Countdown - Iris Johansen [96]
“Quiet. Very quiet. Almost completely withdrawn.” He frowned. “And he had a nightmare last night. I’d hoped they were over.”
“My fault?”
“Perhaps. Or mine. Who knows?” He watched Trevor come out of the castle. “But always Reilly’s. Why Naples?”
“Eve wants to meet me there.”
“Eve Duncan.” He frowned. “Why not come here?”
“I’ll let you know when I do.” She headed for the helicopter. “Tell Jock I’ll talk to him when I get back. Tell him I’m—” She wasn’t sure what she wanted to tell him. She wasn’t sorry she had probed and prodded and possibly opened old wounds, because it had been necessary. She was only sorry for the pain she had caused. “Good-bye, MacDuff. Take care of him.”
“You don’t need to tell me that.”
She smiled. “I know.” She repeated the phrase she’d heard him say. “He’s one of yours.”
“Aye.” He turned away. “Mine.”
Eve gave Jane a hug when she got out of Customs and then gave Trevor a cool glance. “What are you doing here?”
“What do you think? I watched a man being beheaded a few days ago. I wasn’t going to risk Jane.” He took her overnight bag. “But I promised her that I wouldn’t get in your way, that I’d fade into the background unless you need me.”
“That must have hurt,” Eve said dryly.
“Hell, yes. Let’s get this over with.” He handed Eve a key chain, turned, and walked toward the exit. “Your rental car is parked outside. I’ll follow you in another rental car. Unless you can have your conversation here at the airport?”
Eve shook her head.
“I didn’t think so. Otherwise you wouldn’t have wanted her to come back to Italy. Since Naples is the closest major airport to Herculaneum, I assume that’s where you’re going?”
“Assumptions are seldom correct,” Eve said as she followed him. “That’s one of the reasons I didn’t want you here. Your mind never stops ticking, and I had no desire to have you leapfrogging and getting in my way. You see, you’re already trying to do it.” She turned to Jane. “How are you?”
“How do you think I am? Scared. Confused. I don’t like to be in the dark. Why the devil are we here, Eve?”
“Because I couldn’t be quiet any longer.” She nudged Jane toward the rental car Trevor was indicating. “And I’ve always been better at show-and-tell.”
15
Museo di Storia Naturale di Napoli.
“A museum of natural history?” Jane gazed at the modest stone building set back from an equally modest street. “Eve, what the hell are we—”
“Think about it.” Eve turned off the engine. “You were never here, but four years ago Trevor visited this building and persuaded the curator, Signor Toriza, to do him a favor.”
Jane stared at her in shock. “The skull.”
“The skull. We had to have a skull to draw that homicidal maniac into the trap, and Trevor borrowed one from this museum. I was to do a reconstruction and make sure the finished product resembled the statue of Cira. It went completely against the grain for me to fake it but I did it anyway. We had to catch Aldo before he murdered you.”
“And you did it.”
She looked away from Jane. “I did it. We called the reconstruction Giulia, and I made it a dead ringer. After we no longer needed it, I did as I promised the museum and did a true reconstruction.” She got out of the car. “Come on, let’s go see it.”
“But I’ve already seen it,” Jane said as she followed Eve up the four steps leading to the front entrance. “There were photos in the newspapers of the phony reconstruction as well as the true one. You did a fantastic job with a skull that dissimilar to the Cira statue.”
“Oh, I did a great job. But you’ve never seen the reconstruction in person.” She opened the door. “That’s why we’re here.” She nodded at the small, balding, well-dressed man hurrying toward them. “Good evening, Signor Toriza. It was kind of you to keep the museum open for me.”
“It was my pleasure. You know that you have only to call and I will do whatever I can to help you. We are very grateful.”
“No, I’m the one who is grateful. You have it ready?”
He nodded. “Shall I go with you?”
“No. If you’ll wait here, we’ll try not to be long.” She strode down the corridor and turned