Dig Two Graves: Revenge or Honor (27 page)

Alessandro laughed, “Yes, you know I can get it. It’ll take a couple days.”

“Thank you. You’re a dear, Uncle Alessandro,” Gia said, her smile carrying over the phone.

“Something has been bothering me. May I ask one last question?” Gia asked.

“Certainly.”

“Did you tell anyone we talked about Solaris or about AJ and Mr. Savas?”

This time the silence was at Alessandro’s end of the line.

“What are you saying, Gia?”

“I’m not saying anything. I’m just asking. Mr. Savas’ attack, the van that tried to run AJ down, and the attempt on their lives in Greece are all too coincidental. Someone is tracking them in some way,” Gia said.

Alessandro was quiet for a few moments. Gia could hear him thinking, afraid to admit the suggestion could be true. Finally, when the conclusion was inescapable he said, “The commander of the Milan Polizia Provinciale, Commander Michael Verde. He’s the one that got the tip your friends were in the country. I called him to let him know GdF would follow up and your friends were not a threat. I even told him what hotel and when they would be there,” Alessandro said. “I’m sorry, Gia. I’ve known this man a long time.”

“Don’t draw any conclusions yet, but don’t share anything more about this case either, please,” Gia said. “Oh, and do you think you can get Michael Verde’s bank and maybe his phone records, too?”

Gia wrapped up her conversation with Alessandro and finished her glass of wine. She stood up and realized she had been at the computer for more than three hours. She stretched and picking up her empty plate and glass then padded, barefoot, to the kitchen. She poured herself another glass of wine and, taking a sip, looked in on AJ.

Dead ends… dead ends,
Gia thought to herself as she looked blankly at the apparently useless link chart.
Dead ends… how had they died
, she thought. Ceres list!, she said whispered to herself.
Of course
, she thought.

Gia had done a quick search in the American Social Security Death Index on AJ’s list of names. It confirmed all of the men were dead, but she hadn’t noted the details, like date and place of death, so she retraced her steps. With the date and place of death for each man, she did another search, this time looking for hometown newspaper accounts of how they had died. The results were startling.

Each of John Pantheras’ Greek commandos had been killed, some murdered, in separate cites, only a few months apart. Gia put the information on each man’s demise in her database then, looking at her notes saw a pattern, each of the men were killed about eight to ten months apart. The means of death were different, killed in apparent robbery, traffic accident, drowning, and hit and run. The deaths were separated by too much time and distance and had no commonality for the American authorities to have tied them together.

She sat back to digest this new information. Intriguing, but what does it mean? Is it connected to the current situation? She reached for her TO DO list and added:

What would Lt Pantheras’ men have in common she said softly? Common knowledge Shared experiences

They must have had or known something someone wants
, Gia thought. It was getting late, but she had one more task to complete, the code. She began a detailed Internet search on codes and ciphers. With each new website, she read and took careful notes. Ceres had said the mathematics professor thought it might be a substitution code so she did an Internet search to learn what that meant. After just a few minutes, she had more questions than answers. First, cryptographers used the term cipher rather than code. There were many types of ciphers: substitution, one time pad, transposition … the list seemed to go on and on. A substitution cipher, she learned, is one where every letter in the message is replaced with a drawing, number, symbol, or another letter. Substitutions are based on a single letter, and are called simple substitution ciphers or on larger groups of letters, called polygraphic ciphers.

A monoalphabetic cipher uses a fixed substitution over the entire message, but a polyalphabetic cipher uses a number of substitutions at different positions in the message. Gia’s head was swimming but she had tackled big jobs, or as she thought of them, large data sets, before. Take your time, Gia, she thought.

There were many well-known codes throughout history, even ones in fiction like the Sherlock Holmes stories The Adventure of the Dancing Men and The Adventure of the Gloria Scott, or the Edgar Allen Poe story The Gold Bug. The trick was to know what kind of cipher it was and determine its key.

Gia’s eyes burned and her head throbbed. She needed to call it a night. She closed her computer programs and shut down the computer. She walked to her bedroom. She stripped naked and crawled in to bed without even covering herself. She turned off the bedside light and was out like her lamp.

