Page 86 of The Medici Return

Twenty minutes had passed since Ascolani’s text.

He’d give it another ten.

He casually entered the basilica.

It was nearing 8:00P.M., but the nave was still open owing to it being race day. Too many people were in town to have the doors locked. He stepped inside, walked confidently past the pew he’d occupied earlier, and stepped up into the Chapel of Miracles. Ascolani sat in the same pew against the outer wall, head bent, hands folded in his lap, no one paying him the slightest attention. Stefano approached and took a seat beside his boss.

They both sat in silence for a few moments.

“It is right here,” Ascolani said, “that Catherine first donned the habit of the Third Order of St. Dominic, consecrating her entire existence to God. Here too she would withdraw in prayer, fall into bouts of ecstasy, and lean right there on that octagonal pillar and talk to Christ.”

Frescoes adorned the chapel walls, all of St. Catherine at various times in her life. One, he knew, was particularly important as it was created in the fourteenth century, when Catherine was still alive, so it might represent what she actually looked like. Which was rare for a medieval saint.

“Did you watch the race?” Ascolani asked.

“I did.”

“The Porcupines lost, which means the American, Malone, fulfilled his promise to Golden Oak.”

“Which was?”

“I told you about Camilla Baines. She wanted the Porcupines to lose. That happened. Now she will take Malone and Cardinal Richter to Santa Maria di Castello.”

“What is it you want me to do?”

Ascolani stood. “Come with me.”

Chapter 58

COTTON WAS NO STRANGER TO A FIGHT.HE’D BEEN IN MANY.SOME HEwon, others not so much. These guys had come to teach him a lesson. The colorful scarves around their necks identified them as Panthers. Apparently, retribution came fast in the Palio. He’d never been one to shy away from a fight, so he readied himself to take the blows.

“We don’t think so,” a voice called out in Italian.

Five new guys had arrived in the alley who bore the black-and-gold scarves of Golden Oak.

Okay. The odds just got better.

The five Panthers seemed to consider their situation and decided that discretion was most definitely the better part of valor. They brushed past him with contempt in their eyes and disappeared farther down the alley.

“Grazie,” he said to the Golden Oakers.

One of the men motioned and said in English, “We take you to our place.”

He was not about to argue.

So he nodded and followed them.

JASON STOOD OFF TO THE SIDE WHILECAMILLA SPOKE TO THREEother men. Their conversation seemed intense. She was agitated. But who could blame her. A jockey was dead. Three others were seriously injured, one severely trampled. A lot of hurting. Some was to be expected. But not the gunshot. Apparently, that had never happened before.

Camilla finished talking and stepped over to him. The body remained in the other room behind a locked door.

“Those three are thecapitanifor the Porcupines, Tortoises, and Panthers. They are, to say the least, concerned. They are blaming me for what happened, saying our jockey broke the rules. They even think I had that man shot. The Tortoises have called the police, who should be here shortly.”

“We need to find Malone?”

“I am told he’s nearly back at our headquarters.”

“This whole situation is escalating. Two people have now been murdered.”