Page 104 of Forging Caine

“No need. I just want a few words with him.”

“Are you alright with that?” Fiori cocked an eyebrow at me, as clear as he had to be about the threat. “I know you have a lot of work to do.”

“Sì, I can spare ten or fifteen minutes.” I addressed the agents. “Do you need more than that?”

Agent Bernard shook her head and everyone stood. Before the door had closed behind Fiori and his bodyguards, she whispered to her partner, “Wait outside and keep the bodyguards busy. Make sure they aren’t listening.”

She shifted to sit next to me, keeping her voice low. “Is everything alright? I saw them destroy the key fob, but they took the recorder.”

“How did you find us at the yacht club?”

“There was a tracker inside the fob.”

“Samantha didn’t know that.”

“I told her it was there.” Agent Bernard frowned. “Have you learned anything?”

Telling her the truth was not an option. I didn’t even have to convince her. I simply needed to not provide her with any justification to stay. “Samantha and I are here as guests with an old friend. You mistook what happened.”

“I saw the fight.”

“You think that’s what you saw, or perhaps you want to believe you saw it?”

“What about the smuggling ring? Do you have any evidence?”

Marone, not about the smuggling ring itself, but possibly about the Gardner Heist. “There’s nothing here. Pasquale was duped by two art dealers who sold him fakes. He asked Samantha and me to verify the authenticity of a few other pieces from the same seller, but we only just got here and haven’t had enough time yet.”

Agent Bernard inched closer on the sofa, curling one leg up to face me. “You’re sure? Nothing I can report back?”

Every fiber in my body wanted to tell her what we knew, wanted to rescue Samantha. But this was not the way, with only two agents and no warrant. “Niente. I’m sorry. Now, if you don’t mind, I was just out for a walk and need to get back to work.”

“Samantha gave you my number?”

“She did.” I stood, her cue to leave.

She cast about the room, eyes darting from one work of art to another. “I was really hoping this was going to be a break in our case.”

“I understand, but I think you’re pursuing the wrong man.” Not the wrong man at all. The man responsible for an attempt on my Zio Giovanni’s life and who tried to take my Samantha from me.

“I understand.” She stood and shook my hand. “Can I speak with Samantha?”

“She’s sleeping off a tremendous hangover.” I’d done my job as best I could, shut her down and gave her no fodder to pursue this. The FBI was back to where they’d been before we receivedThe Music Lessonon Friday. So be it.

I saw her out of the library and into the foyer, where her partner, Fiori, and his two guards waited. “I’m going back upstairs.”

Jason joined us. “Signore, you called?”

“See Antonio upstairs while I say goodbye to our friends from the FBI.”

We walked in silence through the hallway to the grand staircase. Every step taking me deeper into the awareness that I’d shut down the authorities. With every investigation Samantha launched into, it was the first thing I told her to do—call Elliot. Call the police. Call someone else. She always found some reason to say no until this case. And now our roles had reversed. She wanted to bring them in and I said no.

At the top of the stairs, Jason stopped and yanked me close enough to speak directly into my ear. “Did you tell her anything?”

“Of course not.”

“I’ve seen her meeting with him before. I think she works for him.”

I jolted and took a half-step back, the weight in my gut settling deeper. Too many questions. Had I said anything that gave us away? Was there truly a tracker on the key fob? Was everything we told Elliot going straight to her and back to Fiori? Had they even detected her recorder? Would it have mattered if she’d turned it on or not, because they knew?

---