Morning’s first blush had long disappeared when AJ pried sleep’s sticky crust from his eyes. The clear morning reflecting off the pastel walls brought the room to life. He gingerly stretched his head from side to side, his neck stiff, but not as bad as when he slept on his own couch. Why was he on the couch? Then he moved his arm. His side exploded in searing pain and reminded him what had happened the previous morning. He was just able to suppress his scream.
I didn’t take my pain killers last night
, he thought.
Last night. Where is Gia?

AJ rose slowly and when his feet were solidly under him he took a couple tentative steps toward the kitchen.
What happened last night
, he thought.
I conked out.
His stomach growled and he realized he had passed out before they had eaten dinner. Gia, he thought. She cooked something for me. I bet she’s pissed. He walked toward Gia’s office and found it empty.

The next door was open and he peered in. There, reclined like a goddess, he saw her. Her face on the pillow framed by long dark hair and turned slightly on her side, she was an angel in the soft morning light. The elegant curves of her body fascinated him. Her dewy scent filled the room. When she stirred slightly, he drew back then moved again to look at her.

The curves and lines of her slim body seemed to disappear when she moved again, revealing her full breasts. AJ took a deep breath, winced from the effort and backed out of the room. With his mind a fire of conflicting thoughts, he went back to the couch to wait for his hostess to awaken.

A shaken AJ sat in the sunny living room wondering what he should do. He’d seen Gia, naked in bed and done nothing but quietly back away.
That’s not like me
, he thought, trying to remember the last time, if ever, he had let such an opportunity pass.

A sound caught his attention and he turned around to see Gia emerge from her bedroom wearing a dressing gown.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Gia said, pulling her robe tightly about her. “How are you feeling? Hungry, I bet.”

“Good morning,” AJ said, wondering if he should tell Gia what he’d done. “I feel remarkably better. I guess I needed the sleep.”

AJ pulled at the elastic bandage tightly wrapped around his cracked ribs. The compression made moving nearly bearable, but the material irritated the bare skin.

“I’m very sorry about dinner,” he said. "I just passed out. Too much excitement for one day, I guess.”

“Yeah, getting run over and saving someone’s life is a pretty hectic day,” Gia said with a smile. “You want some breakfast?”

“Just coffee, if it’s not too much trouble. I would love to take a hot shower though,” AJ replied.

“The shower’s through my room. Go ahead and get started while I brew the coffee. Nothing to eat? You slept through my fabulous dinner last night?” Gia said.

“I am so sorry…”

“Don’t give it another thought. I was kidding. I was going to wake you, but you were sleeping so soundly, I didn’t have the heart. Get your shower and I’ll fill you in on the latest developments and some things I learned last night.”

“Great. Thanks,” AJ said as he headed into Gia’s bedroom.

Thirty minutes later, his hair still damp, and feeling renewed, AJ sat down at the breakfast bar for coffee with Gia.

“I feel much better,” he said running a towel through his hair one last time. So what are the new developments?” AJ asked as he took his first sip of coffee.

“The local police fingerprinted the van.”

“Let me guess… The cops found prints from one of the guys we know are after us.”

“Right, Petru,” Gia replied, “the contract killer.”

AJ sighed. “What have we done to get these guys on our trail?” AJ said.

“There’s more…”

“Let it wait. You can tell Ceres and me at the same time. I would really like to get to the hospital. This is Ceres’ project. He should know things first,” AJ said.

“Well, we better get going,” Gia said. “Do you want to go by the hotel to get some fresh clothes?”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

“I’ll get dressed and we can be on our way,” Gia said, putting down her coffee cup.

Fifty minutes later, AJ, wearing a clean shirt and pressed tan slacks, and Gia, in a sunny yellow dress, walked into Ceres’ hospital room.

“Good morning! How’s the patient today?” AJ said, trying to be cheerful as he walked over to the bed and took Ceres’ hand.

“I feel better this morning. I got a lot of sleep and I’m not on as many drugs. You look tired. How are you?” Ceres said. His voice was stronger than the day before.

“He’s a shadow of his former self, but I’m trying to take care of him,” Gia said as she approached the hospital bed and leaned over to kiss Ceres’ cheek. “Good morning, Ceres. You look better, more color in your cheeks.

