Cloak of Silence (Jake Harding Adventures Book 1)

The last of the Thursday night customers had left the taverna but bouzouki music still wafted from the sound system. Spyros usually whistled along to the melodies while he cleared up, but tonight he was silent as he stacked the terrace chairs in preparation for mopping down the floor. Petrina was cleaning the kitchen and Selena was alone in her room.

There had been a furious row when she got back from Athens, but she had refused to go back, and he was secretly glad not to have to pay for another air ticket. He’d confined her to the taverna instead; it would be so embarrassing if it came out that his daughter had made a fool of him.

He banged another stack of chairs down in the storeroom. Maybe it had been a mistake to send her to stay with Natasa while she was in the middle of that messy divorce. Their marriage had never been really happy, or conventional either. And what about their son, Taki? He was worried about him and was entitled to be, he was his uncle after all. He knew his nephew was taking the divorce badly.

Bang went another stack. Spyros stood there for a moment, his hands resting on the back of the chairs. He was confused by what was going on. He had tried to shut out the possibility of Zoë’s disappearance being linked to the monastery. Theo was such a good man; surely he’d not let anything go wrong? But he was a holy man and not strong headed.

He walked slowly back to the terrace and picked up another stack of chairs. No, the police were probably right; it was Bill. What a pity; he was such a good customer. There surely couldn’t be a problem at the monastery except that Brother who started taking too much of an interest in Selena. That sort of thing had happened before and he was not going to let it cause his daughter a problem.

The music was starting to irritate him. He put down the chairs and reached behind the bar to switch it off. Silence descended and he walked to the edge of the terrace and stared out into the darkness of the bay.

Selena had always been a fine sweet girl. A few mood swings now and then, but that’s teenagers for you. She was almost a woman now and he never pretended to totally understand them. It was the arrival of Brother Warren that changed things. Petrina had said Selena was infatuated; no boys her age in the village, that was the root of the problem.

But Theo had warned him on the phone that Selena should not come looking for that brother. He hadn’t liked the sinister overtones of that message, however vague they’d been. He’d phoned his sister at once and packed Selena off to Athens the very next day, but surely…

Something else was intruding on his thoughts and he realised that it was the sound of a distant boat engine. He looked at his watch even though he knew it was nearly midnight. The engine noise suddenly became louder as the boat rounded the headland and entered the bay.

Something was wrong. He shouted to Petrina and she emerged from the kitchen, a dishcloth in her hands. The noise was getting ever louder and the boat sounded as though it was heading straight towards them. He reached behind the bar and flicked a light switch. The twin floodlights mounted high on the front wall of the taverna lit up the beach in front of the building. A small wave lapping on the shore caught the light.

They walked to the edge of the terrace and Petrina exclaimed in alarm as the bow of the boat loomed out of the darkness heading straight towards the beach.

The throttle was pulled back and the engine died, but the boat was going too fast. It came through the small waves and onto the beach, bouncing for a short distance before coming to a stop in a shower of dry sand.

By the time Spyros and Petrina reached the boat, Cath and Jamal had jumped down onto the beach.

Spyros stared at them in amazement. ‘You all right?’ he asked.

Jamal nodded but Cath told him to hold out his hand. Petrina tut-tutted when she saw the dried blood. ‘Come with me,’ she said, leading Jamal away towards the taverna before he could protest.

‘You from the adventure school?’ Spyros asked, looking curiously at Cath.

‘Yes. I must tell them we’re here.’

Spyros caught the urgency in her voice. ‘Phone is quickest,’ he said and turned towards the taverna, but stopped in his tracks as he heard a sound from the boat.

‘There is somebody else?’ he asked, looking over his shoulder.

‘Err, yes,’ Cath confessed. She clambered back onto the boat and lifted the robes from the figure lying on the foredeck.

Spyros looked at the trussed-up monk with speechless incredulity.

‘Come, please and show me where to phone,’ Cath implored.

Spyros, staring at the monk, slowly crossed himself, navel to chin, left to right. ‘Sure, come,’ he said blankly before setting off brusquely up the beach.

Jenny answered the phone on the first ring. ‘It’s Cath. I can’t explain on the phone but could you or Mr Harding come to the taverna straight away?’

‘Yes, he’s back, but quickly, is everything okay?’

‘Not completely okay. Jamal’s got a bad cut, the others have gone off on a trawler and we’ve taken a monk prisoner.’

There was a short silence before Jenny said, ‘We’ll be there as soon as poss.’

A few minutes later she and Richard arrived in the Land Rover.

