Vampire - Deep Midnight Part 35

"Love you," Cindy murmured as he started to walk away. But he paused, looking back at Jordan. "And you-what are you up to?"

She shrugged. "Maybe I can spread some more nasty rumors about the contessa."

"Jordan-"

"I'm going to return my costume. Maybe go shopping around the Rialto Bridge." She rose, giving a wave to Cindy. "I'll be in my room for a few minutes, if you need anything, Cindy."

As she walked by, Jared took her arm. "Jordan-"

"Lay off your wife!" she told him angrily and pulled free from his hold.

She was certain that he wanted to come after her; she was even certain that he wanted to haul off and strike her. But Cindy called him, and he turned back to her.

Jordan took advantage and ran up the stairs.

She didn't stay in her room as long as she had intended. She was really worried about Cindy, but as long as she intended to take a long bath and sleep, that was probably the best thing for her. Jordan picked up her latest costume to return, then, on a whim, brought the cop's book on vampires, and headed back down the stairs. Neither Cindy nor Jared remained in the lobby.

Once again, she asked the concierge to call both Tiff and Roberto Capo for her. Tiff's answering machine came on, and Roberto Capo had yet to report to duty.

She left the Danieli and headed straight for the Arte della Anna Maria shop. After the usual greetings, everyone kissing everyone's cheeks, she lingered, admiring Lynn's latest puppets, and asking if they had all recovered from the hectic pace of the pre-party days.

"Si! All goes well," Anna Maria told her.

"We have time for coffee, a snack!" Raphael said with pleasure.

Anna Maria frowned. "All of us?"

"It's slow, not many people ..." Raphael said hopefully. "Gina is upstairs; she can watch the shop." He slipped an arm around Anna Maria. "We'll take Jordan to the trattoria down at the corner; just for a quick break. They have spent a lot of money here, renting so many costumes!"

"Go call Gina!" Lynn told Raphael. "We'll be out waiting."

"You only want to light a cigarette. You just smoked."

"Lynn, you should wait, and catch up with us," Anna Maria said. She pointed out the window. "That lady is thinking about buying your latest harlequin. Talk to her-there is quite a price tag on the marionette, eh?"

As it happened, Lynn wound up talking to the woman interested in her art, Anna Maria went upstairs to talk to Gina, and Jordan and Raphael started walking to the trattoria. "How are you?" he asked her.

She looked at him. He seemed genuinely concerned.

"I'm not sure," she told him. "You know your friend, the policeman, Roberto Capo."

"Of course."

"Well, I went to meet him in a bar. I believe that he thinks something is going on as well, but though I don't understand the structure of the Venetian police, I think that Alfredo Manetti is his superior, and Manetti is convinced that I'm crazy."

"You met Roberto?"

"No, I went to meet him, I was almost where we were supposed to meet-then he told me to run."

"He told you to run?" Raphael was trying to make sure that he was understanding her English.

"I could see the place we were to meet, and I saw him ... I'm sure it was him ... and he suddenly told me to go, to run."

"Maybe he had stumbled upon a robbery or something. We're not like Rome, where the pickpockets are everywhere, but..."

"I don't know. I called the police station a couple of times, but he isn't in."

"That's strange. I'll call for you again from the trattoria."

They went through the line at the trattoria. Jordan liked the place very much; she could see all the food. No chance of winding up with seppia, or cuttlefish.

When they were seated, she showed Raphael the book she had carried with her. She sipped coffee, watching him. "I know that all of Venice is convinced I'm overreacting to everything because I was engaged to a cop who was killed. But this book ... well, it stresses the feet that there are cults, and there are sick people, and that bad things do happen." Before Raphael could reply, Anna Maria joined them, a plate of cold cuts and pasta on her tray.

"Ah, at last!" she said sitting, then she glanced at the book. "What is this?"

"A book about killers who are vampires," Raphael said.

"Raphael!" Jordan protested. "It's about criminal cases in which people thought they were vampires, or monsters of some sort."

"You shouldn't be reading it," Anna Maria said, twirling her pasta. "You suffered enough with your fiance."

"I know that Jared used my past as an explanation for my behavior, but I swear to you, I am completely sane," Jordan said. Was she? Hadn't she spent the morning buying garlic and collecting holy water?

Raphael flipped through the book. "You know, it wouldn't surprise me if the contessa was some horrid monster."

"Just because we don't like people doesn't make them monsters," Anna Maria said.

"But a severed head was found in a ca.n.a.l," Jordan said.

"And there have been other things," Raphael said. "Of course, in other places, they would not be so big. But here, in Italy, to desecrate a Catholic church ..."

"What Catholic church?" Jordan demanded.

"It was no longer a Catholic church!" Anna Maria said. "The building had been deconsecrated because of the danger in the structure."

"Still, it looked like a church, had been a church, and was still owned by the Church,"

Raphael said.

"What happened to it?"

"All manner of strange graffiti, that is all," Anna Maria said.

"Ancient strange graffiti," Raphael said. "Babylonian ... Persian, something like that.

The scholars never quite put it all together, or understood what was written. Much was in hieroglyphics."

"Egyptian?" Jordan murmured.

Raphael shrugged. "Rome did conquer Egypt!"

"Everywhere in the world, there is graffiti," Anna Maria said.

"Ciao!" Lynn cried, joining them at last with her tray. "I sold my marionette! Lunch is on me-oh, but you all have already paid, of course!"

"You can go buy us all some champagne," Rafael suggested.

