“Ah, the film crew is prepping the cameras and getting into their dive kits,” he said. “And, ah, as this is your project …” He trailed off, looking at Geena as if waiting for her to finish his sentence.
I can’t be here, Geena thought. He’s out there somewhere, and I can’t be here. But of course, she had to be. She had responsibilities, and she had no idea where Nico might be. Rushing off and leaving all her responsibilities behind would not help her find him, and at least here she might feel grounded.
“Yes,” Geena said, glancing at Domenic. He was frowning at her, and she knew that as soon as the two of them were alone again, he would grill her about what she’d said, and why she had not let him in on this the previous night. She’d called his police friend and told him simply that Nico was missing, and the response she’d received was just what she expected. He’s an adult. Unless you think he’s hurt or in danger, there’s little we can do. And picturing the beaten man she’d seen carried from that old building, she had told the policeman that no, she had no reason to suspect either.
Yes, he’s in danger, she’d been thinking. And perhaps I am, too. But she was not about to give Nico up to the police.
“Yes, my project. I was just sitting here tanking up on caffeine before facing Adrianna.” She smiled, and Finch laughed politely, glancing sidelong at Domenic’s stern expression. He knew there was something more going on here, but he was obviously unsure how to broach it.
“So, your whole team will be here for this?” he asked.
“Most of them,” Domenic said. “Nico is resting; he’s picked up a bug somewhere.”
“Lot of it around,” Finch said.
Geena drank some of her coffee and enjoyed the steam rising before her eyes, cutting her off from the two men for a moment. I’m here when you need me, she thought, wishing that Nico’s strange touch could go both ways.
“So Tonio tells me Sabrina’s footage from Monday’s accident convinced your bosses to let you do a six-part series?” Geena said, and Finch seemed to visibly relax. They finished their coffees while Finch filled them in—his series would cover the sinking of Venice, Geena’s original project attempting to salvage Venetian antiquity from the rising waters, Petrarch’s library, the Chamber of Ten, and the recovery effort—but all the time Geena was aware of Domenic simmering gently beside her. She would have to tell him soon, she supposed. But she would give it until lunchtime. If she’d heard nothing from Nico by then, she thought, she would need the support.
As she crossed the street with Domenic to her left and Finch to her right, the morning sun broke across the Biblioteca’s façade. A gentle breeze blew from deeper within the city, carrying a mix of the city’s scent with it—coffee, baking bread, sewage, dirty water, cigarette smoke, and that indefinable aroma of water that always seemed untouched by whatever impurities the water might contain. A rush of optimism was blown in with the breeze, and Geena felt herself lifted. Everything’s going to be all right, she thought. By midday, she would have cause to wonder where such foolish ideas might have originated.
They entered the Biblioteca and as they passed through the foyer, they could already hear the library director’s voice raised in protest, echoing shrill and angry along the halls.
“Sounds like your camera team have met Adrianna,” Domenic said as they entered the reading room.
“Yes, quite a lady,” Finch agreed. “First she told us we’d come to the wrong place, then she claimed there were old Venetian laws forbidding filming in the library.”
“She does like keeping the place quiet,” Geena said.
“Sounds like she’s the one making all the noise now,” Domenic said, chuckling.
They walked back into the now cramped room where the secret door to Petrarch’s library stood open. Sabrina, Ramus, and Adrianna were there, as well as several strangers—the BBC crew, she guessed—and two senior students she recognized from the university. These two had dived on many sites around Venice, sometimes on their own, and sometimes taking one of several other students or lecturers down with them. Sabrina was one; not yet fully trained as an archaeological diver, still she was well versed with all the technology, and she knew the dangers. They were already wearing dry-suits, and Sabrina was chatting with the BBC crew via an interpreter. They pointed at various pieces of camera technology arrayed on a table before them, and Geena guessed they were trying to decide whether they’d be able to patch Sabrina’s camera images directly through to their laptops. One of the BBC crew was standing behind Sabrina, surreptitiously eyeing her shapely behind in the suit. And it’s the Italians who get the reputation as leches, Geena thought.
Tonio emerged from the stairwell that led to the flooded chamber below—Petrarch’s library—a look of concern on his face. He noticed Geena and brightened, and she saw his eyes flickering either side of her as he looked for Nico.
“Geena!” he called, holding out his arms. “We’ve been waiting.”
She nodded at Tonio, then smiled at Ramus and Sabrina. She knew them well enough to know that they were uncomfortable, but she could not make out why. Was it the BBC crew and the sudden widening of attention surrounding their project? Or had Domenic told them something of her conversation with him last night?
Now was not the time to ask. Everything’s going to be all right, she thought again, and maybe getting into some work would help her emerge on the other side with a clearer view of what was happening. Perhaps it was not only Nico who had been affected strangely by their unsettling experience and near escape from the flooded chamber below Petrarch’s, but her as well.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said. “I just like to keep people waiting. So, when will we be ready to go?”
In the end, it was the BBC crew that held them up. After suffering several technical difficulties in linking their own equipment to the university’s laptops and filming equipment, it seemed they had a small dispute amongst themselves. Finch took them to one side to mediate, throwing frequent apologetic glances Geena’s way, and she smiled and shrugged. Meanwhile Sabrina and the two divers checked one another’s diving gear again. As well as the dry-suits and breathing apparatus, they carried a length of thin rope each, powerful lights, and a reinforced plastic helmet that sat snugly against their heads, protecting them in confined spaces. They went through safety procedures, and Geena noticed that both divers were carrying two knives each. The flooded chambers would be extremely hazardous. As well as the poor visibility they expected, everything left down there when the flood struck would be floating at random, and there was plenty that might entangle them.
“So what are you going to do now?” Domenic asked her quietly.
“I don’t know,” she said. She was avoiding his gaze because she knew that she owed him some sort of an explanation.
“You talked with—?”
“Yes, thank you. But as I told you, as far as the police are concerned, Nico isn’t missing.” She expected some protest from Domenic, a comment about the police’s ineptitude, but he only nodded grimly and looked down at his laptop, pretending to read the screen. “But he is,” she said. “He’s lost, and I need to find him.”
“After this is over, I’ll help you.”
“Thank you,” she said, and felt tears welling up again. Oh no. Not now. Don’t start blubbering now! she berated herself. She was stronger than that. But when one single tear did escape her left eye, she knew it was not all for Nico. It was because she did not understand what was going on, and that what she had seen of him was so wrong.