‘Yes. That’s one theory.’
‘There is another, you know: The intruder might also be a friend of Soames who committed the break-in in hopes that we would come to the very conclusion we just have: that he is being framed... when in fact he’s guilty as — what do you Americans say? — guilty as sin.’
VI
The House of Rats
Sunday, September 26
Chapter 44
The G6 jet settled low on the approach to Naples airport, smooth as a Cadillac in soft-suspension mode.
Amelia Sachs was the only passenger today and the flight attendant had doted.
‘More coffee? You really should try the croissants. The ones filled with prosciutto and mozzarella are the best.’
I could really get used to this...
Now, breakfasted and caffeinated, Sachs sat back and looked below the plane, on final. She got a clear view of the Capodichino Reception Center. From here it was a messy sprawl, much bigger than it appeared from the ground. Where, she wondered, would all those people end up? In ten years, would they have homes here? In other countries? Or would they have been sent back where they had come from — to meet a fate merely postponed by their voyage here.
Would they be alive or dead?
Her phone hummed — the crew didn’t require mobiles to be powered off — and she answered.
‘Yes?’
‘Detective Sachs... I am sorry, Amelia. It is Massimo Rossi. Are you in Milan still?’
‘No, just landing, Inspector.’
‘In Naples?’
‘Yes.’
‘Good, good. For we have received an email on the Questura website. The writer says that he — or she, there’s no name — saw a man on a hilltop near the camp the night of the murder of Dadi, just afterward. He was beside a dark car. The Italian is bad so we are certain he used a translation program. I would guess he is one of the vendors and Arabic is his first language.’
‘Does he say where?’
‘Yes.’ Rossi gave her the name of a road. He’d gone to Google Earth and found a footpath to a hilltop that overlooked the camp. He described it to her.
‘I probably just flew over it. I’ll stop on the way.’
‘I will have Ercole Benelli meet you there. In case translation is necessary.’ He chuckled. ‘Or a real badge must be shown to loosen tongues.’
She disconnected. Well, a concerned citizen had come forward.
A somewhat concerned citizen.
Would there be any evidence?
Maybe, maybe not. But you never missed any opportunities for the collection of even a microgram of trace.
Amelia Sachs sat in the back of Mike Hill’s limo, the cheerful driver flirting once more and regaling her with additional details of Naples. The eruption of Vesuvius was today’s topic, and she learned to her surprise that it was not ash or earthquake or lava that killed. It was poisonous fumes.
‘In only, it was, a few minutes. Poof. You would say poof?’
‘Yes.’
‘Poof and then: dead! Thousands dead. That certainly makes you think, does it not? Never waste a moment of life.’ He winked, and she wondered if he regularly used references to natural disasters to seduce women.
She’d given him the destination and the Audi limo wound through hills north of the camp. In a tree-line gully, she found Ercole Benelli, and asked the chauffeur to stop.
They greeted each other and she introduced him to the driver. The men shared a brief conversation in Italian.
‘Can you wait here? I won’t be long,’ Sachs said to the driver.
‘Yes, yes! Of course.’ The big man smiled, as if anything a beautiful lady asked would be granted.
‘That’s the path?’ she asked Ercole.
‘Yes.’
She looked around. It was impossible to see the camp from here, but she assumed that the walkway would take her to a good vantage point.
They slipped rubber bands over their shoes and started. The way was steep, mostly dirt and grass, but some stepping-stones were smooth and seemed intentionally planted. Was this an ancient Roman route?
Climbing, breathing hard. And sweating. The day was hot, even at this early hour.
A breath of wind surrounded them with a sweet smell.
‘Telinum,’ Ercole said. He’d apparently noted her head turn toward the scent.
‘A plant?’
‘A perfume. But made of some of what you’re smelling: cypress, calamus and sweet marjoram. Telinum was the most popular perfume in Caesar’s day.’
‘Julius?’
‘The only and one,’ Ercole said.
‘One and only.’
‘Ah.’
They crested the top of the hill. It was free of trees and, looking down, she saw that, yes, she did have a good view of the camp. She was discouraged to see no obvious signs that the Composer had been here. They walked farther, to the center of the clearing.
Ercole asked, ‘Milano? Captain Rhyme reported that you found nothing.’
‘No. But we eliminated a clue. That’s as important as finding one that pans out.’
‘As important?’ he asked wryly.
‘Okay. No. But you have to pursue it anyway. Besides, I just had croissants on a private jet. So, I’m hardly complaining. You know, I don’t see any footprints or... well, anything. Where would he have stood?’
They both looked about, and Ercole walked in a careful perimeter around the clearing. He returned to Sachs. ‘No, I see nothing.’
‘Why would the Composer come here? It was after the murder, the witness said.’
‘To see who was after him?’ The young officer shrugged. ‘Or to communicate with the gods or Satan or whoever might be directing him.’
‘That makes as much sense as anything.’
Ercole shook his head. ‘He would have some cover behind those trees. I will look.’
‘I’ll check out down there.’ Sachs stepped off the crest of the hill and walked to a small clearing closer to the camp.
Wondering again: What was his point in coming here?
It would have been out of his way — would have taken ten minutes of precious time needed for his escape — to climb the path.
Then she stopped. Fast.
The path!
The only way to see the camp — and to be seen from it — was here, on the crest, after climbing from the road. Yet the emailer had said the suspect had been spotted standing ‘beside’ a dark car as he looked over the camp.
Impossible.
There was no way to get a car up here; the vehicle would have had to remain in the valley, out of sight.
It’s a trap!
The Composer himself had sent the email — in bad Italian, a program translating it from English — to lure her or other officers here.
She turned and was just starting back to the crest, calling Ercole’s name, when she heard the shot. A powerful rifle shot, booming off the hills.
At the crest, Sachs dropped to a crouch in the brush that formed the perimeter of the clearing, drawing her Beretta. She glanced into the valley and saw Hill’s driver, panicked and crouching behind the fender of the Audi. He was on his mobile, apparently shouting as he summoned the police.
And then she looked over the fringe of dry, rustling weeds and saw Ercole Benelli sprawled face down in the dust beside a regal magnolia. She started to rise and run toward him when a second bullet slammed into the ground right in front of her and, a moment later, the boom of the powerful gun’s report filled the air.
‘One interview?’
The man on the other end of the line was speaking in his soft Southern (US not Italian) drawl. This always seemed to make a request more persuasive.