The Jealousy Man and Other Stories

I was still at the station when Franz Schmid rang just before midnight.

‘Where are you?’ I asked, crossed to the partition and signalled to George that I had him on the line. ‘You haven’t answered my calls.’

‘Signal’s weak,’ said Franz.

‘So I hear,’ I said.

I had called the public prosecutor in Athens who had issued an arrest warrant for Franz Schmid, but we hadn’t found Franz in his rented room, or on the beach, or in any of the restaurants, and no one knew where he was. George had only two patrol cars and four policemen at his disposal, and until the weather improved we wouldn’t be getting any reinforcements from the police on Kos, so I suggested we use base stations to locate Franz’s mobile phone. But as George explained, there were so few base stations on Kalymnos they wouldn’t do much to narrow down the search area.

‘I paid a visit to Helena’s restaurant,’ said Franz. ‘But her father was there and said I couldn’t see her. Does that have anything to do with you?’

‘Yes. I’ve told Helena and the family to keep away from you until this is over.’

‘I told her father that my intentions were honourable, that I want to marry Helena.’

‘We know that. He called us after you’d been there.’

‘Did he tell you he gave me a letter from Helena?’

‘He mentioned that too, yes.’

‘You want to hear what she says?’ Franz started to read without waiting for a reply: ‘ “Dear Franz. Maybe for everyone there is one person in this life who is meant just for us, and who we only meet just the one time. You and I were never meant for each other, Franz, but I pray to God that you haven’t killed Julian. Now that I know that he’s the one for me I ask you on bended knees: if it is within your power, save Julian. Helena.” You seem to have persuaded her that I am behind his disappearance, Balli. That I might have killed him. Do you realise that what you are doing is ruining my life? I love Helena more than I have ever loved anything, more than my own self. I just can’t imagine a life without her.’

I listened. Though the wind was crackling in his phone I could hear waves. Could be anywhere on the island, of course.

‘The best thing now would be for you to hand yourself in to us in Pothia, Franz. If you are innocent it would be in your own best interests.’

‘And if I’m guilty?’

‘Then it will still be in your own best interests to hand yourself in. No matter what, you can’t get away, you’re on an island.’

In the silence that followed I listened to the waves. They sounded different to the waves below my hotel room — but different in what way?

‘Julian isn’t innocent either,’ said Franz.

I exchanged a look with George. We had both heard it. Is, not was. But a clue like that isn’t reliable. I have heard several killers refer to their victims as though they were still alive, and perhaps they still are for them. Or more accurately: I know that a dead man can be the constant companion of his killer.

‘Julian lied. He claimed he’d been in touch with Helena earlier that evening using his own phone, told her everything, and that the two of them were now in love. He wanted me to give her up without a fight. I know, of course, that Julian is a liar and a womaniser, that he’ll stab you in the back to get what he wants, but this time he made me so angry. So angry, you have no idea how it feels...’

I didn’t respond.

‘Julian robbed me of the best thing I ever had,’ said Franz. ‘Because I haven’t had that, Mr Balli. He was always the one who got them. Don’t ask me why, we were born identical, but all the same he had something I didn’t. Something he picked up along the way, a crossroads where he was given light and I got darkness, and then we went our separate ways. And he had to have even her...’