Chapter 13: On the Clinic Steps

Ettore's POV

I told her not to go.

She did not argue with me.

She put on the grey coat Agnese's maid had left on the chair, and she walked out ahead of me.

By first light we were in Genoa, in a car parked across the square from the clinic.

The old driver kept the engine running.

Cameras filled the front steps.

Dario stood at the top of them in a black suit and a black armband, with one hand over his heart.

"My father-in-law was taken from his bed in the night," he told the reporters. "The clinic let it happen."

"Whoever has him, I am begging you. Name your price."

His voice broke on the last word.

It was a good break.

I had watched him practice that voice in the mirror when he was fourteen.

Viola opened her door.

"Stay in the car," I said.

"He took my father."

"He wants you out in the open. That is why he is standing on those steps."

"I know," she said. "That is why I am going."

She shut the door and crossed the square alone.

I put my hand on the handle of mine.

The old driver put his hand on my sleeve.

"Let her do this one, Don," he said.

I did not let go of the handle, but I did not open it.

A reporter saw her first.

"That's her," he shouted. "That's Viola Grimaldi!"

Every lens on the steps swung around.

Dario turned.

His face showed shock, then joy, then tears, one after the other, and every one of them was timed.

He came down the steps two at a time and dropped to his knees in front of her.

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