Free The Alchemist's Secret by Scott Mariani Page B

sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he should rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

    Usberti shut the book. He gazed into space for a moment, a grim, set expression on his face. Then, nodding solemnly to himself, he picked up the phone.

13
    Paris

    Roberta made it back to the 2CV, glancing over her shoulder and half expecting Michel Zardi to come tearing out of the doorway of the building after her. Her hands were shaking so badly she could barely get the key in the lock.
    As she drove back to her apartment she dialled 17 and was put through to police emergency. ‘I want to report an attempted murder. There’s a body in my flat.’ She gave her details in a breathless rush as she sped back through the traffic, driving with one hand.
    An ambulance and two police cars were arriving just as she pulled up outside her building ten minutes later. The uniformed agents were headed by a brisk plainclothes inspector in his mid-thirties. He had thick dark hair brushed back from his brow, and his eyes were an unusually vivid green. ‘I’m Inspector Luc Simon,’ he said, staring at her intently. ‘You reported the incident?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘So you are…Roberta Ryder? US citizen. Have you identification?’
    ‘Now? OK.’ She fished in her bag and took out her passport and work visa. Simon ran his eyes over them and handed them back.
    ‘You have the title
Dr.
A medical doctor?’
    ‘Biologist.’
    ‘I see. Show us to the crime scene.’
    They climbed the winding stairs to Roberta’s apartment, radios crackling in the stairway. Simon led the way, moving fast, his jaw hard. She trotted along behind him, followed by the half-dozen uniformed cops and a paramedic team headed by a police doctor carrying a case.
    She explained the situation to Simon, watching his intense green eyes. ‘And then he fell, and came down on the knife,’ she said, gesticulating. ‘He was a big, heavy guy, must have landed really hard.’
    ‘We’ll take a full statement from you presently. Who’s up there now?’
    ‘Nobody, just him.’
    ‘Him?’
    ‘It
, then,’ she said with a note of impatience. ‘The body.’
    ‘You left the body unattended?’ he said, raising his eyebrows. ‘Where have
you
been?’
    ‘To visit a friend,’ she said, wincing to herself at the way it sounded.
    ‘Really…OK, we’ll talk about that later,’ said Simon impatiently. ‘Let’s see the body first.’
    They arrived at her door, and she opened it. ‘Do you mind if I wait outside?’ she asked.
    ‘Where’s the body?’
    ‘He’s right there inside the door, in the hallway.’
    The officers and medics went inside, Simon leading the way. A cop stayed outside on the landing with Roberta. She slumped against the wall and closed her eyes.
    After a couple of seconds Simon stepped back out onto the landing with a severe yet weary expression. Are you sure this is your apartment?’ he asked.
    ‘Yeah. Why?’
    Are you on any medication? Do you suffer from memory loss, epilepsy or any other mental disorder? Do you do drugs, alcohol?’
    ‘What are you talking about? Of course not.’
    ‘Explain this to me, then.’ Simon grabbed her by the arm and thrust her firmly into the doorway, pointing and looking at her expectantly. Roberta gaped. The detective was pointing at her hall floor.
    Empty. Clean. The body was gone.
    ‘You have an explanation?’
    ‘Maybe he crawled away,’ she muttered.
What, and cleaned up the blood trail after himself?
She rubbed her eyes, head spinning.
    Simon turned to stare hard at her. ‘Wasting police time is a serious offence. I could arrest you right now, you realize that?’
    ‘But I tell you there was a body! I didn’t imagine it, it was right there!’
    ‘Hmm.’ Simon turned to one of his men. ‘Go get me a coffee,’ he commanded. He faced Roberta with a sardonic look. ‘So where’s it gone to? The bathroom? Maybe we’ll find it sitting