Inspector Lynley 18 - Just One Evil Act

because she’s an ugly cow, it doesn’t mean—”
    “
Basta!
” Salvatore declared. “I have no knowledge of this woman. File a missing person’s report and have done with it. We are finished here.”
    He left the office, his blood on the boil. He stopped for a
caffè
on his way back to Daniele Bruno. It wasn’t likely that espresso would do much to settle his nerves—quite the contrary—but he wanted a moment to think and he couldn’t come up with another way to achieve this.
    At this second instance of lying to someone about Barbara Havers, Salvatore had to pause. And then he had to ask himself why he was pausing when any man exhibiting rational behaviour would at this juncture toss her out of the
questura
on her ear. For she was clearly trouble incarnate, which he didn’t need to be associated with, since he was already himself navigating very difficult political waters. So then he had to ask himself what he was doing, hiding this woman in his own home while claiming not to know where she was. And he also had to ask himself why in his conversation with DI Lynley, he had claimed ignorance of her association with a cowboy journalist whom he—Salvatore Lo Bianco—had seen with his very own eyes. In addition to this, there was now her intimacy with Taymullah Azhar to consider. Upman was a madman,
certo
, but hadn’t Salvatore seen from the very first that there was something more than neighbourly concern in Barbara’s journey from London?
    So he couldn’t trust her. But he wanted to trust her. And he didn’t know what this meant.
    Salvatore downed the rest of his
caffè
. He headed back in the direction of the interview room where Daniele Bruno waited with his solicitor. He was rounding the corner to reach this room when before him, he saw its door open. Barbara Havers emerged and there was something in her manner . . .
    Salvatore stepped back to hide himself. When he looked again, she was entering the ladies’
bagno
. She was also removing a mobile phone from her bag.
    LUCCA
    TUSCANY
    Her insides were jangling as the minutes stretched into half an hour and then three-quarters. Although Daniele Bruno was fully wired, when the wire was tested as they waited for the return of Salvatore, it was discovered that the unit placed upon Bruno was faulty and another had to be fetched. Barbara watched the clock, saw the minutes draining away at what seemed like double the normal pace, and knew she was going to have to do something.
    Mitchell Corsico wasn’t going to wait. He had a story that was hotter than any he’d previously filed. Unless she could get him a better one, he was going to send it to London no matter how many people it harmed. She had to stop him or to reason with him or to threaten him or to . . . to do
something
and she didn’t know what. But ringing him was a first step, so three-quarters of an hour into their wait for Salvatore’s return, she excused herself and headed for the ladies’.
    She ducked inside and looked into each of the three stalls before locking herself into the last one and ringing the London journalist. She said, “Things are taking longer than I thought.”
    He said laconically, “Oh, too right, Barb.”
    “I’m not lying to you, and I’m not stalling. The damn Upmans showed up here and—”
    “I saw them.”
    “Bloody hell, Mitchell. Where are you? You’ve got to stay out of sight. Salvatore’s already got a scent about you—”
    “It’s your job to do something about that.”
    “Oh, for God’s sake. Listen to me. We’ve got this bloke set up with a wire.”
    “Name?”
    “I’ve already told you I can’t give you a name. If this first try doesn’t get an admission from Mura, then we’ll need another go at him. Just now it’s one bloke’s word against the other bloke’s word and there’s no case that can be built out of that.”
    “No good, Barb. I have a story needing to be sent to Rodney.”
    “You’ll get the story as soon as I have it. Listen to me, Mitchell. You can be there for Azhar’s release. You c’n get a shot of him being reunited with Hadiyyah. You’ll have the whole thing exclusively. But you have to wait.”
    “I have other things exclusively as well,” he pointed out.
    “You use that and we’re finished, Mitchell.”
    “I use it, darling, and so are you. So you have to ask yourself if that’s the way you want this to play out.”
    “Of
course
it isn’t. Whatever else you think, I’m not a bleeding