No Place Like Rome Read online

  “Isn’t financial information, like, personal?” Basia asked.

  We all turned and stared at her. She lifted her hands. “Okay. Dead girl. Stolen religious money. I get it. Just saying.”

  I stood, snatched a croissant off a tray and took a bite. “Now the real mystery is how did it get on Serafina’s hard drive?”

  Elvis leaned back in his chair. “Easy. She stole it.”

  “Huh?” I frowned. “Dude, James Rutgon is an accomplished hacker. No way he left something this sensitive unprotected on his hard drive.”

  “Exactly. I’d never leave anything incriminating on my hard drive because I wouldn’t have had it there in the first place.”

  “Not following you.” I stuffed the rest of the croissant in my mouth.

  Elvis held out a hand. “Give me one of those croissants.” I tossed him one and he caught it. He took a bite.

  “Okay, let me put it this way, Lexi. If you were involved in an illegal activity, say hacking into a bank, and you were caught, what’s the first thing the police would confiscate?”

  “First of all, I wouldn’t hack into a bank. Well, not to steal money anyway. And I definitely wouldn’t get caught.”

  “We’re being theoretical here.”

  “Fine. Of course, the police would take my computer.”

  “Exactly. Which means if Rutgon is good at hiding his trail, which given his hacking skills we have to presume he is, he’ll have nothing incriminating on his hard drive.”

  “Good point.” I mulled it over for a moment. Where would I keep files I didn’t want anyone to see? I thought about my keychain��the one with the flash drive. Jeez, I’d put it on a separate drive, of course.

  “Okay, so Rutgon hides the file on a flash drive or a soft server somewhere. He’d sure as hell encrypt it, though.”

  Slash perched on the corner of one of the desks. “Which is exactly what he did, cara.”

  “But how did Serafina get it? Why was it on her hard drive?

  Slash shrugged. “It’s hard to say. My guess is that it was on a flash drive or a portable server of some kind. Serafina stole or borrowed it and copied the file to her hard drive.”

  “But she didn’t know what was in it.”

  “Most likely not. But it is not too far-fetched to assume that she figured something important was on it.”

  I imagined the situation in my head. “Okay, so let’s say Serafina saw a flash drive hanging on his keychain, backpack, or wherever, and wondered why he always carried it on him. When she started getting suspicious he was up to something or had used her, she stole it from him, maybe just to take a look. She couldn’t open the file because of the encryption, but it was potential leverage. She dragged the file onto her hard drive at work, hoping to get someone to help her open it at a later date. Maybe she didn’t realize Rutgon could access her computer at work at that point. Who knows? But eventually she must have realized it and was able to shut him out before he could retrieve or delete it from her hard drive.”

  Elvis popped the rest of the croissant in his mouth. “I think that’s a reasonable assumption. He sure as hell underestimated her.”

  I sighed. “That beyond sucks. Someone has to let her parents know all this someday. She was a smart, smart girl.”

  Tito snorted. “Not smart enough. She’s dead. Just saying, yah?”

  He had a point, I guess, but it still didn’t seem fair she paid with her life because of lousy taste in men. It only confirmed my suspicion that relationships sucked. Not that I had any to base that theory on.

  Slash ran his fingers through his hair. “Well, at this point it’s clear what needs to be done next.”

  Tito crossed his legs. “I sure as hell hope it’s something besides stare at a computer.”

  Slash nodded. “We need to make a trip to Vaprio d’Adda and see what we can find at those coordinates. But tomorrow. Tonight we need to sleep.”

  I held up a hand. “You do realize we just got up about six hours ago.”

  Xavier rubbed his temples. “Personally, I’m with Slash. We need to get our bodies adjusted to this time period. I wouldn’t mind a few more hours of shut eye.”

