The Dogs of Rome by Conor Fitzgerald

Author:Conor Fitzgerald
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781608191154
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2012-01-02T17:44:59+00:00

The favors of the Lord are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent;

They are renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness.

Blume felt himself tilt back into blackness again. No one would notice him at the back. He tried to breathe through his nose rather than his mouth, but heard himself let out a sudden rude snore, loud as a fart. People turned round to stare at him in disapproval. Pernazzo stood three rows ahead, laughing. Blume jerked himself awake, ready for action, but Pernazzo resolved himself into a sovrintendente from the Corviale district.

Ferrucci’s sister, more girl than woman, tears streaming down her face, had just finished saying something about when she and her brother were little, and was now being accompanied back to her seat by her boyfriend or husband. Or was there another brother? She staggered back to her father, who still shook as if in silent mirth. The mother with the short black hair stroked her daughter’s face. The police in sunglasses sat immobile in their pews as a song, which was not religious, began to play from the speakers. What was it she had just told them about this music? The song Marco had tried to teach her to play on guitar, “Everybody Hurts.” True enough, thought Blume, but not everyone sings about it in such a whiny voice.

Blume could see the priest sitting off to the side in his purple vestments, not liking the profane music. Blume didn’t like it either. For one thing, Ferrucci had been too young to be listening to the likes of REM. He suspected the sister had chosen it for herself. Her brother was beyond hurting now.

A cool hand on his forehead, and a woman’s soft voice. “Hello, Commissioner,” said Kristin, quietly. “I thought at first you were ignoring me, but you’re not well, are you?”

Blume turned too quickly and was rewarded with a searing pain in the side of his neck.

“Easy, now,” said Kristin, as if to a large dog. “I’ve seen you black out twice. You should be in the hospital.”

“I know,” said Blume. “But I had to be here.”

“It’s almost over,” whispered Kristin. “Communion soon.”

“That means we’re near the end?”

“Yes.”

“Are you a Catholic, then?”

“Lutheran. And you?”

“I have no idea. My parents forgot to tell me,” said Blume. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to pay my respects. It’s not the first time I have been to a police-man’s funeral, nor will it be the last. Also, I knew you’d be here.”

“You knew that? I didn’t even know it myself until a few hours ago.”

“I phoned the hospital. They put me on hold and after fifteen minutes told me you had gone. I figured this was where.”

For a moment, Blume was not sure if Kristin was any more real than the creature he had seen sitting on the pew. At the front of the church, people were shuffling to and from the altar rail receiving communion. A lot of them were policemen.

He reached out his hand and she touched it for a moment.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.