The Dark Side of the Island - Jack Higgins [2]
Nothing had changed. Not a damned thing. Even the pillbox the Germans had constructed to guard the pier was still standing, its concrete crumbling a little at the edges. All that was missing were the E-boats in the harbour and the Nazi flag over the town hall.
The boy led the way between tall, whitewashed houses, moving away from the waterfront. Once or twice they passed someone sitting on a doorstep, but on the whole, the streets were deserted.
The hotel formed one side of a tiny cobbled square with a church opposite. There were several wooden tables outside, but no sign of any customers, and Lomax guessed that the place would probably liven up in the evening.
He followed the boy into a large, stone-flagged room with a low ceiling. There were more tables and chairs and a marble-topped bar in one corner, bottles ranged behind it on wooden shelves.
Yanni put down the canvas grip and the typewriter and vanished through a door at the rear. It was cool and pleasant after the heat outside and Lomax leaned against the bar and waited.
He could hear a murmur of conversation and then a girl's voice was raised, high and scolding. "Always you lie to me!" There was the sound of a slap and Yanni ran into the room head down, a young girl in a blue dress and white apron in hot pursuit.
She came to an abrupt halt when she saw Lomax and the boy made a dramatic gesture. "There, am I not speaking the truth?"
The girl was perhaps sixteen or seventeen, with a round, pretty face, and she came forward, wiping flour from her hands on the apron.
She stood looking at him helplessly, crimson with embarrassment, and Lomax smiled. "It's all right. I speak Greek."
Immediate relief showed on her face. "You must excuse me, but Yanni is such a liar and he caught me in the middle of baking. What can I do for you?"
"I'd like a room," he said "Yanni told me this was the best hotel in town."
She looked as if she didn't know what to say and he added gently, "You do have one available, I take it?"
"Oh, yes," she assured him. "You've caught me rather by surprise, that's all. We seldom get tourists on Kyros. I'll have to get clean linen and air the mattress."
"Don't worry about that," he said. "There's no hurry."
He took a banknote from his wallet and handed it to Yanni. The boy examined it carefully and his eyes widened. He looked longingly at the open door, sighed and held out the note reluctantly.
"I think you've made a mistake, mister. It's too much."
Lomax closed the boy's hand over the note. "Let's call it an advance payment on your services. I may need you again."
Yanni's face split into a delighted grin. "Say, mister, I like you. You're my friend. I hope you stay on Kyros a long time."
He whistled to the dog and ran through the doorway into the square. Lomax picked up the grip and the typewriter and turned to the girl.
"He is impossible," she said as she led the way out into a whitewashed passage.
"He seems to speak pretty good English?"
She nodded. "After his parents were drowned, he lived on Rhodes with his mother's people. I suppose he picked it up from the tourists."
"Who looks after him now?"
"He lives with his grandmother near the harbour, but she can't do much for him. She's too old."
They mounted narrow wooden stairs and turned into a corridor that seemed to run the full length of the building. She paused outside the door at the far end and said, "It's a very simple room. I hope you understand that?"
He nodded. "That's all I'm looking for."
She opened the door and led the way in. It was plainly furnished with a brass bed, a wash-stand and an old wardrobe. As elsewhere in the house, the walls were whitewashed and the wooden floor highly polished.
The whole place was spotlessly clean and he went and opened the window and looked out across the red-tiled roofs to the harbour below. "But this is wonderful."
When he turned, he saw that she was smiling with pleasure.