The Thief Lord Part 24

"Why?" Bo sat up so abruptly that he pulled the blanket off Prosper. "I don't want a new hideout. I want to stay here, with Ida!"

"Oh, Bo!" Hornet switched on the lamp, which Ida had put by her bedside so she could read in the evenings.

"Listen to him," Riccio laughed. He was leaning against the wall and wrapping his blanket around his scrawny chest. "What does Ida know about honor among thieves? No, I'll have a look around in Castello tomorrow. What about you guys?"

Mosca nodded. "Count me in," he agreed. He was staring out of the window as if he were trying to stare a hole in the night.

Hornet avoided the question and grabbed one of the books she had taken from Ida's shelf and started to leaf through it.

"I'm staying here!" Bo insisted. He stubbornly folded his arms. "Yes, sir!"

"You go to sleep now," Prosper said to him, pushing him back down on to his pillow. "We'll talk about it tomorrow."

"We can talk about it for a hundred years, a thousand years!" Bo shouted, kicking the blanket off him again. "I'm staying here. My kittens like it here. They like teasing Lucia's dogs. And Victor picks me and Ida up and we go and have ice cream, and Lucia cooks my favorite pasta for me and ..."

"And what?" Riccio cut him off. "And soon they'll tell you that you have to go to school, and what you have to eat, and that you should wash more often. No, way! Jeez, we've been on our own for so long, I'm not going to let anyone tell me that I'm too young to go out, or that my fingernails need cleaning. No way, Jose! Not Riccio."

The others fell silent for a few moments. Then Mosca said with great deliberation, "Boy, Riccio, that was a real speech!"

Hornet put aside her book and walked slowly on her bare feet to the window to look outside.

"I'd like to stay here as well," she said so quietly that the others could hardly hear her. "This is much better than I ever imagined."

"You're nuts," Riccio yawned, crawling back under his blanket. "I'll ask Scipio what he's going to do now. If If he comes back. Maybe he'll have another one of his brilliant ideas." he comes back. Maybe he'll have another one of his brilliant ideas."

"I wonder what he's doing now," Mosca said. "Have you any idea, Prop?"

Hornet returned to her bed and switched off her light.

"Maybe," Prosper answered. He stared into the darkness and tried to imagine Scipio as he walked through the alleys, looking at his reflection in the dark shop windows, stepping into the glow of a streetlight to inspect his long shadow. Perhaps he would go into one of the bars where the grown-ups sat well into the night. Once he got tired he might check into a hotel room, like he had said, one with a big mirror, and shave for the first time.

"Is he OK?" Bo asked, laying his head on Prosper's chest.

"I think so," Prosper answered. "Yes, I'm sure he's fine."

50 The Bait

Victor returned to the Casa Spavento the next morning with a newspaper with Scipio's picture on the front page. Nearly all of the city's papers ran the picture, together with an appeal by the police to all citizens of Venice to help the honorable Dottor Ma.s.simo find his missing son.

Ida was in the dark room, developing the photos she had taken of the city's stone lions. They were hanging on the walls all around her, sitting, roaring, grim-faced, along with peaceful lions with and without wings. Ida read Dottor Ma.s.simo's appeal and sighed. "Do you know where Scipio is?" she asked Hornet, who had been watching her work.

But Hornet shook her head. "None of us know," she said, "not even Prosper."

"We should get a message to the dottore," dottore," Victor muttered. "Even if the Thief Lord doesn't want to." Victor muttered. "Even if the Thief Lord doesn't want to."

"I agree. I'll be right back," Ida said to Hornet, and went with Victor into the living room where Barbarossa was hanging around on the sofa, looking rather bored as he leafed through a book on Venice's art treasures.

"I haven't touched anything," he said guiltily, when Ida and Victor entered the room. He had woken the whole house at dawn, screaming, after he had realized that Ida had locked him into the room.

"Just as well, redlocks," Victor growled.

Ida sat down at her bureau and wrote on a card. Then she handed it to Victor.

