The Ancient Curse by Valerio Massimo Manfredi Page A

few good restaurants and the theatre programme for the autumn isn’t half bad . . . a couple of cinemas and a club or two, I think. I haven’t had much time to get out.’
    Sonia mumbled something under her breath as Fabrizio went up the stairs to return to his office.
    R EGGIANI walked in about five.
    ‘I brought back your tooth,’ he said, placing the ivory-coloured fang on Fabrizio’s desk.
    ‘Thank you. My colleague has already begun to examine the skeleton, so I’ll have to sneak it back in place. Can you tell me what you needed it for?’
    ‘I showed it to Dr La Bella, our medical examiner, and he tested it in the wounds of the two cadavers. Said it was a perfect fit.’
    ‘Interesting, but no use for your investigation, I suppose. I wonder why you even thought of doing such a thing, since skeletons don’t normally go around sinking their fangs into people.’
    ‘Curiosity,’ replied Reggiani. ‘Pure curiosity. When your colleague has finished examining the bones, we’ll certainly know more about this animal, but I’m afraid we may have more trouble in the meantime. By the way, you live out in the country, don’t you?’
    Fabrizio felt a sudden jolt of apprehension. ‘Yes, that’s right. At the Semprini farm in Val d’Era.’
    ‘Be careful when you go home tonight. Park in front of the door and lock up everything once you’re inside.’
    ‘I can take care of myself, Lieutenant,’ Fabrizio assured him. ‘I have an automatic five-round Bernardelli and I keep it loaded. I have a hunting licence, naturally.’
    ‘Keep your eyes open anyway. Those two I just had another look at in the cooler knew their way around, and they were armed as well. Last time we saw each other there was something you wanted to tell me. Have you changed your mind?’
    Fabrizio hesitated, thinking that perhaps the voice might never bother him again, but then he decided it was best to let Reggiani in on all the strange things that had happened to him since he’d arrived in Volterra.
    ‘It happened the first night, just after I got here. I was in the museum, working on my research: I’m studying the statue of the boy that’s in room twenty. Do you know the one I’m talking about?’
    ‘Yeah, sure,’ replied Reggiani. ‘It’s the one that looks like a Giacometti sculpture.’
    Fabrizio was favourably impressed by Reggiani’s art savvy. He said, ‘That’s the one. There’s something odd about the casting that I’m trying to figure out. Well, as I was there with the statue, absorbed in my work – it must have been some time before two in the morning – the phone rings. A woman’s voice says, “Leave the boy alone,” and hangs up. I was shocked at first, because I couldn’t understand who it could be and how they could possibly know what I was researching—’
    Reggiani interrupted: ‘Dr Castellani, what exactly . . . Wait, can’t we do this on a first-name basis? I don’t think I’m much older than you are.’
    ‘Absolutely, it’s Fabrizio. What’s your name?’
    ‘Marcello.’
    ‘Well, Marcello, as I was saying, I was really unnerved by that voice in the middle of the night – what the hell could they be on about? I thought, this must be a joke, but who could be joking at my expense? I’d just got here. I hadn’t met a soul.’
    ‘Well, there’s no saying that the voice was referring to that “boy”. Your statue, that is. It might have been some kind of weird coincidence. Have you had any more calls?’
    ‘No, not lately,’ Fabrizio lied, realizing that Reggiani must have enough on his plate without having to worry about this too.
    ‘Then let’s take one thing at a time,’ said the officer. ‘I’ll see if I can get a tap put on your phones, at the museum and at the Semprini place. I can’t imagine they’d call on your mobile phone, or do many people have your number?’
    ‘No, just family and a few close friends. I hate being bothered at all hours.’
    ‘Right. If we’re lucky and