He felt in his pockets, took out a cigarette, and lit it.
“One more name,” he said. “Scroll to the next picture.”
Nikki found it. “Zosima.”
“Zosima was a monk in Palestine in the fifth century,” he said. “Beatrice connected those names: Diogenes, Damascus, and Zosima. Three names. They shouldn’t go together, should they? Two points…two names…they can be a coincidence. But all three? It’s like celestial navigation—three stars to tell you where you are!”
“What does it mean?” Nikki asked.
He shook his head. “Your mother knew things.”
“What things?”
He squinted and looked across the street while he sucked on his cigarette. “This was after Adriano…. She thought that he…”
He didn’t finish, only shook his head.
“Tell me,” Nikki pressed.
Raoul seemed suddenly older. He slumped in his seat.
“They caught the boys who killed him,” he said. “Stray bullet. Manslaughter. They went to Poggioreale.”
Nikki clenched her teeth and didn’t say anything. She nodded.
“Beatrice didn’t think Adriano’s death was an accident,” he said.
Nikki was suddenly cold. Her father’s face seemed to retreat—flattening into an abstract image.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.
He sighed. “You two had your own problems,” he said. “You fought like tigers. Then, after you went to London with Izzy, it seemed like you’d finally found some peace.”
“What did Mom believe?”
“You know how your mother could be…obsessive. I couldn’t talk her out of it. She thought the official investigation was a cover-up. She investigated on her own—talked to people, asked questions.”
Nikki’s mind raced.
She thought of Beatrice after Adriano’s death—distraught and vicious, incapable of her usual compulsive planning and analyzing.
“She never gave up,” he continued. “I stopped listening, I think. I didn’t mean to—but I did. I regret that. Beatrice saw things I couldn’t.”
He put out his cigarette and lit another. “I can’t find her records. She kept everything—big files—on a shelf in our bedroom. I asked if I could put them into storage. She never let me. I don’t know where they are now. Maybe at your place. That’s where I remember those names: Damascus, Diogenes, and Zosima.”
They walked back in silence.
—
As they approached the gate to her building, Nikki spotted her brother and his new Dutch friend, Mac.
Raoul waved. “Good! You made it!”
“What are you doing here?” Nikki demanded.
Gianni shrugged. “Babbo said you were going through Mamma’s things. Thought I’d have a look.”
She stiffened. She didn’t want Gianni in her home, especially not with Mac. But Raoul was already leading them through the gate, and up the stairs.
