There was an attitude about the boy that Robert did not like. “Ask her.”
Pier and Mama came out of the kitchen. Mama looked at Robert. “You are sure you do not want to sleep with Pier?”
Robert was embarrassed. “Thank you. No.”
Pier said, “I’ll show you your bedroom.” She led him toward the back of the house to a large, comfortable bedroom with a double bed in the middle of the room.
“Robert, are you afraid of what Mama might think if we slept together? She knows what I do.”
“It’s not that,” Robert said. “It’s—” There was no way he could explain. “I’m sorry, I—”
Pier’s voice was cold. “Never mind.”
She felt unreasonably offended. Twice now he had refused to sleep with her. It serves him right that I am turning him over to the police, she thought. And yet she felt a small, nagging sense of guilt. He was really very nice. But fifty thousand dollars was fifty thousand dollars.
At dinner Mama was talkative, but Pier and Robert and Carlo were silent and preoccupied.
Robert was busily working out his plan of escape. Tomorrow, he thought, I’ll go down to the docks and find a ship out of here.
Pier was thinking about the phone call she was planning to make. I’ll call from town, so the police cannot trace it here.
Carlo was studying the stranger his sister had brought to the house. He should be an easy make.
When dinner was over, the two women went into the kitchen. Robert was alone with Carlo.
“You’re the first man my sister has ever brought here,” Carlo said. “She must like you a lot.”
“I like her a lot.”
“Do you? Are you going to take care of her?”
“I think your sister can take care of herself.”
Carlo smirked. “Yeah. I know.” The stranger seated across from him was well dressed and obviously rich. Why was he staying here when he could have stayed at some fancy hotel? The only reason Carlo could think of was that the man was in hiding. And that brought up an interesting point. When a rich man was in hiding, somehow, some way, there was money to be made from the situation.
“Where are you from?” Carlo asked.
“From no place in particular,” Robert said pleasantly. “I travel a lot.”
Carlo nodded. “I see.” I’ll find out from Pier who he is. Somebody will probably be willing to pay a lot of money for him, and Pier and I can split it.
“Are you in business?” Carlo asked.
“Retired.”
It would not be hard to force this man to talk, Carlo decided. Lucca, the leader of the Diavoli Rossi, could crack him open in no time.
“How long will you be staying with us?”
“It’s hard to say.” The boy’s curiosity was beginning to get on Robert’s nerves.
Pier and her mother came out of the kitchen.
“Would you like some more coffee?” Mama asked.
“No, thank you. That was a delicious dinner.”
Mama smiled. “That was nothing. Tomorrow I will prepare a feast for you.”
“Good.” He would be gone by then. He stood up. “If you don’t mind, I’m rather tired. I’d like to turn in.”
“Of course,” Mama said. “Good night.”
“Good night.”
They watched Robert as he walked toward the bedroom.
Carlo grinned. “He doesn’t think you’re good enough to sleep with him, eh?”
The remark stung Pier, as it was meant to. She would not have minded it if Robert were a homosexual, but she had heard him talk to Susan, and she knew better. I’ll show the stronzo.
Robert lay in bed thinking about his next move. Laying a false trail with the homing device that had been hidden in the credit card would give him a little time, but he was not depending too much on it. They probably would have caught up with the red truck by now. The men who were after him were ruthless and smart. Were heads of world governments involved in the massive cover-up? Robert wondered. Or was it an organization within an organization, a cabal in the intelligence community acting illegally on its own? The more Robert thought about it, the more feasible it seemed that the heads of state might be unaware of what was going on. And a thought struck him. It had always seemed odd to him that Admiral Whittaker had suddenly been retired from ONI and relegated to some Siberia. But if someone had forced him out because they knew he would never be part of the conspiracy, then it began to make sense. I have to contact the admiral, Robert thought. He was the only one he could trust to get to the truth of what was happening. Tomorrow, he thought. Tomorrow. He closed his eyes and slept.