"Not for me-no more alcohol," Jordan protested.

"And not for Raphael. He will be sending the clean costumes back to the cleaners, and attaching the wrong hats to the wrong costumes!" Anna Maria said.

But Raphael wasn't paying attention. He leaned forward. "Today's paper carried an interview with some poor young students bused in from a violent area in the former Yugoslavia. They had a wonderful time, but one of their friends did not get on the bus to go home. They seemed to think that she fell in love with Venice and intends to stay."

"If I had come from a war zone, I'd want to stay," Lynn said.

"She's probably attached herself to someone," Anna Maria commented. "Poor girl.

Maybe she will find her dream." Raphael stood up suddenly. "I'll call Roberto."

He left the table. Anna Maria shook her head. "Suppose, Jordan, that the contessa is an evil woman? We have no proof. You left her palazzo and went to the police. The police went to her palazzo. They found nothing. There has been graffiti in Venice. Tourists come in, and they don't want to leave. How can you prove anything there?"

"I can't," Jordan said. "But I believe that somehow the severed head in the ca.n.a.l got into the water because of the contessa."

Raphael slid back into his chair. He looked at Jordan. "Roberto called in sick today. I tried his home and got his answering machine." He pa.s.sed a piece of paper to her across the table. "Here's his home number, if you wish to try later."

"Thank you. Thank you very much." She pocketed the paper in her jeans. "And!" She said suddenly, "Tiff Henley is still missing."

"Well, I'm afraid that will prove nothing," Anna Maria said. "Tiff has been known to swear she'll be at a function, and fly to Zurich the same day. I'm afraid that Tiff isn't at all dependable."

"The other cop I met, Alfredo Manetti, said that he would look into Tiff's disappearance," Jordan said.

"That's good," Anna Maria told her. "That will make you feel better, yes?"

Raphael was still flipping through the book. "I wonder how many disappearances happen without anyone knowing each year. In Venice, the government has long been concerned about the buses coming in. People sleep on them ... they haven't enough to eat. When they leave, it is hard to have a real count of people. And some who come in ... they are from very poor areas. They have no relatives, or their relatives are fighting to survive, and no money to spend on searching for those who may be lost. They must think that their family members have found rich Venetians, they are backpacking with other students. Maybe they have found an American, or a wealthy j.a.panese or German businessman."

"Raphael!" Anna Maria said with a sigh.

He looked up at her. "Remember when Carlotta stopped by for her costume? She told us that it was very strange around the church that had been so vandalized. She heard noises, and saw shadows at night."

"Shadows, in Venice, at night, imagine that!" Lynn teased.

Raphael made a face in her direction. He shook his head, staring at Jordan. "I work my fingers to the bone. She sells a marionette and makes a fortune!"

Jordan decided not to tell them that she saw shadows and heard noises.

"I think that you are all being far too ..." He paused, searching for the word he wanted in English for Jordan's benefit. "Skeptical! That's it, skeptical! Jordan is right-there are bad people out there. And look how many people have seen ghosts. Or believe in spirits. And as Father Vesco once said at ma.s.s, if we believe in the power of G.o.d, or a force of good, there is also a force of evil. To the Chinese, yin and yang. Who is to say that someone has not believed himself a monster, and then gone about doing evil to people who would not be missed?"

"Raphael, you will get Jordan upset," Anna Maria protested again with a sigh.

"I'm not upset at all," Jordan said. "I'm glad that Raphael understands why I am so concerned-especially about Tiff."

Lynn looked at Anna Maria. "It is better that we admit things happen. Then Jordan doesn't feel like a fool."

"Maybe you are ... putting egg in my face?" Anna Maria said.

"No, no-egging you on, I think," Lynn said.

Anna Maria nodded. "I do not like the contessa." She hesitated and gave a little shiver.

"It is ridiculous, but I think ..."

"Yes?" Jordan persisted.

"If evil is in people, then evil is in the contessa. Whatever money she gives, no matter that she is a benefactor of the arts."

As Jordan was listening to Anna Maria, amazed by her confession, she straightened.

Where she sat at the table in the trattoria, she could see clearly out the gla.s.s door just behind the counter with the cash register.

She was sure that she saw Ragnor. Not many men were so tall, and though there were many light-haired Venetians and tourists, few were as blond as he.

She rose, kissing Anna Maria on the cheek. "You do have great instincts!" she told her.

"The contessa is evil, I'm convinced, and I'm glad that others feel it. I think even Cindy knows it, she just pretends that it isn't true because of Jared. Excuse me, please, all of you.

I think I just saw a friend."

Raphael started to protest, but she was already out of the trattoria. She rushed out to the street.

It was definitely Ragnor. He was in the calle, about a block before her. She started to follow, then stopped dead in her tracks.

A woman had joined him. A woman wearing a traditional, long, Venetian Carnevale cape. She wore a large hat that obscured her features, but no mask.

It was definitely the contessa.

She caught Ragnor by the arm. He turned to her. She said something earnestly. He lowered his head to listen.

As Jordan watched, he slipped an arm around the contessa, leading her down the next narrow alley.

For a moment Jordan stood very still, feeling the breeze against her cheeks.

Then she followed.

She reached the alley, but did not see them. She walked through the alley, coming upon the ca.n.a.l that stretched along the riva on the other side.

There was no sign of Ragnor or the contessa, but as she stood there, she was startled to hear slow music, and see that most of the people near her had paused, and now stood still by the ca.n.a.l.

A gondola was going by.