It was a Rome number.
I asked Fabio, 'Who delivered this?'
'It was with the rest of the post.'
'No postmark?'
'Just as I passed it to you, Lovejoy.' He grinned wickedly. 'Some handsome admirer you haven't told us about?'
I was on tenterhooks wondering, so I made sure I broke off on time. On the way out Adriana spoke to me as I was dismissed—turning approximately in my direction but speaking a mile over my head.
'Lovejoy. Your lunch arrangements are altered.'
I'd forgotten my nosh money. 'They are?'
'Yes. I've phoned an account in, at the pizzeria across the street and the trattoria next to it.'
'Er, thank you, signora.'
'For one,' she said absently. I felt the barb: no hungry partners share your dinners, Lovejoy.
'Of course, signora.'
I made my farewells and hurried to the trattoria where they let me use their phone. My hands were shaking as I dialled. A bored bird announced a hotel's name quite openly.
'Look,' I said with some puzzlement. 'My name's Lovejoy. I was asked to phone this number at two-thirty.'
'It's not that yet.' She was bored and belligerent. 'I'll put you through but don't blame me.'
It was Arcellano all right. I felt my flesh creep as soon as I heard the poisonous bastard. He asked, 'How's my old friend?'
'I haven't a bean,' I complained. 'I'm having to work on tick.'
He gave his cat-cough chuckle but I'll bet without a proper smile. 'Exactly as I like it, Lovejoy. Here's my instruction. As soon as you've completed our transaction, you will ring this phone number, in Bonn. The very instant. You'll be told where to deliver the item. Do you understand?'
'Yes.'
'And Lovejoy. No more accidents with cars.'
'What do you mean?' I was all innocent.
The phone went dead. I wrote down the number he'd given me and had a sombre meal.
* * *
I left the trattoria thinking resentfully that half of the people in Rome now seemed to be my bosses. I had Anna bellyaching that everything I did was wrong. I had Adriana telling me where and when I could eat, and now who to sleep with. There was Piero fighting me every inch of the way. Fabio was stirring it. And Arcellano, probably having me watched now even as I walked through the Piazza Navona towards Anna's.
It was then that I got the other half. A familiar motor was waiting as I emerged on the south side of the Navona. Familiar because you don't get many of them that ghastly purple colour. The chauffeur stood out as I crossed over.
'Signor.'
Like a fool, I was smiling as I got in, but the thing was empty. I sat, puzzled. Adriana had said nothing about sending her car for me.
We rolled like a mobile cathedral into the river road. I listened carefully. There was not a cheep out of the clock.
'Where are we going?' I asked the driver, peering out at the car roofs. I'd never been this high without a ladder. 'Look. I have to be back at work—'
'One moment, signor.'
That was all I got from him. The interior of the car was carpeted and there were more cupboards around than I had in my cottage. It was lovely. With my B movie memory I tried the door handle at a traffic light. It wasn't locked, so I wasn't going to be gassed.
Only Adriana, probably, wanting to talk.
We were only a few minutes reaching the block of apartments. Not too tall a building, and very discreet. The ground floor was occupied by a suite of offices, some kind of property development company by the looks of things. I'm thick sometimes. I was still smiling in anticipation when I realized the place was Signor Albanese's, not Adriana's.
A suave young bloke showed me in. Signor Albanese was reading documents behind a rosewood desk. I trudged the mile between the door and the chair. He had more sense than keep me waiting by pretending preoccupation, and looked up immediately with a smile that told me once again it was not my day.
'There you are,' he said, smiling at the secretary to bring a sherry. 'You are much younger than I'd imagined, Lovejoy. I put you in the mid forties.'
'Some of us never make it.'
He smiled and invited me into the chair.
'You can leave us, Ernesto.'
'I'm afraid I don't have much time,' I said.
'I know. You must be back at the Emporium fairly soon.' He nodded as though that side of things was of the slightest importance.
