The Fifth Gospel by Ian Caldwell

Author:Ian Caldwell
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Thriller, Historical
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2014-03-13T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

BEHIND THE AUTOPARK is the Belvedere Palace. I jog up the stairs to my apartment. Before entering, I listen for sounds on the other side of the door. Until the locks are changed, this will have to be a part of my visits here. But I see that Leo has left something behind from our last visit: the flap of a matchbook, stuffed between the frame and the door. It’s a trick he uses in the barracks to make sure cadets don’t sneak into Rome. Paper on the floor means someone’s come and gone. Paper in the door means the seal is unbroken. I’m relieved.

I let myself in and go to the telephone in the kitchen. It seems strange that Ugo would’ve wanted the number for this landline. Whenever we exchanged calls about the Diatessaron, he dialed my mobile. Maybe this time he was trying to reach Simon, not me. The question is, when?

I scroll through the caller ID list of incoming calls, and there isn’t a trace of Ugo’s number. There are only three calls from an unfamiliar phone—a Vatican number—all within forty minutes of each other on the night before Ugo died. Peter and I were away that whole evening, seeing a movie. I never knew about these calls.

Loose sparks float through my thoughts. I check the date on the calls again, just to be sure. It’s as if someone was checking to make sure we were gone. Casing the apartment before the break-in. Yet the following night—when the break-in actually happened—there’s not a single unrecognized call.

Losing patience, I scroll back to the unfamiliar number and punch it into my phone. It barely rings before a woman picks up.

“Pronto. Casa Santa Marta. How may I help you?”

A nun. At the front desk of the Casa.

“Hello,” I say. “I’m trying to reach someone who called me from a hotel line. Can you connect me?”

“The name, sir?”

“I don’t have the name. Just a phone number.”

“For the privacy of our guests, sir, we can’t honor that request.”

“It’s important, Sister. Please.”

“I’m very sorry.”

Thinking quickly, I say, “Ugolino Nogara, then. Can you look for a room under the name Ugolino Nogara?”

Ugo had no reason to stay at the Casa. He would’ve stayed in his apartment over the museums. But I’m fishing for anything.

I hear her typing on the computer. “No guest under that name, sir. Are you sure he hasn’t checked out? We remove guests from the system when they return their keys.”

Their keys. Suddenly it comes to me. The sliver of metal I found under Ugo’s car mat.

“Thank you, Sister,” I say. Then I hang up the phone and reach into both pockets of my cassock. Out of one I take the metal crescent from Ugo’s car. Out of the other I take my room key from the Casa.

Attached to the Casa key is an oval fob engraved with the room number. Color and thickness match perfectly. The sliver is a snapped-off edge of a Casa fob.

Looking closer, I can see the stress marks.

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.