The Devil Will Come

TWENTY-SEVEN

ELISABETTA AWOKE TO the sound of the door creaking open. She called to her sister and both of them threw back their blankets.

The first person through the door was a mountain of a man in a black suit. The other was smaller, older, handsome and dapper in a tight blue cashmere sweater, dark trousers and tasseled loafers.

‘I’m sorry to wake you,’ the older man said in heavily accented English. ‘I know you had an uncomfortable night but I didn’t want you to sleep through the big day.’

Elisabetta stood, smoothed her habit and stepped into her shoes.

‘Who are you?’ she demanded.

The man ignored her question.

Micaela was standing, adjusting her blouse. ‘My sister asked you who you were, asshole. You’re going to wish you hadn’t messed with us.’

Mulej pulled a large pistol from under his jacket and swore at her.

‘Fat men with small dicks like to threaten women,’ Micaela snarled.

‘Micaela, please,’ Elisabetta pleaded. ‘Don’t make the situation worse.’

The older man laughed. ‘Put the gun away, Mulej. There’s no need. My name is Krek. Damjan Krek.’

Krek. Could this be K?

‘Where are we?’ Elisabetta asked.

‘Slovenia,’ Krek replied. ‘You are in my home. Come upstairs with me.’

‘What about Micaela?’

‘She’ll be fine. You and I need to discuss some things. And we need to watch a little television, too.’

‘Television?’ Elisabetta asked.

‘The whole world is watching the Vatican and we must watch as well,’ Krek said. ‘The Conclave is about to start.’

Zazo hadn’t wanted to sleep but his body had shut itself down in agitated exhaustion as the sun rose over the Tiber. When he awoke it was ten o’clock and the apartment was quiet. Mad at himself, he jumped off the sofa and rushed to his sisters’ room in the vain hope that they had tiptoed in while he was napping.

As he feared, the room was empty.

He peeked in on his father. Carlo was asleep on top of his bed, fully clothed. Zazo let him be.

He rang Arturo again. The man sounded as rough as he did. ‘Anything?’ he asked.

There was nothing.

Zazo had spent the long night waking neighbors, calling casualty departments, calling Sister Marilena, driving to Micaela’s flat, walking the streets of the neighborhood. Just before he’d decided to wait for daylight he’d left an angry message on Inspector Leone’s voicemail telling him that his, Zazo’s, sisters hadn’t come home and asking how missing someone needed to be for the Polizia to start a missing-person investigation.

Zazo parted the sitting-room curtains and sunlight streamed in. He paced. He swore. He didn’t know what to do with himself. He reached for his jacket. He’d get some fresh air, get a coffee.

At the café he picked up his coffee at the bar and went to a window table. When he sat he was aware of something stiff in his inside jacket pocket. He reached in and pulled out the folded papers.

There were twenty pages of phone numbers, a couple of years of Bruno Ottinger’s outgoing calls from his home. Zazo slurped his espresso, flicked through the pages and stopped, muttering to himself about wasting his time. He looked out the window, hoping he’d see a nun’s black habit floating past.

He looked at the pages again. The great majority showed numbers within Germany, mostly local ones in Ulm. He picked up the phone and rang the most-called number. An operator at the University of Ulm answered; he hung up on her without speaking.

Scattered through the pages was a number with a country code that he didn’t recognize – 386. He tried it. A man’s voice answered, ‘Da? 929295.’

Zazo tried Italian first. ‘Hello. Who am I calling please?’

‘Kaj?’

He shifted to English and asked again.

The voice responded in English. ‘This is private line. Who do you try to reach?’

‘I’m a friend of Bruno Ottinger,’ Zazo said.

There was silence and a muffled sound as if someone had a hand over the mouthpiece. The voice came back on. ‘I can’t help you.’ The line disconnected.

Zazo wearily rubbed his eyes and made a mental note to look up the 386 code. He began folding the pages.

Something caught his eye and he stopped. He smoothed the pages and stared. A single number was leaping out at him.

It was Italian – a Vatican exchange.

He punched in the number as fast as he could. A woman answered in Italian but with a German accent: ‘Pronto.’

Zazo spoke to her in Italian. ‘This is Major Celestino of the Vatican Gendarmerie. Who am I speaking with?’