"Dear Dottor Ma.s.simo!" he read. he read. "I would like you to know that your son is fine. He does, however, not want to come home right now, and I am afraid he is not planning on doing so in the near future. He is well and has a place where he can sleep, and he wants for nothing. I am sorry I can't tell you more at the moment. Kind regards. A friend." "I would like you to know that your son is fine. He does, however, not want to come home right now, and I am afraid he is not planning on doing so in the near future. He is well and has a place where he can sleep, and he wants for nothing. I am sorry I can't tell you more at the moment. Kind regards. A friend."

"Could you drop this into the Ma.s.simos' mailbox?" Ida asked Victor. "I would normally have Giaco do it for me, but ever since Prosper told me it was he who sold the floor plan of the house to the Conte I'm not sure I can trust him anymore."

"No problem." Victor put the card in his pocket. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"What about the aunt?" Barbarossa slipped off the sofa and stood with folded arms in front of Ida. "It's already past ten. I suggest you call her now and tell her to come here, so that I can have a look at her."

Victor was ready with a curt reply, when Hornet put her head around the door.

"I hung the photos up to dry, Ida," she said. "Is there anything else I can do?"

"Yes, you can call Prosper and Bo down for me," Ida replied, glaring at Barbarossa, "I'm going to call their aunt and maybe they should be here when I do."

Prosper and Bo were on the Campo playing football with Riccio. When Hornet came out to tell them that Ida really wanted to see if Scipio's crazy idea would work, they couldn't wait to get back to the house.

Ida was sitting next to the telephone when the four of them tumbled into the room. They all squatted down eagerly on the carpet. Prosper and Hornet sat on each side of Bo, so that they could hold his mouth shut, in case he started to giggle. Barbarossa was enthroned in Ida's best armchair like a king forced to watch a bunch of mediocre actors perform.

"I don't know why you're making such an effort for that brat," Victor whispered to Ida. "Just look at him, how he's sitting there ..."

"That's exactly why I have to try this: so I can spare the Merciful Sisters from having to look after him," Ida whispered back. "It might also help Prosper and Bo. I think Prosper is still worried his aunt could change her mind about Bo. So let's give her" -- she smiled at Barbarossa who was watching her and Victor suspiciously -- "our little redlocks."

"If you think so," Victor grudgingly a.s.sented. "She speaks Italian."

"Even better," Ida replied. She reached for the telephone and dialed the number of the hotel where the Hartliebs had ended up.

"Buongiorno!" Ida said with a firm voice after the concierge had answered. "This is Sister Ida, from the Order of the Merciful Sisters. Could I please speak to Signora Esther Hartlieb?" Ida said with a firm voice after the concierge had answered. "This is Sister Ida, from the Order of the Merciful Sisters. Could I please speak to Signora Esther Hartlieb?"

It took some time before Esther's voice came through the receiver.

"Ah, good morning, Signora Hartlieb," Ida said. "The reception told you who I am? Good. The reason I'm calling is that last night the police delivered two boys to our orphanage. One of the sisters immediately recognized the boys as your nephews, the ones on those posters all over town." Ida paused and listened. "Oh. Really? No, how unfortunate. Well. Pardon? What do you mean, you don't want the boys anymore?" She listened again. Bo started to chew his fingernails vigorously, until Hornet wrapped her arms around him.

"But aren't you their legal guardian?" Ida continued. "I understand. Yes, the children have told me a similar story. That is sad, Signora, very sad. Of course we will look after your nephews, that is our mission, after all. But we still need you to come in to settle all the formalities...Yes, I'm afraid that it is absolutely necessary, Signora."

Ida put on a stern face, as if Esther could see her. "Yes, absolutely, I'm afraid. When did you say you were leaving?...So soon? Well, then I will arrange an appointment for you tomorrow afternoon. Hold on, let me just check my diary." Ida rustled with the newspaper on the sofa. "h.e.l.lo, Signora?" she said into the receiver. "I could see you at three o'clock...No, I'm afraid your presence is required. I will meet you in our town office, in the Casa Spavento, Campo Santa Margherita, number eleven. Ask for Sister Ida. Yes. Thank you, Signora Hartlieb. Until tomorrow."

