The Ancient Curse by Valerio Massimo Manfredi Page B

they try again, we should be able to trace the call, figure out who’s placing it. But luck is something we’ve been a bit short of lately.’
    Fabrizio scribbled his numbers on the back of a card and handed it over.
    ‘If they do ring back, how should I handle it?’
    ‘Try to keep them on as long as possible so we can trace the call. A couple of minutes would be good.’
    ‘All right. I’ll do my best.’
    ‘Well, Fabrizio, we’ll be in touch soon. If you should need me for any reason, call.’ He got up to leave.
    ‘Marcello, can I ask you a favour?’
    ‘Sure.’
    ‘You might want to put one of your men on my colleague, Dr Vitali. She’s the one who’s working at reassembling the skeleton. She likes a good time and she can be a bit imprudent on occasion. Now is not the best moment to be wandering off on your own, especially after dark.’
    ‘I’ve already taken care of it,’ replied the officer.
    He put on his cap, slipped on his black gloves and left.
    Fabrizio went into the basement to put the tooth back in its place. Sonia wasn’t there but she’d already started her work, concentrating on the skull, which she was assembling on a platform lit by a couple of halogen bulbs. With its hollow eye sockets and huge toothy jaw, it might have seemed a grotesque mask, if he didn’t know the context it had been found in. She had applied little dots of putty along the chalk lines that she’d drawn on the skull, both lengthwise from the nape of the neck to the tip of the snout and crosswise from temple to temple. Each piece of putty held a pin half a centimetre long. The pins had different-coloured heads, depending on the line, which he supposed identified muscles or other anatomical features. Around the earholes the pins were much longer and had yellow heads.
    Fabrizio knelt and very cautiously inserted the fang into its socket, then returned to his office and got back to work. The days were becoming shorter now and the small cubicle was soon plunged into shadow. When he was forced to get up and switch on the overhead light, he realized that it was already seven thirty and that the museum was empty. He wondered where Francesca might be and felt like calling her, but then reasoned that if she hadn’t called him she hadn’t felt the need, so why should he?
    He backed up his files and rose to leave, stopping on his way out to check on Sonia.
    ‘Would you like to get a bite to eat with me?’ he asked.
    She declined his invitation. ‘I’m sorry, but I’m just too tired to go out. I’ll just have a glass of milk at the hotel and go to bed.’
    ‘Don’t forget to set the alarm before you go,’ Fabrizio reminded her.
    He left the museum and headed towards Signora Pina’s place for some dinner.
    There were still a few tourists out and about and when he turned into Piazza dei Priori he noticed quite a few people sitting outdoors at the two main cafes, having a drink before dinner. He deliberately walked between the tables so he could hear what people were talking about in the city besieged by a bloodthirsty monster and realized it was soccer. There was an early National League game that evening: Milan versus Fiorentina. Everyone was making predictions and placing bets. No one much liked the line-ups that had been announced and everyone had a smarter strategy to propose.
    There was a little breeze coming from Via San Lino, carrying the scent of hay and mint all the way to the big grey-stoned square. A radio somewhere was playing an old classic, ‘Struggle for Pleasure’, and the music made Fabrizio feel melancholy, despite the quick beat. It seemed crazy that he was having dinner all alone without either one of his attractive colleagues, but Sonia was too tired and Francesca must have been busy if she hadn’t thought to call. He decided to take his time, strolling through the centre so he could check out the shop windows and bookshops. By the time he entered the trattoria, it was well past eight.
    Pina came