Kouros shook his head. “The Tinos police already did. No luck there. It’s available just about everywhere, on and off the island. And it’s not just used by dentists. Hospitals use it in surgery, motor racers use it to boost engine power, and restaurants use it to puff up whipped cream.”

“Whipped cream?”

Kouros nodded. “Find whipped cream and you’re likely to find a nitrous oxide cylinder somewhere. And that’s the dangerous stuff because it’s not mixed with oxygen. If you’re breathing pure nitrous oxide-”

“You suffocate. Shit. Anything else interesting?”

“The victims were from a clan that came to Tinos a month before the murders. But their clan wasn’t one that usually spent the tourist season working on Tinos or came there to celebrate the Assumption of the Virgin Mary on August 15th.”

“August 15th is Tinos’ biggest celebration of the year,” said Andreas. “And it draws huge crowds, which means major opportunities for what tsigani do. Maybe the new boys on the block pissed off another clan who thought they might be muscling in on their action?”

Kouros shrugged. “Could be, but it’s not unusual for transient clans to pass through Tinos this time of year. They always did when we were stationed on Mykonos. Tsigani revere the Virgin Mary and go there to pay their respects. Besides, why pick those two brothers and this year to make a point?”

Andreas tapped the pencil against his forehead. “Odysseus probably came to the same conclusion. I’ll give him a call to see if he had any ideas he didn’t put in the file.” Cops did that sort of thing, especially with politically sensitive cases. “By the way, is the victims’ clan based in Greece?”

Kouros nodded. “Menidi.”

“Ouch.”

Menidi was an area about three miles west of the center of Athens just south of Mount Parnitha, and perhaps the most dangerous neighborhood in all of greater Athens.