Chapter Twelve

When they walked up the short path to the front door of Kostas’s small house, which sat high on the mountainside beneath the village of Skalos, Até began straining on her leash. It was as if the dog knew she was coming home. Nik rapped the door knocker. Excited, high-pitched cries came from inside the house, and then the door was slowly pulled open. Theo peeped around it, his big brown eyes dancing with expectation, with Kostas standing behind him. Até let out a bark.

“Chairete!” As Theo hugged his dog, Nik and Kostas embraced, and then Kostas shook Frankie’s hand.

They made their way to the back of the house, where there was a veranda. Kostas’s mother served coffee and honey-and-nut pastries as they settled themselves down at a long, wooden table covered with a cloth. Theo took Até into the small, sheltered garden beyond set into the mountainside, now almost beside himself with joy that his new pet was finally with him; her arrival had been delayed by almost three weeks because he had been ill with tonsillitis.

Kostas squeezed Frankie’s hand. “Thank you for making my son very happy,” he said in halting English.

Frankie squeezed back. “You are most welcome,” she replied. “When will you be taking Até on the fire truck?”

Nik translated for her, and Kostas’s face lit up with a big smile. “Mama,” he called out, and after a minute or two, his mother, Crysanthe, appeared, with what looked like a knitted tube. The older lady held it up and rotated it, and Frankie realized it was a little hand-made dog jacket, with buttons on the underside and an appliqued motif of the Hellenic Fire Service on the back.

Kostas said something in Greek. “His mother knitted it for Até to wear in the winter. It can get cold in the truck when we are up here on the mountain,” Nik explained.

Frankie started laughing. “It’s so cute!” She looked inquiringly at Kostas and his mum. “So it’s okay for us to take Theo and Até to the beach for the rest of the afternoon? Theo is feeling better?”

Nik nodded. “Yes. We’ll go to Trapazakia as planned.”

After finishing their coffee and cakes, as they rose to leave, Kostas gestured to Nik that he wanted to speak in private. The men headed into the house, leaving Frankie to round up Theo and the dog. When they emerged again, she noticed Nik looking very serious.

“Is everything okay?” she asked once they were installed in the four-wheel drive and on their way, Theo strapped into a rear seat and singing softly to himself, and Até tethered quietly in the luggage area. Nik hadn’t spoken since they’d left Kostas’s house.

A muscle flexed in his jaw as he kept his eyes on the road. “I’ve had some news. But not in front of Theo. I will tell you when we get to the beach.”

“Okay,” Frankie agreed, wondering what could have changed his mood so dramatically.

They drove to a cove just along from Trapazakia’s rocky harbor, where pine trees bordered white sand and small waves broke onto the shore. Even though it was almost the end of July, there were hardly any people about. Once they’d been unstrapped, Theo and Até bundled out of the car and rushed down onto the beach to play.

“It’s beautiful here,” Frankie commented, standing at the top of the wooden steps that led to the beach, pushing strands of hair that had been whipped up by the sea breeze away from her face. She turned around to Nik who was standing behind her. “So quiet and peaceful.”

“Trapazakia is a well-kept secret. Not many vacationers know about it, even though it is so near to Agia Kalamaros.”

Glad that she’d got him back and talking again, she dived in to keep the conversation going. “I read in a guide book that the village has a festival every year around Christmas?”

“Yes, on January the sixth, which is when we Greeks celebrate Christmas in the Orthodox church. The festival of St. Nikolaus takes place at the harbor. He is the patron of fishermen and sailors. It is quite a spectacle and a big celebration. All the crafts in the harbor are decorated with blue and white lights, and a priest blesses them, asking St. Nikolaus to watch over each one. The church’s bell is rung and a cross is thrown into the sea, along with icons and flowers. I used to come every year with my parents and brothers…” He trailed off and looked at her with haunted eyes.

“Are you thinking of Marco?” she suggested gently after a minute or so.

“Yes. You said Alison told you what happened?”

She nodded.

He leaned forward and put his hands on her shoulders. “Come with me to walk along the beach. We can talk some more.”

Once they were on the sand, she stopped and stepped away from him to take off her newly purchased sandals, and then held them up by their straps. “Flip-flops would have been better, but now I’m ready to walk,” she pronounced wryly. But her attempt at a self-deprecating joke failed to raise a smile. His expression grave, he took her hand and they set off along the shore.

