Free The Mephisto Club by Tess Gerritsen Page A

eh? Make you guess.”
    “Was he a young man? What did he look like?”
    “Oh. So you’re interested.”
    “Was there anything”—she paused—“unusual about him?”
    “What do you mean, unusual?”
    Not human
was what she wanted to say.
    “He had very blue eyes,” offered Paolo brightly. “Strange eyes. Bright, like an angel’s.”
    Quite the opposite of an angel.
    She turned and immediately crossed to the window, where she peered out through dusty glass at passersby.
He’s here,
she thought.
He’s found me in Siena.
    “He’ll come back,
cara mia.
Just be patient,” said Giorgio.
    And when he does, I can’t be here.
    She snatched up her backpack. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m not feeling well.”
    “What’s the matter?”
    “I think I shouldn’t have eaten that fish last night. It’s not agreeing with me. I need to go home.”
    “Paolo will walk you there.”
    “No! No.” She yanked open the door, setting off a violent jangle of the bell. “I’ll be fine.” She fled the shop and did not glance back, for fear that Paolo would try to run after her, would insist on playing the gentleman and escort. She couldn’t afford to let him slow her down. Haste was everything now.
    She took a circuitous route back to her flat, avoiding crowded piazzas and major streets. Instead she cut through tiny alleys, scrambled up narrow steps between medieval walls, steadily circling toward the Fontebranda neighborhood. It would take her only five minutes to pack. She had learned to be mobile, to move at an instant’s notice, and all she had to do was toss her clothes and toilet case into the suitcase and grab the stash of Euros from its hiding place behind the dresser. These past three months, Giorgio had paid her under the table in cash, knowing full well that she had no work permit. She’d collected a nice nest egg to tide her over between jobs, enough to last her till she settled into a new town. She should grab the cash and suitcase and just go. Straight to the bus station.
    No. No, on second thought, that’s where he’d expect her to go. A taxi would be better. Costly, yes, but if she used it only to get out of town, maybe as far as San Gimignano, she could catch a train to Florence. There, among the teeming crowds, she could disappear.
    She did not enter her building through the piazzetta; instead, she approached through the shadowy side street, past rubbish cans and locked bicycles, and climbed the back stairs. Music was blaring in one of the other flats, spilling out an open doorway into the hall. It was that sullen teenager next door. Tito and his damn radio. She caught a glimpse of the boy, slouched like a zombie on the couch. She continued past his flat, toward hers. She was just taking out her keys when she spotted the torn matchstick and froze.
    It was no longer wedged in the doorjamb; it had fallen to the floor.
    Her heart pounded as she backed away. As she retreated past Tito’s doorway, the boy looked up from the couch and waved. Of all the inconvenient times for him to start being friendly.
Don’t say a word to me,
she silently pleaded.
Don’t you dare say a word.
    “You’re not at work today?” he called out in Italian.
    She turned and ran down the stairs. Almost tripped over the bicycles as she fled into the alley.
I’m too fucking late,
she thought as she hurtled around the corner and scrambled up a short flight of steps. Ducking into an overgrown garden, she crouched behind a crumbling wall and froze there, scarcely daring to breathe. Five minutes, ten. She heard no footsteps, no sounds of pursuit.
    Maybe the matchstick fell by itself. Maybe I can still get my suitcase. My money.
    Risking a glance over the wall, she stared up the alley. No one.
    Do I chance it? Do I dare?
    She slipped into the alley again. Made her way down a series of narrow streets until she reached the outskirts of the piazzetta. But she did not step into the open; instead she edged toward the corner of a