“I should hope so after receiving a kiss from a beautiful woman,” Ceres joked.

AJ sat heavily in the chair beside Ceres’ bed and let out a pained grunt.

“Really, how are you Ajax?” Ceres said.

“I’ll be all right. It’s going to take a while before I have any real improvement,” AJ said. “Ribs take a while, or so the doctor tells me.”

“Perhaps you should go home to Miami to recuperate.”

“What, and leave this all to you, you being in such better shape than I am? No, thanks. We started this together, and together we’ll finish it, wounds and all,” AJ said defiantly.

Gia laughed and shook her head. “You two are a real pair,” she said. “One of you is confined to a hospital bed and the other can barely move.”

“And what have you contributed young lady, to be able to criticize our efforts?” Ceres said.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“Actually, she has contributed quite a bit,” AJ said, surprising both Gia and Ceres.

“Tell him what you learned over night,” AJ said. “I’m anxious to hear it, too.”

“Yes, tell me. Sit down and don’t pay attention to a crotchety old man. What did you learn?”

“First, my Uncle Alessandro called me last night. He said the local police recovered the van that nearly hit us…”

“Not nearly … it hit ME,” AJ interrupted.

“Be quiet. Let the girl speak,” Ceres said in mock annoyance. “Continue please.”

Gia never cared for being called ‘the girl’ but somehow when it came from Ceres, it wasn’t offensive.

“Yes, that hit AJ. They developed several prints and identified Anton Petru as the van’s driver,” Gia continued.

“Isn’t he the hired assassin who attacked me and was at the hotel in Athens?”

“Exactly,” Gia replied. “There’s more … I decided to look more closely at the men who were in Greece with AJ’s grandfather,” Gia said.

“They have all died,” Ceres said. “We knew that.”

“My first look only confirmed they had died. When I looked more closely I found all of them suffered violent deaths and were killed only a few months apart, in separate cities,” Gia said.

She stayed quiet to let Ceres process the meaning of this information.

“A pretty big coincidence, don’t you think?” Ceres said.

“If being a defense attorney has taught me anything, it’s that there’s no such thing as coincidence. But all those deaths in different cities being connected, I don’t know. You think…”

Ceres turned to AJ and said, “It’s no coincidence at all. It’s Solaris. It has to be. He’s the only one left who knew ...” Ceres’ voice trailed off as he realized the helplessness of his situation.

“I think you’re right. There’s no other answer. Your father, grandfather, and those other men all had or knew something someone’s willing to kill to get. They haven’t found whatever it is yet, so the killings continue. They must think you two have it now,” Gia said.

“What could it be?” AJ said, trying to decide if he should trust Gia with the information.

“That’s what we have to find out. AJ, I’ve been going over what you have told me and it seems like there’s more to your story. Is there something you haven’t told me?”

“She’s pretty smart. I think she can help us. You should tell her the rest,” AJ said.

“You haven’t told her?” Ceres said.

“No, sir, I’m just along for the ride. It’s your project, so it’s your call.”

“I have a little more information for you,” Gia said. “I don’t know what it means yet, but I think it’s important.

“Go on,” Ceres said.

“We sent the 1940s era photos of Solaris and his known passport picture to the Justice Center for them to use photo aging software. The results are conclusive,” Gia said. “Nikko Solaris was executed in Greece after the war.”

“Who is the man calling himself Solaris today?” Ceres asked.

Gia looked at AJ then back at Ceres and said, “I don’t know.”

“Then the hired killers will eventually find me and that’s the end of it. He’ll get away with whatever it was he did.” Ceres leaned back in the bed and closed his eyes. “I’ve waited too long. I’ve not tried hard enough. He’s won.”

“So you’re giving up,” AJ said “just like that? Another thing I’ve learned is when you’re at the point of giving up, that’s when you learn the most. Desperation makes you do some crazy things, but they usually work.”

“But what can we do?”

“We can tell Gia the whole story and work on it together, that’s what we can do. There has to be an answer.”

“I have a couple things still in process and I have a couple questions for you,” Gia said. “The photo identification didn’t work out but we have other things we can pursue.”

“Do you have any idea why all these men were killed,” AJ asked.”

“They were killed for something someone thought they had,” Gia replied. “It’s the only logical answer.”

