An Aegean Prophecy Read Online Free

is,’ said Andreas. He wished Lila could be here.
    ‘Thank you. Please, sit down.’ Dimitri pointed to a large table by the open railing at the edge of the balcony. ‘I’ll bring your coffees. I know you are in a hurry to see the abbot.’
    Before Andreas could speak, Dimitri added with another smile, ‘Only a hunch, but I saw you leave for Skala. Nowyou’re back in Chora, and five minutes ago you walked past my place headed in the direction of the entrance.’ He pointed toward the monastery. ‘Now you’re back again and only want coffee. I assume you’re waiting to go inside, but since the monastery is about to close to tourists for today, my guess is you’ve come back to meet someone inside. And the only one in the monastery who would dare talk to the police about what happened to Vassilis is Abbot Christodoulos.’ He walked away from the table.
    Kouros stared at Andreas. ‘Maybe we should just post our schedule on the front door of the town hall.’
    ‘Doesn’t look like we have to.’
    ‘How did he really know?’
    ‘One of the cops might have told him. Everybody gossips. It’s our national pastime. And on islands and in small villages …’ Andreas rolled his left hand out into the air. ‘Or, he might have figured it out exactly as he said.’
    ‘Maybe he knew the monk?’
    ‘I’m sure he did,’ nodded Andreas.
    ‘Bet it wouldn’t take much to get him talking.’
    Andreas smiled. ‘Probably no more than, “Would you like to join us?”’
    ‘So, what do you think the monk was doing running around outside the monastery at that hour?’
    ‘No idea, but I’m pretty sure he was coming from, not returning to, the monastery. His body was found in the square by the entrance to the lane we took coming here. If he’d been walking through the square he’d have seen whoever was waiting for him. And even an old monk would have put up a struggle for his life. That would have leftmarks on his body. Besides, if he were returning to the monastery, whoever killed him would have waited up the lane where there were places to hide, and the body would have been found there.’
    ‘My bet is he was meeting someone.’
    Andreas nodded. ‘And I’d bet the answer to all this somehow ties into that meeting.’ He drummed his fingers on the table. ‘Was he giving or receiving? Telling or listening?’ He shook his head. ‘No idea.’
    ‘Here’s your coffee.’ Dimitri put two cups, a coffee pot, sugar, and milk on the table. A boy behind him set down plates of cakes and cookies. ‘Compliments of the house.’
    Andreas looked at Kouros. Kouros winked.
    ‘So, Dimitri,’ said Andreas. ‘Would you like to join us?’
    Dimitri launched into a running monologue on ‘all things monastery,’ supposedly to show ‘what to expect from the abbot.’ Andreas doubted Dimitri’s views were shared by everyone; certainly not by the monks, but he was entertaining and obviously knew far more than any outsider about what went on inside the monastery. Dimitri had grown up within the literal shadow of its walls, had family who rose to prominence in the monastery’s hierarchy, operated his business for years within steps of its main - and he claimed only - entrance, and fought almost daily with monks and the abbot over what he considered their unfair interference with his business.
    Dimitri was quick to say that the murdered monk was one of the few not ‘written on my balls,’ a place far worse than any shit list. He agreed with the sergeant: everyoneliked Vassilis, including himself, and he had no idea who might have killed him.
    He talked about the history of the monastery only when he felt it necessary to put in context his views on what was currently going on ‘inside.’ ‘If you want history, buy a guide book,’ were Dimitri’s exact words. He said he confined his history lessons to tourists who didn’t realize that the Greek Orthodox Church was only a very small part, population-wise, of the three hundred