The Most Beautiful Place On God's Earth

14 A friendly murderer

On Saturday midday on the last weekend in June, Dave, Hans and Reiner met in the arrivals hall at Heathrow.

"Dave, do you know more about our Ireland trip than we do?" asked Reiner.

"You better ask Tom and Martin. All I really know is that you're supposed to get an interview with Barry Madden," replied Dave. Try as Hans and Reiner might, Dave remained as silent as a grave.

On the way to Notting Hill Tom discussed some details of their trip to Ulster with Hans and Reiner, but he still left unanswered the question of what he and Martin were up to in Ireland. He did inculcate into them, though:

"Whatever happens, do everything exactly as you are told, and under no circumstances can you call the police. And your boss must not find out who we are!"

"You'll be with us all the time anyway, so we won't have a chance to tell our boss anything without you noticing," said Hans, joking. Reiner, however, had listened to Tom very carefully, and he had a feeling that nothing good was in store for them.

***

The Uptones were feeling stress. The day of travel was approaching and there was still much to be done. It was true that they had clarified all formalities of their engagement with Michalis, the owner of the ship where they were to perform in the next two months. But the passports, for which they had filled out forms and obtained certificates for two days, had not yet arrived. The band members had to buy solid guitar cases to keep their instruments intact on the plane. Due to his age, Sam had to report to the authorities a number of times, and he still didn't have a travel permit.

At least their record company had sent out 2000 singles, the cost of which Michalis had advanced. It was also Michalis who had helped prepare the band for their concerts on the ship by giving them gigs in clubs and private events throughout London to gain stage practice. And he had given Mole a better organ with two manuals.

When Tom and Martin arrived at Killer's family's house in Notting Hill, Killer asked Martin:

"We're performing in Camden tonight, Martin, are you interested in joining us?"

Of course Martin was. Dave and Tom were looking forward to the concert.

Martin and Tom told the Uptones about their trip to Kastoria and their youngest member's sexual entanglements.

"Do you all have girlfriends over there in Greece?" Killer asked them. Tom and Martin tried to explain the complex web of the resistance group's relationships but the only thing Killer understood clearly was that finding a girlfriend in Greece was difficult and risky.

"It's not much different here," he sighed. "You don't want the women you can have, and you can't have the women you want. I've never slept with a woman."

Tom answered in disbelief:

"Are you kidding me? Man, you're a musician and you look damn good. You'll definitely find a girlfriend, at least for one night on the ship."

"Do you think so? I mean, do you really think that I look good? Thanks. I haven't heard that often. By the way, I arranged a song for you guys. We're playing it for the first time tonight."

"I love surprises like this," Tom said wryly.

"Why, it will be nice, I promise," protested Killer.

Martin felt compelled to relate again in detail the story of how Sophia surprised Tom with a song on Mount Olympus, when Sophia had made it clear to him that she knew about his relationship with Nikos. Killer shook his head: