“Sorry,” I offered.
The roll shutter rose suddenly and Sci and Faduma entered.
“What’s that smell?” he asked. “It’s amazing.”
“Food over there,” Mo-bot replied. “Courtesy of the Badawi family.”
“Help yourself,” Amr said.
“I will,” Sci assured him.
I introduced Sci and Faduma, and when they had loaded their plates, they joined us.
“How did it go?” he asked.
“Altmer is dead. Someone tried to frame me, and they almostsucceeded. I got arrested,” I replied. “But Valentina hatched a plan, and these guys sprung me.”
“Standard Morgan night out,” Sci replied.
“And you?” I asked.
“We were able to get a bug inside,” Faduma replied.
“Only because she’s got nerves of steel,” Sci interjected.
Faduma waved away the praise. “We saw Milan Verde meeting with Stefano Trotta.”
“The minister we saw at Elia Antonelli’s house?”
Faduma nodded.
“So, Antonelli might have been lying about having no connections to the Dark Fates?” I suggested.
“Seems that way,” Sci replied.
“And we’ve learnt the priest who befriended me isn’t what he seems,” I said. “And before he died, Altmer said something.”
The whole group waited expectantly.
“His last words were that Matteo is lying,” I revealed, and saw their expressions of shock.
Like me, they would be struggling to believe that our colleague, the man who was at the heart of this investigation, might not have been completely honest with us.
CHAPTER87
AFTER WE’D EATEN, Amr and Amina had left and Valentina had gone with them. Sci and I bunked in one of the bedrooms, Justine and Mo-bot had taken another, and Faduma was in the third.
By 2 a.m. I had puzzled through every aspect of this investigation and the picture still wasn’t any clearer. To get to the truth I needed a breakthrough and I had an idea how to get it, but it would involve a betrayal.
A small one, but a betrayal nonetheless.
I waited until I was sure Sci was asleep, his heavy breathing reverberating around the room. I grabbed my clothes and crept out.
I moved quietly through the living area until I was near the front door.
“Where are you going?” Justine whispered. I turned to see her fully dressed, ready to leave.
She walked over to me and ran her fingers over my bare chest. Her touch felt good and I pulled her close for a kiss. Our lips met. For a time I forgot everything else.
