She glanced at her watch. “You would seem to have twenty minutes in which to make up your mind.”
“What would you like to see me do?”
She shrugged. “It isn’t my decision to make. It can only be your own.”
She started to get to her feet and he held her hand and frowned, because he knew that for some strange reason this was the pivot on which the whole thing would turn.
3 33
“Do you want me to stay?”
“It would take courage,” she said. “Very great courage.”
He smiled suddenly. “But I gave you my courage a long time ago, remember?”
She nodded, her face serious. “I remember.”
For a little while they sat there staring at each other and then she gently released his hand and stood up. “I’ll only be a moment.”
He watched her go down to the altar and drop to one knee, then she stood up, selected two candles and placed them under the statue of St. Katherine. It was only as she lit them with a taper that he realised who they were for and a lump came into his throat that threatened to choke him.
He got to his feet and walked blindly through the half-darkness to the door.
The Bronze Achilles
Outside in the square it was very hot and he stayed in the shade of the porch and smoked a cigarette as he waited for her.
Once, Anna appeared in the door of the hotel with a bucket and cloth as if intending to wipe down the outside tables, but at the sight of him, she drew back hurriedly.
It was quiet and deserted, the shadows long and black as the afternoon waned, and nothing stirred. He stood there, the cigarette burning between his fingers as he stared moodily out into the square and hi some strange way it was as if he was waiting for something to happen.
There was a slight movement behind and he turned. Katina looked gravely up at him.
He smiled gently. “It was a long time ago.”
Suddenly, there were tears in her eyes and he slipped an arm about her shoulders and held her close. They stayed there in the cool shadow of the porch for a little while and then she sighed and pushed him away.
“We must go. If you intend to catch that boat, you’re running out of time.”
He followed her out on to the steps, his mind in a turmoil. At that moment, Yanni staggered into the square from the street that led down to the waterfront.
His clothes were torn and covered in dust and his face was streaked with tears as he sobbed 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.