family estate in Italy. The guy’s an eligible bachelor, he’s loaded, and he’s good-looking. But he never turns up on the society pages. No charity balls, no black-tie fund-raisers. He’s like a total recluse.”
“He didn’t strike me as the kind of man you’d find on the party circuit.”
“What else did you think about him?”
“We didn’t have that long a conversation.”
“But you did have one that night.”
“It was freezing outside, and he invited me in for coffee.”
“Didn’t that seem a little weird?”
“What?”
“That he made a special effort to invite you in?”
“I appreciated the gesture. And for the record, it was the butler who came out to get me.”
“You, specifically? He knew who you were?”
Maura hesitated. “Yes.”
“What did he want from you, Doc?”
Maura had moved on to the torso, and she now measured the stab wound on the chest and jotted the dimensions on her clipboard. The questions were getting too pointed, and she didn’t like the implications: that she’d let herself be used by Anthony Sansone. “I didn’t reveal anything vital about the case, Jane. If that’s what you’re asking.”
“But you did talk about it?”
“About a number of things. And yes, he wanted to know what I thought. It’s not surprising, since the body was found in his garden. Understandably, he’s curious. And maybe a little eccentric.” She met Jane’s gaze and found it uncomfortably probing. She dropped her attention back to the corpse, to wounds that did not disturb her nearly as much as Jane’s questions.
“Eccentric? That’s the only word you can think of?”
She thought of the way Sansone had studied her that night, how his eyes had reflected the firelight, and other words came to mind.
“You don’t think he’s just a little bit creepy?” asked Jane. “Because I sure do.”
“Why?”
“You saw his house. It’s like stepping into a time warp. And you never saw the other rooms, with all those portraits staring from the walls. It’s like walking into Dracula’s castle.”
“He’s a history professor.”
“Was. He’s not teaching anymore.”
“Those are probably heirlooms, and priceless. Clearly he appreciates his family legacy.”
“Oh yeah, the family legacy. That’s where he got lucky. He’s a fourth-generation trust-funder.”
“Yet he pursued a successful academic career. You have to give him some credit for that. He didn’t just turn into an idle playboy.”
“Here’s the interesting twist. The family trust fund was established back in 1905, by his great-grandfather. Guess what the name of that trust fund is?”
“I have no idea.”
“It’s called the Mephisto Foundation.”
Maura glanced up, startled. “Mephisto?” she murmured.
“You gotta wonder,” said Jane, “with a name like that, what kind of family legacy are we talking about?”
Yoshima asked, “What’s the significance of that name? Mephisto?”
“I looked it up,” said Jane. “It’s short for Mephistopheles. Doc here probably knows who he was.”
“The name comes from the legend of Dr. Faustus,” said Maura.
“Who?” asked Yoshima.
“Dr. Faustus was a magician,” said Maura. “He drew secret symbols to summon the Devil. An evil spirit named Mephistopheles appeared and offered him a deal.”
“What kind of deal?”
“In exchange for the full knowledge of magic, Dr. Faustus sold his soul to the Devil.”
“So Mephisto is…”
“A servant of Satan.”
A voice suddenly spoke over the intercom. “Dr. Isles,” said Maura’s secretary, Louise. “You have an outside call on line one. It’s a Mr. Sansone. Do you want to pick up, or shall I take a message?”
Maura met Jane’s gaze and saw Jane give a quick nod.
“I’ll take the call,” said Maura. Stripping off her gloves, she crossed to the wall phone and picked up the receiver. “Mr. Sansone?”
“I hope I’m not interrupting you,” he said.
She looked at the body on the table.
“This Saturday, I’m hosting a supper here at my home. I’d love to have you join us.”
Maura paused, acutely aware that Jane was watching her. “I’ll need to think about it,” she said.
“I’m sure you’re wondering what this is all about.”
“Actually, I am.”
“I promise not to pick your brain about the investigation.”
“I can’t talk about it anyway. You do know that.”
“Understood. That’s not why I’m inviting you.”
“Then why?” A blunt, inelegant question, but she had to ask it.
“We share common interests. Common concerns.”
“I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”
“Join us on Saturday, around seven. We can talk about it then.”
“Let me check my schedule first. I’ll let you know.” She hung up.
“What was that all about?” asked Jane.
“He just invited me to dinner.”
“He wants something from you.”
“Not a thing, he claims.” Maura crossed to the cabinet for a fresh pair of gloves. Although her hands were steady as she pulled them on, she could feel her face flushing, her pulse throbbing in her fingertips.
“You believe that?”
“Of course not. That’s why I’m not going.”
Jane said quietly, “Maybe you should.”
Maura turned to look at her. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’d like to know more about the Mephisto Foundation. Who they are, what they do at their secret little meetings. I may not be able to get the information any other way.”
“So you want me to do it for you?”
“All I’m saying is, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad idea if you go. As long as you’re careful.”
Maura crossed to the table. Staring down at Eve Kassovitz, she thought:
Her blade traced a Y on the torso, two incisions slicing from both shoulders to meet lower than usual beneath the sternum. To preserve the stab wound. Even before the ribs were cut, before the chest was opened, she knew what she would find inside the thorax. She could see it in the chest films now hanging on the light box: the globular outline of the heart, far larger than it should be in a healthy young woman. Lifting off the shield of breastbone and ribs, she peered into the chest and slid her hand beneath the swollen sac that contained the heart.
It felt like a bag filled with blood.
“Pericardial tamponade,” she said, and looked up at Jane. “She bled into the sac that surrounds her heart. Since it’s a confined space, the sac becomes so taut, the heart can’t pump. Or the stab itself may have caused a fatal arrhythmia. Either way, this was a quick and efficient kill. But he had to know where to aim the blade.”
