The Body in the Piazza - By Katherine Hall Page Page 0,45
so I got a cold drink and sat down on one of the benches. It was away from the front of the cathedral and all the tour groups back by Giotto’s Campanile.”
Faith interrupted, fearing another digression. Tom loved Giotto.
“So you were out of the way a bit?”
“I guess you could say that, although there were plenty of people around. Nothing was going to happen.”
Hearing Tom’s last words, with “in broad daylight” implied, Faith knew they were sharing the same thoughts, seeing the same scene, the one in the piazza obscured by the dark night.
“You’re thinking what I’m thinking. About what Freddy said just before he died: ‘You have to stop them. They’re going to ki . . .’?”
They’d reported Freddy’s last words to the police in Rome, who did not seem to regard them as important—just a plea to try to prevent what was occurring.
Tom nodded. “Ever since I saw the guy I keep coming back to what Freddy said, or was trying to say. We know he took one life, Freddy’s. I’m sure the word he was struggling to get out was ‘kill.’ He was trying to tell us about another attack, and one that involved more than this person, ‘them.’ But Italy’s a big place—who, when, where, and how?”
His face was anguished. His job was to provide help, comfort, even preserve life where he could.
“Since the killer’s here in Florence, that has to be the ‘where,’ and the ‘when’ must be soon. Freddy knew we weren’t going to be in Italy long. But go on.”
“I was watching a class trip. The kids were about Amy’s age, and they all had bright orange caps and knapsacks. They were sitting in the shade, eating sandwiches.”
Not peanut butter and jelly on Wonder Bread, Faith thought hastily. Italian children lucked out in the lunch department.
“The group left after a while and when they did I noticed a man standing off to one side. I could just see his back. He seemed to be waiting for someone. Pretty soon a girl came running up to him, and they began talking. I could only see her face and after a moment I realized it was Olivia. She didn’t look like herself—you saw her on the trip back here—so who it was didn’t register at first.”
“How did she look? Happy to see him? Like he was a boyfriend, a lover? Or angry? Or . . .”
“Nothing. Her face looked pleasant. She was smiling a little, but nothing special. I couldn’t tell what they were talking about from the way she looked. Just seemed like an ordinary conversation. They started walking toward my bench, and that was when I knew who he was. I couldn’t believe it, but I was positive it was the same man instantly. I stood up and when he saw me he took off like a shot. Without thinking about it, I ran after him shouting, ‘Stop!’ What is that in Italian, by the way? I may need it again,” he added grimly.
“I think ‘stop’ works, but today I heard someone call out the name ‘Carlo’ and what sounded like ‘basta’; the guy ahead stopped, so that could be it. We’ll ask. Could you tell where he was going? Toward or away from the river? And where was Olivia? With him?”
“I don’t know the city well enough for that, and anyway I was concentrating on keeping him in sight, not where he might be heading. As for her, I’m not sure she noticed me when he did. I was chasing him seconds after I recognized him. At that point, all she would have seen was my back. I never looked around, so I don’t know if she was following, too. He was a pretty fast runner. I’d say he’s had a lot of experience.”
Tom was wearing jeans and a navy tee shirt, untucked. Faith had taken the small knapsack they’d brought that morning to hold any purchases, so he wouldn’t have been holding anything. From the rear, there was nothing to identify him as Olivia’s fellow classmate. He could have been any one of the number of male tourists crowding the streets.
He continued. “I was gaining on him and then suddenly we were in the open, pounding across the big square in front of the train station.”
“Very smart of him to head there,” Faith said. “People would assume you were both trying to catch your train. Nothing that would draw the attention of the police or anyone else.”