The sand felt warm and soft beneath her toes. They walked for some way, Theo and Até running in front of them. “Shall we sit here?” Nik suggested, pointing to some flat rocks worn smooth by endless tides. He called out in Greek to Theo, who settled himself with the dog nearby.

Frankie sank down beside Nik, allowing him to pull her to him before wrapping an arm around her. It felt warm, close, and natural. She leaned into him some more, and his grasp around her shoulders tightened. It made her realize how much she’d missed having a strong man by her side. “You said you had some news?” she probed softly.

He looked over to where Theo and Até were digging a hole, checking, she guessed, that the boy was out of earshot. A slight feeling of apprehension landed on her chest. What was it that Kostas had said to him?

“As you know, I was supposed to return to Paragolis tomorrow.” His gaze went to the sea. “But I will be staying in Agia Kalamaros for the next few days now.” He sighed heavily. “Kostas has told me that bones have been found up on the mountain. It is thought they are human…the bones of a child.”

Frankie immediately grasped what he was saying. She swallowed her shock. “You think it’s Marco? Oh, Nik.”

His hand went up to her hair, and he began stroking it as if he needed to touch something. “It is possible. The police are to begin a further excavation at the site of the discovery tomorrow. They have asked for the fire brigade’s help. I will be joining the dig.”

She hesitated. “Do you think you should? Won’t…won’t it be terribly distressing if…”

His fingers stilled. “I need to be there,” he gritted. “If it is Marco, I must be there.” His hand fell away from her.

“I see. Is there anything I can do to help?”

He looked down at the sand. “No, it is okay, pet hi mou. So long as I am there for him.” His head came up again. “It was my fault that Marco was taken,” he said suddenly in a monotone.

She wrinkled her brow. “What do you mean? How could it have been your fault?”

“I was supposed to be watching him when he disappeared at the festival. Our parents had left him with me while they went with Dimitri and Sergei to get us all something to eat. But I was more interested in flirting with a girl. When I turned around, he had gone.”

Frankie leaned her head against his shoulder and tried to wrap her arms around him. His body was rigid. “Nik…you can’t blame yourself. How old were you when it happened? Fourteen? Little more than a child yourself.”

“My parents had entrusted him to my care, and I failed to look after him.” His voice cracked with emotion. “Because I was more interested in myself. I have lived with it ever since.”

Frankie didn’t know what to say. She rubbed his back and they sat without speaking, the silence broken only by the sounds of waves breaking and Theo chattering to Até.

After a while, Nik roused himself, looked at his watch, and spoke. “We had better take Theo and Até home now.”

“All right.” Frankie took her arm away from him and pushed herself off the rock. “I’ll go and get them.” She walked over to where the boy and the dog were still burrowing in the sand. When she’d got them going, she caught sight of Nik standing and staring sightlessly out to sea. She’d had no idea he was carrying such a burden of guilt.

“There is enough food here to feed an army,” Ali commented as she finished wrapping the last of the cold meat and cheese. “Have we got those bottles of water?”

“Yup.” Frankie heaved up the giant cooler box. “We’d better start loading up.” They had volunteered to take food and drink up to the team digging on the mountain today.

Ali came across with her carrier and grabbed one side of the cooler box handle. “Here, let me help you carry that. It’s heavy.”

“Bye, Gladys,” she called out to the older lady who stood in the doorway of the shelter as they walked across the yard to the Land Rover.

They trundled up the winding road to the site of the dig. It was boiling hot, and Frankie could feel perspiration running down her spine. They pulled up in a lay-by at the side of the road. Beneath them, an area had been sealed off with tape and a tent had been erected on a rocky slope between scrubby bushes and trees. A policeman stood guarding the area. The team had been excavating the area for two days now. A shiver of apprehension ran through her. Could the remains of that poor little child really be down there?

She caught sight of Kostas and waved to him to come up. The man signaled he’d seen her, and he and another fireman came scrambling along the hillside. Giving their thanks, they took the cooler and the food and made their way back down.

“I wish I could go with them, do something,” Frankie said, chewing her lip. “I feel so useless.”

