'T-R-A . . .' Carella said, nodding.
'You know it?'
'Nostradamus, sure. The Greek prophet.'
'French,' Meyer said.
'Whatever.'
'Write it down.'
Carella wrote it down:
NOSTRADAMUS
'Okay, got it,' he said.
IN THE MOVIES, this was that stretch of turf alongside the river, under the bridge, where the nasty bad guys pulled up in their big black cars for a face-off about dope or prostitution.
In real life, this was that very same spot.
And Konstantinos Sallas knew this was not Clarendon Hall.
'Driver?' he said, and tapped on the glass partition separating them from the front seat. The glass slid open. 'Where are we?' he asked. 'Is something . . . ?'
And realized he was looking into the barrel of an automatic weapon.
Jeremy Higel, the Greek's bodyguard, was already reaching under his jacket.
'No, don't,' the Deaf Man said.
The hand stopped.
The Deaf Man gestured with the Uzi.
'Get out,' he said. 'Both of you.'
'Wh ...?'
'Get out of the fucking carl'
Sallas reached for his violin case.
'Leave it,' the Deaf Man said.
NOSTRADAMUS
'That's the latest from our friend,' Meyer said. 'Nostradamus.'
'Just the name?' Carella asked.
'That's all. We've been juggling it around up here. So far, we've got 'A SUM' backwards . . .'
'Uh-huh, 'A SUM,' I see it . . .'*
A MUS
'Backwards, right?' 'Right. Backwards.'
A SUM
And 'DARTS' is buried in there, too. You see it there? 'DARTS'?'
'Right,' Carella said, 'I've got it.'
DARTS
'The way arrows was buried in sparr — ' Meyer started, and then interrupted himself. 'Help you?' he asked. Carella heard a muffled voice on the other end, away from the phone. 'Thanks,' he heard Meyer say.
'What've you got?' he asked.
Another one.'
Another what?'
A letter. A note. Addressed to you again.'
There was a crackling silence on the line.
'Well, open it!' Carella said.
Outside the closed door to the office, he could hear the Sonny Sabatino Orchestra playing Mezzo Luna, Mezzo Mare. . .
Heard wedding guests joining in with the lyrics . . .
Heard Meyer ripping open the envelope . . .
'Meyer?'
'Yeah.'
'What does it say?'
To-day, to-day, unhappy day, too late
'Meyer?'
Meyer read it to him.
'What's he mean?' Carella asked.
'Mama mi, me maritari. . .'
'I don't know,' Meyer said.
'Figghia mi, a cu . . .'
Carella glanced at the note on his desk:
NOSTRADAMUS
'Damn it, what's he . . . ?'
'Mama mi, pensaci. . .'
A SUM
'Si ci dugnu . , .'
DARTS
'Oh, Jesus, it's DARTS backwardsV Carella said.
STRAD 'It's the violin!'
THE VIOLIN IN the case now tucked under the Deaf Man's right arm was one of a precious few created by Antonio Stradivari, the master violin-maker, in the early 1700's — the so-called Golden Period during which he made only twenty-four violins. Sallas's violin was one of them, a year older than the so-called 'Kreutzer' Stradivarius that had recently sold at auction for $1,560,000. The 'Taft,' another Stradivarius violin made in that same period, sold at Christie's for a million-three. The 'Mendelssohn' Strad had sold for a million-six. The 'Milanollo' of 1728, conserved rather than played over the centuries, was largely considered to be worth at least that much. By a conservative estimate, the Deaf Man calculated that Sallas's precious little fiddle here was worth something between a million-two and a million-seven — not bad apples for a few weeks' work, eh, Gertie?
He had driven back to the Knowlton Hotel to make certain that Jack the driver was still securely bound and gagged, had patted him on the head, smiled, and gone to
change out of the chauffeur's uniform he'd purchased last week at Conan Uniforms on Baxter Street. Driving the Regal luxury sedan to a side street some ten blocks from his apartment, he'd bid the car a fond farewell, and left it there locked. The last words he'd heard on the car radio were, 'Jack? Are you there, Jack? Have you got your passenger? What the hell is going on, man?'
Now, at twenty minutes to three — wearing a blue suit with the faintest gray shadow stripe, wearing as well a gray shirt that picked up the stripe, and a blue tie that echoed the suit, black shoes, blue socks, the black violin case tucked under his arm — the Deaf Man whistled a merry tune as he strolled jauntily back to the apartment on River Place South — where Melissa Summers was busy cracking his computer.
ON THE PHONE to Midtown South, Carella told the lieutenant there what he thought was about to happen; the Deaf Man was planning to steal Konstantinos Sallas's priceless Stradivarius violin. The lieutenant promised to send a contingent of his detectives over to Clarendon at once. He called back five minutes later to say the boys were on the way. But he'd also called Clarendon and the director there was concerned because Sallas hadn't shown up yet, and it was already twenty minutes to three.
'Where was he coming from?' Carella asked.
'The Intercontinental,' the lieutenant told him.
'Right here in the Eight-Seven,' Carella said, and remembered the Deaf Man's first note that Saturday morning:
GO TO A PRECINT'S SHIT!
'How was he getting there?' 'Car and driver.'
And Carella remembered another note from what now seemed a long time ago:
Even such, they say, as stand in narrow lanes And beat our watch, and rob our passengers.
'Carella? You still there?'
