Blind Alley - Iris Johansen [49]
She felt a surge of disappointment. For a moment she'd thought she'd found a possible way she could have learned about Cira. “And Aldo was obsessed with her too?”
“In a different way. He became very quiet whenever his father was talking about her but he was pretty easy to read. She was alive for him too. But he didn't want her alive, he wanted her to stay dead and buried forever.”
“Why?”
“Then the torment might someday be over.”
“Torment?”
“Picture Aldo at five years old when his father discovered the bust of Cira. His father was his whole world, and then to have Guido be so focused on a dead woman that he totally ignored Aldo's needs would be devastating. Enough to send him insane.”
“Then why was he helping his father to find her?”
“He was firmly under his thumb. And maybe he wanted to find the gold, too.”
“Did you find it?”
“No, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there. He'd barely gotten started picking his way through the rocks when he decided he didn't want to share. He had to be very careful. The walls of the tunnels were weakened by the volcanic explosions and they couldn't go more than a few feet a day or risk a collapse.”
“And in the meantime you sat and read scrolls?”
“Physical labor wasn't part of our deal.”
“What was your deal?”
“I was in Milan working on another project when Manza contacted me.”
“Smuggling.”
“Well, yes. Anyway, Manza said he'd located an ancient find that would net all of us millions. He'd excavate the artifacts and I'd smuggle them out of the country and find buyers for them. He'd been on an archaeological dig near Herculaneum and stumbled on some ancient letters that led him to Julius's estate located some distance from the city. He didn't mention the bust of Cira. I was pretty skeptical. There have been digs at Herculaneum since 1750. I was sure every site would have been discovered.”
“But you went anyway.”
“I was interested. Manza had worked on excavations in Herculaneum for years. Aldo had spent half his childhood running around in those tunnels that had been dug down to the old city over the centuries. There was a chance Manza had struck it rich. Anyway, I figured it couldn't hurt. I was wrong. I ended up on my ass in a hospital for two months.”
“How?”
“Guido decided not only to blow the tunnel but everyone connected with the deal. He planned on closing the entrance and then going back later when he wouldn't have to either share the booty or leave anyone alive who'd know he'd found Cira's remains.”
“And you were in the tunnel?”
“Me and Pietro and six laborers he'd hired in Corsica. I was the only one who managed to crawl out of that hole. Only because I was on my way out when he blew the tunnel. I had a broken leg and it took me three days to wriggle through those rocks to daylight. I found Guido dead at the cave entrance.”
“No one else survived?”
“They were deeper in the tunnel. The charge literally blew them to bits and then buried them. He didn't want to destroy the library so the charge was less powerful near it.”
She shivered. “All those deaths . . .”
“Aldo evidently came by his homicidal tendencies naturally. Although I'd never heard anything about Guido being particularly lethal before this job. He'd been a professor of archaeology in Florence before he started peddling artifacts.”
“And where was Aldo when you got out of the tunnel?”
“Gone. He'd obviously made a halfhearted attempt to drag his father out of the debris and then just covered him with a blanket and got the hell out of there.”
“Not a very caring good-bye.”
“He cared. In his weird, twisted way. It was pretty clear Aldo had a screw loose from the moment he showed up at the site. He was completely absorbed in his computer and muttered a lot about destiny and reincarnation, besides being involved in some pretty sicko stuff. He was also nasty, sadistic, and bullied the workers whenever he got the chance. But around his father