The Fallen Angel

BY THE TIME THE VATICAN PRESS OFFICE confirmed that Dr. Claudia Andreatti, the esteemed curator of antiquities, had committed suicide in St. Peter’s Basilica, rumors of her demise had thoroughly penetrated the gossipy little village known as the Holy See. Inside the restoration lab, work ceased as the staff gathered around the examination tables to ponder how they had missed the signs of Dr. Andreatti’s emotional distress, how it was possible to work with someone for years and know so little about her personal life. Gabriel murmured a few appropriate words of sympathy but for the most part kept to his private corner of the lab. He remained there, alone with the Caravaggio, until late afternoon, when he hiked back to the apartment near the Piazza di Spagna through a freezing drizzle. He found Chiara leaning against the kitchen counter. Her dark hair was held in place by a velvet ribbon at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were fixed on the television, where a reporter for the BBC was recounting a story of a tragic suicide under a computer-generated banner that read DEATH IN THE BASILICA. When a still photograph of Claudia appeared on the screen, Chiara shook her head slowly.

“She was such a beautiful girl. Somehow it always seems harder to understand when they’re pretty.”

She removed the cork from a bottle of Sangiovese and poured out two glasses. Gabriel reached for his, then stopped. Dark and rich, the wine was the color of blood.

“Is something wrong?”

“Donati asked me to have a look at the body.”

“Why ever would he do that?”

“He wanted a second opinion.”

“He doesn’t think she committed suicide?”

“No. And neither do I.”

He told Chiara about the broken necklace, about the shoes that landed too far apart, about the quiet review of the Vatican’s antiquities collection. Lastly, he told her about the urgent meeting that was supposed to take place in Donati’s office.

“Now I understand the problem,” Chiara said. “Attractive female curator is supposed to meet with powerful private secretary. Instead, attractive female curator ends up dead.”

“Leaving every conspiracy theorist in the world to speculate that the powerful private secretary was somehow involved in the curator’s death.”

“Which explains why he’s asking you to help with a cover-up.”

“That’s not how I would describe it.”

“How would you?”

“A private fact-finding mission, like the ones we used to carry out for King Saul Boulevard.”

King Saul Boulevard was the address of Israel’s foreign intelligence service. It had a long and deliberately misleading name that had very little to do with the true nature of its work. Even retired agents like Gabriel and Chiara referred to it as the Office and nothing else.

“This has all the makings of yet another Vatican scandal,” Chiara warned. “And if you’re not careful, your friend Monsignor Luigi Donati is going to drop you right in the middle of it.”

She switched off the television without another word and carried their wineglasses into the sitting room. On the coffee table was a tray of assorted bruschetta. Chiara watched Gabriel intently as he selected one smeared with artichoke hearts and ricotta cheese and washed it down with the Sangiovese. Her eyes, wide and oriental in shape, were the color of caramel and flecked with gold. They tended to change color with her mood. Gabriel could see she was troubled. She had a right to be. Their last assignment for the Office, an operation against a jihadist terror network, had been a particularly violent affair that ended in the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia. Chiara had hoped the Caravaggio restoration would prove to be the final stage of Gabriel’s long and difficult recovery, the start of a new life free from the gravitational pull of the Office. It was not supposed to include an investigation carried out on behalf of the pope’s private secretary.

“Well?” she asked.

“It was delicious,” said Gabriel.

“I wasn’t talking about the bruschetta.” Chiara rearranged the pillows at the end of the couch. She always rearranged things when she was annoyed. “Have you considered what the Italian security service is going to do if they find out you’re freelancing for the Vatican? They’ll run us out of the country. Again.”

“I tried to explain that to Donati.”

“And?”

“He invoked the name of his master.”

“He’s not your pope, Gabriel.”

“What should I have said?”

“Find someone else,” she replied. “They’re three lovely little words you need to learn.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you’d seen Claudia’s body.”

“That’s not fair.”

“But it happens to be the truth. I’ve seen many dead bodies in my life, but I’ve never seen one that had fallen more than a hundred and fifty feet and landed on a marble floor.”

“What a terrible way to die.” Chiara watched the rain pattering on the little terrace overlooking the Spanish Steps. “How certain are you that Donati is telling you the truth?”

“About what?”

“About his relationship with Claudia Andreatti.”

“If you’re asking whether I think they were romantically involved, the answer is no.”

“You grew up with a mother who never told you about the things that happened to her during the war.”

“Your point?”

“Everyone keeps secrets. Even from the people they trust the most. Call it female intuition, but I’ve always felt there was more to Monsignor Donati than meets the eye. He has a past. I’m sure of it.”

“We all do.”

“But some of us have more interesting pasts than others. Besides,” she added, “how much do you really know about his personal life?”

“Enough to know that he would never do anything as reckless as having an affair with an employee of the Vatican.”

“I suppose you’re right. But I can’t imagine what it’s like for a man who looks like Luigi Donati to be celibate.”

“He deals with it by giving off an aura of absolute unavailability. He also wears a long black skirt and sleeps next door to the pope.”

Chiara smiled and plucked a bruschetta from the tray. “There is at least one fringe benefit to accepting the case,” she said thoughtfully. “It would give us a chance to take a look at the Church’s private collection of antiquities. God only knows what they really have locked away in their storerooms.”

“God and the popes,” said Gabriel. “But it’s far too much material for me to review on my own. I’m going to need help from someone who knows a thing or two about antiquities.”

“Me?”

“If the Office hadn’t got its hooks into you, you’d be a professor at an important Italian university.”

“That’s true,” she said. “But I studied the history of the Roman Empire.”

“Anyone who studies the Romans knows something about their artifacts. And your knowledge of Greek and Etruscan civilization is far superior to mine.”

“I’m afraid that’s not saying much, darling.”