‘This is Frieda Shuker.’

‘Ah, Corporal Shuker’s wife?’

‘That’s right. Klaus is on duty today, of course. How can I help you, Major?’

‘I’m sorry to bother you,’ Zazo said. ‘Just a simple question. This number is one of the Swiss Guard’s residences, correct?’

‘Yes, it’s our flat.’

‘And how long have you been assigned to it?’

‘We moved here in 2006.’

‘Do you know who lived there before you?’

‘I’ve no idea. Sorry. Shall I have Klaus ring you?’

‘Not to worry, it’s okay. Thanks for your time.’

Zazo couldn’t stay seated. His mind was too unsettled for him to stay inside. He was on his feet and out the café door. He scrolled through the contact list on his phone and speed-dialed Omar Savio at the Vatican City IT department.

Omar, a pizza-and-beer buddy, seemed surprised that he was calling. ‘This must be important,’ he said.

‘Why do you say that?’

‘Because the Conclave’s about to start. You must be up to your ass in it.’

Omar, it seemed, hadn’t heard about his suspension. ‘Yeah, it’s important. I need you to look something up for me.’

‘Shoot.’

‘Who lived in Klaus Shuker’s flat in the Guard’s Residence before him? Shuker moved there in 2006.’

‘Give me a second.’ Zazo heard Omar’s fingers on a keyboard.

‘Okay, Flat 18, almost got it … It was Matthias Hackel. He had it from 2000 until 2006. He’s in the Oberstleutnant Apartment now. He must’ve moved out when he got promoted.’

‘Hackel, eh?’ Zazo said, trying to think. He stopped to wait for a street light to change.

‘Why’s it so noisy?’ Omar asked. ‘Aren’t you at the Vatican?’

‘Yeah, I’m nearby. Look, Omar, what I’ve got to ask you to do is time-sensitive and extremely delicate. I need you to email me Hackel’s telephone logs for his residential and cellular numbers going back to 2006.’

His friend sounded incredulous. ‘You’re joking, right?’

‘No, I’m deadly serious.’

‘I’d need a written authorization from Hackel’s boss to do that. If I didn’t have it, the Guards would run me through with their pikes.’

‘Omar, I wouldn’t ask you if it weren’t a matter of life and death. Please believe me. I can’t let the Guards know I’m looking into one of their own. I’ll never reveal you as a source. Send it to my private email address. You’re in IT. You know how to make these things invisible.’

‘Free pizza for life?’ Omar asked.

‘Yeah, for life.’

Waiters hustled around the dining hall of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, serving the dessert course and pouring out coffees. The Cardinal Electors were taking care not to stain their cassocks. These days a good telephoto lens could pick up a splash of gravy from a hundred meters.

The nine Cardinal Bishops sat at the raised dais overlooking tables where the other Cardinals dined with the conclavists, the small number of attendants who were entitled to accompany them into the Sistine Chapel. Cardinal Diaz sat in the central chair, befitting his position as Dean of the College of Cardinals. His old friends, Aspromonte and Giaccone, flanked him.

Diaz pushed a piece of pie around his plate and mumbled to Giaccone, ‘The sooner we have a new Holy Father, the sooner we get back to proper food.’

Giaccone wasn’t as picky. He took a big forkful but agreed. ‘It’s not so much the food. For me it’s the bed. I want to sleep in my own bed.’

Aspromonte leaned his big bald head in to listen. ‘The walls are too thin.’ He pointed his fork in the direction of an American cardinal. ‘All night I heard Kelley snoring.’

Diaz snorted. ‘Well, in an hour we’ll be in the Chapel. We’ll do our duty and then life will go on.’

Suddenly, Giaccone winced and put his silverware down.

‘What’s the matter?’ Diaz asked him.

Giaccone scrunched his fleshy face and pushed at his round belly. ‘Nothing. Maybe some gas.’ He winced again.

Aspromonte looked concerned. ‘Maybe you should see the doctor. He’s right over there.’

‘No, honestly, I’m fine.’

Diaz patted him on the shoulder. ‘Go and lie down. There’s time for a little rest before we’re called.’

‘I don’t want to fall asleep,’ Giaccone protested.

‘Don’t worry about that,’ Aspromonte said. ‘We won’t let you sleep through the Conclave!’