde hair. You could dye it—”
“It won’t work,” Kathy interrupted.
“Because I told you, Alexander already has a governess,
since October. Her name is Gwen. She seems to be workin’ out great.”
“No she isn’t’,” Elaine said.
Kathy blinked. “Excuse me?”
Elaine made a snap decision. “You’re going back to Spyro
tomorrow morning, and you’re going to get Gwen fired.”
“What?” Kathy gasped. “I can’t go back to Spyro! He would
kill me!”
“Why would he do that? You just told us two days ago that
he thought you were just visiting a friend in Paris.”
“And you said that he wouldn’t know you’d gotten into the
safe until Friday, when he pays the help.”
“I know I said that, but—”
“Which means you can go home and put those documents back
in the safe, and he’ll never know the difference. And then you can get Gwen
fired.”
“How?” Kathy cried. “I can’t just—”
“You’ll think of something. And after you get rid of her,
you’ll let me know exactly how and where I can interview for the job when Spyro
advertises it.”
“I cannot go back to Spyro, Elaine! I will
not do
it!”
Elaine was so agitated she had to stand up. She leaned
closer to the computer’s camera, her face filling up the entire screen. “You
barge into my life and put my family in grave danger, beg for me to put your
husband in jail and protect you from him, but you won’t lift a finger yourself
to help?”
Nick leaned back in his chair, out of Kathy’s view, trying
to suppress a smile. Elaine knew exactly what he was thinking:
Payback time.
Kathy glanced over at him, as if she felt like everyone was
ganging up on her, and then looked pleadingly back at the camera. “I...I can’t
go back there...it took me so long to work up the courage to leave...I just...I
just can’t do it, Elaine!”
Elaine watched her mother’s tearful face on the screen for
a long moment. Gritting her teeth, she said, “You can do it, and you
will.”
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