“Yeah,” he told her. “Sounds good. I need the break. Besides, I owe you a beer.”
He tried to stay awake, but he was asleep before they left the room.
—
Orlanda woke Valerio when it was time for her to go, so she could help him get ready for bed.
Coming into the bedroom, he saw a brown cardboard box on the bed, wrapped in clear tape.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“A courier dropped it off a couple of hours ago. It’s for you.”
The return address was for a law firm in Rome: Damiani Studio Legale e Tributario.
The box, when he opened it, was full of papers and photos and an old computer hard drive.
There was a handwritten note on top.
Valerio,
If you have this, it means I’m dead.
I took these from Luca. Everything you need to make sure he’s in prison forever.
You’re the only one I could think to give these to. The only cop I could ever trust. A good man.
Federico
Thirty-Four
The sun was low in the sky, shadows lengthening, temperature dropping as Nikki entered Naples. It had been another long day of negotiations, but she’d managed to get her bike back from the police impound yard in Caserta. The police had seized it, along with everything else associated with the massacre at the Errichiello compound, and it had taken nearly a week to get the paperwork and approval to retrieve it.
Raoul had taken her to Caserta, a drive that was notable for its silence. Her father’s recent bout of enthusiasm had subsided when he visited her in the hospital where she was treated for smoke inhalation. This shift towards melancholy made Nikki uncomfortable because it reminded her of the way he’d been after the death of Beatrice.
Outside the city, stopping for fuel, he cleaned the windscreen, then took a half-filled carton of cigarettes from the glove box and threw it in the trash.
“Nasty habit,” he said.
“Massimo says you’re heading back home tomorrow,” Nikki said. “Does that mean the investigation is finished?”
“Sì.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
He shrugged.
“There was no grand conspiracy,” he said. “No hidden messages. Just the fantasies of a foolish old man who thought he could be important again.”
He paused before starting the engine, and looked at her.
“I don’t see the right things, bella,” he said. “I never have. Even when they’re clear…and precious. And right in front of me.”
Gently, tenderly, he took her hand, and kissed it.
Little was said after that.
Nikki felt relieved when they reached the impound lot and could say goodbye.
