“I tend to agree with you.” He didn’t have time to run after the professor. Not with Tex’s situation unresolved, and not until he personally put Sydney safely on her flight out.
At least that was his thought until Sydney handed him back his cell phone, her look somewhat smug. “If I told you something you didn’t know,” she said, “would it change your mind about sending me home just yet?”
“I doubt it. But try me.”
“Two things. One, that book. Carillo said the security video from the gift shop showed that wasn’t the only thing Alessandra mailed.”
“It wasn’t?”
“She bought a postcard with a mummy on the front of it. On the back she wrote something and mailed it separately.”
“Any idea what she wrote?” Griffin asked.
“As a matter of fact I do. She drew a triangle, then the word
“A triangle?” He saw the image carved on Alessandra’s face, tried not to think of it, failed, and it took him a moment to recover his thoughts. “Like the triangle carved on her face?”
“It could be a pyramid,” she said. “Especially considering the word
“They were in Egypt,” Griffin said. “Digging in a pyramid. Pyramid not in Egypt? But why mail the book?”
“Maybe as a decoy.”
“More importantly, what does this have to do with Adami building and smuggling bioweapons?”
“Maybe she was trying to tell you that the dig was a ploy?”
The same thing that Tasha had suggested…It made no sense. “This second thing?”
“You’ll never guess which professor’s name Carillo saw on a reference page to a research paper written by a second missing person from UVA-a student who was last seen with Alessandra.”
“Why do I not want to hear this?”
“Because the student also listed this professor’s address as being at the American Academy.”
Giustino set the book on the table. “What is that saying? The story fattens?”
“The plot thickens,” Sydney said.
“I can think of a few other choice sayings,” Griffin muttered. “None of them remotely polite.”
Sydney gave a shrug. “I’m sure there’s a perfectly plausible explanation, and I’d love to help you, especially with all the maps and notes tucked away in her office that probably have something to do with all this, but”-she made a show of looking at her watch-“have a plane to catch.”
Giustino’s smile turned into a full-blown grin, and Griffin glared at him before turning his attention back to Sydney. “Tell me about this paper Carillo found.”
“According to Carillo, genealogy, something about some long-lost relative in Naples who was a prince. The other paper, the one I brought a copy of, was on conspiracy theory.”
Hell. Dumas said Santarella was looking up something about a prince. “Like I said, what would either have to do with the smuggling of bioweapons?”
“Good question. Clearly the professor is hiding something.”
He hated to admit she was right, but she was. He’d been bothered by the same thing, something he might have taken more heed of had he not been so distracted by Sydney’s presence-which was another reason to get her on that plane tonight.
“Of course,” Sydney continued, “you could always ask her.”
“If I knew where she was.”
“You mean Dumas lost her?”
“She was looking up information on a prince,” he said, ignoring yet another smug look from her, “as well as something to do with the columbaria.”
“When I was in her office, I saw a lot of stuff on her walls that had to do with the columbaria.”
“What sort of stuff?”
“Maps, diagrams, photos, notes. I gathered it was sort of a specialty. What she was here to study. Maybe if we-if
The thought bore merit. “Even if we did find something, how would we even know what we were looking at? It would have been nice to have an expert solidly in our own court. Someone we could trust without question.”
Sydney walked over, picked up her travel bag, then placed it by the front door. “Too bad I’m leaving. I actually do have a go-to man when it comes to digging up obscure bits of information. If anyone can put a spin on some long-forgotten columbarium, Doc Schermer can.”
“Doc Schermer?”
“My ex-partner Carillo’s current partner.”
“May I ask you something, Special Agent Fitzpatrick?”
“Fire away.”
“Back in Quantico, when I mentioned that this case was not to be discussed with anyone, at what point did you disobey that directive?”
She gave a light shrug. “Couple hours into it when I called Carillo from my dorm room.”
“Figures,” he said, wondering how it was he’d so totally misjudged her. Then again, maybe had he given her free rein as she’d insisted, they might be further along.
Or she might be dead.
He’d had a number of good reasons for keeping things from her. Even now it was a risk. But like it or not, she was involved, not likely to change her mind, and he could use the help. Unlike Professor Santarella, Sydney Fitzpatrick knew most of the risks, was well-trained by the Bureau, and any knowledge she and her fellow agents brought to the table was a plus. He looked at Giustino, said, “I need two calls made before we move out. First, bring in someone to cover for you here. I don’t want this unmanned while Tex is still out there.”
“And the second?” Giustino asked.
“Call the airport and cancel Fitzpatrick’s flight,” he said, ignoring her catlike smile.
Sydney rolled up the cuffs on her ENEL coveralls, trying to make them look more like they fit her, when they belonged to Giustino, who stood about four inches taller. When she finished, she smoothed out the uniform, and Griffin, also in ENEL coveralls, nodded.
“Not to worry,” he said. “No one will pay much attention.”
She could only hope, she thought as they walked across the street to the van where Giustino, dressed all in black, was waiting.
The moment she slid into the front passenger seat, Griffin said, “Do me a favor, Fitzpatrick. When we get to the American Academy, don’t say a thing.”
“Like the four words of Italian I know are going to do much good?”
“You sure you want to do this?”
“Absolutely.”
A little after ten, they drove to the academy, the ENEL electric company logo still on the van, a perfect cover for their plans this evening. Griffin dropped Giustino off around the corner from the entrance, then waited a short way down the street. About five minutes later, every light at the academy went out.
They waited a couple of minutes before Griffin drove up to the electric gate and parked. It was still open, which meant it would remain that way until Griffin called Giustino to restore the power.
“You don’t think we should have waited longer?” Sydney asked him.
“Trust me. The utility companies are notoriously slow. He’ll be grateful to see us.”
And sure enough, as the two of them, small toolboxes in hand, walked up to the open gate, the guard hurried toward them, smiling as he waved them through, saying, “
Griffin rattled off something in Italian so fast that Sydney recognized only ENEL. Whatever he said worked. The guard returned to his shack, allowing Griffin and Sydney to enter the premises on their own. Their boots crunched the gravel path that circled the fountain, and just before they left the path, Sydney glanced back to see the guard standing near the open gate.