  Slash picked up his glass of water. “We all need to be at our best. We aren’t sure what we’re looking for and what we may find in that cemetery. I need time in the morning to go looking around Rutgon’s accounts. I’d like to find that money. He has to have it somewhere.” He took a sip. “It would also help to have a little more knowledge under our belts on Vaprio d’Adda, Francesco Melzi, and other artists of the time. Tito and Basia can gather potential supplies for the trip—shovels, ropes, flashlights and food. It takes nearly six hours to get to Vaprio d’Adda from Sperlonga. I’d like us to arrive by sunset. We’ll explore the cemetery at dusk when the possibility for visitors is low. Especially since we aren’t sure what we’re doing or may have to do.”

  Basia narrowed her eyes. “I sincerely hope we aren’t bringing shovels on this excursion because we’re planning to dig up dead people. That’s way beyond my job description.”

  Slash spread out his hands. “I make no promises. I don’t know what we’ll find at those exact coordinates. We need to be prepared for anything, including digging. X may mark the spot.”

  “Damn.” Basia frowned. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

  No one could think of any argument, including me, so we headed off to bed. I let Basia take her shower first. After I finished, I kind of hoped we could have some girl time. I needed to bring her up to speed with what had happened with Slash and see what she thought of the situation. I put on my pjs, dried my hair and went into the bedroom. Basia was already sound asleep under the covers.

  “Crappola.”

  Dejected, I crawled into bed, careful not to disturb her, but I had a hard time falling asleep. So many things were running through my head and it was clear my brain wasn’t ready to shut down yet. Or maybe I just drank too much of the strong Italian coffee. It was hard to say. I tried various relaxing meditative techniques, reciting the chemical elements table, and calculating pi, but it was no good. Sleep was not in my immediate future.

  Sighing, I stopped tossing and went into the sitting room. The balcony door was wide open, letting in a rush of cool air. There was a full moon and the light spilled over the balcony and into the living room. The sound of the ocean was calming and predictable, which is probably why I liked it, except for the sand, sun and bathing suits part. I inched closer and saw Slash sitting alone at the balcony table sipping something from a glass.

  I thought I’d moved stealthily, but he said, “Care to join me, cara?”

  Chapter Eleven

  I padded out onto the balcony and shivered in the cool air. He stood, took off his jacket and draped it around my shoulders. I’d worn his jacket before and it was warm, soft and smelled good like Slash.

  “Won’t you be cold?”

  “I’m fine.”

  I couldn’t argue with that, as he always seemed to be radiating heat. I sat in a chair across from him and tucked my bare feet beneath me. “What are you drinking?”

  “Whiskey.”

  “Why? I thought you were the one insisting we all go to bed.”

  “People need a decent amount of sleep to perform adequately and adjust their bodies to this time zone.”

  “Except for you.”

  “I need sleep, too, cara. Tonight I’m having trouble unwinding.”

  “Me, too. Which is why I’m here, I guess.”
r />   A smile touched his lips. “Would you like a drink?”

  “No.” I said that way too fast, so I took a breath and slowed down. “I mean, no, thanks. I’m good. Really.”

  For a moment, neither of us said anything and then I sighed. “Are you worried about what we’ll find at the cemetery tomorrow?”

  Slash shrugged. “What will be will be.”

  “Then something else worries you?”

  “Si.”

  He didn’t offer any more information and he didn’t seem like he was in the chatty mood. I fiddled with the zipper on his jacket and tried to think of a way to distract him from worrying about whatever it was he was worried about.

  “I can help you with the search on Rutgon’s account tomorrow, if you want. I know you don’t need the help, but if you’d like it—”

  He waved a hand. “Of course I’d like it. We both know Rutgon is ours now. He won’t be able to hide the information from us.”

  “No, he won’t. It’s also unlikely he’ll have spent it by now.”

  “He might have transferred it elsewhere.”

  I shrugged. “Big deal. Transfers require a trail. Following a trail is no problem for us.”

