Free Che Committed Suicide by Petros Márkaris

‘To what do we owe the pleasure after such a long time?’ I said, indirectly expressing my grievance that he never came to see me when I was laid up in bed.
    ‘First of all, I came to apologise for my behaviour in my office the other day.’
    I reflected that whatever I said would sound false so I decided to remain silent. Besides, that ‘first of all’ meant that there was more. So I waited.
    My silence obliged him to continue. ‘It’s not that I wanted Yanoutsos; he was forced upon me,’ he said. ‘There wasn’t a thing I could do. He has friends in high places.’
    ‘That explains how he got himself accepted into the Anti-terrorist Squad.’
    He burst in laughter. ‘The Anti-terrorist Squad were looking for a way to get rid of him and so they sent him to me.’
    I had no reason not to believe him because what he said tied in with what Sotiropoulos has told me over the telephone. Adriani came out of the kitchen holding a tray with a cup of coffee. She put it down on the table beside him, returned my thanks with a curt ‘You’re welcome’ and went out of the room.
    ‘I heard that you went by the flat where the two Kurds were murdered.’
    He looked at me and waited, this time, for a reply. I shrugged my shoulders.
    ‘If it’s in your veins …’ I answered vaguely.
    ‘I want your opinion.’
    ‘I can’t tell you very much, but it’s for sure not the work of Mafiosos like Yanoutsos says. They were knocked out using spray and then shot through the eye. Mafiosos would have riddled them with bullets and run off. This particular business has all the signs of an execution and it’s a case for the Anti-terrorist Squad.’
    ‘Yanoutsos desperately wants the case.’ He shook his head slightly and heaved a sigh. ‘I don’t like this whole business, Costas, I don’t like it at all.’
    ‘What business? With the two Kurds?’
    ‘No! Favieros’s suicide. Something doesn’t add up. Even if he’d already decided to commit suicide, he would have done it discreetly. Not in front of the cameras.’
    I saw almost with relief that his tactics hadn’t changed. He was still presenting my ideas to me as his own.
    ‘You were of a different opinion the other day in your office,’ I said to counter him.
    ‘Because I didn’t want to open up in front of Yanoutsos. I have something in mind but I don’t quite know how to organise it.’
    I kept silent again, but this time in order to hear his organisational problems.
    ‘Officially, I can’t order an investigation into the Favieros case. There’s no doubt that he committed suicide, consequently the police can’t do anything. That’s why I didn’t open my cards in front of Yanoutsos.’
    I smiled without meaning to. ‘You don’t seem to have much faith in him.’
    ‘I don’t have any faith at all,’ was the curt reply. ‘The other day when I saw you, an idea suddenly passed through my mind. Am I right in thinking you have another two months of sick leave?’
    ‘Yes, you’re right.’
    He paused for a moment and looked at me. Then he began to speak slowly, as if searching for the words. ‘What would you say to making some discreet investigations into the Favieros case? Find out what it was that drove him to suicide?’ He paused again and then added: ‘After all, it’ll pass your time for you.’
    I needed quite a bit of time to digest what it was he had just said to me. Who would have believed that Ghikas would turn out to be my saviour, the one who would free me from the boredom of convalescence and put me back into the game? I tried to conceal my delight and at the same time not to seem to be grabbing hold of the lifebelt he was throwing me because if he realised anything of the sort, he would expect me to repay him for at least the next ten years.
    ‘What can I say?’ I replied, as if feeling aggrieved that he was asking a chore of me. ‘The truth is that this sick leave came just at the right time. As you know, I’ve never taken many leaves