Day Of Confession

72

Three of them came over the boat's gunwale. Edward Mooi and a man and woman Elena had never seen before.

'The men have gone,' she said quickly.

'I know.' Mooi's look was intent as he introduced her to the couple with him. They were trusted, longtime employees of Eros Barbu and had come to stay with Michael Roark while she went into Bellagio.

'Bellagio?' She was startled.

'I want you to meet someone – a priest from the United States – and bring him here.'

'Here, to the grotto?'

'Yes.'

Elena glanced at the man and the woman, then looked back to Edward Mooi. 'Why me? – Why not go yourself?'

'Because we are known in Bellagio and you are not…'

Again Elena looked to the man and woman. Salvatore and Marta, Edward Mooi had called them. They said nothing, only stared back at her. They were probably in their fifties. Salvatore was tanned, the woman, Marta, was not. Which meant he probably worked outside at the villa, while she worked inside. Both wore wedding bands, but there was no way to tell if they were married to each other. It made no difference, their eyes told everything. They were frightened and apprehensive and at the same time alert and determined. Whatever Edward Mooi asked, they would do.

'Who is this priest?' Elena asked.

'A relative of Michael Roark,' Edward Mooi said quietly.

'No, he is not.' Elena had already made up her mind when she said it. There was no fear, only anger at not having been told earlier, by Luca or Marco or Pietro or by her own mother general.

'There is no Michael Roark, or if there is, the man in there is not him.' She pointed off, back toward the room where her patient slept. 'He is Father Daniel Addison, the Vatican priest wanted for the murder of Cardinal Parma.'

'He is in danger, Sister Elena, that's why he's here…' – Edward Mooi spoke calmly – 'why he was given a new identity and moved as he was…'

Elena stared at him. 'Why are you protecting him?'

'We were asked…'

'By whom?'

'Eros Barbu…'

'A world-famous writer is safeguarding a murderer?'

Edward Mooi said nothing.

'Luca knew and the others? My mother general?' Elena stared, incredulous.

'I… don't know…' Edward Mooi's eyes narrowed. 'What I do know is that the police are watching everything we do. That's why I asked you to go into Bellagio. If any of us went and met this priest, they would either arrest us all on the spot or wait and see where we went.'

'This priest,' Sister Elena said, 'is Father Addison's brother. Yes?'

'I think he is.'

'And you want me to bring him here…'

Edward Mooi nodded. 'By land there is another way in that I will show you…'

'What if, instead, I went to the police?'

'You don't know for certain Father Daniel is a murderer… And I have seen how you care for him…' Edward Mooi's eyes were those of a poet. Fierce, yet at the same time trusting and sincere. 'He is your charge, you will not go to the police.'