  His smile widened. “Si. You are right, cara.” He sipped his whiskey, regarded me in the moonlight. “Let me ask you something. Why do you think Maisto paid Rutgon to complete a very difficult hack into the Vatican secret archives to obtain a photo of a painting that contained a hidden numerical code? Who knew that the code would be there and how does Maisto play into all of this?”

  I lifted my hands. “Good questions, both of them. Unfortunately I don’t have any answers, just a question of my own. Why the heck is this painting in the secret archives in the first place and not on display in some museum? The most logical answer would be that someone in the Vatican knew or knows about the code in the painting and possibly what it means. For some reason, the Vatican thought it worth hiding. Why?”

  Slash lifted his glass, took a sip. “I don’t know, cara. It could also be that they aren’t hiding it, but protecting it...whatever it may be.”

  “Good point. Well, I’m going to think positively and say we’re about to find out what it is. We got lucky, Slash. We broke the encryption and found the code, hopefully before anyone else. At this point, we’ve got no other logical course of action than to follow the trail—see where it leads. Tomorrow we’ll discover if I’ve led everyone down the wrong path. Forty lashes can commence at that time, if necessary.”

  For a moment he just looked at me and then he laughed softly.

  I pursed my mouth. “Okay, I’m really starting to get a complex because you laugh at me so much.”

  He shook his head. “No, cara, I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing because you relax me. Soothe me. You make me...happy.”

  A warm glow spread inside me. Slash and happy didn’t seem like natural synonyms. To think I could contribute to a small moment of his happiness, even if it was at my expense, made me feel good.

  He tossed back the rest of his whiskey and stood. “Come, cara, before I make a further fool of myself. We need to try to sleep at least a little.”

  I stood and started to wiggle out of his jacket when I felt him behind me, his hands on my shoulders, helping me take it off. The jacket zipper caught on the left sleeve of my pajama top, tugging it down and leaving my shoulder bare. I reached over to pull it up when Slash suddenly caught my wrist and held it. I started to ask him what he was doing, when he bent down and pressed his mouth against the cool skin on my shoulder. He kissed, nibbled and...oh, God, was he tasting it?

  His tongue caressed, his teeth grazed my skin. I froze, every nerve ending in my body rushing to the spot where his mouth touched me. Moonlight spilled over us as he nestled me into him, pulling me back into his chest, his arm tightening around me.

  He murmured against my skin. “Mio dio, I can’t help it. I’m not a saint. I want you, cara.”

  I couldn’t see his face, but somehow, not being able to see it and having him holding me from behind me was surprisingly erotic. It left me no option other than to feel. The way he kissed me, revered me, held me...

  It was as if all intellectual avenues in my brain had shut down, replaced by a single-minded journey down a mysteriously sensual road. I shivered with a mixture of heat and cold as he made his way with languid expertise across my shoulder blade inch by inch. Oh, God. I wanted him to do more. I never ever wanted him to stop.

  When he moved his lips into the hollow of my neck, I closed my eyes, letting my body melt back against him, even turning my neck to the side to permit him better access, like a victim to a vampire. For the first time in my life I finally got why those girls in the old-time horror movies let Dracula go at their necks with no resistance. I always thought if I were in their place, I’d turn and punch him in the nose. But now I understood. It was physiologically possible to be paralyzed by sexual magnetism. And Slash had sexual magnetism in spades. I wondered if that meant I was being ravished and decided that if it felt like this, I’d be first in line to sign up, woman’s liberation or punctured necks notwithstanding.

  “Lexi?”

  I didn’t open my eyes because I assumed it was Slash saying something and I wasn’t ready to surrender the sensations. I had absolutely no shred of desire to try and bring my brain back to conversational mode, which I sucked at anyway. When I heard my name a second time, a bit louder, I opened my eyes, then jumped as Basia stepped into the balcony doorway.

  “What are you doing?”

  Slash turned around, bringing the leather jacket with him. Her eyes widened as she looked back and forth between us. “Oh.” She cleared her throat. “Well, oh. I woke up and saw you weren’t there so I...”

