favorite.'
McCabe said, 'Did he talk to you about what happened?'
'I asked him who the men were and why they came to our house,' Angela said. 'He wouldn't tell me anything. He's never said a word about it.'
'I saw you with him coming out of A1 Moro and I could tell by watching you something was wrong.'
'You could see that? Every time I talk to him we argue,' Angela said.
'Who were the men with you,' McCabe said, 'walking behind you?'
Angela said, 'The little one is Mauro, my father's bodyguard. He, too, is Sicilian, from my father's village.'
'He doesn't look like a bodyguard.'
'That's what happens — you underestimate him — and then it's too late. The other man is my cousin from Detroit. Maybe you know him.'
'What's his name?'
'Joey Palermo.'
'Are you a Palermo too?'
'No, Gennaro.'
McCabe was thinking — wait a minute. He remembered the Rome cop, Captain Ferrara, telling him about Carlo Gennaro, the boss of all bosses in Rome. It couldn't be the same family. He said, 'Your dad's name isn't Carlo, is it?'
Angela said, 'How did you know?'
Chapter Twenty-five
They were sitting on the portico, looking across the valley at the Cimini Mountains, blue sky, high clouds, Viterbo in the distance. The half wall next to them had vines crisscrossing it like green veins. She glanced at McCabe and said, 'Do you know what Viterbo is famous for?'
McCabe said, 'Of course, do you?'
He made it sound like a challenge.
'It is the city of popes,' Angela said. 'La Citta dei Papi. More popes are from Viterbo than anywhere.'
'Anagni is the real city of popes,' McCabe said. 'I can think of four who were born there: Innocent III, Gregory IX, Alexander IV and Boniface VIII- all between 1198 and 1303.'
Angela said, 'You know your popes.' She sipped her wine. 'Then what is Viterbo?'
'The residence of popes,' McCabe said. 'They lived there because it was safer than living in Rome. The emperor wanted to kill them. That's why the walls were built around the city.'
She saw a truck driving by in the distance.
McCabe sipped his wine and said, 'You know about the papal election of 1268?'
'Let me think,' she said, putting him on. 'No, I don't remember.'
'Eighteen cardinals went to the bishop's palace to elect the new pope,' McCabe said. 'A year and a half went by and they still hadn't picked someone, so the people of Viterbo, the Viterbesi, locked them in their conclave and fed them bread and water till a new pope was chosen.'
She was leaning back in her chair, legs bent, feet on the stone wall for balance.
'Are you falling asleep yet?' McCabe said.
'I was starting to doze off now that you say it. '
His glass was empty and she poured him more Chianti and held his gaze. She said, 'You going to tell me your plan to get the money, or talk about the history of Viterbo?'
'I'm going to do as the Romans do.'
'Who said that, Caesar?'
'St Ambrose.'
'Who is St Ambrose?'
'The Bishop of Milan.'
Angela studied his face. 'Is this for real?'
'You want to hear it?' He paused. 'St Augustine went to Milan and learned that the Church didn't fast on Saturday as they did in Rome.'
'When was this?' Angela lit a cigarette and blew smoke toward the mountains.
'AD 387.' McCabe sipped his wine. 'So St Ambrose said, 'When I am at Rome, I fast on Saturday. When I am at Milan, I do not. Follow the custom of the Church where you are.' And over time it became 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do.''
'So you are going to do it their way, uh?' She flicked her cigarette ash on the patio stones. 'What does that mean?'
'I'm going to meet Joey in front of Palazzo dei Priori,' McCabe said, 'if you know where that is.' 'In the square,' Angela said, 'Plebiscito. There are usually a lot of people there. '
'That's why I chose it,' McCabe said.
'Okay, you meet him in the middle of town,' Angela said. 'Then what happens?'
'I invite him in the Palazzo, the council chamber, show him the ceiling. It's covered in frescos painted by Baldassare Croce in 1592, depicting the mythological origins of Viterbo and other historical events.'
She smiled, not expecting that. 'What are you really going to do?'
McCabe said, 'Ask him for the money. He isn't carrying a white Adidas soccer bag, it's over. We try again another time.'
'If he has the money,' Angela said, 'and I believe he will, he is going to want to see me. You must know that, right?'
He looked at her but didn't say anything.
'How many people have you kidnapped?' She could see him start to smile. 'It doesn't seem like you know what you are doing.' Angela paused. 'You have to make them think you have a partner — you are not alone.'
'I've got another idea,' McCabe said.
'I hope so.'
'You'll be in a hotel room in Piazza San Pellegrino. I tell Joey to meet me in the square, he looks up, sees you in the window.'
'You know what happens then? He sends Mazara in the hotel and up to the room to get me.'
'He's supposed to come alone,' McCabe said.
Angela said, 'You think he's going to play by the rules?'
Her expression serious now. 'If you really want this money I suggest you think about it a little more.'
McCabe said, 'You kidnap someone, you don't expect them to give you advice on how to collect the ransom.'
Angela said, 'You sound like you need some help.'
'Whose idea was it to take me?' McCabe sipped his wine, eyes on her.
'Mazara was telling me about this rich American he met in Rebibbia and read about in the newspaper. He was thinking of kidnapping him, making some easy money. He told me what he was going to do. I listened, and said, 'That is never going to work.' He said, 'You have a better idea?''
'Sounds familiar,' McCabe said.
'I planned everything. I arranged to rent the farmhouse and volunteered to try to meet you, hoping you would notice me and you would be interested.'
'How'd I do?' McCabe said.
'I also chose the transportation and the route the senator would take, sending him to three churches. The last one was Santi Giovanni e Paolo because it was built over a house of worship, and there are tunnels and underground passageways that would give us a perfect way to escape with the money.
'I knew the carabinieri would be involved, brought in for counsel, and they would use a tracking device or a transponder to follow the money and they did. We agreed to split the ransom five ways. Mazara told his crew I
