Che Committed Suicide by Petros Márkaris Read Free Book Online Page A

delight:
    ‘Inspector Haritos!’
    She flung herself at me, wrapped her arms around me and kissed me on both cheeks so that neither would feel aggrieved. Koula had always shown a liking for me, though, being a suspicious copper, I had always thought that it was feigned. That day, I had to admit that I had been wrong. The way I saw her looking at me, blonde and beautiful and with a big smile, I reflected that if I had come sooner, most certainly she would have boosted my shattered morale with the help of her kisses.
    ‘You’ve no idea how pleased I am to see you!’ she said joyfully. ‘You can’t imagine how much I missed you!’
    ‘Maybe, but you never came once to the hospital to see me,’ I replied, like a lover complaining to his beloved that she doesn’t take enough care of him.
    ‘You’re right.’ She suddenly felt embarrassed and didn’t know what to say. ‘But, you know, we … We don’t know each other all that well and I couldn’t just turn up suddenly with your wife there … and your daughter … It would have gotten around and people here would have started talking …’
    ‘What do you mean, Koula. Who would have started talking?’
    ‘You know how rumours get started in here …’
    ‘Rumours about what?’
    She nodded her head resignedly. ‘Ah, Inspector Haritos. You’re so innocent. You live on a different planet.’
    I didn’t know whether I should be happy or curse myself.
    ‘Anyhow, you’re looking fine,’ she said to change the subject. ‘Healthy, strong, rejuvenated … When will you be back with us?’
    ‘I have another two months’ sick leave.’
    ‘I envy you. Make sure you make the most of it.’
    ‘Is he in? Can I say hello to him?’
    ‘But of course, I don’t have to announce you. You won’t be interrupting any important discussion.’
    It was only on entering Ghikas’s office that I realised what Koula had meant. Ghikas was sitting at his desk, which was three yards in length with a curve in it and resembled a race course. Facing him, in the seat I usually sat in, was Yanoutsos. He was around forty-five , quite tall, but thin and sluggish, who was never out of uniform because in plain clothes he looked like a sewing-machine salesman. Serves me right, I should have gone by my assistants’ office first to find out where he was lurking.
    ‘Come on in,’ said Ghikas on seeing me. ‘What brings you here?’
    ‘I just dropped in to say hello.’
    ‘If you’ve started to miss us, you must be feeling better. Have a seat.’
    Yanoutsos didn’t take the trouble to greet me, but simply looked at me with an expression that showed him to be both annoyed and worried. Those who show indifference will receive indifference, I said to myself and I fixed my eyes on Ghikas.
    ‘So how are you doing?’ he asked.
    ‘I’m getting bored,’ was my honest reply. Ghikas smiled.
    ‘You should take up whist,’ said Yanoutsos, in an attempt at humour.
    ‘I read the papers, go for walks, watch TV… that’s all you can do.’ My reply was directed to Ghikas. I had already written Yanoutsos off. ‘What about you here, how’s it going?’
    ‘Routine, you know how it is.’
    ‘Hasn’t Favieros’s suicide broken the routine?’ I replied, feigning innocence, to see how he would react, but he continued on the same wavelength.
    ‘A new lead-story for the TV channels.’
    ‘And what about this organisation that claims to have forced him to commit suicide?’
    ‘Hardly,’ Yanoutsos chipped in again. ‘If we’d taken such prattle seriously when I was in the Anti-terrorist Squad, we’d have been running all over the place.’
    When you were in the Anti-terrorist Squad, you spent your time playing whist, was what I wanted to say, but I restrained myself so as not to rile Ghikas.
    ‘Another unknown caller phoned a newspaper today to say that the statement did not come from the Philip of Macedon organisation and that it was sheer provocation,’ said Ghikas