Death's Door (22 page)

“You two? Don’t make me laugh. If you’re here investigatin’, how come you ain’t come up with anything better?”

“We have suspects,” Kaz said, doing a good job of not sounding defensive.

“Yeah, well I hope that bastard Zlatko is one of them.”

“You’ve run into him?”

“If I had, I woulda clocked him, bishop or not. He oughta be wearing a Nazi uniform, him bein’ pals with those Croat Ustashi. Bloodthirsty don’t begin to describe them. We got briefed on the situation in Yugoslavia, on accounta we flew over the place. How to tell who was on which side, that sorta thing.”

“Won’t argue with you about the bishop, Abe,” I said. “Tell me about Brackett.”

“What about him?”

“Anything unusual. He an okay guy?”

“Yeah, sure. Hot and cold, you know? Sometimes real friendly, other times he’ll walk right by you, or light into you for nuttin’ at all. He and Zlatko didn’t get along, not that I’d expect them to be pals.” Abe stuffed his hands in his pockets as he eyed the locked door. I could tell it made him nervous, being shut in here with a cop.

“What do you mean?”

“He and the bishop were yellin’ at each other, coupla nights ago, in the gardens. I was on my way to see Rosana, so I was kinda hiding in the shrubbery.”

“What were they arguing about?” I asked.

“This sounds crazy, but I think they were goin’ on about boats. I swear Brackett said ‘rudder’ a coupla times. I dunno, bein’ cooped up here so long probably got to him.”

“Yeah,” I said, exchanging glances with Kaz. This was top-secret stuff, and there was no reason to let Abe know it meant anything. “Now, tell me about the woman in the gardener’s cottage.”

“Jeez,” Abe said. “You know about Rosana?”

“That’s who you swiped the extra food for, right? Beautiful widow, why not? She must have been real glad, huh?”

“You shut your mouth!” Abe was up in a flash and had his hand at my throat. “Shut your damn mouth before I shut it for you. It wasn’t nothin’ like that.”

“Your reaction does you credit,” Kaz said, grabbing Abe by the arm. “But now let Billy go.” He did, then sat on the edge of the bed, glaring at me.

“Sorry, Abe, I was trying to get a rise out of you. So what’s the story?”

“Yeah, well, I forgot you said you’d been a cop. I shouldn’ta fallen for it. I met Rosana the first day she was here. That Irish monsignor, he was bringing her to Nini. You know she’s sweet on you, don’tcha?” He directed that last bit to Kaz.

“How do you know? Did she say anything?” Kaz asked, dropping the hardcase Allied agent stance.

“I got eyes. Anyway, I saw Rosana was scared, and I happened to have some extra chocolate on me. So I gave it to her for the kids. She looked at me kinda funny, then started crying. Not sad, ya know, but the kinda tears that come when you can’t believe how good you got it. Here she was, on the run from the Nazis, two kids in tow, husband dead, and all of a sudden she’s safe on neutral territory, and an American flyboy walks up and gives her chocolate. Still gets me.”

“You started calling on her?”

“Yeah, but I couldn’t be obvious about it. They don’t want too many people wandering around here. Some of the cardinals might get their noses bent outta shape, especially if they have to cross paths with a Jew. I ain’t complaining about the Church or nothin’, I probably owe my life to them. But it’s human nature, know what I mean? You stick with your own kind, like back home.”

“Sure,” I said. “Now tell me, Abe. You good at what you do?”

“Hell yeah. I’m an armorer-gunner on a B-17. It’s a big responsibility. Got two probable kills.”

“That’s not the job I mean.”

“Okay, okay. You caught me with the goods, so I guess I oughta
spill. Like I said, I got eyes. I saw all that food going down those steps, so one day I take a look. When I saw that workbench, I knew it’d be a snap. Made a coupla picks, got in, and took a little, to take the edge off, you know?” He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head, as if the theft had been nothing but a prank.

“That’s where the chocolate came from,” I said.

“Yeah. I wanted to see Rosana again, and I figured with a mug like mine I should come bearin’ gifts. So I got a little more, and pretty soon she thinks I’m really something. She don’t know nothin’ about it, either. You ain’t gonna get her in trouble over this, are you?”

“No, we got no beef with her. Or with you, personally, Abe. But you’re facing serious charges.”

“Billy,” Kaz said, with a perplexed look on his face. “Will the American Army charges be worse than the Italian charges?”

