SALVE ROMA! A Felidae Novel - By Akif Pirincci Page 0,67

it doesn’t need a feline vestibular organ. I very much apologize, il signor genie, this was just the humble opinion of a simple gay man from a simple gay people. So what do we do now?«

»I want to take a closer look on Samantha’s body. But how do we get to the palazzo most rapidly and dry-shod at this heavy rain? Even the Tiber lies in-between.«

»You have three guesses.« Antonio gave me a superior smile as he could finally shine with his expert knowledge. »What do you think where the center of all Roman catacombs is? They start in Vatican City, and they end in Vatican City. I suspect that the building of catacombs is a patented Vatican invention. Sorte, c'affrettiamo! We still have a long way to go.«

After we had run out of the chapel into the pouring rain, Antonio found a passage through the underworld within thirty seconds. It was an abandoned basalt conduit from the Middle Ages next to the city wall. Outbounding from an also abandoned, big fountain, the conduit angularly went a couple of feet into the ground and then turned into a tube. Antonio and I crawled through it, and soon afterwards we found ourselves in a moldy maze, which I already knew from my nocturnal expedition. And so we left Vatican City. Although I bored my way deeper into the State of God than even the most Catholic pilgrim could ever dream of, the inside of St. Peter’s Cathedral had been denied to me!

This time we had to pass on the light of burning torches. But why had the good Lord given us a pair of eyes, which easily turned the night, well not quite into day, but still into a fairly decent twilight? At the bottom, every part of us was a high-quality high-tech-product! While we moved through the tunnels at a smart pace, I filled Antonio’s knowledge gaps regarding my recent adventures. He was already well informed by hearsay, but it wouldn’t hurt to tell him things, which only I knew about. This time there were no dangers lurking in the realm of darkness. No hooded guys with sabers jumped out of the death chambers, and no armed killers appeared behind partially decayed exposed bridgework. Not even Gustav could be seen anywhere around. And although we were on the road for quite a while and now and then there seemed to be eerie skeletons staring out of their wide orbit, time flew.

We finally reached the Cyclopean wall underneath the Palazzo, where the arch-like gates offered the entry into the catacombs. From there we climbed up the bars of the elevator shaft until we reached the cellar of the Palazzo. Antonio guided me through dusty rooms with countless, sorted out pieces of furniture and accessories. An antique dealer with an expert eye would probably have given his arm for all that stuff. Then we turned around a corner, and in the darkness we spotted what we had been looking for.

It may sound a little jaded, but this time the shock was less upsetting. And this had a certain reason. At a first glance the Blue Point Burmese seemed to be a sleeping beauty, although the wide sapphire-blue eyes interfered with this view. Her cream-colored body with its velvet fur and the dark markings simply lay on the floor. The white »shoes« on her paws glowed even in this darkness. All her legs were spread and her snout was slightly open. The wound on the head was clearly visible, but only little blood had run out.

I approached the body and examined her. At that, I sniffed at her intensively and shifted her head slightly to the side to get a better view. Although I was a medical layman, my instinct told me that the time of death didn’t date back much. Samantha’s body wasn’t warm but also not very cold. Also, cadaver rigidity hadn’t completely supervened yet. I assumed that she met the killer about five or six hours ago.

Antonio watched me from the distance with certain expectations. As the whole thing was delayed, he fretfully cleared his throat and finally approached me.

»What is it? Is something wrong?«

»You bet!« I replied. »I’m afraid in this case our good old butcher is totally innocent.«

»Excuse me?«

»You heard me, Antonio. Someone else is responsible for Samantha’s death.«

»What are you talking about! The wound obviously bears the hallmarks of our killer.«

»At a first glance. But as you can see only the auricle has been removed. The ear