The Second Messiah

“He’s home all right. Fonzi doesn’t call you back at seven-thirty A.M. just for the heck of it. His apartment is on the building’s top floor. By the way, Fonzi’s a dyed-in-the-wool ladies’ man. So if you get the feeling he’s checking out your assets, don’t get offended.”

“Assets?”

Jack pressed the intercom again. “He’s got an eye for the feminine figure. But I hear the wheelchair’s slowed him down.”

“Wheelchair?”

“An Italian ex-girlfriend ran him down in her car for cheating. But that’s the Latin temperament for you. Fonzi was lucky to escape with a bunch of shattered discs.”

“I bet that put a stop to his gallop.”

A metallic voice suddenly sounded from the intercom and a light sprang on to reveal a camera lens inset in the aluminium box. “Actually, the back’s on the mend and it certainly hasn’t put a stop to my gallop. In another month or two, the surgeons say I can kiss the wheel-chair good-bye.”

The voice was cheerful and bright. Jack smiled. “Fonzi.”

“Jack, greetings. I see on the screen that you’ve got female company. Word of her beauty has spread. The jungle drums have been beating.”

“Who’s been beating them?”

“Buddy calls me now and then for a chin-wag. He told me you’d been eyeing a certain woman on the dig. Said she was a stunner. Hello, Yasmin.”

“Actually, this is Lela, Fonzi.”

Without a beat, Fonzi said, “Well hello to Lela. Wasn’t there a song called ‘Lela’? Or was it ‘Lola’? The Kinks maybe?”

Jack said, “A little before our time maybe.”

“No matter, the lady looks wonderful.” A buzzer sounded and one of the front double doors sprang open. “Advance, friends, and enter my lair.”

96

Jack and Lela stepped inside the doorway. It revealed a short anteroom, protected by a security cage complete with thick metal bars. Beyond the bars lay a vast hallway, covered in checkered black-and-white floor tiles.

The entrance door behind them sprang shut. Moments later a squeaking sound came from somewhere and a man rolled toward them in a wheelchair, his hands clasping the rubber wheels. He wore a Paisley cravat at his neck, which gave him a rakish look, and his dumpling face grinned. “You know, I really need to get the oil out and lubricate this thing.” He was at least sixty, oddly handsome, and had a mischievous spark in his eyes. “Terrific to see you, Jack.”

“Hello, Fonzi. My apologies for disturbing you so early.”

“No apology necessary. It’s no morning for man or beast out there, so come on in. Let me get you out of the security cage.” Fonzi slipped a remote from his pocket, stabbed some buttons, and the metal bars whirred open. Jack and Lela stepped into the checkered hall. The gates clanged shut behind them.

“What a great pleasure it is to meet you, signorina.” Fonzi’s eyes lit up with a playful glint as he grasped Lela’s hand and kissed it.

Lela said, “Jack’s told me a lot about you.”

“All enticing and ubercharming, I hope?” Fonzi let go of Lela’s hand, removed an embossed business card from his breast pocket, and presented it with a smile and a flourish. “Lela, if ever this primate mistreats you, is rude to you, neglects to romance you, causes you to grow tired of him, or simply reveals himself to be an unbearable ass, I want you to call me at once. I will offer you friendship, my brilliant intellect, all in return for the comfort of your companionship.”

“I just might just take you up on the offer.”

Fonzi grinned up at Jack and offered a firm handshake. “She’s got eminent taste, hasn’t she? Such a sweet and clever lady. Come, I’ve got some java blend on the brew that’ll knock your teeth out. Then we can discuss this remarkable scroll of yours.”

Across the deserted street from the Villa Panaro, a white Fiat van with dark tinted windows coasted to a halt beside the rain-lashed pavement. Thunder cracked and jagged lightning illuminated the dark clouds. The engine throbbed a few moments before it was switched off.

In the silence that followed, the passenger’s electric window whirred down, just enough of a gap for a hand to squeeze through.

A moment later a pair of high-power Nikon night-vision binoculars slipped out between the window crack and pointed in the villa’s direction.

97

Fonzi pushed his chair across the checkered hall. “I called Buddy when I saw the reports in the newspapers. He told me all about the professor’s murder. A terrible tragedy. Not that Green and I were bosom pals. He could be overpowering when we worked digs together. Still, he didn’t deserve to die like that.”

“Buddy told you?”

“Every detail. Including that the police had you in their sights, Jack. Buddy said you were as innocent as a newborn and that’s good enough for me. So when did you two arrive in Rome?”

Jack said, “Yesterday afternoon. I tried calling you after midnight but got no reply.”

Fonzi grinned, pushing the squeaking wheels of his chair in through an open pair of polished, floor-to-ceiling doors. “The multimedia pics you sent kept me busy all evening, so I’d hit the hay by then, exhausted. You gave me a few interesting problems to solve.”