Page 7 of Light Me Up

“Buona sera.Am I speaking with Mr. Noah Gallagher?” The voice on the other end was deep, resonant, and faintly accented.

“You are,” Noah said.“Who are you?”

“My name is Stefano Morelli. I am with the foreign intelligence service. My friend Asa Stone requested that I put you and your wife on the guest list for the unveiling ceremony of the Cross of Orazio at the Palazzo Bellocchio tomorrow night.”

Tomorrow?Shit.Noah didn’t even have time to wrap his head around this, to prepare, regroup, find some ironclad reason to get out of it. “Yeah? And?”

Morelli paused, taken aback by the surly tone of Noah’s voice. “Before I can clear you to enter the event, I wish to meet with you and Mrs. Gallagher.”

“Why is that?”

A brief silence. “The background check revealed your wife’s recent adventures,”he said slowly.

“They weren’t her fault. What about them?”

“A charge of murder, a year spent runningfrom the law—”

“She was clearedof everything.”

“Of course,” Morelli agreed smoothly. “But still—”

“So what do youwant from us?”

“I thought this invitation was something that you wanted.” Morelli’s voice was ice cold, not that Noah blamed the guy. “Am I mistaken?”

Noahdidn’t answer.

Morelli made an impatient sound. “This was not my idea, Mr. Gallagher. I owe Asa a favor, that is all. Nonetheless, I must meet you first. If you wish to attend, come early tomorrow evening, well before the event. Asa has vouched for you, but I must vouch for you as well.”

“Understood,” Noah said grudgingly.

“Did Asa not explain?”

“Not really. If you’re so uneasy, maybe you should nix the whole idea.”

Caro’s phone thudded to the couch cushion as her hands went up into awhat-in-the-fuck-are-you-sayinggesture.

“Perhaps so.” Morelli’s voice was stiff. “Asa told me that Mrs. Gallagher had a particular interest in the cross. My guess would be that you do not. But that changes nothing for me. I must vet everyone who attends.”

“Gotcha.” Noah was about to tell the guy to go blow himself, but remembering the look in Caro’s eyes, bright with excitement while she read Asa’s texts, stopped him.

He didn’t want to be the hard-ass who putthat light out.

That did not, however, change the fact that appearing at a media-saturated public event was a really bad idea.

“Text me the details,” he heard himself say. “Where and when. We’lltalk tomorrow.”

He turned away and set his smartphone down on a small marble table.

“So…we’re in?” Caro’s voice from behind him was hushed and hopeful.

“Don’t get excited yet,” he growled.

“Are you joking? I’d do anything to see that cross! I spent months of serious research on Orazio di Coronna in college. I feel like I know the man personally.”

He turned back to her, bracing himself. “Caro, I’m sorry, but it’s too risky. The guest list alone is insane. Politicians, celebrities? We can’t have that kindof visibility.”

Caro bit her lip as she thought it through. “Well … actually, it’s you who can’t have the visibility, Noah, not me,” she pointed out. “There’s no reason anybody would notice me. I’m not a Midlands rebel.”

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