The Confessor

database and distributed the photograph to police forces across Italy. Next he searched the database to see if any other clergy had vanished lately. Rossi had no hunches and no working theory. He just wanted to make certain there wasn't a nut running around the country murdering priests.
    What Rossi discovered shocked him. Two days before Felici's disappearance, another priest had vanished--a Monsignor Manzini, who lived in Turin. Like Felici, Monsignor Manzini was retired from the Vatican. His last position was in the Congregation for Catholic Education. He lived in a retirement home for priests, and like Monsignor Felici, he seemed to have vanished without a trace.
    The second disappearance raised a number of questions in Rossi's
    mind. Were the two cases linked? Did Manzini and Felici know each other? Had they ever worked together? Rossi decided it was time to talk to the Vatican. He approached the Vatican Security Office and requested the personnel files for each of the missing priests. The Vatican denied Rossi's request. Instead, he was given a memorandum that purported to summarize the Curial careers of each priest. According to the memorandum, both had worked in a series of low-level staff assignments, each more trivial than the last. Frustrated, Rossi asked one more question. Did they know each other? They may have bumped into each other socially, Rossi was told, but they had never worked together.
    Rossi was convinced that the Vatican was hiding something. He decided to bypass the Security Office altogether and get the complete files for himself. Rossi's wife had a brother who was a priest assigned to the Vatican. Rossi pleaded for help, and the priest reluctantly agreed. A week later, Rossi had copies of the complete personnel files.
    "Did they know each other?"
    "One would assume so. You see, both Felici and Manzini worked in the Secretariat of State during the war."
    "Which section?"
    "The German desk."
    Rossi tooka long look into the street before continuing. About a week later he had received a response to his original request for reports of other missing clergy. This one didn't match the criteria perfectly, but the local police had decided to forward the report to Rossi anyway. Near the Austrian border, in the town of Tolmezzo, an elderly widow had vanished. Local authorities had given up the
    search, and she was now presumed dead. Why had her disappearance been brought to Rossi's attention? Because for ten years she had been a nun, before renouncing her vows in 1947 in order to marry.
    Rossi decided to bring his superiors into the picture. He wrote up his findings and presented them to his section chief, then requested permission to press Vatican authorities for more information on the two missing priests. Request denied. The nun had a daughter living in France, in a town called Le Rouret in the hills above Cannes. Rossi requested authorization to travel to France to question her. Request denied. Word had come down from on high that there was no link between the disappearances and nothing to be found by poking around behind the walls of the Vatican.
    "Who sent down the word?"
    "The old man himself," Rossi said. "Carlo Casagrande."
    "Casagrande? Why do I know that name?"
    "General Carlo Casagrande was the chief of counterterrorism at L'arma dei Carabinieri during the seventies and eighties. He's the man who routed the Red Brigades and made Italy safe again. For that, he's something of a national hero. He works for the Vatican Security Office now, but inside the Italian intelligence and security community he's still a god. He's infallible. When Casagrande speaks, everyone listens. When Casagrande wants a case closed, it's closed.
    "Who's doing the killing?" Gabriel asked.
    The detective shrugged--We're talking about the Vatican, my friend. "Whoever's behind it, the Vatican doesn't want the matter pursued. The code of silence is being strictly enforced, and Casagrande is using his influence to keep the Italian police on a short leash."
    "The nun who disappeared in Tolmezzo--what was her name?"
    "Regina Carcassi."
    Find Sister Regina and Martin Luther. Then you'll know the truth about what happened at the convent.

"And what was the name of the convent where she lived during the war, before she renounced her vows?"
    "Someplace up north, I think." Rossi hesitated for a moment, searching his memory. "Ah, yes, the Convent of the Sacred Heart. It's on Lake Garda, in a town called Brenzone. Nice