(20) Crucia

In the bedroom of the small house the day before, while Fabienne drew pictures on the plywood sheet with crayons, Carlos Markos spoke in English of his relationship with his cousin Tragos the hermit of Patmos.

It was a minute and a half of confession and revelation that Sanguineus would later erase from the recording. What he would allow Ambrosia to hear that night at the cafe, and what had shocked her, was this, the earlier part of Carlos' brief:

"I learned of the equine drug from Grigoris just before he resigned his teaching position at the university and became 'the Goat' on Patmos. He and Pella had separated over his plan to run his own equine drug ring on Patmos. Pella did not approve, though I think she was considering a separate involvement for herself. She was no saint, I assure you.

"Also, she was disgusted with her former law student, Berenice Saranikos, for giving up her baby, Fabienne, whom Pella had handed over to Ambrosia. And when she found out that Marianne was taking the baby to Patmos and having a sexual affair with 'Tragos,' she threatened to blow the whistle on him by going to the president of the university.

"Philosophy students were visiting him for class credits, and he told me that he had some luck with several of the female students, for Grigoris is a lecher of the first order. So he came to Rome to discuss getting rid of Pella. We had already laid plans for breaking Agape's operation and taking it over, by threats and bribes. My Sicilian group has a reputation that Agape's 'Wharf Men' fear. But they have turned out to be more resilient than we thought. It hasn't become an all-out war yet, but so lucrative is this equine drug ring that I am certain that mass killings are in the near future. However, the Argentine investigation into the breeding methods of one of Agape's customers is problematical. Still, we are hopeful that the drug itself will not be discovered. It is really quite unique in its properties. You have to know what you're looking for to find it.

"Well, I was getting very interested in Ambrosia. Agape was using her to take care of the original experiment, Pegasus, who Agape took out of competition after just two years of exemplary success. He wanted the vineyard under his control, and Kadir Kastri wouldn't hear of it. So Agape supplied Ambrosia with the equine drug so she could poison her mother and step-father with impunity.

"It was Agape who encouraged me to court Ambrosia. At the time he trusted Grigoris, and since I was Grigoris' cousin and boyhood friend, he thought it a good idea for me to marry Ambrosia. He wanted me to take her to Rome and get her away from this 'Crucia' nonsense. But she is too much of a free spirit to desire marriage. Besides, she is very attached to her foster father. Over the past few weeks there has been a falling out between Grigoris and Agape, because, you see, Agape now suspects that Grigoris has turned traitor and has involved himself and me in this attempt to take over Agape's drug ring.

"It was Marianne who hired a killer to gun down Pella on her daily walk to a Spanish cafe in Corinthia."

Sanguineus had then explained to Carlos that from what Ambrosia had said the night before, she wanted Tragos to be one of the two victims in the full-moon crucifixion ritual that was supposedly meant to heal Fabienne of her asthma. She believed Marianne to be the gunman who killed Pella, and that Marianne had informed Eliza Prizzi, the ICS investigator, that Ambrosia was the actual shooter.

What Sanguineus later erased from the recording was this:

Carlos, with a gruff laugh, said, "I have contacts in the Polizia Postale and the Polizia di Frontiera, for obvious purposes. We need to protect our communications, hacking operations, and smuggling. Eliza Prizzi worked for both of these Italian state police units, and was paid well for assisting us. Then she resigned and became a private investigator with, as you know, ties to the International Counterintelligence Services, the ICS. She has continued to be of assistance to us from time to time. Did you know this? No? Well, everyday is a learning process.

"Through me, Grigoris knew about Eliza. So when Eliza contacted me about Marianne's accusations against Ambrosia, I wasn't surprised that Marianne knew who to call. Eliza asked me what I knew about the shooting death of Pella Markos. I told her, yes, of course it was Ambrosia. Marianne went straight to her with the offer. And the offer was this: if Ambrosia would kill Pella for her beloved foster father, then Marianne would renew her teacher's license and arrange, through Grigoris' influence, to have Fabienne in her class. She would prepare the girl, with help from the girl's mother, Berenice Chora (you know she married Vaslo Chora?), with help from Berenice, she would prepare Fabienne for the final ritual. But Ambrosia was not to tell Grigoris that she, Ambrosia, killed Pella, but that some anonymous hitman did it whom I had recommended to Marianne. Ambrosia agreed. Those three women, Ambrosia and Marianne and Berenice, are using the extraordinary talent of Fabienne for their own program.

"I believe they mean the girl harm, but I'm not sure why, except that it must have something to do with the effects of the equine drug on humans. They have been experimenting with her, I must assume. How much of this demonic plan does Agape know? He says the thing is nonsense, and wants Ambrosia to come to her senses, and yet he appears to be going along with it. To heal Fabienne of her asthma? I don't know. The girl has been deceived and fed a lot of bullshit about the Pegasus and Medusa myth."

Sanguineus had turned off the recording. From his seat at the deal table he looked over at Fabienne, who was now playing with two of the stuffed toy horses.

He said to Carlos, "This unholy trinity may speak to itself of its loyalty and unity, for the sake of appearances, but Ambrosia wants me to kill Marianne for the murder of Pella, and Marianne wants Ambrosia killed for the same murder. Both want to get rid of the other. Moreover, Ambrosia sees Berenice going insane over her drug abuse, and wants her killed also. This isn't about a sisterhood, it's about one woman coming out on top, her rivals out of the way permanently. And let me remind you that Ambrosia and Agape plan to crucify Grigoris, him and Berenice. That's how things seem to be at present. The question now is, should Fabienne be told this?"

Carlos cringed. "It would devastate her," he said feelingly. "She loves Crucia, but from what she tells me, she is not sure WHO Crucia is. She wants to believe it is Ambrosia, because Pegasus is cared for by Ambrosia. But her teacher, Marianne, has hinted that SHE, Marianne, is Crucia. And of course there is Fabienne's mother, Berenice. Could SHE be Crucia? Fabienne does not want to believe that."

"And it's true that Grigoris knew nothing about this Crucia cult, nor about Fabienne, until very recently?"

"True. Marianne kept the baby's real identity secret from him. He found out shortly after signing the contract with your people, if you are Sanguineus, about silencing the person who shot Pella. But he still hasn't made the connection between the baby he bounced on his knee at his Patmos hermitage, and the child Medusa whose power is coveted by the 'unholy Trinity.' You are the one calling the shots here. Who lives and who dies is up to you. So says Eliza."

Sally Anne had listened to the abbreviated account while peering through the thick grass at the scene in the clearing.

She had interrupted Sanguineus once to point out in a breathless voice that Agape, the three thugs, and the mysterious hooded person, seemed to be freezing up, as if the Medusa stare was being directed at them. By contrast, the two 'crucified' women were all but dancing. Ambrosia and Fabienne were intoxicated with hope; the women speaking in rapid Greek to one another, frolicking in an ever-deepening suspense that Sally Anne sensed would soon turn ugly. 

When Sanguineus had finished, she put her lips to his ear and said, "The women are planning something. Is it this trinity thing? And the crosses, I think they're rising higher off the ground! A bit more, anyways. What do we do? Suppose they all fly away!"