Ida took a deep breath as she put down the phone.

"Excellent!" Victor said to her. "I couldn't have done it better myself."

"And I didn't laugh," Bo said, pushing away Hornet's arm.

"She's really coming?" Prosper looked at Ida in disbelief.

Ida nodded.

"Incredible!" Barbarossa pushed away one of Bo's kittens that had tried to climb on his lap. "Some people are really incredibly gullible."

Ida took a cigarette and shrugged. "I've laid out the bait," she said, "and now it's up to you whether Signora Hartlieb goes for it."

Barbarossa stroked his thick curls. "That shouldn't be a problem."

"I don't want to be here when Esther comes," Bo muttered, rubbing his nose uneasily.

Prosper got up and walked to the window. "Me neither," he said.

"There's no need for you to be." Victor went and stood next to him. "You see that cafe over there? I suggest you all go there tomorrow and have yourselves some nice helpings of ice cream, while Sister Ida talks to Signora Hartlieb. I'll give you some money, so you don't have to pay with your fake bills."

"I hope you do well tomorrow, Barbarino!" Mosca told him. "So we can finally be rid of you."

"Little redhead, Barbarino -- I strongly object to these names!" Barbarossa complained. He had trouble getting out of the big chair. "I just hope your aunt really has as much money as you say. Otherwise I'll tell her about the tricks you have been playing on her."

"At least Esther is always perfectly groomed," Prosper answered sarcastically.

"Very funny!" Barbarossa said, and with a look of disgust picked a cat hair off the pants Bo had given him. "What if she's really stingy? Her money won't be of any use. And she definitely won't be allowed to send me to school. Ernes...o...b..rbarossa is not going to sit among a bunch of screaming, snotty-nosed brats who can't tell A from B. What if Aunt Esther doesn't understand that?"

"Then," Hornet said, with a sweet-as-honey smile, "we will have to find a bed for you with the Merciful Sisters."

"You can go and ask them," said Ida, "because I would like you and Prosper to pick something up for me from the sisters."

"Pick something up? What?" Barbarossa asked, now deeply suspicious.

But Ida put a finger to her lips. "That is a secret," she said. "But you'll find out soon enough, Barbarino."

51 Esther

Esther came alone. She walked straight past the cafe where Prosper was sitting with the others, and had no idea who was watching her through the window. Victor had chased all the children out of the house as soon as the hand on Ida's kitchen clock had struck three. All except for Barbarossa.

"Who are you looking at?" Hornet asked Prosper when she noticed him staring through the window.

"She really came," Prosper answered without taking his eyes off Esther.

"Your aunt?" Full of curiosity, Hornet leaned over Prosper's shoulder. "That's her?" Prosper nodded.

"Who?" asked Bo, his mouth full of ice cream. He was having the same sundae as Riccio, only he was already finishing his second.

"n.o.body," Prosper muttered. He watched Esther walk toward Ida's house. She was wearing rubber boots and her umbrella dripped with rain.

"I imagined her to be completely different," Hornet whispered into Prosper's ear. "Taller -- and sort of more sinister."

"Hey, don't you like your ice cream, Prop?" Riccio asked. He licked some chocolate ice cream from his nose. "Can I eat it?"

"Leave him alone, Riccio," Hornet answered for him.

When Esther rang the bell to Ida's house, a round, surly-looking nun opened the door and silently signaled Esther to follow her. Ida had begged Lucia for nearly an hour until her housekeeper finally put on the nun's habit, and now she looked very impressive. Lucia marched the visitor toward what was usually the pantry and laundry room. Lucia's ironing board, the water bottles, and the large stock of flour had all vanished. Instead, there was now a desk -- which Victor had dragged down from the attic with a great deal of cursing and swearing -- together with a few simple chairs and a large candelabra. The whitewashed walls were adorned with a picture of the Madonna and Child that usually hung in Ida's kitchen.

