“What does this do?” Luca asks curiously, looking it over.
“X-rays,” the art historian replies, back to his jovial self. “A little crude, but effective. It will show us at once if there is anything deep inside your rosary. If not, I can use other methods to examine the layers of glazing…” He devolves into technical talk, so I stop listening.
Dr. Bonaventura turns on the machine, muttering about letting it warm up, and pulls across a chair to sit in front of the viewing screen on the other side. I turn to Luca, and we have one of our silent conversations. I’m apprehensive, and he cups my cheek in a reassuring way and gives me a smile. Then he takes my hand in his, warm and comforting.
“Ah,” Dr. Bonaventura says in surprise, still staring at the viewscreen.
My fingers contract hard around Luca’s.
“Yes, thereissomething in here,” the art historian continues, sounding curious now.
Luca clears his throat. “May we see?”
“Please, please—” Dr. Bonaventura motions us over, and we crowd around the screen. “Here we are,” he says, pointing on the screen at the outline of something within the cross. It’s not as clear an x-ray as I’ve seen even at airplane security checks, but it’s clear enough, and I suck in a breath. “Do you see?” Dr. Bonaventura asks. He peers even closer, leaning into the screen. “It looks like—I think it might be—”
“It’s akey,” I say.
Chapter Sixty-Four
FINCH
We arrive back in New York with a new purpose. Teo has managed to pull the mansion together enough for us to stay there, and although I can’t help feeling an initial sense of dread as we walk into it again, I shake it off.
The place has changed—and somehow hasn’t. It looks like it was alwayssupposedto look, I think. The furniture and rugs and paintings are all back in place, and there are huge vases of artistically-arranged flowers in almost every room, filling the air with their scent. The mansion is old-fashioned in style, but not dated. Just…classic.
I like it a lot.
I bet Tino Morelli must have loved it, too. I only met him a few times, but he seemed like the kind of guy who’d appreciate wallpaper and wainscoting.
Luca takes his time walking through, getting the tour from Teo, who mostly points out the new security features. I’m more interested in the interior decoration. “Well, baby bird?” Luca asks me once we’re alone. He lifts me up by the waist and spins me around in the empty ballroom in which we ended the tour. The floor is restored, shining parquet and I’m already planning the kind of parties we could hold in here. A masquerade ball…
Of course, I remind myself, we’re only staying here while the townhouse is rebuilt.
“It looks amazing.” I smile down at Luca, still hoisted in his arms. “But be careful—”
“I’m perfectly well,” he tells me, scowling.
“—of my outfit,” I finish, and grin at his face.
He sets me back on my feet and tugs my clothes straight for me. “We’ll be safe here,” he tells me afterward, running a hand through my paling-pink hair. It’s faded since Venice; the color I bought at a dollar-store equivalent wasn’t exactly salon quality. It’s more cotton candy than magenta now, but Luca loved it so much that I’ve decided to recolor it for him.
I like it as afuck youto the people who want us dead, as well. See how much I care about their threats? Pink hair tells them exactly how much.
Luca’s hands are still on me, massaging my shoulders in light circles. “While you went wandering, Vitali told me he’s located the bank and branch.”
Once we knew there was a key inside the rosary, it was easy enough to find out thekindof key it was: a safe deposit box key. Dr. Bonaventura opened the crucifix and dug it out so carefully that he was even able to put the cross back together afterward. I can give the whole thing back to Róisín some time. Maybe mail it, since she doesn’t want to see me again.
The safe deposit box key had a three-digit number engraved on it, the same three digits that appeared in the middle of the number string in Mom’s note. Once we took them out, there were enough leftover numbers to identify a high-security Swiss depository bank, and its branch in Manhattan. Turns out the numbers were written backward, but that was as clever as Mom had gotten.
And now, apparently, Teo has confirmed everything.
I feel the smile disappear from my face. “Okay. Well. Good.”
“So we can go check it out tomorrow,” Luca says. “Or,” he adds, touching his lips to my forehead, “whenever you’re ready.”
I don’t want to look in that box. I know it’ll just be more disappointment; nothing will be in it, or it’ll be money, or diamonds, or something equally useless to me now. But there’s no point dragging this shit out. “Tomorrow. We’ll go tomorrow.”
Luca takes a long look at me, then nods. “Tomorrow.”
