don’t exactly fit the image of a government spook.”
“It’s complicated,” he said with a quick glance at Francesca, as though to say that this was not the place to go into the particulars. “I think it’s time we found out what it was that Alessandra died for.”
“I’m sorry,” Francesca said, dabbing at her eyes. “If Alessandra was murdered as you say, and her last wishes were for this to be given to Mr. Griffin, then that is exactly what I intend to do.”
Dumas lowered his voice, said, “I told you she would have mentioned a code in her letter?”
Sydney recalled there being something about a code, and Francesca said, “And once again, I ask how did you know what was in the letter?”
Dumas replied, “Alessandra called me when she couldn’t get in touch with Monsieur Griffin. She said she was at the Smithsonian to meet someone and had discovered something. More importantly, she saw someone at the museum, someone she’d seen at one of her father’s dinner parties, and for this reason she couldn’t send anything to her house. She decided to send whatever it was to her friend. Before she could give me this person’s identity, she said that she had to go, she was being followed. And that’s the last I heard from her.”
“And do you know who it was she thought she saw at the Smithsonian?” Sydney asked.
“No. But I flew out there earlier in the week in hopes of retracing her steps.” The priest’s words answered Sydney’s question as to why she’d seen him there. “When my search proved fruitless, I returned to Rome and decided to have a talk with one of the embassy maids to see if there had been any word on Alessandra’s whereabouts. The maid is the one who informed me that Alessandra had been murdered, and that the ambassador was flying back to the United States to claim her body. It was the perfect opportunity to learn if Alessandra had any friends here in Rome. Professor Santarella was one the maid named, and I knew that the American Academy being just across the street from the ambassador’s residence, would be the logical place to send whatever it was that Alessandra had found. I also knew that if I could determine the destination of the package so easily, whoever murdered Alessandra could also discover this.”
Francesca lowered the handkerchief and looked at the priest. “Surely you aren’t trying to say that whoever killed Alessandra would come after me?”
To which Sydney said, “I have to agree with Father Dumas. If he figured out your presence so easily, those watching the ambassador’s residence could easily do the same. They already tried to kill Griffin after he made a visit to the ambassador’s home. Which means they could very well have noted Father Dumas’s arrival there, and may have even followed him to the academy.”
“Like it or not,” Dumas said, “your life is in danger, certainly as long as you possess whatever it is that Alessandra sent.”
Francesca looked at each of them, then lowered her briefcase to her lap.
20
Tunisia
Marc and Lisette hiked through a tangle of narrow streets and back alleys to where Rafiq, their other operative, waited by a jeep parked outside the Medina. They drove toward the Sahara compound. Considering the place was supposed to be used strictly for charity, shipping food and first aid to needy countries, why all the cement barricades? They dropped Marc off around the corner from where the compound and security offices were located at the edge of the desert. Marc watched as Lisette draped a colorful scarf over her dark hair, just before Rafiq drove the jeep up to the guardhouse. The guard stepped out of his hut, approached the vehicle, looked into the window. When Lisette exited from the passenger side, bringing a map with her and spreading it out on the hood of the car, Marc made his approach, crouching low behind the stone wall barrier.
He didn’t like making broad-daylight entries, but time was of the essence. As he arrived at the guard’s station, keeping low behind the cement barricade that ran the length of the road, he could hear Lisette’s voice, her halting use of her native French, designed not only to perfect her role as a lost Italian tourist, but as a delaying tactic to give Marc the opportunity to get into the guardhouse and search for the security schedule they’d need. The moment he heard her ask how they could find the Sahara