THE SECRET OF THE GOLDEN MEDALLION

Part One: Operation Dioscouri

1.

Summer. A day in July, morning. A mysterious foreigner travels to Monemvasia on a hydrofoil. Mysterious things happen during his trip.

2.

At the same time, detective Phoebus Black, based in Sparta, is vacationing in the prefecture of Laconia in the Peloponnese. One morning, on his way to the Caves of Diros, in the nearby town of Areopolis he hears about the murder of two young men who seemed to be foreigners and took place in neighboring areas but at different times. The first one was murdered in Limeni, whereas the second somewhere between Tsipa and Karavostasi. Black changes his plans. He decides to investigate the case. He visits the local police department. He is introduced to Nikos Kondoulakos, publisher of Gythio’s local newspaper. Kondoulakos informs him that, as far as he knows, one of the two victims wore a golden medallion with a peculiar figure on it.

3.

The next day, Black, who spends the night in Areopolis, tails two foreigners – a man and a woman – who meet each other at the Diros caves. The man is wearing a golden medallion but Black cannot tell what it depicts. The foreigner disappears. Black with Stevis, his assistant, who came from Athens in the meantime, pursues the woman up to Diros village. However, they have no incriminating evidence and so they let her go.

4.

Phoebus Black and his assistant tail the woman to the seaside town of Kardamili. They read in the newspaper about a third crime that took place in Neapoli, Laconia, and sounds very similar to the two previous crimes. This time the victim is a woman. They attempt to unearth some clues at the St. Dimitrios Katafygi cave. They return to Areopolis empty-handed.

5.

In Gythio Black meets Lena Avlianou, a well-known journalist working for an Athenian newspaper. The same evening, the two of them meet again together with Stevis and Kondoulakos. Avlianou, who happened to be in Neapolis at the time when the third crime took place, talks about a suspect who is similar to the foreigner seen at the Diros caves wearing the medallion. That evening, they all enjoy themselves in a tavern situated on the small island of Kranai. Kondoulakos develops a theory of his own, regarding the three crimes. He also informs them about the possible settling of differences between warring families, belonging to this area’s underworld. Black and Stevis return to Sparta.

6.

Black goes to Skala together with D.K., a local businessman. He confirms Kondoulakos’ information. Around noon battles take place in the town’s streets and several people get killed. A helicopter carrying foreigners lands at a certain spot in the city but it is not used in the battles. Stevis gets slightly injured by a bullet. The local police arrives late. Rumors run rampant. Black decides to get involved in this case, too.

7.

A few days later, the detective with the businessman D. K. and a local politician are enjoying themselves at the annual festival of the medieval village of Mystras. Black’s attention is drawn by a sign, placed among other small objects sold by an wandering salesman. The sign says: “Search and you will find”. They talk about the Skala carnage. Influenced by the medieval surroundings, Black ponders on the Palaeologus line of Byzantine Emperors and the scholar Plethon. On the same night, Stevis manages to avoid the police blockade and find refuge in a shady underworld bar.

8.

Avlianou comes to Sparta. She and Black visit several ancient sites. Strange things happen. Someone tells Black about the suspicious foreigner, who was traveling to Monemvasia in mid August on the hydrofoil. Among other things, a Navaho Indian in modern dress appears in Sparta. The area’s history, myths and legends together with everyday life events become intertwined into a single entity in Black’s mind.

9.

At the Sparta museum, Black meets an antiquity collector, who analyses for him the meaning and technique of riddles, from antiquity to the present. What sticks in the detective’s mind is the concept of the creation of a new riddle, in which he would introduce elements of all the things recently happening. He thinks, “Everything seems to point to this: the area, the events, the history, the legends.” He pinpoints concepts, words and phrases that are related to the area’s historical and natural surroundings and could be part of the riddle.

10.

Black and Stevis begin to investigate different leads. In the meantime, thirteen western European-style pictures of great value are stolen from the Koumandarios Picture Gallery in Sparta. The whole town is in turmoil. As far as Black’s investigation is concerned, the lack of evidence, instead of putting him at ease, raises his suspicions.

11.

to be a painter. Kondoulakos tries to find out how these seemingly unrelated events might be inter-connected.

17.

