‘I will remember that carefully,’ Stelios grinned. ‘Especially as the host is a rather large German. I have been thinking . . .’

‘A dangerous development,’ teased Karl.

‘A glamorous lady who is working for the buyer as some kind of assistant might help me get information. My undoubted charm doesn’t work on some people, amazing though it may seem to you. Especially fat Germans.’

‘Who would you suggest?’ Karl enquired. ‘Who he would least recognize? Not Dora obviously. Our friend certainly knows who she is.’

‘Moira?’

‘I know, I know,’ Moira pouted. ‘No one could describe me as glamorous. And it can’t be Penny, because he knows her too. I think Nell is probably the one he’s seen least.’

They all looked at her. ‘Could you disguise yourself enough to fool him, do you think?

She smiled back mischievously. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’

Seventeen

‘Let’s go down by the water and have a paddle,’ suggested Penny. It was almost dark, and yet the pink after-sunset glow seemed to last for hours in Kyri. She thought of home, and how Wendy had said the rain hadn’t stopped for what seemed like weeks. But the thought just made her feel anxious.

‘What’s the matter?’ asked Moira, not usually the most intuitive of the group.

‘It’s my bloody husband. He’s gone missing, and I keep thinking he’ll turn up here.’

‘Maybe he’s been reading the Odyssey. Odysseus stayed away ten years before he returned to faithful Penelope. Perhaps he wants to keep you on tenterhooks.’

‘He’s certainly doing that.’ She laughed at the unlikely thought of Colin reading Homer.

‘You should laugh more,’ Moira advised. ‘You look pretty when you laugh.’

‘I keep thinking maybe I should go home.’

‘But what about Nikos? I thought you were serious. You look serious. Wouldn’t you stay here with him?’

Penny thought of the other night when he had told her he loved her. Why did she have so much difficulty in accepting that he meant it?

‘You need to believe in yourself for a change,’ Moira told her with surprising sternness. ‘You have so much to offer. And so far it seems to me you’ve wasted it on someone who probably isn’t capable of appreciating it. If it wasn’t for you none of us would be here. You should be proud that you’ve brought us back together.’

Penny felt so moved by this, she was almost speechless. As it happened she didn’t need to reply because they were suddenly set upon by an irate Demetria, looking more like one of the Furies than her usual elegant Melina Mercouri image.

‘Penelope,’ she shouted, so angry she could hardly speak, ‘and other lady! It is bad news! Very bad news! Somebody is telling lies about our beautiful boathouses!’