The Nosferatu Scroll by James Becker Page B

missing, but in both cases there appeared to be good reasons for them to have left their families. And both had later reappeared, alive and well. So unless there was something about these twelve girls that the journalists had failed to report, it looked very much to Bronson as if a serial abductor, who was almost certainly a serial killer as well, was operating in Venice. And operating with impunity.
    This was interesting, but that was all, because Bronson knew that if he could deduce this from reading a handful of newspaper articles, the Italian police, who would have had access to those same articles plus all the other reports relating to the disappearances, must have come to exactly the same conclusion. And perhaps, if the body found in the cemetery on the Isola di San Michele was that of a girl who had disappeared—and a very recent edition of the local paper reported another disappearance the previous week—the police would now have plenty of clues to work with. In Bronson’s experience, the dead could speak, and often produced a wealth of information about the manner in which they’d died, and sometimes a lot about their killers as well.
    Almost as an afterthought, he did another search ofthe archives, this time looking for articles on a totally unrelated subject—the vandalizing of graves. He was somewhat surprised to discover that there was plenty of information in the back numbers of the newspaper about this as well. Again, he printed a series of articles so that he could read them at his leisure back at the hotel.
    What he’d found surprised him so much that he decided to run a third search, which produced a single result. It had nothing whatsoever to do with Venice, but Bronson took a copy of this as well. You never knew, he thought, what information might prove valuable. Especially when it related to vampires.

16
    “It’ll be dark in three or four hours,” Angela objected. “Are you sure you want to go back there again today?”
    They were back in the hotel room, the newspaper printouts Bronson had obtained spread across the bed.
    “I’m not bothered about the dead girls,” Bronson said. “Investigating those disappearances is a police matter, without question. It’s nothing to do with us. But these other stories I found, about the vandalized graves out on the island, are really interesting. I just thought I’d like to go over there and see what sort of damage had been done, and also find out the age of the tombs that had been targeted.”
    “Why?” Angela was already putting on her boots, Bronson noted, and had selected a heavier coat for the journey across the water.
    “It’s your talk about a vampire cult that’s got me interested. I was wondering if all the graves were from the nineteenth century, and if their occupants were all female.I’d also like to know if the tombs were opened, or if the vandals had sprayed graffiti on them, for instance. Was it genuine vandalism, or were the people involved trying to open the graves because they were looking for something?”
    Angela smiled. “Oddly enough, I want to go back to the Isola di San Michele as well, but for a completely different reason. While you were out, I translated some more of the Latin text in that book, and there’s a reference in it that I’d like to look at.” She pointed at the black leather-bound book. “In fact, there are several references to the same thing. According to that diary, somewhere in the graveyard, in the ‘tomb of the twin angels,’ as the writer calls it, is the ‘answer.’ Now, I haven’t got the slightest idea what she means, but I’d be very interested in finding out.”
    “Right, then,” Bronson said, zipping up his leather jacket. “Let’s go.”
    A few minutes later they walked out of the hotel and turned north, toward the vaporetto stop. Angela had her handbag slung over her shoulder, while Bronson was carrying her laptop bag. She had insisted on taking her computer and the diary with