One night he gets drunk at a diner in Petalidi. He feels as if he is experiencing a situation similar to “A Thousand and One Nights”. The following night he discovers a gang of foreigners near Koroni. They hide in a huge kiln, where the traditional Charokopios urns are made. In the end, they escape.

18.

Together with two friends of his from Vasilitsi, they decide to look on Venetiko island for the lost Barbarossa treasure. Instead of the treasure they discover a huge stash of drugs. Pirates appear on the island. There is a battle between the pirates and the harbor police, where the former escape towards the African coasts.

19.

Despite Black’s objections, Kondoulakos makes a last attempt to examine the story of a Greek man who, during the ‘30s, while trying to break away from Dillinger’s gang, on his second return to America, was murdered in New York. As he investigates the case, he spots a foreigner staying at a Kalamata hotel under the name Dillinger. Could it all be a joke or was it the gangster’s descendent, a revenge story in progress? On the mountainous road from Kalamata to Sparta there is a battle resulting in a man’s death. In the same area three strangers, whom Kondoulakos has spotted, escape. They are obviously connected to drug dealing.

20.

Black, Stevis and Kondoulakos meet up in Sparta. The latter admits that he has failed, since he found no evidence connected to the murders or anything else of importance. It is now Stevis’ turn. Avlianou will also participate in the meeting, now that she is back in Gythio, following the newspaper’s order to keep a close eye on the case till the truth about the four murders is revealed. Avlianou seems to be particularly fond of Stevis.

21.

Information given by a doctor lead Stevis, Kondoulakos and Avlianou to the village of Skoutari. Midnight. Four men disembark from a boat and attempt to bury a trunk somewhere outside the village. Nothing is found in that same place the day after.

22.

hostage. They hand him over to Avlianou to watch over him in Gythio with her friend, who owns an antique store.

23.

Black, Stevis and Kondoulakos leave for Tenaros, stopping at Areopolis and Mezapo. They spend the night in Gerolimenas. The next day they pass through Vathia. They arrive at Palyros. They meet with two of Kondoulakos’ acquaintances and they get some information about the area. Black and Stevis charter a fishing boat in Porto Kayia and head for the sea cave, named “the Gate to Hades” by the ancients. Kondoulakos and his two acquaintances move up to the point where the road is navigable, in two cars. Then, taking a treacherous path, after passing two huts with troglodytes, they arrive at the Temple of Poseidon, next to the Aghii Asomaton chapel. The house of the foreigner, whom Kondoulakos has mentioned, is situated there as well.

24.

Stevis dives into the “Gate to Hades”, but he finds nothing. A boat arrives. It belongs to the businessman D.K.; he and Avlianou, who left her friend supervising the foreigner, are on it. They dismiss the fishing boat. All four go to the Temple of Poseidon. D.K. leaves on his boat. The six of them hide for the night at the chapel of Aghii Asomati. A big boat arrives, carrying several foreigners with their luggage. They all gather at the cove where the sunken Temple of Poseidon is located. They perform something like a small ritual, but the six can’t hear anything from their hiding place. Then, the foreigners form groups and they take the path. Via radio phone Black notifies the police, which is already in Gerolimenas, to discreetly keep an eye on the area. The six spend the rest of the day at a temporary fishermen’s accommodation and at dawn they go back to the point where they left the two cars. Kondoulakos’ acquaintances return to Palyros.

25.

The police has located the foreigners. They have arrived at Vathia by car – which were obviously waiting for them – and they are staying, together with other tourists, at the towers which the Hellenic Tourism Organization has turn into guesthouses. Black and the other three take them by surprise. The police backup arrives, while two military helicopters take part in the operation. Black shoots in the air. Avlianou kills a foreigner. Another one kills himself before Stevis manages to arrest him. The police arrives. The foreigners surrender. Among them, there is the man whom Black had chased up to the Diros village and had finally set free.

26.

25.

The police has located the foreigners. They have arrived at Vathia by car – which were obviously waiting for them – and they are staying, together with other tourists, at the towers which the Hellenic Tourism Organization has turn into guesthouses. Mavros and the other three take them by surprise. The police backup arrives, while two military helicopters take part in the operation. Mavros shoots in the air. Avlianou kills a foreigner. Another kills himself before Stevis manages to arrest him. The police arrives. The foreigners surrender. Among them, there is the man whom Mavros had chased up to the Diros village and finally set free.

26.