“Well, there’s looting. The army doesn’t like it when enlisted men loot. Doesn’t leave as much for the officers. But breaking and entering in Vatican City, that’s a new one on me. Either one could mean a lot of time breaking rocks. Be a shame to damage those fingers, Abe.”

“Are you guys gonna bust my balls all day or get to the point?” Abe said.

“We need your special skills, Abe,” I said. “Tomorrow we’re going to go sightseeing, down to the Tiber River. We’ll find you a nice suit to wear.”

“What you’re saying is you want me to break into some joint in Rome, which is swarming with Krauts, while wearing civilian clothes. So if they don’t shoot me once for bein’ a Jew, they can shoot me twice for bein’ a spy.”

“We can get into the joint okay,” I said. “But we need a door unlocked inside. You do that, we stroll back here, and everything is forgiven and forgotten.”

“Well,” Abe said, taking a minute to think it over. “I ain’t seen Rome except from thirty thousand feet. I guess I could stretch my legs. What kinda place we goin’ into?”

“The Regina Coeli prison.”

Abe’s eyes widened. “No thanks, I’ll take my chances busting
rocks for twenty years. Are you nuts? That’s the one place everyone wants to avoid, and you’re thinkin’ of waltzing in there? How you gonna manage that?”

“We have an in,” I said. “A guy who has the run of the prison. And a guard who’s been paid off. We walk in, all official and above board. You open one door, and then we go out with one more person than we came in with. The guard at the exit has been bribed not to notice. Then we hoof it back here in no time.”

“You know why I went into pickin’ locks? Because I don’t have to depend on anyone else. My old man, he was muscle for Monk Eastman on the Lower East Side. The gang always had big plans, too big. Someone talked, or didn’t show up, and the whole thing went to hell. When the old man went up to Sing Sing after one of these big scores went south, I decided to go it on my own. This stinks of one of Monk’s plans. Too easy and too complicated at the same time.”

“Abe,” Kaz said, moving over to sit beside him. “Without you, we can get within one door of a lady who needs rescuing.”

“Spare the violins,” Abe said.

“I am not appealing to your better nature,” Kaz said in a hard, even voice. “I am appealing to your sense of survival. Your choice is this. Come with us, and return a hero, in the eyes of the Army and Rosana. Refuse, and for your dereliction of duty, you will be expelled from Vatican City. We will have the gendarmes drag you to the white line and throw you over, into the waiting arms of the Germans.”

“You wouldn’t,” Abe said. I wondered myself.

“Yes, I will, and immediately,” Kaz said, rising.

“Goddamn it, okay, okay,” Abe said, holding up his hands in surrender. “I go with you. And
if
we get back, you put me in for a medal and a promotion. And keep yer yaps shut about everything else.”

“Certainly,” Kaz said.

“And when the Army finally gets here, I want a rabbi. An army chaplain.”

“Why?” I asked, not taking Abe for the religious type.

“So me and Rosana can get hitched. For an investigator, Billy, you ain’t none too bright.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

A
LL
I
WANTED
to do was sleep. We’d been up all night running in circles while the killer probably had a nightcap, congratulated himself on another fine murder, and counted lambs getting slaughtered until he dozed off. But there was too much to do and no time for a catnap. It was likely only hours before we got the boot.

Kaz had gone off to gather civilian clothes for Abe for our jaunt tomorrow. I’d gone to find Monsignor O’Flaherty and set things up in case we were thrown out before Rino came in the morning. If I ended up persona non grata in the Holy See, I wanted to be sure it didn’t keep me from joining Rino on his rounds at the Regina Coeli. For a minute, when I was dressing it up for Abe, I almost believed it might be that easy. But Abe had nailed it. There were half a dozen things that could go wrong and I’d be a fool to believe that at least one wouldn’t.

It didn’t matter. I was going to get to Diana tomorrow. Even if we failed, she’d know I hadn’t abandoned her. I didn’t want to think about getting caught, since the Germans would have every right to shoot me as a spy. But being offered a blindfold and a cigarette didn’t bother me as much as the idea of leaving Diana to whatever fate the Germans had in store for renegade nuns. Crazy, I know. I did feel bad about Abe, but if he hadn’t been a crook, I wouldn’t have had anything on him, and he’d be just another downed flier biding his
time. That was an excuse, I know, but it made it a little easier to live with myself.

Rudder was a real problem. Neither Kaz nor I could figure why Brackett and Zlatko were tossing that name around. We hadn’t had much time to chew it over and I was still shaking my head over it as I knocked on the monsignor’s door.

