“And why not?” Van Horn said. “After all, the Aegean was never anything more than a side show. They didn’t even bother vto invade Crete. When the end came the Germans simply surrendered as they did on all the islands.”
“And a projected invasion of Crete was the excuse for the whole Kyros operation,” Lomax said. “Presumably you think the whole thing was a waste of time?”
Van Horn looked mildly surprised. “Did I ever pretend anything else? Things were all very romantic here in the Aegean with your landings by night and your legalised brigandry, but don’t let’s pretend it had the slightest effect on the course of the war.”
Blind, unreasoning anger sparked inside Lomax. “It’s a pity Joe Boyd and one or two more I could mentioa aren’t around to hear you say that.”
“I could give you a few names myself,” Van Horn said calmly. “Old Maria, Alexias’s wife and several more. Innocent bystanders who hardly knew what it was all about. Fonchi was bad enough, but what about the women, and young girls like Katina who were sent to the troop brothels in Greece? They were the real victims.”
His voice moved on, but Lomax didn’t hear it. He closed his eyes and was sucked into a dark vacuum of quiet. The agony was almost physical, a hard ball that rose into his throat, threatening to choke him, and he lurched to the balustrade and was violently sick.
He stayed there for a little while, staring down into the void, and slowly, sounds came back to him and he was aware of Van Horn at his elbow holding out a glass.
As the contents burned their way down into his stomach, Van Horn said quietly, “I’m sorry, I thought you knew.”
“The one thing she omitted to tell me,” Lomax whispered.
Van Horn put a hand gently on his shoulder and then returned to his chair and Lomax lit a cigarette and stayed there staring blindly into space.
After a while he turned and said quietly, “Katina tells me you’re the only other person she knows who believes I didn’t betray you all to Steiner.”
Van Horn poured himself another drink. “That’s right.”
“May I ask why?”
Van Horn shrugged. “Let’s just say it didn’t seem in character.”
“And you think that a sufficient reason?”
“I’m a professional writer, remember. People are my business.”
Lomax sat down again at a table. “Tell me what happened when they arrrested you.”
“A rather officious young officer arrived with a squad of men and searched the house without giving me any explanation. That’s when the amphora got smashed. Afterwards, they took me to headquarters to see Steiner. He simply said that he had information to the effect that I’d harboured you and Boyd. Naturally, I told him I didn’t know what he was talking about.”
“And when was it first suggested that I’d given him the information?”
“I first heard it about a month later from one of the guards at the town gaol.”
.They didn’t send you to Fonchi straight away then?”
“I was in prison here for three months before they transferred me. Most of the others were already there when I arrived.” “Including Alexias?”
“He was never at Fonchi. They sent him direct to the Gestapo prison in Athens. I suppose they thought they could squeeze him dry in time. They knew he’d been working with the EOK in Crete.”
“But why did they keep you here in the town gaol after the others had left?”
“That was Steiner’s doing. He knew my health wasn’t good and the garrison doctor told him I wouldn’t last three months at Fonchi. I think he was trying to do the best he could for me.”
“Why should he?” Lomax demanded bluntly. “He liked me, it was as simple as that.” Van Horn shrugged. “We played chess every week, remember. When I needed them, he obtained scarce medical supplies that saved many lives. He was ruthless, even cold-blooded, but he was not a bad man.”
“Then why the change of heart after three months?” “There was none. He left the island on an E-boat one morning bound for a military conference on Crete. Like you, he was never heard of again. His successor had me transferred to Fonchi as soon as he took over. I was there until the German surrender in Greece the following year.” “That garrison doctor was pretty wide of the mark when he said you wouldn’t last three months,” Lomax said.