  Her mouth dropped open and I realized my top still hung off the one shoulder where Slash had been nibbling his way to...somewhere. Jeez where had he been heading? Even more importantly, had I really cared as long as he didn’t stop?

  Guiltily, I jerked my sleeve over my shoulder, nearly ripping it in the process. “Um, about that. Right. See, I couldn’t sleep and Slash couldn’t either. Then we were...talking, yes, talking about...stuff. After a bit we decided to go to bed. But not together in the same bed. No, jeez, no. That’s not what I meant. He gave me his jacket and I was giving it back when—”

  Before I could continue, Slash gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Good night, cara.” He walked past Basia and patted her once on the shoulder before disappearing into his suite.

  Basia pointed at me. “Shit.”

  I looked over my shoulder and then back at Basia. “Shit, what?”

  “Shit, he almost ate you alive.”

  I remembered the way I’d offered him my neck. “I know. It was....”

  My eyes must have started to glaze over, because she snapped at me. “Do not fantasize. This is not good.”

  “It’s not?”

  “Of course it’s not. This is Slash we are talking about. You haven’t been talking with him like this the whole time you’ve been in Rome have you?”

  “No.” I paused, thinking about that moment at Nonna’s house. “Well, not exactly. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. We’re having this issue about doors.”

  Basia grabbed my arm, pulling me back out onto the balcony and lowering her voice to a hiss. “Haven’t we already had this talk about the rabbit in the thrall of the wolf? He was seducing you.”

  For some reason, the thought of it made me happy. Slash wanted to seduce me? That meant I was seduce-worthy. Optimum.

  “Focus, Lexi. Listen to me. I’ll be the first to admit that Slash is gorgeous, sexy, smart and, lest I forget, very wealthy.” Her breath hitched in her throat. “By the way, did you freaking taste that champagne on the flight over here? And in a private jet, nonetheless.” She fanned herself.
/>   “The point?”

  “Right. The point is that Slash is in a rarified class of his own. He’s the kind of man who craves adventure, seeks out the unusual, and needs a lot of variety. For someone like you, he’d be exhausting. I just don’t want to see you get hurt, honey. You’re my best friend and I love you. I know you like Slash and that’s okay. Liking is okay. Having wild monkey sex on a balcony in Italy under the moonlight...” She fanned herself again. “Oh, God. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that Slash is not the man for you.”

  “But he said I made him happy.”

  Basia let out a deep breath. “Men say things, sometimes anything, to get women to sleep with them. I’m sure he’s fond of you. No question about that. But he may see you as little more than a challenge. A puzzle to decode. Once that puzzle is decoded, it’s over. Just like that. Are you following me? Do you really think Slash is in for the long haul?”

  “What the hell is the long haul?”

  Basia shook me by the shoulders, the left one still tingling from where Slash’s whiskers had brushed against my skin. “Listen to me, Lexi. Do you even know Slash’s real name?”

  I shook my head.

  “My point, exactly. You aren’t going to ever be able to have him in the way you want.”

  “Technically, I don’t know what I want although I’m starting to form a pretty decent hypothesis.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m just saying, be careful around Slash. He’s a difficult temptation to resist, but you don’t want to be ruined. You have an open heart. Trust me. Stick with Finn. A hook up with Slash would only hurt you down the line. A lot.”

  “I don’t know. It was feeling pretty good to me.”

  She didn’t say anything else and I let it drop because I didn’t feel like arguing any more. My brain had semi-returned and I was beginning to think logically again. Unfortunately, Basia was making sense. It probably was a good thing she’d come out on the balcony when she did.

  What if kissing had led to monkey sex, whatever the heck that was? What if someone else had seen us, like Tito or Elvis or Xavier? Now that I thought about it, my cheeks got hot. What the heck was I thinking? Oh yeah, that was the problem. I wasn’t freaking thinking, whatsoever.