“Ah, Father Boyle, right on time for breakfast,” O’Flaherty said as he invited me in. “I was expecting Monsignor Bruzzone, but he must have been delayed. It sounds as if you all had a terrible shock last night at the radio tower.”

“Word gets around pretty fast, doesn’t it?” I said as I sat at the small table. There were two places set for breakfast, but O’Flaherty had already started in on his.

“It’s a small town, and gossip is a cottage industry,” he said as he poured me coffee. “You discovered Soletto’s body, I understand.”

“Kaz—Father Dalakis and I did. Along with an American, Sergeant Abe Siedman. You recall him?”

“Yes. Jewish fellow. We thought it best to keep him here, for his own safety. Most of the escapees are sent out in civilian clothes to live with families, and we think those who have been caught haven’t been treated as spies. So many POWs had their clothing worn out by months of constant wear that the Germans tend to not treat them too harshly if they’re caught out of uniform, unless it’s the Gestapo that picks them up. But Sergeant Siedman was never a prisoner, so they might not look at it the same way. That, plus his religion, made the decision for us.”

“Well, he’s volunteered to come with us tomorrow. He has a way with locks that may come in handy,” I said. “Plus a soft spot for Rosana, in the gardener’s cottage.”

“Does he now? I’ll be sure to be watchful on both counts. Eager to help, you say?”

“Eager to stay out of trouble,” I said.

“The man has an odd way of staying out of trouble. You are not very adept at it either, Father Boyle,” O’Flaherty said with a knowing grin.

“I think it was a mistake to see Soletto. I didn’t get any answers, and I may have caused his death.” I told O’Flaherty about the diamonds and my fib to Soletto. A shiv between the ribs made it hard to think of it as a little white lie, but my intentions had been pure.

“Every day, we set things in motion, lad,” O’Flaherty said. “What others do weighs on their souls, not yours, as long as you did not act with malice in your heart.”

“Malice, no,” I said. “But sometimes I don’t think through all the consequences. Whichever way you cut it, if I hadn’t tantalized Soletto with the thought of more riches to be had, he wouldn’t have been dead on the ground.”

“It seems to me that a man in your profession could hardly risk even a friendly greeting without it leading somewhere. You consort with criminals and killers, and all the poor souls who live in their orbit. To get the truth out of them, it must be twisted and turned six ways to Sunday. Worry about your soul, my boy, not the earthly consequences of actions taken without intent to harm.”

“Body and soul both are what worry me,” I said. “I hear Bishop Zlatko is asking the Pontifical Commission to have us thrown out. He thinks we’re a threat to the Vatican.”

“As am I, as am I,” O’Flaherty said. “But if we do not do battle with the forces of Caesar, then what good does it do the world to have all this, the riches of the Church?” He waved his arms around him, taking in his simple room, the building, the basilica, and the treasure of centuries. “Not all cardinals agree with Zlatko. Fewer with the likes of me, but we shall see.”

We ate for a while in silence, gazing out the window at the small cemetery below.

“What chances do you think we have tomorrow?” I asked.

“Good. Not a sure thing, but a good chance. I wouldn’t risk Rino, nor would he risk himself, if it weren’t possible. Now that you’ve got a man who knows his way around locks, you’ve solved the hardest part. They are so used to seeing Rino and visiting priests that once you’re inside, you should have no trouble. And we’ve arranged for
such a substantial bribe that the guard will desert and go into hiding if he has any sense.”

“And you can hold it over his head as well. One word to the authorities and he’d have to explain where the lira came from.”

“Why Father Boyle, such a devious mind. I knew we were kindred souls,” O’Flaherty said.

We went over the plan, including the meeting place for Abe and Rino in case we found ourselves separated outside the Vatican walls. O’Flaherty gave me the location of a safe house on the Via di Santa Dorotea in Trastevere, not far from the prison, to be used only in an emergency.

“What is next with your investigation?” O’Flaherty asked, after we’d finished the last of the food. “As mournful as Commissario Soletto’s death was, it must have narrowed down the list of suspects for you.”

“It may be the weapon that narrows it down,” I said, and recounted the missing dagger that had mysteriously reappeared in the Swiss Guard’s armory.

“Ah, the
misericorde
,” O’Flaherty said. “I recall hearing about a missing dagger. The Swiss Guard was terribly embarrassed by that. They are entrusted with all the arms and armor ever held by the Vatican. Their armory is as much a museum as an actual military storehouse.”