They parked outside the gate, and Kouros walked to the intercom on the wall by the left side of the gate. He identified himself and held his police ID up to the camera. They were buzzed in and made their way along a stone path winding around closely planted eucalyptus, lemon, bougainvillea, and oleander shielding the house from the gate. Andreas thought a lot of care must go into this place. A man waited for them outside the front door. He asked to see their identification again. When he asked the purpose for their visit, Andreas told him, 'It's a personal, family matter.'

The man took out his cell phone and called someone. Andreas' eyes scanned the front of the three-story building. Hard to imagine it was only a house. 'I could live here,' he said to Kouros.

'I'd never find my way home at night.'

'Who said I'd ever leave?'

'Gentlemen, please, come with me.' The man gestured toward the open front door. He showed them into a room most would call a living room but, between the front door and where they stood, they'd passed through so many others Andreas would call a living room that he couldn't guess what this one might be called.

'Please, wait here. Would you like something to drink?'

'No, thank you,' said Andreas. He felt out of place in these surroundings, or maybe it was the purpose of his visit, but whatever the reason he sensed his hand might shake slightly if he held a glass. Adrenaline could do that. He preferred his hands free.

The man left, leaving Andreas and Kouros standing in the middle of the lavishly decorated room, facing a doorway, and looking conspicuously ill at ease. Andreas was still struggling to think of the right words to say. All he could think of was, 'Yianni, you tell them.' Andreas smiled at the thought of the deer-in-the-headlights look that order would get from his taciturn partner.