Dust and Ashes
For a few moments there was only the darkness and its confusion and Ixmax was conscious of Katina beside him. When the main lights were turned on, there was no sign of Van Horn or Alexias. Kytros moved from the switch to the door which led to the hall, but it refused to open.
He turned and said calmly, “He won’t get far. I took the precaution of locking the main gates when we arrived and Stavrou is guarding the cliff path.”
Lomax reached for the edge of the piano to pull himself tip and Katina moved to help him. The wound in his shoulder was bleeding steadily and she quickly made a thick pad of an embroidered table-runner and pushed it inside his sweater. Kytros came forward. “Is it bad?”
Lomax shook his head. “I’ll survive. How long were you on the terrace?”
“Long enough-not that it made any difference.” Kytros smiled slightly. “I knew before I got here. I told you I was waiting for Doctor Spanos to finish his autopsy. He came up with two most interesting points.”
“I don’t understand,” Lomax said.
“In the first place, Dimitri Paros had been dead for longer than we supposed. The fact that his body was so close to the fire had delayed rigor mortis.”
“And the second point?”
“The dead man had smashed his wrist-watch when falling. It had stopped at exactly nine o’clock.” Kytros sighed. “You must forgive a simple island policeman for failing to notice the fact sooner.”
“And at nine o’clock I was at sea with the Samos brothers.”
“And Alexias was playing chess with Father John.”
“But what put you on to Van Horn?”
“In the first place, simple logic,” Kytros said. “Riki Samos admitted that Dimitri had been tipped off that you were going to the farm, but he didn’t know by whom. From what you had told me earlier, it seemed that only one person could be responsible. I then discovered that Dimitri had left The Little Ship after receiving a telephone call and there are very few on the island.”
“And the operator remembered who’d called him?”
Kytros nodded. “I stopped to pick up Alexias and heard you were on the loose. Then Yanni turned up at the police station considerably distressed because he thought you were going to be torn to pieces on the mountain.”
“And you didn’t?” Lomax said.
Kytros permitted himself a slight smile. “I considered it unlikely in view of your past history in these islands.”
“Something else to thank Yanni for,” Katina said.
Kytros nodded. “A good boy. A pity there is no one to educate him.”
“I think that could be arranged,” Lomax said.
A shot echoed flatly through the rain outside and Alexias moved in from the terrace. “He’s in the garden,” he said harshly.
Kytros unbuckled his holster and took out his automatic. “I think it would be better if you remained here.”
He crossed to the window and Lomax moved after him. Outside, the rain lanced down through the light that spilled across the terrace to the bushes and beyond was darkness.
There was another revolver shot followed by the dry, ominous rattle of a machine pistol. “Stavrou!” Kytros said, and he ran across the terrace and plunged into the garden.
Faintly through the rain came the sound of many voices and the barking of dogs and Katina touched Lomax’s arm and pointed. In the darkness on the other side of the road, men moved down the slope towards the villa, their lanterns like eyes in the night.
In the garden aU was silent and obeying a sudden impulse Lomax ran across the terrace clutching his shoulder and plunged into the undergrowth. He crouched beside a bush, the rain falling on him, and Katina arrived a moment later. “This is madness,” she protested.
He moved forward cautiously between the dripping olive trees without replying, and above them on the mountainside the noise grew louder and more ominous.
Kytros stepped from behind a tree to join them. Before he could speak there was a movement in the bushes on the other side of the garden and the machine pistol rattled again. Stavrou shouted something unintelligible and Van Horn ran headlong out of the undergrowth, left arm raised to protect his face.