Free Blood Money by Julian Page

scare me…but in my mind it seems most probable that it was a kidnap attempt. And fortunately for me, they didn’t succeed.”
    â€œOk, but kidnappers usually target an individual from a rich family, the point being that there are family members left behind to pay the ransom. If the kidnap were to have been successful, can I ask if your family would have had the means to pay such a ransom?”
    â€œMy family does have the means I can assure you, but I doubt that my father would waste family money on my behalf. Perhaps the kidnappers don’t appreciate that we are no longer particularly ‘close’. Why do you ask?”
    â€œMr Vasilakos, bear with me please. I’ll get to the point. The more we can find out about your attackers motives, movements and plans the closer we will be to finding them and bringing them to justice. Now, this appears to have been a very well planned attack. And if it was indeed a kidnap attempt then the perpetrators might have had contact with your family.”
    â€œWell my family live in Athens, and although my mother died a few years ago, I still have a brother and an elderly father. They are also very wealthy thanks to a very successful family business which I have no further involvement with.”
    â€œSo, although they have the means, I think you’re telling me there was no guarantee that they would have paid a ransom demand. –But the kidnappers (if that is what they are) might not have known about the estrangement of you from your family, if I might describe it as such. Do you think it is possible that the attackers would have links back to Greece and that perhaps they knew how to contact either your brother or your father?”
    â€œI just don’t know. How the hell could I know such a thing? Perhaps these criminals had not done as much homework as they needed to. Because yes, as I think you now realise, my family and I are not at all close. I haven’t spoken to them in the last five years; let’s describe it as bit of a family feud. I didn’t even go home to attend my mother’s funeral, which for a Greek is a very big deal.”
    â€œThank you for being so candid. So there might or might not be a Greek organized crime link. If we assume for a moment that the kidnappers knew your family in Athens were unlikely to pay-up, is there anyone else who they might plan to make contact with, a wife or a girlfriend perhaps? A person close to you who you’d trust to make a ransom payment on your behalf?”
    â€œWell…err…actually…” Alexis is feeling suddenly uncomfortable. This is the only point in the interview where the fund manager begins to stumble and falter about how best to reply.
    â€œTo be honest, I’m not sure who else, hypothetically speaking, would have paid any ransom demand. I didn’t have that on my
‘to-do list’
of things to arrange.”
    â€œSorry Mr Vasilakos, but that doesn’t sound right. Are you saying that there’s no one close to you, no one you trust who could pull together the funds to pay a ransom demand?”
    â€œDetective, I think I’ve answered the question already. Repeating myself is not only wasting my time but police time. Are we done yet?”
    â€œI think so Mr Vasilakos. I appreciate you assistance, you’ve been very helpful.”
    Alexis’s patience under questioning has clearly worn-out and since they now have all the answers they need, John terminates the interview.
    *
    With the Fund Manager done with, it’s the bodyguard’s turn to be questioned and once Alexis has left the room, his brawny guardian takes over the vacant seat. New tapes are loaded into the recorder and Eddie Slater gets his caution. Eddie assists the policemen, giving short but clear answers. He comes over as being more than just Alexis’s ‘muscle’, he’s undoubtedly an intelligent man, it’s just that he controls his