Jenny quickly took charge of Jamal while Petrina rang the doctor and Cath led Richard across the terrace and down the steps to the beach. She explained as quickly as she could about Jake asking them to help, creeping into the grounds of the monastery, tricking their way onto the boat, the eight passengers left behind in the storeroom, the desperate fight with Brother Warren and finally the journey back to the beach after the others had gone aboard the trawler.

‘Jake was right,’ he commented as he looked at the monk on the foredeck of the boat.

Spyros joined them. ‘So this is a monastery boat,’ he said, looking in admiration at the black craft. ‘What’s it for?’

‘Let’s go and see Theo and ask him,’ Richard said grimly. ‘But first, let’s get this Brother Warren off the boat and see what he can tell us.’

‘Aah, he is Brother Warren?’ Spyros asked, peering more closely.

‘Yes, Selena’s friend,’ Richard said dryly as he scrambled over the inflatable hull onto the foredeck before helping Spyros up. Warren eyed them malevolently and when Richard undid the gag he spat angrily onto the deck.

‘I’m Richard Harding,’ he said conversationally as he undid the rope attached to the cleat on the foredeck. ‘What have you done with my daughter?’

Warren cleared his throat. ‘Nothing to do with me,’ he replied defiantly.

Spyros shone a torch in Warren’s face and he swore and looked away.

‘You know where she is, somewhere called Syntagma,’ Richard went on relentlessly.

But Warren spat onto the deck again.

‘This bastard caused all the trouble,’ Spyros rumbled menacingly.

‘Let’s get him off here,’ Richard replied. They untied his ankles, leaving his wrists bound. Spyros looped the rope used for his ankles around the young man’s neck to prevent him running away and they helped him down onto the sand. He stood with his back to the RIB, glowering at them.

‘My son and four young people in my care are on a trawler, apparently going to Syntagma. Where the hell is that?’ Richard asked harshly.

But Warren looked insolent and shook his head.

Richard bunched his fist angrily but thought better of it and turned to Spyros, ‘Look, Spyros, I know Selena’s here.’

‘How…’ Spyros started to ask, looking embarrassed.

‘Jake told me,’ Richard cut across him. ‘Can you ask her to come out here?’

After a brief hesitation, Spyros called to Petrina who was standing anxiously on the terrace. Richard took Warren by the arm and led him towards the taverna. Spyros fell in step on the other side, holding the short length of rope and looking warily at the powerfully built monk.

Selena appeared on the terrace and looked impassively at Warren, angry and obstinate between Richard and Spyros. Cath stood uneasily in the background. The powerful floodlights made it look like a stage scene with the shadows of the three men stretching far across the beach towards the beached RIB.

‘Hello, Richard,’ she said. ‘He told me Zoë’s okay.’

Spyros spluttered and was about to speak when Richard said, ‘At Syntagma it seems, but he won’t tell us where that is.’

Selena looked directly at Warren. ‘You told me before that Zoë was at Syntagma.’

Warren said nothing and Spyros took the front of his robe in his hand and snarled, ‘Tell us where this place is.’

But Warren ignored him and Spyros said, ‘We are wasting our time with him.’

‘Time to pay our friend Theo a visit,’ Richard said grimly.

‘His boss is called Father John,’ Selena said. ‘I think he is also a bad man.’

Warren glared at her furiously.

‘There’s always a problem with the good-looking ones,’ she said as she turned on her heel and walked back into the taverna.

Spyros shook his head and said, half to himself, ‘That’s what her mother always says.’

‘So what to do with him?’ Richard asked.

‘We lock him in my storeroom.’

Warren tried to resist but they half dragged him to the corrugated iron store at the side of the taverna and pushed him inside.

Spyros pulled the bolt on the door across, commenting, ‘It’s only chairs and tables and he can’t break those with his hands tied.’

Barbara had arrived and she listened in stunned surprise as Richard and Cath quickly told her what had happened.

‘It’s all lies about Bill Blizzard then,’ she said angrily. ‘I’ll head home and call the police from there,’ she said, making for the door. ‘I’ll hopefully get that lazy Chief of Police out of his comfortable bed,’ she added as they hurried outside.

‘Where’s your car?’ Richard asked.

‘Jenny’s taken Jamal to the doctor in it. I’ll run home – you head off and ring me if you find out anything.’

‘C’mon, Spyros,’ Richard said. ‘We’ll see if we can get anything out of Theo. Coming, Cath?’

Cath nodded gratefully. She didn’t want to stay at the school while somewhere out there Jake and four of her group were in danger.