The Reincarnationist

Chapter 31

Rome, Italy-Wednesday, 11:55 p.m.

Leo Vendi, the driver of the black SUV, left the plastic bag from Signora Volpe under the front passenger seat, got out of the car, locked it, hid the keys on top of the right tire, walked two blocks west where his motorcycle was parked, climbed on, turned his key in the ignition and sped away. He didn’t think about waiting to see who was going to show up and claim the bag of papers the old lady had thrown down from Gabriella’s apartment. It was late and he was tired and hungry. Leo was a pro, and if someone wanted papers left in a bag, in a parked car, in a residential neighborhood, he would deliver exactly that.

A quarter of an hour later, while Leo was eating a plate of pasta and drinking a good but cheap red wine, a man named Marco Bianci approached the black sedan, casually picked up the keys, let himself in and drove away. After he’d driven a dozen blocks he finally allowed himself to look in the passenger seat at the bag-it looked full. That was good. He hated to disappoint clients, and he’d already had one serious mishap on this job.

All that was left now was to meet the priest in front of St. Peter’s after the first mass of the morning. Marco would stay in the car until then; he didn’t mind. He didn’t want to risk having anything happen to his bounty. The priest was going to pay him well for his trouble.

“You deserve to be generously compensated. These are crimes against our Lord, our Christ,” the priest had said. “It seems like a small thing-a broken window, a pile of papers-but it’s not. It is blasphemy against the will of God. Our very entrance to heaven is at risk.”

Marco had bowed his head and Father Dougherty had blessed him. Then he had taken the American priest’s money and arranged how the deal would go down.