Page 62 of Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies

“Yes, thank you.”

“Eccellente. Now, we are going to visit Pompeii, an ancient site where there was a big explosion, yes?”

“I mean…” I mutter under my breath.

Harper stuffs a fist into her mouth.

“So relax and we will be there in a matter of hours. And don’t worry, there will be a break in one hour. You can get an espresso, a little cake. I will explain more about the tour to you then. Andiamo!” She gestures to the bus driver to start the bus, and the engine roars to life.

“Where did they find this woman?” I ask Harper.

“No idea. But I’ll let Marta know she’s a mess. If she ever gets back to me, that is.”

The bus pulls onto the road, and I feel a beat of panic that Oliver didn’t make it. I search the other seats, but there he is, up in front, one row back from Sylvie. Somehow, he got on without me noticing.

Is that progress or just sad?77

“El?”

“Yeah?”

“Is someone really trying to kill Connor?”

“I think so.” I take out my phone and google the news article Connor showed me last night. “What do you think of this?”

Harper reads my screen. “What does it mean?”

“Connor told me that this is the guy who pulled him out of traffic at the Vatican.”

“Why’s he in the paper?”

“He’s dead.”

“Oh my God.”

“Yeah.” I put my phone away. I put the article through Google Translate earlier when I was getting ready. There are minimal details. His name was Davide Bianchi. He was a schoolteacher. Married. No kids. One of Rome’s many road victims. There’s no mention of him saving anyone the day before.

“You think it’s connected?” Harper says.

“It’s a pretty big coincidence.”

“Maybe he saw something?”

“Maybe.” I get the same feeling I had last night, like someone is walking over my grave. But I’m not the target. Connor is. “What if it’s one of them?” I motion vaguely to the rest of the bus.

“They’d be pretty stupid to do it now, after he announced it to everyone.”

“Murder’s always stupid.”

She frowns. “So, it’s not you?”

Um, what?

“You don’t think that, do you?”

“Not really, but…”

“I have a motive.”

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