I take it. An address.
“Three days,” Roberto says. “Then I move again.”
“What’s there?”
“Maybe nothing.”
“Roberto.”
“Card-slip copy. Maybe. If I decide you’re not going to get me killed before then.”
“You came to me,” I remind him.
“I came near you,” he corrects. “There’s a difference.”
Yes. There is.
He steps back. “Don’t follow me.”
“You’re not in a position to give orders,” I say.
“No,” he says. “I’m in a position to disappear.”
He turns and walks away down the lane. Luca lets him. Which means Alessandro either wants him followed, already has him followed, or doesn’t need to follow him because the address is useless. The possibilities arrange themselves in my head like knives on a table.
On the drive back, I unfold the note once inside my glove. The address is in a district outside the city. Industrial. Warehouses, old repair shops, shipping offices that change names when taxes become inconvenient.
A place where paper could hide. A place where men could die. I memorize it, then tuck it into the seam of my sleeve.
Luca watches the road.
“I’m sure you’ll report all of that beautifully,” I say.
“Yes.”
“At least embellish my dialogue.”
“No.”
“You’re very committed to dullness.”
“It keeps people alive.”
I look out the window. “Does it?”
He doesn’t answer.
Good. There isn’t one.
Chapter 25
He Receives the File
POV:Alessandro
The file arrives at 08:17. The envelope comes through the medical courier, sealed and signed across the flap, logged by Luca before it ever reaches my desk. No one delays it. No one opens it. No one asks what is inside.
The system works because men know which questions belong to them. And this one belongs to me.
