Page 105 of Chasing Caine
“If my sources are correct, he’s American. Trained in a private camp with some sort of former special forces agents.”
I gripped the seat in front of me. “Where can I find him?”
“It’s not that simple, cugino. He’s likely already following her, so finding her is your best option.”
We sped by buildings and vehicles, past people wandering down the sidewalks. Happy, peaceful people floating through their ordinary lives. While I raced through a city of three million searching for one headstrong woman who didn’t want to be found with a potential killer on her heels.
“Did she find her answers from the woman at the gallery?” Cristian’s voice had softened, an almost unnatural sound coming from him.
“No, the owner said Eva was out.” I exhaled a long breath. “They don’t know where she is, either.”
“How badly does your girlfriend want to talk to this woman? Is it possible she went to the woman’s home?”
“Sì, possible.” That made more sense than going to Océane’s. But Samantha didn’t know where to go. Riccardo wouldn’t have told her where Eva lived. “But I got her phone number and email, not her address. Mario might be able to get it from the Pompeii office, but—”
“Give me the number. I can track her down faster.”
I did as he asked and he became muffled, speaking with someone else on his end.
“How resourceful is your girlfriend?”
“Very, I expect.” She trained at the FBI Academy, so perhaps she could hold her own for a short time against the behemoth who might be hunting her.
“And you’re certain she’s not working for the authorities?”
“This again?”
The driver came to an abrupt halt, so I had to brace my hand against the seat in front of me. My focus snapped up to see a construction crew had shut down one lane of the narrow two-lane road. Had Samantha hit this slowdown? Was she even headed in this direction?
“You know our business. I need to be sure.”
If there’d been any doubt before our stroll along the Lungomare, our talk that day had cemented it for me. A portion of her soul remained dedicated to solving art crimes—evident from her handling of the Chagall claim, the stolen painting at the auction, and now our experience in Pompeii—but it was not part of her professional life. Although, did she want it as part of her future? “Trust me. She doesn’t work for the authorities.”
“Bene. Then we have an address.”
I passed the details to the driver, despite being stuck in place, the road so narrow we couldn’t get around the construction while the oncoming traffic crawled by. What I’d give at that moment for a wide Michigan highway with passing lanes and shoulders. “Grazie mille, Cristian. I don’t know what I’ll do if something happens to her.”
“If I can help, I will.”
I nodded and hung up, then called Eva. Perhaps Samantha was already there.
No answer.
The map on my phone told me Eva’s place was closer than Océane’s. Ten minutes by car, plus whatever extra time for construction. It also told me it was a forty-minute walk. I could run that in fifteen or less.
Throwing a wad of cash at the driver, I dashed out of the car and down the street. Praying the whole way that I was right and she’d be at Eva’s. And safe.
Chapter 35
Samantha
UmbertoandEva’sapartmentsat on the edge of a large piazza ringed by century-old buildings. Stores and restaurants dominated the main floors, plus a bank and a couple of hotels. Hawkers and street food vendors—talking to everyone and no one—competed for space with the tables and chairs spilling out from the restaurants. Graffiti decorated the walls anywhere the company owning the frontage didn’t cover it.
Above the ground level, narrow metal balconies and portable air conditioning units dotted the buildings.
There must have been a train station nearby, as dozens of people wheeled small luggage bags behind themselves. Scattered through the crowd were members of the municipal police in summer dress; navy blue short-sleeved shirts and cargo pants, with white duty belts.
Their building served as a combination hotel and apartment, its double-doors almost swallowed by the patio umbrellas of the restaurants on either side.