Free SALVE ROMA! A Felidae Novel - U.S. Edition by Akif Pirinçci Page B

implies that we must have gotten along really well in a former life.«
    With a sweet smile he turned towards me.
    »And this is the legendary Samantha, Francis, the Signora of this house. She’s the only one the Prince is living with.«
    I believed to see a hint of a smile in Samantha’s beaming blue eyes when Antonio introduced me as his »new friend«. Had the good Lord given me the ability to blush, in this moment I would have been redder than a volcano at its highest operating temperature. I lost my bearings so much that I would have loved to vanish into thin air.
    »Nice to get to know you, Samantha«, I said. »It’s true, Antonio and me, we’ve become good friends in the last couple of hours. And with friends I mean, well, friendship as such, in other words, friends who share thoughts or hang out together, hanging out as friends, friends like in, lets say, having dinner maybe or sleeping, oh, uhm, well, you know sleeping as such, like in, how should I explain that, real resting, just lying down, I mean ... «
    She burst out in broad laughter.
    »Your friend seems to be pretty worried about the correct image of his sexual orientation, Antonio.«
    »Yeah, that’s one of his kinks. He says he’s old-fashioned. Though I always believed us Romans to be old-fashioned with all this old bombast surrounding us. But no worries, actually he’s a detective ...«
    Antonio began to tell her about the sad circumstances of our encounter and exposed my assumptions and theories regarding the murders in every detail. Samantha was very fond of my observation skills. Even more so she was impressed by the odyssey, which had brought me to her wonderful metropolis. Although she seemed to be the blessed luxury pet of an old man, she was neither unworldly nor did she lack sympathy for her brothers and sisters outside her upper-class home. She had already heard about the monstrosities. Therefore she encouraged me to solve this case as soon as possible and offered all she could do in order to help.
    For now this help meant giving us a place to spend the night because Antonio and I just couldn’t take any more. Samantha led us up the stairs to the second floor of the Palazzo, where we were told to be able to sleep without being bothered. On the way there we passed another parlor, where we saw the man of the house. The old man with shoulder-length snow-white hair was sitting in an armchair, tossed a full wine glass in his hand and smoked a big cigar. He was surrounded by quite a couple of candelabra with burning candles, which shone on his ancestors on the wall. Savingly, he sipped his red wine and smiled to himself. An old phonograph on an ancient dresser supplied him with La Traviata, quite the appropriate music according to his mood, which fed on the glory of long gone days.
    We went upstairs, wandered through dark halls, and eventually entered a room, which contained velvet cushions, scratchers and loads of toys for our kind. In a nutshell, Samantha’s can opener, rapt in the golden times of his ancestors, did more than is humanly possible in order to keep his pet happy.
    I can’t remember anymore how Antonio and I sank down on the cushions and dozed off.  No clue if it was due to pure imagination or real memory, but before I went off to dreamland, I believe to have seen Samantha’s face above me. At first it radiated its familiar kindness, but before I closed my eyes, it suddenly took on a strange harshness.
    In my dreamland it didn’t get less strange. I found myself on another plane, again on my way to Rome. The funny thing was that, like a human, I was sitting upright on my butt. I was even strapped! The machine was deserted, and the sunlight above the fluffy carpet of clouds shone through the plane windows with such intensity that my eyes hurt even though they were screwed up. From the speakers resounded La Traviata , rough and now and then in terrupted by various scratches.
    Suddenly Gustav showed up next to me. He was on his