She had found Felix and had introduced him to Alsconi who had been impressed by Felix's record. By then the badger game was small beer to Alsconi, although Lorelli didn't know it. With the money he had saved from playing his violin in the cafe band and from the proceeds of the badger game, he was ready to begin his extortion racket and his threat of
"pay up or die" was producing quick and big dividends. He made Felix his second in command and let Lorelli into the racket. She enjoyed working with Felix. Money rolled in far quicker than it had when playing the badger game. The first dozen or so victims paid up without a fuss, then Alsconi raised his demands and he met with resistance. The first murder came as a shock to Lorelli, but by then life was too easy to think of backing out. She was in love with Felix and she was making money.
As the months went by and more murders followed and the police seemed helpless to stop Alsconi, Lorelli ceased to be shocked. She assured herself she had killed no one, so why should she worry? But Gina's death had shaken her badly and now Micklem had traced her to Siena, she felt panic-stricken. She had been mad, she told herself, to have had anything to do with either Ferenci's or Gina's deaths. She must get away before the police moved in. If Felix hadn't the sense to get out, then she would go without him.
As she sat staring at herself in the mirror, a solution to her problem dropped into her mind. If she was to get away from the organization she must have a large sum of money and a safe hiding place. Micklem had the money. It was possible she might do a deal with him.
She sat for a long moment thinking, then she got up and went to the clothes closet. She took from it a lightweight beige coat and slipped into it. She put on a close-fitting black hat. Returning to the dressing table she pulled open a drawer and took from it a .25 automatic which she slipped into her coat pocket. Picking up the letter, she left the room and walked quickly down the corridor to the lift.
As Marian paid off the taxi that had brought her from the station, Harry came out on to the veranda and shot down the steps to take her overnight case.
"We've been trying to get you, miss," he said. "I reckon we've telephoned every hotel in Florence."
Marian looked sharply at him: his pale, worried face sent a little stab of alarm through her.
"Has something happened, Harry?"
Cherry came out on to the veranda. There was a fussed, anxious expression on his usually placid pink face.
"Mr Micklem is missing," Harry said.
They joined Cherry on the veranda and Marian led the way into the lounge.
"How long has he been missing?" she asked, making an effort to sound calm.
"Perhaps you would like a cup of coffee, madam?" Cherry said from force of habit.
Marian didn't even hear him, she was looking at Harry.
"Since last night," Harry said, and went on to tell Marian how Cherry and he had followed Carlos and had lost him when he had
driven away in his car. "The road was straight and we could see his headlights. He appeared to turn off the main road into what I thought could be a drive to a house. I reported to Mr Micklem, and he and I went out there. We found a road where this nigger had turned off. Some way up the road was a big house, surrounded by a high wall. Well, you know what Mr Micklem is. He wanted to have a close look at the house. He got into the garden, leaving me on the wall. I waited for about half an hour, then I heard dogs barking. I expected Mr Micklem to come, but he didn't. After a while I saw lights in the garden, and I thought I'd better see what was happening. I was very nearly nabbed by one of the dogs. I legged it back to the car and drove back to the villa and woke up Cherry. We decided to wait and see if Mr Micklem turned up. After a couple of hours I thought I'd better go for help."
"You don't know for certain he was caught?" Marian asked.
"One of the dogs very nearly had me," Harry said grimly. "There were three others. I don't think he could have got away. If he did, why isn't he here?"
She nodded.
"What did you do then?"
"I left Cherry here in case Mr Micklem returned and I went to the police." Harry's face darkened. "Believe it or not, not one of those perishers could speak a word of English. You'd have thought one or two of them would have been educated, wouldn't you, miss? I got nowhere with them. I very nearly got slung into jail. I went back to the villa and put a call through to Superintendent Dicks. When I finally got him, he was pretty quick to take action. He got into touch with the bloke in charge of the Tortoise case in Rome and this bloke flew up right away and Cherry and I went down to the police station and gave him the story. When I described the negro and the house, the local police nearly went mad.
They said the negro was a well-known character in the city and was completely harmless. He was the personal servant of the owner of the house, a bloke named Simon Alsconi who was a rich and respected member of the community.
They said it was ridiculous to suspect him. Anyway, Rossi made me give him the full story, I could see he didn't think much of it. I must say it did sound a bit thin when he started to it pick to pieces. I couldn't prove the nigger had anything to do with the Tortoise organization. I told him how Mr Micklem had seen Lorelli, but of course I couldn't prove she had anything to do with the nigger nor had we seen her near the house. But the fact they couldn't talk me out of was that Mr Micklem had got into the garden and had vanished. Rossi said Mr Micklem had no right to be in the garden and Alsconi could charge him with unlawful entry. He said we had no proof that he was in the house. Finally, he went out to the house. He wouldn't let either Cherry or me go and we had to wait at the police station. They came back after a while. Rossi said the house had been thoroughly searched and Mr Micklem wasn't there. He then had the nerve to suggest Mr Micklem might be suffering from amnesia and he might be wandering about the countryside. He then went back to Rome, leaving the local police to look for Mr Micklem. They don't seem to be looking very hard, and that's as far as We've got at the moment."
"If Don has been kidnapped," Marian said, "the kidnappers would have had plenty of time to take him somewhere far from this house, wouldn't they?"
"Yes, but I don't think they did. I think he's still in the house," Harry said.
"But if the police searched it..."
"You want to see the place. It's just the kind of joint that would have underground passages, secret panels and hidden rooms. It's my bet he's there."
Marian looked across at Cherry.
"What do you think, Cherry?"
"I don't know what to say, madam," Cherry said miserably. "I should have thought they wouldn't have kept him in the house."
"You haven't seen the place either," Hairy put in. "Wherever he is, we've got to find him and we've got to start looking somewhere."
"Yes," Marian said. "What are you thinking of doing?"
"Well, miss, this is a job we can't tackle alone. We've got to have help. If the police won't play, we'll have to look elsewhere.
Let's get hold of Giuseppe. He's the boy who can help us. We'll ask him to collect a bunch of his gondolier pals to come here. We could then bust into the house and if Mr Micklem is there, we'd find him."
"But, Harry, you don't know for certain he is there. You can't break in on the off chance. You'll only be arrested and that won't help Don," Marian said. "I'm sure that's not the way to handle it. The Tortoise is an extortioner. He won't pass up_
the chance of getting money out of Don. I think it is more likely we'll get a ransom note before long. I think we should wait until the ransom note arrives and then take action. I agree we must have help. I'll see if I can get Giuseppe. He may be at the palazza now."
"Well, all right," Harry said, reluctantly. "I don't like sitting here doing nothing. I'm pretty sure if we had a bunch of Giuseppe's pals we could bust in and find Mr Micklem."