Spider - Michael Morley [75]
‘Great, thanks.’
Nancy smiled and started to walk away, to have a quiet word with Paullina while the matter was still fresh in her mind. ‘Have a nice day, Mr McLeod.’
‘And you,’ said McLeod, adding, ‘Oh, by the way, did you catch him?’
Nancy spun round. ‘I’m sorry?’
‘The man last night. Did you catch him? Everyone in the restaurant was talking about it. Some hooded guy running through the place.’
Nancy gathered her wits. ‘No, no, we didn’t. But let me reassure you, it wasn’t anything serious. Nothing was taken and we’ve called the police. Please don’t be worried by it. I can assure you everyone and everything here is perfectly safe.’
‘I’m sure it is,’ said McLeod. ‘Was it your husband who chased him off? I think I read somewhere that he’s an ex-cop, ex-fed or something?’
Nancy wished the conversation would end. The fright last night had left her irritable, and while she supposed that it was only natural that the guests would ask questions about what had happened, this guy was bugging her. ‘No, Mr McLeod. It wasn’t my husband. It was my chef and his kitchen boy. He was a lucky man. I hate to think what they’d have done with him if they’d caught him.’
‘I guess battered burglar would have been on the menu?’ quipped McLeod, feebly.
‘And that would be just for starters,’ said Nancy King.
She smiled again and this time did manage to walk away from his table. Terry McLeod was delighted. If former FBI man Jack King hadn’t been here last night, on Independence Day of all days, and he wasn’t here this morning to comfort his wife after her ordeal, then just where the hell was he?
47
Rome
Jack had been unable to shake off the horrors of his latest nightmare until he’d spoken to Nancy on the phone. He’d waited until just after seven, the time when he was sure the bedside alarm would have woken her. He had been soothed by listening to his wife’s sleepy voice and imagined how warm she would have felt if he had been lying in bed with her. Nancy hadn’t mentioned the burglar, although it had still been very much on her mind.
After the call, Jack felt reassured and energized enough to take a short jog around the centre of Rome, followed by a hot shower and a healthy breakfast on the terrace. By the time he climbed into the chauffeur-driven car to take him to police HQ the streets were almost gridlocked with traffic. The journey took twice as long as it should have done and Jack got out feeling hot enough to need another shower.
He tipped the driver Massimo had sent him, even though the guy insisted that there was no need, and made his way to the meeting room. Massimo had other appointments that day and it had been arranged that Jack would sit with Orsetta, Benito and Roberto to get an update on their enquiries and swap any new thoughts they might have had. The starting time for the meeting was noon and Jack was still finding it hard to become accustomed to the fact that people weren’t at their desks by eight a.m. or earlier, as he was used to in New York. The Italians seemed to have the work-life balance thing better sussed than the Americans. They worked to live rather than lived to work. Free time, family time, me time – those were the three things they looked forward to most.
Jack sat in the plain, dull room on his own and was going over a checklist of the subjects he wanted to cover when Orsetta walked in.
‘Buon giorno,’ she said. ‘You are a little early, no?’
‘Not by US standards,’ he answered. ‘The meeting’s not until twelve, right?’
‘That’s right,’ said Orsetta, ‘I thought I might already find you here, so I came along ahead of the rest.’
‘Thought or hoped?’ he asked, unable to resist flirting a little.
‘I guess both,’ she said coolly. ‘But it’s something professional rather than personal that I have in mind.’ Nevertheless, she couldn’t stop her eyes sparkling playfully.
‘Then shoot,’ he said.
They both settled into black plastic chairs across the corner of a long table that faced whiteboards and