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She stood there for a moment as if she was expecting a punchline or an insult, but he was finished with her. “And a bit of milk and honey for the cat?”
“He doesn’t drink milk. He does like a bit of apple.”
“Then a piece of the apple tart I saw earlier. He and I can share it.”
He could tell that she was confused by this turn of events, and that was fine with him. He preferred that people not know who he was. It was simpler to get on in the world that way. Simon took him for a thug because that’s what Kosta wanted him to think. It made it easier to lie to Simon. What Kosta was bringing in from Egypt was not ninth dynasty trash, but some very fine pre-Islamic artifacts obtained from the Taliban, who were not averse to taking money for the things they were supposed to be destroying. They were as corrupt as their secular counterparts; you just had to make sure that you didn’t point that out to them.
Kosta kept a close watch on the political and social developments in the Middle East. There were opportunities to be had out there if you were in the right place at the right time, with the right amount of money. And Simon was good for providing the right amount of money. As long as he got what he felt was a fair return on his money, Simon didn’t ask a lot of questions, and that’s why Kosta liked working with him. Simon was a smart guy, but he didn’t give a lot of thought to the things Kosta thought of as important. And that was fine with Kosta.
One of the things Kosta was thinking about, quite seriously, was his relationship with Simon. It seemed to him that it was tenuous at best, and he had been wondering if it wasn’t time to change that, to improve it with a little legal cement. With Simon, there was no way in, but with Simon’s sister, Athena, who was in school in London, it was another thing entirely. He’d already done his homework and knew that Athena might be easy to woo. She was nineteen and on her own for the first time in her life, having transferred to the London School of Economics from the Athens University of Economics and Business.
He was keeping his eye on Athena. She wasn’t a sure thing, but she might well respond to a little charm.
The waitress brought his coffee and the slice of apple tart. He cut a bit off and put it on a napkin for the cat. “What’s his name?” he asked her.
“Nikos.”
“Here, Nikos, some apple for you.” He set it on the chair and laughed as the cat turned his head away. “Isn’t that like a cat?”
The honeyed coffee made him happy. It reminded him of home. While he sipped it, Nikos jumped onto the table and began to lick Kosta’s share of the tart, making him laugh again. “You perverse little man,” he said, and scratched the cat behind the ears. Nikos closed his eyes again, but kept on licking. Kosta ate the bit of tart on the napkin instead.
To cultivate Athena he’d have to change his look; she wouldn’t be wooed by some knuckle-dragging criminal. No, he’d have to be the worldly man of her dreams; well-dressed, well-educated (He probably had a better education than Simon did, having degrees in art and antiquities that ensured he knew exactly what he was buying. He never let on, though. When people took him for an ignorant thug, they gave him the advantage.) well-to-do, and attentive.
When the waitress brought his check, he gave her a large tip and said, “Sorry about before.” He didn’t explain, just apologized. “It won’t happen again.”
“Thank you,” she said, though he wasn’t clear about whether she was thanking him for the tip or the assurance.
He gave Nikos one last pat and strolled out into the sunlight. It was nearly time to catch his ferry to Alexandria. From there he’d travel to Cairo where he’d meet his contact and make the final arrangements.
Kosta whistled a tune as he strolled down to the docks.
Simon arrived home to find the house in an uproar. “What’s going on?” he asked his father who was looking more harried than usual.
“Your mother remembered that the wedding was only a week away and she has literally nothing to wear. And I quote her.”
“She has a closet the size of Naxos.”
“Well apparently all the clothing in it has disappeared. She has, and again I quote, literally nothing to wear.”
“Just stop it now. You know what I meant. I have literally nothing I can wear to a wedding.”
“So she’s flying to Paris. I ask you,” Simon’s father said with a roll of his eyes.
Simon patted his shoulder. “Why don’t you go along with her? In fact, I’ll come too, and we can have Athena meet us there. She is coming to the wedding, yes?” The wedding in question was that of a distant cousin, but was no less important than if it had been a closer relation. His family was like that.
“What on earth would I do there?”
“Get a new suit,” Simon’s mother asked sweetly. Helena Katsaros, still stunningly beautiful at fifty-two, provoked her husband to a lot of eye-rolling and sarcasm, but she always got her way.
“I suppose I could stand to get a new one.” Nick Katsaros had aged well too, but looked more his age with a thick head of steel gray hair, and a beard flecked with white that made him look like an elder statesman. He could have been if he’d been so inclined. His influence and power were enormous, but he’d avoided political office, believing that politics and business were better left separate. And his business, building airplane parts, among other things, was the thing dearest to his heart after his family.
“We can make a holiday out of it. Eat at that restaurant you like so much,” Simon told his father. That was always a draw for Nick.
“All right, arrange the flight, Simon. We’ll leave in the morning.”
Though Simon had only just returned home, he didn’t mind the thought of flying out the next day. He liked to travel, and he loved Paris. He’d had some fine times there, though that wasn’t something he’d have said to his parents. They knew he was a bit of a wild child, but not the details of his naughtiness. He didn’t think he could ever face his mother if she’d known, for example, what he’d gotten up to with Gretchen before he put her ashore at Piraeus with a kiss, and a pair of sapphire earrings that Marissa had forgotten in the nightstand when she left him.
He phoned Nina, his parents’ assistant, and gave her the itinerary. “Not before ten though,” he begged her. “I’d like to sleep in tonight.”
