Somehow, I did not think the solution would be that easy. “How many others would think there might be a list?” I asked. “Would they try to find it?”
“I do not know, but we can assume more than a few. De Luca was acquainted with every legitimate buyer and seller of antiquities, but also every thief, every receiver, and every under-the-table dealer.”
“This list would be of great interest then.”
“Indeed.” Denis’s answer was short and emphatic.
I pondered. Trevisan had been very concerned about the method of de Luca’s demise and had strongly insisted his goods remained in his house.
Was Trevisan a dealer himself? Legitimate or otherwise? Such a thing might explain why he’d moved himself and his mother to Rome for a time. He might have brought antiquities from Milan or Venice to sell to others here. Possibly de Luca was his go-between, or possibly a buyer, and perhaps Trevisan did not want his goods going missing or anyone to know about his true dealings with de Luca.
I heaved a sigh. “Then I will continue to search. Is there any chance you could arrange for me to see Gian? He would know de Luca’s hiding places better than any other.”
Denis’s brows twitched. I wasn’t certain he’d have influence on the police of Rome or its justice system, but he had magistrates in his thrall in England, so why not Rome as well?
“I do not know, but I will see.”
“Also, Mr. Broadhurst is in Rome. At least he was here. Can some of your men keep an eye on him?”
“Where does he lodge?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know, exactly.”
Denis’s gaze bore a tinge of exasperation, but he nodded again. “I will find him.”
I wondered how long he’d put up with my requests before he decided his debt to me was paid. It was a very odd feeling, I thought as his bodyguard returned with brandy for me to sip, to be the one who held Denis’s strings. It was usually the other way about.
I departedafter the glass of brandy, meeting Bartholomew as he emerged from the servants’ hall. Bartholomew’s cheerfulness was undimmed, but he looked a bit wan in the foyer’s lamplight.
“Luigi is the cove who first answered the door.” Bartholomew shuddered. “They were right that he’s a hard man. Picks his teeth with a knife. Even Mr. Denis’s blokes give him a wide berth.”
“I wonder whether Denis sought him out or if he came with the place,” I mused. When I’d remarked on the beauty of the house, Denis had only given me one of his barely discernible shrugs and said he had an agent who found abodes for him to rent when he traveled.
“Couldn’t say, sir,” Bartholomew said. “No one would talk about him, not with him there, glaring.”
Luigi was nowhere in sight, fortunately, and we left the house without hindrance. Outside, a large shadow detached itself from the dark and stepped in front of us.
“Couldn’t wait ten minutes before ye ran off, guv?” Brewster raged at me. “If ye get yourself killed when I’m elsewhere, it won’t be my fault. This is a dangerous city after dark, by all accounts. Ye stick by me side, and that’s all.”
“Which is why I brought Bartholomew,” I told him. “I knew I’d be perfectly safe in a house leased by James Denis.”
“Aye, but that don’t mean you’re safefrom’im,” Brewster declared. “Or his toughs. They’ll end you quick the minute His Nibs snaps his fingers.”
I experienced a qualm, knowing Brewster had the right of it. Denis and I were in a state of truce but that could end at any moment. “You used to be one of those toughs,” I remarked.
“That’s how I know what they’d do. But now I work for you, and it’s my job to keep you whole. Next time you pay a visit to His Nibs, you make sure I’m with ye.”
“I apologize, Brewster. You are correct. Bartholomew’s presence helps keep the thieves of Rome at bay, but I should not drop my guard with Mr. Denis.”
“Too right, you shouldn’t.” Brewster said nothing more but tramped beside me into the narrow street off the square, his boots ringing on the stones.
When we reached home, Brewster went off to bed, still annoyed with me, though he did tell me he’d tucked Cockburn safely into his lodgings near the Colosseum.
Donata, who was used to staying up all hours of the night, was writing letters in the sitting room upstairs. Grenville was having a late repast in the downstairs dining room, Matthias told me, but I was not hungry and mounted the stairs in search of my wife.
Donata’s maid had released her hair from its elaborate style, and it hung down her back in thick dark waves. She’d told me that when she’d been a debutante, she’d had it cut off to her neck as was the fashion. It had made her head marvelously light, but she’d decided to let it grow it back again.
I was glad she had. I came behind her and brushed back a lock of that luxurious hair, kissing the top of her head.