“What?” Ceres said.

“Each of these men were tracked down one by one and killed. It would take time to find so many people. My guess is each man was tracked down and murdered when he didn’t have what the killer wanted.

“But what could it be?” Ceres said.

“What have you protected so carefully all these years?” AJ said, as he glanced at Ceres’ leather folio on the floor next to the bed.

“It can’t be. What could be so valuable? I’ve read that notebook cover to cover until the paper has worn thin,” Ceres said.

“You’ve read everything,” AJ said, “Everything except …”

“The code,” Ceres said. “My God, the code.”

“There’s no other answer,” AJ said.

“They must think you have it,” Gia said.

“And I do,” Ceres said suddenly very tired. “Or I did. Ajax?”

“I put it in the safe last night,” AJ said. “And I got it out again this morning. Here,” AJ handed the notebook back to Ceres.

“All those men killed for something I’ve had all along and don’t understand,” Ceres said

“I also dug up some information about codes. It’s a long story, but the gist of it is we need to find an expert to crack the message.

Without knowing what kind of code it is or having a hint about the key, we don’t have a prayer of deciphering it,” Gia said. “We’ll need to bring in an expert. There’s too much at stake.”

“But where can we find a code expert we can trust?” AJ said.

“I still have friends at EUROPOL, or I can ask my uncle, but I didn’t want to do that until I asked you two first,” the PI said, anticipating AJ’s reaction.

“EUROPOL…” AJ grimaced. “I don’t think we want the government involved in this, not yet anyway,” AJ said, shuddering inside.

“I understand, but at some point, you’re going to have to tell someone. My uncle may have someone who could help but...”

“He’s with a government agency, too,” AJ interrupted with resignation. He sat quietly for a moment then, turning to Ceres, said, “That leads us back to telling her the full story. I think it’s time.”

Ceres closed his eyes and took a deep breath as if unlocking the secrets in his heart. “My dear, I have quite a story to tell you,” Ceres said.

Ceres filled Gia in on his experiences in wartime Greece, meeting AJ’s grandfather, John Pantheras, and his escape to Italy in 1944. He explained how AJ’s father, Andreas, had located him in Boston through his own research into John Pantheras. Andreas’ death had lead Ceres to seek out Ajax Pantheras for help. 

When Ceres had finished Gia asked, “So this is about the missing gold and gems?”

“We think so, but that’s what we have to find out,” AJ said.

“Do you have any of your research with you, Ceres?” Gia asked. “I would like to go over what you looked at. Maybe I can see another side to it.”

“Certainly. I don’t have all of it with me, of course, but there are some folders of printouts there, in the folio,” Ceres said, pointing to his battered leather bag.

Gia picked it up and began to rifle through stacks of file folders. “There’s so much here,” Gia said. “What did you leave at home?”

Ceres and AJ laughed.

“Did you find anything about where the looted treasure could have been hidden?”

“Oh, yes, there’s a whole folder on that. It’s a red one, I think,” Ceres said.

While Gia looked at the printouts and notes, AJ and Ceres discussed the pros and cons of getting a government agency involved in their search.

“I don’t want some bureaucrat deciding what they will tell us about our search,” Ceres said.

“But we need help to decipher the code Ceres. You’ve had it all these years and haven’t had any success.”

“I don’t want to hand this over to some government agency. Too many people have died for it to be ruined now,” Ceres said.

“But if we never figure it out?” AJ protested.

“Guys, guys hold on a minute. Ceres, what’s this information about the freighter Agamemnon?” Gia said, cutting into the argument.

“The Agamemnon was a ship that left Thessaloniki just before the German evacuation. It's rumored to have carried at least part of the treasure on it. She sank, I think a British submarine got her or maybe it was a mine, I don’t recall.”

“How did you find out about that?” AJ said.

“I found a post war interview with some German soldiers who said they loaded crates onto the Agamemnon in the middle of the night, right before she sailed. I thought Solaris was involved but the records I found showed he was confined to a hospital when the ship sailed,” Ceres explained.

“They could have faked the records,” AJ said.

“Or it could have been that mysterious Greek officer you mentioned. You know, the one who was on the train when John disappeared,” Gia said. “Have you found any record of his name?”