4
“So, which is it? Are you crazy by nature or nurture?”
Soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend to Tori Karacis just before she decked him
A trip to the San Francisco area was definitely in order. But first, I had some snooping to do here. Those bodies atop Mount Lee hadn’t shredded themselves. I had to know what I was dealing with. I didn’t know what I’d find that the Feds hadn’t. It didn’t seem likely they’d left any evidence behind. But maybe the Oracular powers Apollo had given me would kick in at the site. They had to be good for something besides lost sleep … right? I hoped so anyway.
Before I could so much as grab my car keys, my cell phone rang and “Yiayia” come up on the display in all her hirsute glory. Yiayia—grandmother—was the Rialto Brothers’ bearded lady. And a damned good one at that. All natural. Nothing added. Legend had it that our family line had begun when the god Pan had beer-goggled one of the gorgons. I’d recently learned that it was all the gods’ honest truth. At least we’d so far managed to avoid tusks and serpent-hair—cousin Tina’s aggressive overbite and my unruly curls aside.
One ignored Yiayia at their peril.
“Kalimera,” I said. Good morning. I forced cheer into my voice.
“You have been holding out on me. Again,” she accused in answer.
Well, crap. I was in for it now. I could almost see my snickerdoodle train leaving the station. Yiayia’s hobby (cough obsession) was running Goddities, a tell-all website/gossip rag about the Greek gods. Think WikiLeaks for Olympians. What I learned, I was expected to pass along instantly. Or else.
“Um, what do you think I know?”
“Egona,” she said, disappointment in her voice, “the chats are all abuzz. They say you’ve opened up a portal to the underworld!”
Geez, did everybody know about it except me? Wait, Goddities couldn’t be Apollo’s source, could it? Surely not.
“Um, well, not me exactly. I’ve actually only just learned of it.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Tell me more,” she ordered, like it was obvious.
Hermes’s hairy heinie. Well, any search engine would probably turn up the story about the bodies I was soon headed to investigate, so it wasn’t like I was giving away state secrets. Only … what if, as I’d feared during the worst of my paranoia, the Feds or the police or someone really was listening in on my calls? I thought back on what we’d said so far. Probably enough to get Yiayia committed to a nice mental facility. Maybe we could get adjoining padded cells.
“Well, you’ve heard about the bodies found on Mount Lee?” I asked.
“No-o-o,” she said slowly.
“Check them out.”
“Are you with someone?” she asked, clearly wondering why I didn’t give her the goods myself.
“Yes,” I answered. It seemed easiest.
“Is it your sexy cop?”
I smiled. “No.”
There was a pause. “Tell me it is not Apollo. I thought you were through with him. Remember what happened to Cassandra.”
Ah yes, the prophetess of Troy, who had the power to see but not be believed.
“I know.”
“Or Daphne.” Who was turned into a laurel tree to escape Apollo’s advances.
“I’ve got it. Listen, it’s not him, okay. What else is the rumor mill saying?”
A shiver of alarm shot through me, and I knew that whatever she was about to say I wouldn’t like. I hoped Apollo’s god-granted gift didn’t start me jumping at shadows. I had enough troubles.
“They say that Persephone has used the path you’ve opened to flee Hades … for good.”
“I didn’t think that was possible. I thought Persephone had to live a certain amount of time in the Underworld or she’d wither away.”
“Maybe it’s come to that. Maybe it’s a small price to pay after all this time … or she’s found some other way. But, this global warming kick that’s all over the news right now? They say that’s Demeter … gloating.”
“Well, crap.”
“If Hades blames you for his big brothers’ jailing, even if they weren’t on the best of terms, or for Persephone’s betrayal … you’d better watch your back. I—I’m worried about you, Egona.”
I was worried about me too. I had to think pissing off the god of the underworld was a hundred times worse than crossing Apollo, the god of music and light.
“I’ll be fine,” I lied. “But … if you hear anything more, you’ll tell me?”
“As long as you promise to keep me in the poop in return.”
“That’s in the loop, Yiayia.”
“Fine, whatever. What about coming on for a guest chat at Goddities?” she asked, shifting gears fast enough to give me whiplash. “You’re practically a celebrity. The group would go gaga.”
At least she had that right. “Uh, I’ll think about it.” When pigs fly. “I’m a little busy right now.”
“Any word on Christos?”
Ah, there it was. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask her about Dionysus and Back to Earth, but if she didn’t already know anything about BTE, I didn’t want to tell her and risk seeing it all over the web. I didn’t need them to know I was coming for them, and I didn’t want to put Christos in danger. I put her off with a vague, “I have a lead.… But maybe you can help me,” I added. “Do you know any important dates in Christos’s life that he might use as a password? I already tried his and Helen’s birthdays and their anniversary.”
There was the smallest hesitation before she said, “Try February 1, 1980.”
“What is February 1, 1980?”
“The day of their great sorrow,” she said, a tone in her voice I’d never heard before—something like reverence. “Christos and Alexa so wanted to have children, but the only one conceived was stillborn … on that date. They named him and then they buried him. Christos may still honor his birth.”
I felt tears prickling behind my eyes, and my nose got all tingly. It was too horrible. I hadn’t even been born yet. No one had ever told me.
“I’m so sorry for them,” I said, my voice wanting to break.
But apparently Yiayia, who’d had years to get over it, was ready to move on. “I helped?” she asked.
“Maybe.”
“Good. Now, what are you wearing to Tina’s wedding?”
“Sack cloth,” I told her. She didn’t seem to find that amusing.
I let her read me the riot act as I again opened Christos’s browser, hit the link for his bank’s website and keyed in the birth date of the cousin I’d never known. It did the trick. The printer revved up as Yiayia ran down.
Finally, it seemed safe to cut in. “Yiayia, I have to run. You did help. Now I have a clue to follow up on.”
“You be sure to keep me postered.”
I rolled my eyes. “Posted. Sure thing.”
I pulled the bank statements from the printer as soon as they shot out, but I didn’t really know what I was looking for. Christos had taken out a big chunk of his savings before his trip, but the only action since had been some automatic monthly payments. Uncle Christos didn’t believe in debt or credit cards, I knew, so if he’d used plastic on anything, it would have debited his account. But there was nothing. Wherever he was, whatever he was doing, he was off the grid. If Detective Beverly hadn’t heard from him, I’d really be panicking. But at least I knew he wasn’t dead … yet. Just in a heck of a lot of hot water.
We had a family talent for trouble.