Rendezvous in Rome by Carolyn Keene Page B

contrast to the flowery, ornate style of the old stone building in which the gala was being held.
    â€œMmm,” Bess said, eyeing the sumptuous buffet that stretched along one wall. “I’m starved!”
    â€œYou’d better eat fast,” Nancy warned. “You have to leave in an hour to take your watch post.”
    Nancy spotted Claudia with Sandro and Massimo. Both guys looked elegant in their tuxedos. Claudia wore a black dress shot with gold thread, and her hair was swept up in a glossy black bun. After Nancy and Bess had each taken a plate full of food, they went over to join the others.
    â€œWhere’s Karine?” Bess asked Massimo, eyeing the crowd. Except for their group, most of the people seemed to be older society types.
    â€œShe is with her father somewhere,” Massimo replied. “Over there.”
    Several yards away, Karine was standing with a portly man. Nancy got only a glimpse of him before he turned to talk to someone else. At the same time Karine caught sight of Nancy’s group and headed over to join them.
    Continuing to let her eyes wander, Nancy spotted Paola Rinzini across the room, and then Sandro’s mother laughing loudly with friends at a table. Nancy was just beginning to wonder where Signor Andreotti was when he made his grand entrance into the room.
    The art dealer was wearing a tuxedo, and he had a tall, blond woman on his arm. She was dressed in a gold jumpsuit with a strapless top. A gorgeous gold Etruscan necklace rested on her collarbone, catching the light in the room like a carved jewel.
    Signor Andreotti was as good as his word, Nancy thought with satisfaction. No one in the room could miss that necklace or resist it.
    â€œLook at that woman,” Karine said as shestepped up to the group. “I didn’t know Signor Andreotti had an amóre!”
    â€œShe certainly is stunning,” Claudia commented. “What a gorgeous outfit!”
    â€œAnd the necklace. It is almost blinding,” Massimo said with appreciation.
    â€œThey’re coming this way,” Nancy said, noting his interest. “Maybe we’ll get a chance to see it up close.”
    Just as Nancy had arranged, Signor Andreotti came over to the group and introduced his date, Alexa Pierre. Massimo admired her necklace openly. Each bead had its own scene, created painstakingly from the placement of tiny points of gold.
    â€œFabio gave it to me,” Alexa told Massimo, a French accent coloring her words. “It’s very expensive.”
    â€œBut beautiful on her, don’t you think?” Signor Andreotti put in. “After the party I’m going to show her off in the streets of Rome.”
    â€œI couldn’t possibly wear this in the streets, darling,” Alexa protested. “It is too valuable. Someone would steal it.”
    Signor Andreotti laughed. “I’ll protect you.”
    Alexa shook her head. “I will leave it in the hotel room,” she said, as if making the decision on the spur of the moment. “It will be safer there.”
    The conversation set up the trap perfectly, Nancy thought, exactly as they had planned.
    â€œWhere are you staying?” Nancy asked, as if she didn’t already know.
    â€œThe Belvedere,” Alexa told them. “On the top floor, overlooking the Colosseum.”
    A few moments later a smiling Signor Andreotti swept his date away. Nancy watched as he moved to another cluster of people to plant his story.
    Glancing at her watch, Nancy saw that it was a quarter to nine. Time for the next phase of their plan. A few minutes later Bess excused herself to go to the ladies’ room and asked Nancy to join her.
    â€œSignor Andreotti told his friend at the hotel that I’d be there at nine,” she said once they were in the empty lounge. “Tell me again—which one of the Belvedere’s elevators is the express.”
    â€œThe one on the right,” Nancy reminded her.