‘Home!’ says Valentina, clapping her beautifully slim hands in a symbol of triumph. ‘Or at least, what for now passes as home.’
Tom gets to his feet and finds he’s bone weary, the kind of tired that seeps through to your marrow and makes you groan whenever you sit or rise.
‘What do you make of the drawing?’ asks Valentina as they take the stairs.
‘Maybe nothing. We’re both tired, and that makes you see spooks everywhere. Let’s talk about it tomorrow, when we’ve got fresh brains.’
Valentina thinks he’s dismissing it too easily, but she can see that right now it’s not something he wants to dwell on.
They only need to take one step outside to notice that the temperature’s dropped further and their breath quickly frosts in the early-morning air. Thankfully there’s still a little heat hanging around in the Fiat. Valentina starts her up, pulls out of the car park and moves the conversation smoothly on. ‘Seems our lady has quite a new personality.’
‘Let me guess, another legendary Roman.’
‘No, not this time.’ Valentina corrects herself. ‘Well, actually it probably is Roman, just not historic.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Anna Fratelli, that’s the name of the latest alter. Apparently a real foul-mouthed she-cat. She was in the control of this personality when she escaped from Louisa and her boss.’
Both Tom and Valentina think the same thing at exactly the same time, but he’s the first to say it. ‘Maybe that’s not an alter. Maybe that’s her real personality. She sounds tough enough to survive.’
‘You think so?’
‘Why not? There has to be a default, an original person still existing deep down in there somewhere.’
‘Right. Louisa called it a host.’
Tom wipes condensation from the small passenger window and looks out into the cold darkness of the night. ‘I had a friend in the LAPD helped me out at the community centre in Compton. A big black guy called Danny Moses.’
‘Moses?’
‘Yeah. His name always raised a laugh from the gang-bangers down there. They’d call out, “Here comes Moses and the Jesus guy!” They’d slap their sides and hoot like it had never been said before. Anyway, Danny was a dab hand at finding runaways. Creatures of habit, he’d say. They run for home, they run to friends or they run to somewhere they go regularly. We even found several kids who’d stolen stuff from the church actually hiding out in the church community hall.’
Valentina catches his drift. ‘So you think what? Anna’s gone back to the hospital? Or back to Cosmedin?’
Tom’s not sure.
He’s almost sorry he came out with the anecdote now. ‘I don’t know. Tonight is cold enough to freeze hell over, and she was on foot, so she must be holed up somewhere local. Maybe she’s not far from wherever she left Louisa and that pervert-looking boss of hers.’
‘Valducci? You think he looks like a pervert?’
‘God forgive me, I shouldn’t be so judgemental. But yes, he looks very pervy – and believe me, I’ve been around enough Catholic priests to know.’
Valentina laughs and swings the Punto west towards Cosmedin. ‘You mind if we quickly visit the place Louisa last saw her? We’re only a couple of kilometres away and I’ll sleep better if we take a look.’
Tom scratches his head. ‘Sure. Though it’s not necessary.’
Valentina frowns across to him.
‘I’ve already discovered there are other ways to make sure you sleep very soundly.’
57
En route to Cosmedin, Valentina makes a series of calls to the overnight team working Central Control. She keeps Tom busy writing down several addresses that she calls out.
By the time they reach the Piazza della Bocca della Verita, he’s recorded five separate locations for variously aged Anna Fratellis, but only one for a twenty-seven-year-old living in Cosmedin.
Valentina turns off the engine and has a pang of guilt.
Despite the lateness of the hour, she calls Federico’s cell to tell him where she is and what she’s up to. She feels better that it’s turned off and coolly leaves a message promising to update him in the morning. There are several reasons why she’s relieved he hasn’t picked up, not least because she’s simply too tired to wait around for him to drive out and join them. He’ll be pissed when he gets the message, but so what?
After everything he’s done, he’s damned lucky she even thought to ring him.
The address is south of the small basilica. It’s off a series of back streets behind a thick clump of parkland that surrounds a tiny three-star hotel.
Valentina drives with her lights off and parks up at the end of the street, a good way from the target address.
It’s a ground-floor apartment in a four-storey block.
The position of Anna’s name on the bell block shows the apartment is on the left-hand side. Valentina cups a hand to Tom’s ear and whispers, ‘Stay outside, in the side road, and watch those windows.’ She points out two frames. ‘The frosted one is a bathroom; the other may be the bedroom or lounge. If she bolts again, it will have to be through one of those.’
Tom nods and rubs cold from his arms. His parachute of a shirt is not suitable attire for a sub-zero stake- out.
As she feared, Valentina finds the front door to the apartment block is on a magnetic lock. She buzzes several fourth-floor addresses until someone swears through the intercom and then opens up for her.
She moves quickly inside.
Anna’s apartment is just a few metres away to her left.
She knocks hard three times and shouts, ‘Carabinieri! Open up!’
She puts her finger on the buzzer to the right of the door and presses long and hard, then bangs again with her fist. ‘ Rapidamente! ’
She puts her ear to the door.
She can’t hear anything.
Nor can she wait any longer. She’s made enough noise to wake the whole block, so if someone’s in there they’ve had plenty of chance to get to the door.
She pulls out her Beretta and takes a well-practised running kick at the door.
It splinters below the lock, but holds firm around the mortise.
‘ Cazzo! ’ It’s deadlocked.
She backs up and hits it again.
This time the jamb splits and the door booms back on its hinges.
Valentina put so much effort into the kick, she stumbles to a stop in the middle of a strange dark room.
Instinctively she sweeps the gun in a protective arc and tries to get her bearings.
A door is opening.
Yellow street light starts bleeding in from somewhere off to her left.
A ball of shadow and noise hurtles towards her.
Valentina sidesteps and knocks something over.
A glass lamp crashes behind her.
The shadow ball smashes into her legs, sends her tumbling backwards into a wall.
Her Beretta spills into the darkness.
Arms and hands close like monstrous tentacles around her knees.
She slams her elbow down hard and feels it connect with the bone of a skull.
There’s a dull cry from beneath her.
