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wriggle my way free and run off.”
    â€œBut you never told the authorities?”
    â€œI never even told my parents.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œYou know what kids are like, Alex. I wasn’t meant to be playing down there, for a start. It was quite a long way from home. I was also playing truant. I was supposed to be at school. And I suppose I blamed myself. I just didn’t want to get into trouble.”
    Alex poured more ouzo. “So when your friend disappeared, you assumed it was the same man?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAnd you’ve been carrying the guilt all these years?”
    â€œI suppose so. I never really thought about it that way, but every once in a while, when I think about it, I feel…it’s like an old wound that never quite heals. I don’t know. I think it was partly why I…”
    â€œWhy you what?”
    â€œNever mind.”
    â€œWhy you became a policeman?”
    Banks looked at him in astonishment. “How did you know?”
    Alex was smiling. “I’ve met a few in my time. You get to recognize the signs.”
    â€œLike what?”
    â€œOh, watchfulness, curiosity, a certain way of walking and sitting. Little things.”
    Banks laughed. “By the sound of it, you’d make a pretty good policeman yourself, Alex.”
    â€œOh, no. I think not.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œI don’t think I could ever be quite certain that I was on the right side.”
    â€œAnd are you now?”
    â€œI try to be.”
    â€œSo do I,” said Banks.
    â€œI’m sure you are a good policeman. You must remember, though, in Greece…well, we’ve had our share of regimes. But please go on.”
    Banks tapped the folded newspaper. “They’ve found him,” he said. “Buried by the roadside about eight miles away from where he disappeared.”
    Alex whistled between his teeth.
    â€œThey don’t know the cause of death yet,” Banks went on, “but he couldn’t have got there by himself.”
    â€œSo perhaps the assumptions were right?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAnd that makes you feel bad all over again, does it?”
    â€œTerrible. What if I was responsible, Alex? What if it was the same man? If I’d spoken up…”
    â€œEven if you had reported what happened, it doesn’t mean he would have been caught. These men can be very clever, as I’m sure you have learned over the years.” Alex shook his head. “But I’m not foolish enough to believe that one can talk a man out of his guilt when he’s set on feeling it. Do you believe in fate?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œWe Greeks are great believers in fate, in destiny.”
    â€œWhat does it matter, anyway?”
    â€œBecause it exonerates you. Don’t you see? It’s like the Catholic Church absolving you of sin. If it’s fate, then you were meant to survive and not tell anyone, and your friend was destined to be abducted and killed and his body discovered many years later.”
    â€œThen I don’t believe in fate.”
    â€œWell, it was worth a try,” said Alex. “What are you going to do?”
    â€œI don’t know. There’s nothing I can do, really, is there? The local police will investigate, and they’ll either find out what happened, or they won’t. My bet is that after all these years they won’t.”
    Alex said nothing for a moment, just toyed with his ouzo glass, then he took a long sip and sighed.
    â€œWhat?” said Banks.
    â€œI have a feeling I’m going to miss you, my friend.”
    â€œWhy? I’m not going anywhere.”
    â€œYou know the Germans occupied this island during the war?”
    â€œOf course,” said Banks, surprised by Alex’s abrupt change of subject. “I’ve explored the old fortifications. You know I have. We talked about it. It wasn’t exactly The Guns of Navarone, but