Free The Bible of Clay by Julia Navarro

dinner?" Carlo asked solicitously.
    "No, not yet. I came straight from the office. And, yes, I'd love something. A glass of wine most of all."
    "Wonderful. Let me introduce you to my friends, Professor Hans Hausser and Maestro Bruno Miiller. You've met Mercedes."
    "Signore Miiller, I'm sure people tell you this all the time, but I'm a great admirer of yours," Luca said.
    "Thank you," Bruno murmured uncomfortably.
    The housekeeper set another place at the table and brought around a large platter of cannelloni. Luca served himself generously, ignoring Mercedes' impatient glare.
    She decided she didn't like Luca Marini. She didn't, in fact, like anybody who was slow, and the president of Security Investigations could not have been slower. He seemed to her the most inconsiderate man on earth—smacking his chops on cannelloni while they sat waiting.
    Carlo Cipriani, on the other hand, patiently passed the time by chatting about the news of the day—the situation in the Near East, a fight in parliament between Berlusconi and the Left, the weather. Mercedes knew he took pride in his exquisite manners.
    When Luca finished his dessert, Carlo suggested they retire to his office, where they might enjoy an amaro and discuss the findings.
    After they were all seated, drinks in hand, Carlo began. "We're listening."
    "Well, the girl didn't go to the conference today." "What girl?" Mercedes asked, irritated by Marini's macho, paternalistic tone.
    "Clara Tannenberg," answered Marini, by now irritated himself.
    "Ah, Signora Tannenberg!" Mercedes exclaimed sarcastically.
    "Yes. Signora Tannenberg preferred to go shopping today, apparently. Between the Via Condotti and the Via della Croce, she spent over four thousand euros. She seems to be a compulsive shopper, with no lack of funds. She had lunch alone at the Caffe II Greco—a sandwich, dessert, and a cappuccino. Then she went to the Vatican and was in the museum until closing time. As I was on my way here, I was informed that she'd just gone into the Excelsior. Since I haven't been called again, she's still inside."
    "What about her husband?" Professor Hausser inquired.
    "Her husband left the hotel late and wandered around Rome until two, at which point he stopped by La Bolognesa for lunch with Ralph Barry, the director of the Mundo Antiguo Foundation and a very influential man in the world of archaeology. Barry is a former professor at Harvard and highly respected in academic circles. Although this conference is under the auspices of UNESCO, the Mundo Antiguo Foundation is its main financial sponsor."
    "I wonder why Barry and Husseini had lunch together," Bruno Miiller mused aloud.
    "Two of my men were able to get a table nearby, and they picked up parts of the conversation. Signore Barry seemed very perturbed by Clara Tannenberg's behavior, but Ahmed defended his wife quite vigorously. They talked about someone named Yves Picot, one of the archaeologists attending the conference, who apparently might be interested in the two tablets that were mentioned in this morning's report. In the dossier, you'll find a report on this Picot and information on some of his adventures. He's quite the ladies' man, and something of a troublemaker. Husseini doesn't seem ready to trust him.
    "Husseini mentioned that in addition to financing, he needs archaeologists, people ready to work. And this is the most interesting part: Ralph Barry told Husseini that tomorrow or the day after, he'd be handing over a letter from Robert Brown, the president of the Mundo Antiguo Foundation, to be delivered to a man, someone named Alfred, who is apparently the girl's grandfather, and—"
    "It's him!" cried Mercedes gleefully. "We've got him!"
    "Calm down, Mercedes, and let Signore Marini finish. We'll talk later."
    Carlo Cipriani's tone of voice brooked no reply, and Mercedes, abashed, sat back quietly in her chair. He was right. They could talk when Marini was gone.
    "It's all in the report, but my men think that this