Page 26 of An Inside Job

“Colonel Baggio is at this moment making contact with his counterparts at the Metropolitan Police in London. It will take some time for the formalities to play out.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Seventy-two hours. Perhaps a bit more.”

“Or a bit less?”

“Could be,” admitted Gabriel.

“Does this Colonel Baggio know where the deceased was working?”

“He does now.”

“Will he tell the British authorities?”

“Actually he intends to let the British tellhim.”

Donati shot Gabriel a glance of papal reproach. “That doesn’t sound terribly ethical to me.”

“With good reason. But it will buy the Vatican some much-needed time.”

“To get our story straight?”

“To gather the facts.”

“The first thing I’d like to know,” said Donati, “is why no one at the conservation lab informed the police that she was missing.”

“I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.”

“Well, there’s certainly one way to find out.” Donati went to his desk and lifted the receiver of the telephone.

“May I ask what you’re doing?” inquired Gabriel.

“Gathering facts.”

“Put the phone down, Holiness.”

Frowning, Donati returned the receiver to its cradle. “You are a member of a very small club, Gabriel Allon.”

“The only non-Catholic to have witnessed the election of a pope?”

“Or to have addressed one in so insolent a manner,” added Donati.

“It was for his own good.”

“Was it really?”

“It is essential that you play no role in this matter whatsoever, Luigi. Otherwise you will expose yourself to criticism if there are credible allegations of wrongdoing by someone associated with the Vatican.”

“Plausible deniability?”

“Ignorantia affectata.”

“Aquinas? You’re beginning to sound like a member of the Roman Curia,mio amico. But all the willful ignorance in the world won’t protect me if there is yet another Vatican scandal. Especially a scandal involving a dead young woman.” Donati lowered himself dejectedly onto the couch. “By the time the press is finished, I’ll be accused of personally ordering her murder. I must know the facts.”

“Allow me to gather them for you.”

“What could she have found?”