Page 59 of Deep Blue Lies
Papadakis takes a very long time to reply to this. He looks at each of us, Sophia still stroking the puppy on her lap.
“The answer I can give to that is very much off the record.” He waits until Maria nods in agreement at this, and then goes on.
“There was some of that, it’s true. Alythos was then, and still is, dependent upon the flow of tourists. And there was concern at the time that visitors would be alarmed by the idea of a murderer running around. It was helpful that the case seemed to have solved itself, the perpetrator already dealt with.”
“So if you’d had more time,” – Maria leans closer – “if you hadn’t been leaned on, you might have discovered something else?”
He shakes his head at once.
“No. That’s not what I said.” He takes a moment, making a steeple of his fingers.
“Perhaps without that pressure we would have taken a little longer over things. But I’m comfortable that the investigation would have reached the same conclusion.”
He sits back again. His demeanour has changed – less welcoming, more distant.
“Now, I really think it’s fair that you tell me the reason for these questions?”
Maria frowns, I see the frustration on her face, but she nods too. She opens her mouth to speak again, but I stop her with a touch to the knee.
“This is my problem. I’ll say it.”
FIFTY-FOUR
“I was born on Alythos. Around the time of the killings,” I begin. I’m still not sure how to phrase this. The words seem strange in my head, even more so spoken out loud.
“I came here to try and find my father, but I discovered I was adopted. Probably adopted.” I pause, still not wanting to say it. “I think I might be the child that was left alive. Mandy Paul’s baby.”
His face remains unchanged. For a while he says nothing. Then, “Yes.”
“Yes, I am or?—”
“Yes I can see that you think that.”
I blink in surprise. “OK. Well, can you tell me anything about it? What happened to the child, after the murders were discovered?”
He seems to think for a long while.
“That’s difficult.”
“Why?”
“For one thing, it was a long time ago. My main priority would have been to the investigation – to secure the crime scene, to understand what had happened. But then…” He stops, frowning slightly now.
“But what happened to the child? Where did it go?”
He gives himself a moment to remember.
“As I remember there was some…confusion over what to do with the child. The mother had not properly completed the paperwork to register a birth. It was somewhat messy, but – fortunately for me, not my mess. The child fell under the jurisdiction of EKKA.”
“What’s EKKA?” I ask.
“It’s a…I don’t know what you would call it in English.” He turns to Maria and they exchange a few words in Greek. Then he turns to me again.
“It’s a government department. I think you would call itsocial services?”
“Were you able to contact any relatives in England? Of the parents? Jason, or Mandy?” Maria asks now. He turns to her, thinking again.
“I seem to remember efforts were made…” His brow furrows from the effort of it. “But there were none, or no one willing to intervene. But there’s a second problem with what happened to the child, it wouldn’t be something I could divulge. It was always the case that the records would be sealed.”
