“Let’s go see what’s going on. It might be something that leads us to the Croatian’s contact.”
“Shoshana, come on. Why would this crime scene do that?”
She said, “It might be nothing, but then again, it might be something.”
She exited the car and said, “It’s time to be Americans. Get that State Department badge out. Let’s go see.”
I sighed again and exited the vehicle. I thought it was bullshit, but then again, with Shoshana, you never knew.
We reached the stairwell, and I showed a half-assed identification saying I was a consular officer for the United States. Of course, if they did any checking, we were done.
The officer wouldn’t allow us up, but told us someone was coming down.
A woman of about forty appeared, with a fairly attractive face, a mole right above her lip, shoulder-length hair, and an air of being in charge. Immediately, when I saw her, I thought, This should be Knuckles’s job, because her hard-ass appearance would melt when she saw him.
She said, “Yes? Can I see some identification?”
I flashed my counterfeit credentials, and she seemed to believe it. She said, “What do you want here? Do you have some interest in this killing?”
I said, “Killing? No. We’re missing a man, and this was his last known location. We walked into this purely by coincidence. When I saw the tape, I thought it prudent to see what was going on, just in case.”
Shoshana slipped past us and began climbing the stairs. The woman shouted, “Hey! This is a crime scene!”
Shoshana began running up the stairs and I thought, Here we go. Crazy-ass shit yet again.
The inspector sprinted behind her, and I followed, saying, “I’m sorry. She’s really worried about her friend. Is it a man who was killed?”
The inspector didn’t answer, instead shouting, “Stop! Stop going up!”
We reached the third landing and Shoshana exited, going to the door with two cops outside. She managed to get past them, and then was finally stopped in the foyer, two officers holding her in place.
She wasn’t fighting them.
Which was a blessed relief, because if she had, they’d both be dead.
We entered behind her. The inspector said, “What the hell is going on? Why are you here?”
Shoshana looked at me and said, “This is it. He was here. The Ramsad killer was here.”
Chapter 39
I was prepared to haul Shoshana’s ass out of the building just to prevent a catastrophic compromise of our cover, but when I heard her words, I paused. Shoshana had some ethereal ability to see past the mortal world. She could sense things that others could not. In the past, I had scoffed at it, but deep inside, where the primordial instinct lay, I believed. It wasn’t something that could be explained, and I’d be the last person to ever admit it. But I believed it was real.
The inspector looked at her, then at me, saying, “What’s she talking about?”
I said, “Nothing. She has a habit of going off the rails. Sorry to bother you.”
I glared at Shoshana and said, “Time to go.”
The inspector snatched my arm and said, “What’s she talking about? What’s a Ramsad? Is that like a prostitute?”
I said, “No. She’s just crazy to find her friend. I’m sorry this happened.”
Shoshana looked toward an open kitchen window, seeing a rope hanging half in and half out. She said, “That red cord is the weapon, isn’t it?”
Lia heard the words and squinted her eyes at me, wondering what Shoshana had seen. I’ll be damned if she wasn’t reading me the same way Shoshana did. She understood I didn’t want to talk in front of the other uniformed personnel. She said, “Okay. Get the hell out of here. Right now.”
I said, “Gladly. Just let my friend go.”
They did, and we began walking down the stairs. I said, “What was that all about?”
Shoshana said, “The mastermind was here. The killer of the Ramsad. I felt it. I could smell it. I saw it. I could taste it. That body in there was his kill.”
I knew she was trying to explain to a mere mortal what she saw, using the senses of an average human, but she hadn’t “seen” or “smelled” or “tasted” anything. It was something else, and I wasn’t sure if it was just her wanting to believe it true, or if it really was true.
We reached the landing and I heard footsteps above me. Like I thought would happen, the inspector appeared and said, “I don’t know who you are, but I’m going to find out. And it won’t be pretty if you have information for our investigation and are holding out.”
Her Italian accent was adorable, making me wish yet again Knuckles was here.
I glanced at Shoshana and said, “Look, we have no idea what’s happened here, but we might have information about it from another investigation. We came here because of that. We had no idea about any killings in Rome. We’re looking for a guy who’s working against U.S. interests, not a killer of whores. If you tell us what you know, we’ll do the same. I think we’re looking for the same man, but for different reasons.”
“My name is Lia Vairo. I’m in charge of this investigation. I can pull you in by the authority vested in me.”
I looked at Shoshana and said, “What do you think?”
Shoshana did her weird stare over the woman, then turned to me, saying, “Yes.”
I saw Lia disconcerted with the stare, just like I felt when Shoshana did it to me. That thing wasn’t pleasant.
Lia said, “What the hell was that?”
I said, “I know you can arrest me. I’d prefer it if you didn’t. This is much bigger than a murder. I’ll help you find the killer, and you’ll help me prevent a lot more deaths than these whores here in Rome.”
She bristled, saying, “They might be whores to you, but they’re humans to me. Maybe I’ll haul you in right now.”
Shoshana took her arm and bored into her eyes. She said, “Don’t do that. We want to help, but we can’t do it in official channels. Please, trust us.”
Lia pulled her arm away halfheartedly, saying nothing, just staring at Shoshana.
Shoshana touched her arm again, this time gently, saying, “Give us a place to meet. Outside of official channels.”
I honestly thought Shoshana’s next words would be “These are not the droids you are looking for,” but that didn’t happen.
Lia said, “Why the secrecy? Why should I do that?”
I said, “Because I’m asking. Nothing more. You want to solve this crime, and I want to solve mine. But I can’t do it officially.”
She said, “Are you CIA? Is that what this is? Is the killer some CIA asset you’re trying to protect?”
I laughed and said, “No, we aren’t CIA, and I have no idea who this killer is, but I think he’s about to kill a lot more people than these women in Rome. And I’m sorry I called them whores. I understand they’re human, and I meant no disparagement by that, but if you can help us find him, it’ll help us both out.”
“So why the unofficial location?”
“Let’s just say it would be better if the government didn’t know we were looking. Both the U.S. government and yours.”