Ali shook her head. “They won’t let you near, love. We need to let them get on with it.” She patted Frankie’s shoulder.

“Yes, I suppose so.”

Ali gave her a shrewd look. “Maybe Nik will need you later.”

“Maybe.” Frankie exhaled her frustration and surveyed the scene below them again. A familiar figure emerged from the tent: Nik. He stopped, whipped his sweat-drenched T-shirt over his head, wiped his face with it, and accepted a bottle from Kostas. He opened the water and gulped it down. Even from this distance, she could see the muscles in his naked, glistening torso rippling as he moved. She longed to run down and comfort him.

That evening, she texted him to ask how he was and how things were going, but got no reply. The following day passed without news. After dinner, she went over to the shelter to shut it up for the night, trying to ignore the sinking feeling she had inside. Once the animals were dealt with and bedded down, she decided she could do with some air, so after locking the shelter door, she headed off across the yard and around the side of the house to the where Ali’s small sheltered patio area lay. As she sat under there, the August twilight peeping through the creepers and vines climbing around her, one of the cats emerged from the vegetable garden and leapt onto her lap. Stroking Nyx’s tabby fur, she allowed herself to think properly about Nik. Was she getting in too deep with him? It had been little more than a fortnight since they had hooked up, and here she was, already feeling involved, wanting to be close to him while he was suffering, just wanting him too much. That wasn’t what she’d signed up for, was it? What had happened to her notions of a business arrangement and staying detached? She ought to put the brakes on and keep a hold of what she still had of her heart.

Her phone rang. She reached for it and looked at the screen. She hesitated for a couple more rings, and then answered. “Hi, Nik. Everything okay?”

“Can you come over, pet hi mou? I need you.”

I need you. The words tugged right at her soul. There was a pause while she wrestled with herself. “All right. Give me half an hour.” She ended the call, knowing there was no turning back; she had taken another step further into the deep.

Forty minutes later, she was showered, changed, and standing at the gates to his house; there’d been no time to do her hair or makeup. She pressed the intercom. He greeted her at the door wearing a towelling robe, his hair clumped and clearly damp from a shower too. He looked unshaven and exhausted.

“Hey,” she whispered, then stepped forward and hugged him.

His arms crept around her as he buried his face in her hair. When they finally let go of one another, he said, “Thank you for coming. I didn’t want to be alone tonight.”

She lifted her head. “Is…is it bad news?”

He grimaced. “If you mean, have we found Marco’s remains, then no, I do not think so. We uncovered a skull, but it looks too big to be his. He was only two when he disappeared. The forensic expert thinks the skull and bones belonged to a child of about seven or eight, but tests will prove that for sure. We just have to wait to hear.”

She digested this gruesome summary. “So that’s good, isn’t it? It means…that Marco could still be alive.”

His smile was bitter. “You can look at it that way. Or presume he is somewhere else dead, and we might never know what happened to him, go on wondering and waiting.”

“I’m—mmm…” She started to apologize for her tactless optimism, but he silenced her with his mouth, pulling her into the house and pressing her up against the wall. She felt his fingers go to the buttons that ran up the front of the bodice of her dress, deftly undoing them, before pushing the material apart to expose her braless breasts. He pulled his mouth away from hers and trailed his fingertips over her erect nipples, making her take a sharp intake of breath. His eyes flicked up to hers, and he held her mesmerized while he left her breasts to lift up her skirt and slide his hand inside her panties, seeking her core and stroking it. She groaned and parted her legs further, longing for him to enter her with his fingers. But he just kept stroking her rhythmically, making her slick with moisture, holding her gaze with a fierce intensity.

Driven nearly crazy with need, she pushed him and his hand from her.

He took her cue and stepped back while she freed herself from her dress and underwear, then stood naked in front of him. He responded by unwrapping the tie of his robe and shrugging the garment off, then stepping forward again. She reached greedily for his erection, but he brushed her away, instead capturing her hips. “Ride me,” he whispered, slamming her back against the wall, then deftly lifted her onto him, wrapping her legs around him, and thrust into her. Her climax was swift, pumping him until he shuddered his release too, and they collapsed against one another, panting. She brushed her lips against his chest. In too deep. The words echoed in her head, taunting her, but she knew she couldn’t climb out again now, even if she was able to… It felt like she was falling in love.