Luis Rocha - Papal decree

‘I’m sorry to ask, but the law requires an autopsy — ’

‘The law requires nothing, Lorenzo,’ Tarcisio interrupted with irritation. ‘You’re confusing Italian law with the law of the Vatican. Italian law requires, Vatican law recommends. There will be no autopsy. According to the will of the Holy Father.’

‘I’ll comply with that, Your Eminence.’ Lorenzo cleared his throat again. Another question remained, and he wasn’t happy to ask it. His conscience demanded that he do so. ‘Cause of death?’

Tarcisio reflected a few moments. His reply would determine how history would hear about this death. It would be the first murder within the high walls of the hill of the Vatican since the nineteenth century, if it were officially deemed murder. There was no other option.

‘An accidental cerebral hemorrhage,’ William proposed. ‘The cause of death was a stroke.’

Lorenzo looked at the secretary for confirmation. Only he was able to give it. A nod of his head sealed Ursino’s cause of death, wounded in the right eye by a bone, a fact that would be suppressed in the official records. No murder had occurred within the walls of the Vatican, according to any record.

Lorenzo left the Relics Room, leaving the leaders of the church to contemplate the corpse, Tomaso to clean up the blood, and Daniel with two Swiss Guards to protect the prelates.

‘He is at peace,’ Schmidt affirmed.

‘Yes. Surely looking down on us from the Almighty’s side,’ William added.

Tarcisio said nothing. He didn’t know any words appropriate for a moment like this. Human life was sacred. The disrespect for it by some, capable of taking it, as if killing a chicken or a cow, lives that God disposed for our nourishment. To take away God’s greatest gift was like renouncing Him.

While Tomaso cleaned up, his colleagues approached with the stretcher. ‘Can we remove the body, Your Eminence?’ one of them asked.

Tarcisio made the sign of the cross with his hand pointed at Ursino and wondered whether to cover his face with the sheet. Only then did he authorize them to carry the body off. As soon as the stretcher left the room, the atmosphere became lighter and more breathable. At last…

‘Now what?’ Schmidt asked.

‘I’m going to make the funeral arrangements,’ Tarcisio said. ‘But first… a meeting with Adolph.’

‘Do you need me?’ William asked helpfully.

‘Maybe later.’

‘I’m going to try to get some rest,’ Schmidt said. ‘I’m feeling the effects of all this.’

‘Of course, my good friend. You deserve it. I’ll ask Trevor to speak with the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul to prepare a room for you in the Domus Sanctae Marthae,’ he offered.

‘There’s no need.’

‘I insist. I won’t accept a refusal,’ Tarcisio said, closing the subject. ‘Trevor, go with Father Schmidt and get a room prepared for him. He is our guest,’ he ordered.

Trevor complied immediately.

‘Tonight you’ll be notified of a new date to hear the sentence of your hearing,’ William informed Schmidt solemnly.

‘This is not the time for that, William,’ Tarcisio admonished him, and then looked at Trevor. ‘Go with Father Schmidt and make sure he has everything he needs.’

Trevor and Schmidt left the Relics Room. Daniel ordered one of the guards to go with them.

‘Commander,’ Tarcisio called.

‘Your Eminence.’ Daniel was ready to hear his orders.

‘Order this room sealed. Until a new curator is appointed, no one must enter this space.’

‘I’ll do so, Your Eminence.’

‘Is the investigation concluded?’

‘According to your wishes, Your Eminence.’

‘Let’s go, then. We can’t keep people waiting,’ the secretary said, looking one last time at the room that guarded the sacred relics of the church. Someone else would be chosen to continue Ursino’s work and take care of this almost immeasurable treasure with the respect and devotion it deserved. Tomaso had finished cleaning and disappeared, like the blood that had stained the floor. Now all that remained was to try to forget. He looked at William. ‘I’m at your service.’

The two men left the room, escorted by Daniel and the other guard. William looked at Tarcisio with an open smile, which the secretary returned.

‘I’m really in need of good news,’ Tarcisio said.

The noise was deafening. Vehicles of all kinds circled the runway in an ordered chaos typical of a big city at rush hour. The jet waited for Sarah, ready for departure.

They arrived in a black SUV with tinted windows, driven by one of Garvis’s agents, who sat in the backseat with Sarah and Jean-Paul.

Sarah carried only a simple leather folder pressed between her hands. Inside it contained the most important parchments in Christianity, and Sarah was deathly afraid of losing them. Her nervousness made it hard to breathe. The sickness threatened to return. She should never have agreed to do this. Who did she think was judging her? Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who was ever ready to resolve the problems the church got into? Friendly couples like the Isaacs? How she longed for a normal life, without thousand-year-old secrets, or any secrets, without the human cruelty that prevailed everywhere, especially on the highest levels. God was said to have created man in His own image, but she knew this was a lie and, worse, the terrible truth that contradicted that affirmation. It was man’s fault. It was he who created God in his own image — cruel, intolerant, spoiled, punishing, greedy, fearful. How could billions of people believe in an all-powerful, omnipresent, moral being with so many faults and such a bad temper?

‘Thanks again for cooperating, Sarah,’ Garvis said in a baritone voice with a West Country accent.

Sarah hadn’t noticed his voice before. It was curious how concentrating so hard on one thing could block out everything else. Sarah would not make a good detective. Sometimes the obvious escaped her, even though, as a journalist, a certain nose for things was essential.

‘What will the procedure be?’ she wanted to know.

‘Are you feeling all right?’ Jean-Paul asked worriedly.

‘Yes. Everything’s okay. A little weak, maybe,’ she excused herself. She didn’t want to admit that she was nervous, even if it was obvious.

‘You can eat on board. Don’t be nervous, Sarah,’ Garvis instructed.

The limo followed an unidentified vehicle, a kind of low tractor with a fork in front. Several identical ones were busily working the runway. Their function was to move the planes from the gate to the taxiway, ready to follow them to the runway, since planes can only move forward on their own.

They stopped at a kind of crosswalk, though nothing Sarah could see identified it as such. Across the way she noticed a fleet of four private planes. One of them would carry her to her destination, and then… who knew? She felt as if she might not survive.

‘Aren’t you going with us, Inspector Garvis?’ she asked, to hide her discomfort.

‘No, Sarah. Relax. You’re in good hands. Inspector Gavache’s team is first-class. Too many people just get in the way.’

She had no more questions. In this case they would know the international protocols better than she.

Leaving behind the crosswalk, the limo drove a few hundred feet to a Cessna that awaited them. Garvis was the first to open the door and let Sarah and Jean-Paul out. The noise of the engines was deafening.

‘All ready?’ he shouted at a worker in a fluorescent jacket and ear protectors.

‘Everything’s ready, sir,’ he answered respectfully, loud enough to be heard, and gave a thumbs-up.

Then Garvis shook hands with a man in a suit. ‘Garvis, Metropolitan Police,’ he introduced himself. ‘Are you the one I have to thank for the plane?’