Free The Silver Stain by Paul Johnston Page A

Cretan women who got involved in the fighting. I don’t remember Maria ever saying more than “hello” or “goodbye” to him.’
    ‘If I might add something,’ Alice Quincy said, her cheeks reddening. ‘I did see Mr Waggoner and Maria next to each other in the queue for coffee and doughnuts on set one morning.’
    ‘Were they talking?’ Mavros asked.
    ‘I couldn’t say for sure,’ Alice answered. ‘I think they might have been.’
    Mavros smiled at her. ‘Thank you.’
    ‘Anything else?’ Jannet said, getting to his feet unsteadily.
    ‘Not at this stage,’ Mavros said.
    ‘Well, I’m off for an early one,’ the director said. ‘Tomorrow we’re doing some aerial shots so don’t hit the dirt if a Messerschmitt comes over at head height.’ He headed for the door. Alice Quincy followed him with her head bowed, making Mavros wonder exactly what her duties included.
    ‘If you wouldn’t mind, Rosie,’ Cara Parks said, holding her gaze on the producer until she too withdrew. ‘Come and sit a bit closer, Alex.’
    He did so. ‘Are they giving you a hard time?’
    She nodded. ‘And my agent and my lawyer and . . . oh, forget it. All I want is Maria back. I appreciate what you’re doing. Are there any other angles you could follow up on?’
    ‘I’d recommend that laminated posters with a recent photo of Maria are put up both in the resort and on the roads and villages in the surrounding area.’
    ‘Good idea. The technical guys can fix that. We should give a description and say when and where she was last seen, shouldn’t we? In Greek and English?’
    Mavros was impressed by the speed of her thinking. ‘Yes. I’d advise offering a reward for information leading directly to her return as well. We’ll get a lot of scam artists, but they shouldn’t be too hard to rumble. There might be one person who saw or heard something important.’
    ‘How much?’ the actress asked.
    ‘Five thousand euros?’
    ‘Make it ten.’
    ‘OK.’
    They spent five minutes constructing the text, Mavros translating it into Greek.
    ‘The photo?’ he asked.
    ‘I’ve got some in my laptop. I’ll find the best. Rosie can hand over all the material to the geeks.’
    ‘The hotel will be able to find people to put the posters up.’
    ‘Right.’ Cara Parks smiled, this time less tentatively. ‘You know your job, don’t you?’
    He raised a hand. ‘You might not like what I’m about to ask you.’
    ‘Try me.’
    ‘The night of August 9th 2000, Mulholland Drive.’ Mavros watched her face. Her eyes widened, but she held his gaze.
    ‘You have been busy.’
    ‘Wonderful thing, the Internet.’
    ‘If you can sort the truth from the lies. What do you want to know?’
    ‘Was it usual for Maria to be driving your car?’
    Cara was silent for a few moments. ‘Not exactly usual, no. It happened occasionally, still does.’
    ‘Would you care to tell me why she was driving it that particular night?’
    The actress pursed her lips. ‘Sure. If you care to tell me what it has to do with Maria going missing on Crete. You think the dead boy’s gang hired an international assassin?’
    ‘I don’t know enough about the Letter-Men.’
    ‘Believe me, they were assholes. Most of them were wiped out in a gun battle with a Mexican outfit last year.’
    Mavros poured himself a glass of wine from the bottle in a silver stand.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ Cara said, ‘I should have offered.’
    ‘I’m sorry, I should have asked.’
    She laughed. ‘I like your style, mister.’ Her expression grew serious again. ‘OK, here’s what happened. Confidentially.’ He nodded. ‘I was going to see this guy up on the Drive – a producer I’d got entangled with. Thing was, there was another man I was seeing, an actor. He used to get real jealous, would drive past my house and check if my car was at the front.’
    ‘I thought you people lived on estates with high walls.’
    She smiled. ‘High railings and thorny plants in my case. You