And with that said, he watched her walk across the grass.
8
‘Katerina, what is going on with the eggs today?’ Faye asked as she inspected the buffet breakfast being served in the dining room the following morning. ‘Some guests are saying they are too hard, others too soft.’
‘Mine feel like they are fertilised after meeting our VIP last night.’
Katerina gave the kind of breathy sigh Faye heard from Saffron when her daughter was watching TikTok edits of K-pop group, Enhypen.
‘Kostas Petsas is even better than Christoforos Papakaliatis. And you know I would not say that lightly. I mean, he has money, status, muscles, so much dark, wavy hair. Grrrr.’
Had Katerina just growled? Faye surreptitiously looked to see if any of the guests filling their plates with breakfast items had heard the noise.
‘He is so famous there is a statue of him in Corfu Town, you know,’ Katerina stated. ‘Close to Saint Helen’s Square.’
What? This man had a statue of him in Corfu Town? And Katerina seemed to know all about it. Who exactly was Kostas? Perhaps her expression was giving her away because the next thing Katerina did was gasp and continue in rapid fire.
‘You have no idea who he is!Thée mou!You spend too much time at work and not enough time watching sports on TV at Adonis Café. He is a basketball player. Professional! One of the best our country has ever produced! Or, at least, he was. He does not play any more.’
‘He’s retired?’ Faye frowned. ‘Do they not play for very long?’ She knew nothing about basketball whatsoever except most people who played were tall. That fitted. But surely he was only in his twenties…
‘He was injured. In a game. And then, months later, as he was coming back to play, there was a fight in the street. Some say it was a deliberate attack on him, but nothing has ever been proven. Not that I know anyway.’
Faye’s mind was whirring now. Ex-professional basketball player, injured, a victim of an attack. This could explain his perception of ‘people’ he spoke about last night.
‘He is sooo sexy. Younger than I would prefer but, you know, with his millions he could?—’
‘Millions?’ Faye stated, a little louder than she would have liked.
‘Basketball, it is a very lucrative sport and when you are one of the greatest players there is much money to be made. Much more money than cooking eggs that are either too hard or too soft.’
Faye looked at the eggs under the heat lamp, some yolks practically liquid, others like they were a dry omelette. She tried to remember back to when Fani, one of the chefs, had made this occur before. And then it struck her.
‘Katerina, how is Fani’s daughter at the moment?’
‘Ugh! Heartbroken again, would you believe! Back living at home.’ She picked up a tray of cutlery. ‘And you know when Klelia is heartbroken she bleeds sorrow like she is Jesus on the cross.’
And now Faye had her answer. She would check in with Fani as soon as the rush was over. Suddenly Katerina grabbed her arm and the cutlery was dumped on the countertop.
‘Thée mou!There he is. What is he doing in here? Why would he want to rub the shoulders with the people when he could have me bringing a basket of breakfast to his room?’
Faye looked to the entrance of the dining room and there was Kostas, standing, observing, sunglasses covering his eyes. He seemed to be looking for something… and then he waved a hand at her.
‘Did he just wave at me?’ Katerina asked, hand going to her chest like she might have to push her heart back in.
‘Katerina,’ Faye said. ‘Make up the table by the window.’
‘The one we put guests on when they have made a complaint?’
‘Yes,’ Faye said as Kostas strode through the space towards them. ‘Do it now.’ She smiled at Kostas as Katerina reluctantly departed. ‘Kaliméra, Kosta. We were not expecting you.’
He took off his sunglasses. ‘No? Why? This is where guests have breakfast, yes?’
‘Yes, but usually, the guests who stay in the private suites make other arrangements,’ Faye stated.
‘Other arrangements?’ he asked, and then… ‘Ah, fruit baskets brought to the door. I think we went through this last night. It did not go so well.’
‘You would like to make a complaint?’ Faye asked him. ‘About thegyros?’