"Signora Hartlieb, I presume?" Ida rose from behind her desk as Lucia showed Esther into the room.

Next to Ida stood Victor, no beard, no disguise, simply the Victor Esther knew. Ida, however, was wearing the dark habit of the Merciful Sisters like Lucia. "Please tell Signora Spavento that the habits have to be back before tonight," the nun had whispered to Prosper after she had pa.s.sed the clothes through a hatch in the orphanage's gate. She had looked guilty, as if she was committing a serious crime. But she would do anything for the kind and generous Signora Spavento.

"Please have a seat, Signora Hartlieb," Ida said, pointing sternly at the dusty chairs as Esther came in. "Your husband couldn't come?"

"No, he is unavoidably detained on business. After all, we are leaving the day after tomorrow."

Victor watched Esther sit down. She straightened her skirt over her knees, and looked uneasily around the bare room. When she noticed him, Victor gave a polite nod.

"You already know Signor Getz," Ida said after sitting down behind her desk again. "I asked him to come since the police informed me that he had been in charge of the search for your nephews. He has also been a loyal friend to the convent for quite some time."

Esther looked at Victor as if she wasn't sure whether his being there was good or bad for her. Then she turned back toward Ida.

"Why did you ask me here?" she asked, straightening her skirt again.

"Well, that should be perfectly obvious," Ida answered with exaggerated patience. "We have to look after many children, whereas the money at our disposal is limited, very limited. So if, as in the case of your nephews, we do find out that there are relatives ..."

"I am not prepared to look after them again!" Esther interrupted her brusquely. "I was was prepared to, but the little one..." She fiddled nervously with her earlobes, "...I'm sure Signor Getz has already told you what we've been through with Bo. He might have fooled you with his angelic face, but I've been cured -- thoroughly. He is stubborn, moody, and bites like a little dog. Anyway..." she took a deep breath, "... I am sorry, but not even for the sake of my late sister would I be ready to take him in again. And there is n.o.body else in our family who would take one of the boys. So if you could keep them both here...after all, they so desperately wanted to come to this city...the family would agree to give what little money their mother left behind to the orphanage." prepared to, but the little one..." She fiddled nervously with her earlobes, "...I'm sure Signor Getz has already told you what we've been through with Bo. He might have fooled you with his angelic face, but I've been cured -- thoroughly. He is stubborn, moody, and bites like a little dog. Anyway..." she took a deep breath, "... I am sorry, but not even for the sake of my late sister would I be ready to take him in again. And there is n.o.body else in our family who would take one of the boys. So if you could keep them both here...after all, they so desperately wanted to come to this city...the family would agree to give what little money their mother left behind to the orphanage."

Ida nodded. With a deep breath she folded her hands on the desk. "This is all very unfortunate, Signora Hartlieb." Suddenly, Ida glanced at the door.

Victor had of course also heard it: steps approaching down the corridor, perfectly according to plan. There was a knock. Esther Hartlieb turned around.

"Yes?" Ida called.

The door opened, and Lucia pushed Barbarossa into the room.

"The new boy is having problems again, Sister!" Lucia announced. She looked at the redhead as if she were handling a hairy spider or some other distasteful animal.

"I will deal with it," Ida answered, and Lucia gruffly left the room.

Barbarossa stood by the door, looking very small and forlorn. Noticing Esther's curious look, he gave her a timid smile.

"Please excuse me, Signora Hartlieb," said Ida, "but this boy has only come to us recently and he is having a lot of trouble with the other children. So they teased you again, Ernesto?"

Barbarossa nodded, casting a quick sideways glance at Esther. Then he started to sob, quietly at first, and then more and more violently. "Do you have a handkerchief for me, Mother Ida?" he sniveled. "They took my books away from me."

"Oh no!" Ida reached into her black habit, but Esther was quicker. Smiling shyly, she handed Barbarossa her lace-embroidered handkerchief.

"Grazie, Signora," he replied, dabbing the tears from his long lashes. Signora," he replied, dabbing the tears from his long lashes.