“Why would they do a thing like this to you?” asked a horrified Melina.
“They didn’t,” Spyros said bluntly. “It was Costa.”
“You—you have no proof of that.”
“I don’t need any proof. Don’t you understand yet what you are married to?”
“I—I don’t know what to think.”
“Melina, as long as that man is alive, we are both in danger. He will stop at nothing.”
“Can’t you go to the police?”
“You said it yourself. I have no proof. They would laugh at me.” He took her hands in his. “I want you to get out of there. Please. Go as far away as you can.”
She stood there for a long time. When she finally spoke, it was as though she had reached a decision of great importance. “All right, Spyros. I will do what I must.”
He hugged her. “Good. And don’t worry. We’ll find some way to stop him.”
Melina sat in her bedroom alone during the long afternoon, her mind trying to take in what was happening. So, her husband had really meant his threat to destroy her and her brother. She could not let him go through with it. And if their lives were in danger, so was the life of Catherine Douglas. She’s going to work for Costa in London. I will warn her, Melina thought. But I must do more than that. I must destroy Costa. I must stop him from harming anyone else. But how? And then, the answer came to her. Of course! she thought. It’s the only way. Why didn’t I think of it before?
Chapter Twenty-two
Confidential File Transcript of Session with Catherine Douglas
C: I’m sorry I’m late, Alan. There was a last-minute meeting at the office.
A: No problem. The delegation from Athens is still in London?
C: Yes. They—they’re planning to leave at the end of next week.
A: You sound relieved. Have they been difficult?
C: Not difficult exactly, I just have a…a strange feeling about them.
A: Strange?
C: It’s hard to explain. I know it sounds silly, but…there’s something odd about all of them.
A: Have they done anything to…?
C: No. They just make me uneasy. Last night, I had that nightmare again.
A: The dream that someone was trying to drown you?
C: Yes. I haven’t had that dream in a while. And this time it was different.
A: In what way?
C: It was more…real. And it didn’t end where it had ended before.
A: You went past the point where someone was trying to drown you?
C: Yes. They were trying to drown me and then suddenly I was in a safe place.
A: The convent?
C: I’m not sure. It could have been. It was a garden. And a man came to see me. I think I dreamed something like that before, but this time I could see his face.
A: Did you recognize him?
C: Yes. It was Constantin Demiris.
A: So, in your dream…
C: Alan, it wasn’t just a dream. It was a real memory. I suddenly remembered that Constantin Demiris gave me the gold pin I have.
A: You believe that your subconscious dredged up something that really happened? You’re sure it wasn’t…
C: I know it. Constantin Demiris gave me that pin at the convent.
A: You said you were rescued from the lake by some nuns who took you to the convent?
C: That’s right.
A: Catherine, did anyone else know you were at the convent?
C: No. I don’t think so.
A: Then how could Constantin Demiris have known you were there?
C: I—I don’t know. I just know that it happened. I woke up frightened. It was as though the dream were some kind of warning. I feel something terrible is going to happen.
A: Nightmares can have that effect on us. The nightmare is one of man’s oldest enemies. The word goes back to the Middle English nitz, or “night,” and mare, or “goblin.” The old superstition is that it prefers to ride after four A.M.
C: You don’t think they have any real meaning?
A: Sometimes they do. Coleridge wrote, “Dreams are no shadows, but the very substances and calamities of my life.”