Viper

103

Stazione dei carabinieri, Castello di Cisterna The closest thing to sympathy that Gina Valsi got was a cup of tea. Even then it was cold. She'd been taken to the carabinieri headquarters on the east of the city where the Murder Squad was based.

Claudio Mancini spent an hour with her in the Interview Room, tape rolling, questions flying. He kicked off by asking about her father. Where had he been going that morning? Who'd known of his movements? The usual stuff. Then they moved on to the more exotic. His line of work, his enemies, who might have wanted him dead. Every ten minutes Gina demanded to see her son and each outburst got the same deadpan answer: she'd have to wait.

The door swung open and for the sake of the tape Mancini announced Jack King's entrance.

'Signora, may I add my own commiserations? I'm very sorry for your loss.' The profiler settled comfortably into a chair opposite her. Her eyes followed a brown folder that he placed on the table. Jack interlocked his fingers and rested his hands on top of it. 'I'm here helping the carabinieri to solve a series of murders of young women. I think you may have known some of them.'

'I don't think so.' Gina looked confused.

He opened up the folder, slid out a photograph and turned it towards her. 'This is Francesca Di Lauro. Name mean anything to you?'

Gina shook her head. 'No. Why, should it?'

Jack didn't say anything. He took out several other photographs and lined them up in a separate row. Luisa Banotti, Patricia Calvi, Donna Rizzi and Gloria Pirandello.

Gina's gaze slid over them, their dark eyes and mixed expressions looking back up from the table at her. She bit at a thumbnail then turned the picture of Francesca back towards Jack. 'I don't know her but I've seen her face. In the papers, right? On television. She's the woman they found somewhere out near Pompeii.'

Jack steepled his fingers again. 'A pretty young woman. Like all the others. Much prettier than you. Do you think that's why Bruno chose her?'

Gina looked away. She knew she looked stressed. She could feel her face flush, her heartbeat quicken. She understood what he was driving at. He hadn't said it, but she knew.

'Gina. Gina, look at me.'

Her eyes locked on his.

Defiance? Pressure? Certainly not complete innocence. Jack decoded the signals. 'Lady, the way you just reacted, the fact that you can't say anything, tells me that I'm right. You do know this woman.' He slapped his hand firmly down on Francesca's photograph. Gina flinched. 'You know her and you know all the others on this table. Francesca Di Lauro had an affair with your husband and you killed her.'

'No!' snapped Gina. 'That's ridiculous. I'm not going to say anything else until I have a lawyer. I want a lawyer here.' She chewed hard on another nail. Jack sat in silence and let her stew. 'I agreed to answer questions about my father, but not this. This is ridiculous.'

Still Jack said nothing. He leaned back, tilted his chair on to the rear legs, drummed his fingers on the edge of the table and watched the pressure grow. Only when Gina looked straight into his eyes did he play his final card.

'Kris-ten Pet-rov.' He said the name slowly as he put the photograph down. Watched the reaction in her eyes. The pain caused a twitch in the corner of her mouth. Gina couldn't help but glance down at the photograph. Her face said it all. So that's what she looked like. Bruno's latest. The little bitch he'd sent text messages to.

'I've no problem getting you that lawyer,' said Jack calmly, 'but here's the deal. If we stop now and he turns you into Sleeping Beauty, then I promise you, you'll never see your son again.'

Gina looked up from Kristen's picture and glared at him. Could he do that? Would he do that?

'Worse than that, Gina, your husband will get custody of Enzo, while you go to prison for a long time. A very long time.'

Gina's head was aching, throbbing like crazy. So much in one day. So much in the future – that she could lose.

Now Jack wouldn't rest. Wouldn't give her a moment to think. He just piled on the pressure. 'Listen, Gina. I know you were involved in the murders of Kristen and Francesca, just as you were involved in the murders of all the other women. But I also know you didn't actually take their lives. You had someone do it for you, didn't you? Give up the real killer and maybe you can come out of this with the kind of sentence that will give you a chance to see some of the rest of your son's life.'

Gina looked up at him. She was about to make the biggest decision of her life.

'What's it to be, Gina? You going to roll the dice and risk spending the rest of your life without Enzo? Or do we get the name?' Centro citta, Napoli A navy-blue carabinieri squad car fell into the traffic behind the Lexus.

'Amateurs. They don't have a fucking clue.' Valsi scoffed at them as he watched in the passenger-door mirror. 'Fucking morons.'

'They want to be seen,' snapped Mazerelli. 'They've been glued to us since Rocco's. Waited outside the tailor's until we came out.'

'I'll glue their heads to the top of their car, then they'll be able to see.'

Mazerelli ignored the remark. 'They want you to know that they're going to breathe down your neck every minute of your day now.' He checked the rear-view and could see the squad car had at least two officers in it. 'They'll turn up the pressure any chance they get. Hope you'll crack, make a mistake.'

Valsi turned towards the consigliere. 'I can't even spell mistake, let alone make one.'

'Seriously, Bruno, they're going to be all over you. Pisano will have taps on your phones. They'll have spooks with laser listening devices in every parked car you go past. You can trust no one.'

'And you, Ricardo?'

Mazerelli pretended not to understand. 'And me, what?'

Valsi smiled. 'You know what I mean. Can I trust you? But you choose to avoid answering. That means you haven't made your mind up yet. You're not quite sure where the balance of power truly lies. You're a cautious man, Ricardo. Maybe that makes you a good one to have around. Or maybe it makes you a danger – and one that should be quickly eliminated.'

Mazerelli swallowed. He knew Valsi was unarmed, but given his psychopathic tendencies anything was still possible. 'Like I just said, you're going to have to assume that the carabinieri are listening to everything you say, everywhere you say it. And that includes right here and right now. Those amateurs as you call them might be recording this conversation. This car might even be bugged.'

The Capo fell silent. The creepy lawyer was right. Pisano's nose was up and he was sniffing for a bitch like a dog on heat. He found himself patting the headrest, searching the visors, the dashboard, the door frames, the floor carpets.

Mazerelli pulled out his portable electronic bug detector. 'It's been swept. This thing beeps if there are bugs within a mile. We're safe.' He pulled the Lexus into the avenue where his penthouse was. The squad car was still on their tail. 'There's a security expert I use for the apartment; I will get him to give you one of these hand-helds as well.'

'Your place is safe to speak?'

'Safe as can be. Besides, we do have client-lawyer privilege, but I need to talk to you about that.'

Valsi relaxed as they pulled up to the security gates of the apartment block. Mazerelli thumbed the remote to open the gates. He felt reassured by seeing Ivetta's car parked outside on the street. He'd done a good job. Very soon he'd buy him a Ferrari or a Lamborghini.

The carabinieri patrol cruised level. Valsi leaned over and jammed down the horn on the Lexus. 'Fuck you all!' He flicked a finger at them as they carried on past. 'Fucking amateurs,' he said to a horrified Mazerelli.

The lawyer's eyes widened. Not out of shock at Valsi's outburst. But at the sight of the guns at his window.

Sal the Snake opened up with both Glocks.

Mazerelli and Valsi were dead before the gates had swung open. They were history long before the squad car screeched to a halt and jammed up the traffic as they tried to turn around.

Before he left, Sal pulled a third gun. The one Valsi had made fun of him with on his birthday. The bullet from the limited edition pearl-handled Ultimate Vaquero blew a hole right through the Capo's viper tattoo and down through his heart.