Page 12 of Deep Blue Lies

ELEVEN

When I get back I want to hit Google right away, but the smell of the apartment changes my mind. Instead, I dump my bags in the kitchen and get going with the cleaning.

I start with the bathroom. The sink is stained yellow all over, and there’s more alarming yellow splattered around the toilet.

I spray everything with bleach and scrub, trying not to think too much about what it is, nor breathe too deeply.

The showerhead is crusted with limescale, and when I test it, the water comes out at a weird angle, mostly onto the floor.

There’s no shower curtain either, just a rail where one used to be.

I make a mental note to grab one next time I pass Maria’s shop.

Next, the kitchenette. It’s not exactly well-equipped.

I have three plates, none of which match, and just one mug, although I supplement this with four glasses I “borrowed” from the bar.

I have a frying pan, probably older than I am, and which wasn’t washed up properly by whoever used it last, so I can almost tell what they cooked.

I dump everything in the sink, fill it with hot water and leave it to soak while I clean the insides of the cupboards.

Next I tackle the oven, filling a plastic bag with unidentified burnt objects and restoring a degree of clarity to the glass window.

One good thing about having the bins so near is I can easily get rid of the waste I’m producing.

I wash the crockery now, dry it and put it away, and then wipe the surfaces down.

Then I pull the stupid net curtains off the windows. It occurs to me that maybe Klaus will insist I put them back when I move out, so I stick them in another plastic bag and stick it in a cupboard. Then I clean the windows, inside and out.

By the time I get to the floor, I’ve given up on being disgusted and just want to get it over with.

The first pass with the mop turns the water black, but by the third go, some of the suds remain, and I even see that the floor tiles are terracotta red, or at least used to be.

By early afternoon I have the place looking and feeling better.

At least I can finally walk around without my feet sticking to the floor.

I save the bed for last. I strip off the questionable sheets Klaus’ last tenant left behind and replace them with the ones I bought earlier. The mattress underneath is thin and lumpy, but at least it’s not too-obviously stained, which feels like a win at this point.

Finally, I collapse onto the tired two-seater sofa that takes up most of the lounge, exhausted.

Only then do I reach for my phone.

Now I can Google.

Pretty quickly I discover that Maria’s version of events is the true one. There isn’t a huge amount I can find about the murders, but an old Guardian article has most of the details:

British Couple in Apparent Murder-Suicide at Greek Resort

Guardian, 5th August 2001

A British couple working on the Greek island of Alythos were found dead in what local police have described as an apparent murder-suicide.

The bodies of Jason Wright, 34, and Mandy Paul, 27, were discovered early on Sunday morning at the Aegean Dream Resort, where both had been employed. Authorities state that Wright is believed to have fatally attacked Ms. Paul before taking his own life .

The couple’s infant child was found unharmed in the residence they shared, and is now in the care of Greek social services.

Local police were alerted after a staff member failed to reach either Wright or Paul on Sunday morning. Upon entering their accommodation, officers discovered Ms. Paul had suffered a blow to the head, and Mr. Wright a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Greek police are treating the case as a domestic incident that turned violent, but the investigation is ongoing.

The Aegean Dream Resort, popular with British holidaymakers, has announced it will close temporarily following the tragedy. The British Embassy in Athens confirmed it is providing consular support to the guests and remaining staff at the hotel, many of whom have British or American nationality.

Authorities have not disclosed any further details about the circumstances of the deaths, and post-mortem examinations are due to take place later this week.

The dates interest me. The murder happened on 25 June 2001, and I was born six weeks before that, on 6 May.

So I suppose that Mum wouldn’t have been working then – I mean, I guess she’d have been on maternity leave, or whatever it’s called here.

But even so, maybe she’d have known the people who died?

That would have been horrible. But at the same time, is it really enough to explain why she’s never told me anything about this? It still strikes me as odd.

I keep searching around, trying to find more information, but it was a long time ago, and maybe murder-suicides are quite common, or at least common enough that it’s not big news.

Either way, I don’t find anything else, except this one strange blog post, which is much more recent, but at least refers to the murders :

Posted by: IslandTruths | 14 April 2024

Well, it’s finally happening.

After two decades of crumbling concrete and broken promises, they’re knocking down the ADR – the Aegean Dream Resort. And what’s going up in its place? Affordable housing for islanders? A school? A clinic?

Don’t make me laugh.

It’s luxury apartments. Which, if you know Alythos, means overpriced ghost homes for rich Athenians and foreign investors. Built quick and sold quicker, empty nine months of the year.

But let’s talk about what no one else will: why the ADR really closed in the first place.

The official story is the tragic murder-suicide in 2001. Resort manager Jason Wright killed his girlfriend, Mandy Paul, then turned his gun on himself, leaving their little baby alive. Case closed.

Except, as almost everyone who was there back then knows, it probably isn’t the whole story.

Because – what about the drugs flooding the island at the time? Were they connected? Where did Jason get the gun? And what about all the ADR staff, flown home right after the deaths, instead of giving their stories to the police?

The investigation was never done properly, and now we’ll never get the truth because the whole place is about to be bulldozed into silence.

I don’t really know what this means, or at least, there’s a lot of it I don’t understand.

But I am starting to understand one point.

Whatever happened all those years ago to the resort manager – whether he went crazy and killed his girlfriend, or even if someone set it up to look like that but really he was murdered too – it’s nothing to do with why I’m here.

I’m just here to find out where I came from.

Who I am. Maybe even who my dad is. So whatever happened back then at the ADR – it doesn’t matter now. It has nothing to do with me.

And I feel a lot better when I work that out. Like I can concentrate on my issues. And not worry about other people’s problems buried in the past.