The Dark Heart of Florence by Tasha Alexander (ebook reader screen TXT) 📕

eliminated. He was going to give the Russians, who could pay what he wanted, the information from the Germans instead of me.”

“Which would have hurt Britain. I understand that completely. But you were giving the Germans details of our own military secrets. That undermines the empire.”

“Not if you want the empire to survive. Can’t you see, Hargreaves? We need to know everything the Germans are doing and they need to know everything we do. That’s the only way forward, unless you want carnage. You haven’t been in combat. I have. I saw the horrors firsthand at Colenso in the Second Boer War. Men mowed down, endless casualties.”

“Colenso was a disaster,” Colin said. “No one can argue otherwise, but that only proves we need a matchless military to defend our interests. Had we been better prepared, we wouldn’t have suffered such terrible losses in the Boer Wars. Our tactics were dated and wholly unsuitable. We must keep ahead of our enemies.”

“Keeping ahead is exactly what leads to war. Would we have fought in Africa if we’d known we couldn’t win? No. Think how many lives would have been spared.”

“We could have won if we were better prepared.”

“We will never agree on any of this,” Darius said.

“Then tell me why you killed Lena.”

“Your oh-so-clever wife figured out that di Taro’s death was related to Marzo. Emily didn’t know he worked for the Russians or that Marzo was going to give him the information I needed, but she exposed the connection. Lena might have known that Marzo had gone to the Russians looking for money and I couldn’t trust her to keep her mouth shut if she did. I would have dealt with her after the funeral if her father hadn’t been with her. As it was, I had to wait.”

“How did you make the connection with di Taro?”

“Once I determined Marzo to be unreliable, I started following him. He communicated with di Taro using a florist’s booth at the Mercato Nuovo. He went there once a week at the same time. If he needed to meet with his Russian contact—di Taro was not Italian—he would knock over a canister of flowers. They would rendezvous that evening near di Taro’s house.”

“On the nights that Marzo took Vittoria for walks.”

“Yes. One cannot accuse him of mastering the art of subtlety. Your wife figured it out with little effort. I should have realized long ago he was more dangerous than useful.”

“So you killed di Taro, using a Russian revolver.”

“I thought it a nice bit of irony. Brought down by his own people, so to speak.”

“The gun was designed by a Belgian,” Colin said.

“But for the Russians.”

“And the coat of arms on the message you sent Lena?”

“I knew it would distract Emily,” Darius said. “I didn’t want her tangled up in this.”

They stood silent for a moment, staring at each other.

“I never meant to get you caught up in all this, either, but now that you are, you know I can’t let you walk away. There’s too much at stake.”

“I shouldn’t think a self-described pacifist would want more blood on his hands. You needn’t have killed Fredo. It was an extreme measure.”

“Perhaps, but it was him or Emily. She and Bastieri were getting close to finding the treasure. He announced as much when he came to the house this morning. I knew I had to act quickly.”

“Bastieri doesn’t know where the treasure is, nor does Emily.”

“It won’t be long before they find it,” Darius said. “I’m the one who needs the money it will bring. Marzo taught me as much. It will fill my currently empty coffers and I’ll be able to pay for more reliable informants. I’m sorry Fredo is dead. I liked him, but I had to do something to stop your wife.”

“When we were on our way to the Duomo after breakfast, you stopped and told me you’d left your wallet in your rooms. You asked me to wait while you ran back to fetch it,” Colin said. “Instead, you went to the palazzo and snapped Fredo’s neck. And then, after we learned of his death—or, rather, I learned of his death—and were searching his lodgings, you found a coded message, supposedly dropped by his assassin. We easily deciphered it—too easily—and determined the man had a meeting here, in the Duomo. You wrote that message, didn’t you?”

“Days ago,” Darius said. “I kept it with me in case I was not able to bring you here in a less underhanded manner. I couldn’t make the code too difficult or I wouldn’t have been able to get you here quickly, should doing so become necessary.”

“Which it did.”

“Yes. I’d hoped we could come to the cathedral and have this conversation without any more drama, which is why this morning I suggested that we climb the dome.”

“Why are you so bent on us being here?”

“That will become clear. Look, Hargreaves, I apologize for exploiting your trust. I only killed Fredo to keep your wife safe. His death will distract her from hunting for treasure, which means I won’t have to force the issue. It may not have been the most elegant way to solve the problem, but I thought you would prefer it to my killing her.”

I saw Colin draw a deep breath. “You’ve made a right mess of it all, but I can talk to Burman, explain your troubles. Financial pressures have made many a man crack, and—”

“You still don’t understand, do you?” Darius took three steps toward him and stopped. “I will do whatever is necessary to continue my work. I will stop the next war from ever coming. Sadly, in order for me to do so, someone else must take the blame for what I’ve done, and that someone is you. You’re the only other person involved enough to have pulled it off, so I lured you here. It was I who broke into the palazzo, knowing you would come to investigate. Once you were here, I could eliminate Marzo and pin his death