Straight Cut by Madison Smartt Bell

Author:Madison Smartt Bell [Bell, Madison Smartt]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Hard Case Crime
ISBN: 9781453237465
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2011-12-06T05:00:00+00:00

PART III

CHOC EN RETOUR

11

“BETWEEN JULY 11 AND July 13, the accused (Tracy Bateman, a United States citizen) traveled in the north of Italy, ostensibly for the purpose of tourism, using as transport a rented automobile. On the morning of July 14 (Bastille Day — how do you like that?) he crossed the French-Italian border, again ostensibly for the purpose of tourism, but with a covert intention to …”

To what? Even I didn’t know the answer to that one, though I was assuming it would all become clear in due course. But it did while away the time, when I was doing all that driving, to make up different police or prosecutors’ reports about my activities. The problem was that they were all rather inconclusive. Could I be guilty of committing a crime without knowing what it was? You bet I could.

My big hope was that if I did get nailed it would be in a country where the judges and lawyers still wear wigs.

Well. I hadn’t been far behind Mimmo, getting out of Strozzi’s. I went back to the apartment, drank some more water and two raw eggs, and slept for about twelve hours. In the morning I was fit to face the world again. Not knowing when I’d have another such convenient opportunity, I spent an hour doing some more tricks with the metalworking equipage. There was a creaky old manual typewriter in the apartment and I typed a couple of address labels and then went out to mail a package. There was a minor hassle about postage, because the mail clerk and I didn’t understand each other too well, but no problem over the customs declaration. “Books and papers.” No insurance required. I went back to the apartment.

As always seems to happen, my gear had swelled or something during the time I’d spent in Rome. But I finally managed to get it all shut in the shoulder bag somehow. I went over to Strozzi’s to drop off the key, and drank a cappuccino while he called me a taxi.

Another minor hassle, over the fare at the airport. I argued and beat the man down a little. It’s expected; you’re noticed if you don’t. Inside the airport I went to the car rental desk, where they spoke English. I negotiated a one-way rental on a four-seater Renault and tore off a rather thick sheaf of traveler’s checks, to pay half in advance. There was no hitch. The teenagers with the Uzis didn’t seem to be interested in me today. It took only ten minutes for the car to be delivered to the front of the building. The little Renault was clean and still smelled new. I threw my bags on the passenger seat and drove away.

L’autostrada del sole. Superhighways are truly all the same. This one, the road to the north, was flat and straight as a string. The countryside it went through was quite without interest. The monotony of the road was enough to depersonalize even Italian drivers, no mean achievement, that.

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.