The Lost Catacomb (42 page)
Clearly perturbed, Cardinal Rostoni
leaned forward in his seat as he spoke to Giovanni on a secure phone line.
“
I think it
’
s
time to change tactics.
I
’
ll
need both Luciano and Josef, your German agent, to follow them outside the
Vatican.
We need tighter
surveillance.
We can
’
t
take any chances of slipping up.
”
“
I
understand,
”
Giovanni replied.
“
The
girl and the Jew are too close to discovering the truth,
”
Rostoni
continued, with cold and deliberate emphasis.
“
And if Francesco
Benedetto continues to meddle in my affairs, we
’
ll need to deal
with him as well.
Though that may
prove to be a bit more difficult.
”
He fingered his pectoral cross,
rubbing the large cabochon ruby at its center, as if he were polishing it.
“
Please see to it
immediately.
”
Rostoni disconnected and sat back in
his chair, flicking a dust mote off the sleeve of his cassock.
Lost in thought, he toyed absently with
his pectoral cross, glancing from time to time at the glittering jewel at its center.
Chapter Twelve
As Bruno and Nicola entered the lobby
of Bruno's apartment building, the doorman called them over to his desk and
handed them a large padded manila envelope.
“
This
came about an hour ago, Professore, by special courier.
He said to make sure you got it as soon
as possible.
”
“
Grazie
,
”
Bruno said, turning
it over to examine both sides of the package as he and Nicola walked towards
the elevator.
“
I
wonder what it could be.
There
’
s
no return address.
”
He studied the crudely printed address label in
bewilderment.
“
I
wasn
’
t expecting any packages.
Certainly nothing that would need to be
delivered by messenger service.
“
My
God,
”
he exclaimed suddenly, as he caught
Nicola
’
s arm and lowered his voice to a
whisper.
“
It
’
s
postmarked from Greece.
From
Athens.
Do you think Matt could
have sent you something?
Some sort
of backup evidence, in case he couldn
’
t transfer the
files he and Demetrios had copied?
”
“
I
don
’
t know,
”
she replied, her
face pale and drawn.
“
But I hope so.
He knew I was working with you.
I did mention your name.
And it
’
s not a problem to
obtain an address over the Internet.
Even an overseas address.
All he had was my cell phone number.
I hadn
’
t even told him I
’
d
be staying at the Villa Mirafiori.
Maybe it is from Matt.
Or
maybe Demetrios sent it and has gone into hiding.
”
They hurried up to his apartment,
where Bruno double-locked the front door and closed all of the curtains and
shades before leading Nicola into the kitchen.
He flicked on a light and opened the
package cautiously, spreading out its contents on the surface of a granite
countertop.
“
I
guess we
’
re lucky it wasn
’
t
a letter bomb,
”
he remarked tensely.
“
I probably should
have been more careful.
”
He picked up a faded piece of paper
that was apparently a carbon copy and held it up to the light.
“
Dio
,
”
he said under his
breath and held it out to Nicola.
“
It
’
s
an invoice for crates shipped to Catholic Charities International, from
September 1943.
”
He scooped up another form and
scrutinized it carefully.
“
And
this one seems to be a memorandum, in Italian, requesting that all records of
the shipments be destroyed after delivery has been confirmed. It
’
s
signed
‘
M.R.
’”
“
Well,
it
’
s not Mariamne Rufina, that
’
s
for sure,
”
Nicola observed sarcastically.
“
Which leaves . . .
Oh my God! . . . Mauro Rostoni!
’
She
looked at Bruno in shock.
“
Can
it be possible?
”
Bruno reflected quietly for a minute,
his brows knitted together in thought, as Nicola grew more and more agitated.
“
Well,
who else could it be?
We know he
was highly connected at the Vatican in the 1940s.
My grandmother says he was a Fascist
sympathizer.
I wouldn
’
t
be surprised if he had something to do with the stolen Greek artifacts.
For all we know, he
’
s
kept some sort of secret collection hidden somewhere in Rome,
”
she
added angrily.
“
Maybe
that
’
s what we need to look for in the
catacombs.
”
“
Actually,
I think you might be right,
”
Bruno remarked pensively.
“
I
think we may have found the mastermind behind all this.
And maybe even the mastermind behind
Matt
’
s death.
”
Just then, Nicola
’
s
cell phone rang.
“
Yes,
this is Nicola, Father.
What have
you found out?
”
She
listened carefully as Father Benedetto began to outline the information he
’
d
received from his cousin at the Vatican Bank.
Finally, she let out an exultant
cry.
“
I can
’
t
believe it!
I
’
m
going to put Bruno on the line.
He
’
ll
want to hear this for himself.
”
She
handed Bruno the cell
phone, whispering,
“
This is incredible!
”
Bruno listened soberly as Father
Benedetto explained that a rigorous search through computer files and older
bank records had revealed that Cardinal Rostoni was one of the chief financial
officers of Catholic Charities International, the foundation under suspicion
for organizing the transfer of stolen Jewish artwork to Rome.
Benedetto
’
s cousin had not
yet been able to ascertain precisely when Rostoni had become involved with the
foundation, but he was working on some possibilities.
The information that he had obtained up
to this moment had been difficult to unearth, carefully concealed as it had
been between layers of bureaucratic paperwork and documents dating back to the
early 1940s and the establishment of the Vatican Bank.
Still other files had yielded
information equally sensitive and potentially damaging.
Large sums of money had been transferred
to Catholic Charities International from the personal account of the Pope
during the early months of 1944, with no indication as to the purpose.
There were no signatures on those
documents, only the imprint of the Pope
’
s seal ring.
Other funds had been shifted from
Catholic Charities to one Bishop Alois Hudal
’
s personal bank
account and to that of Father Krunoslav Draganovic.
As Bruno explained to Nicola after
hanging up the phone, those were two of the most notorious criminal figures in
the Vatican Ratlines that had spirited Nazis out of Europe to South America and
other locations.
“‘
Vatican
Ratlines
’
?
”
Nicola had asked in puzzlement.
“
I don
’
t
understand.
”
“
Well,
”
Bruno
answered,
“
the Ratlines were escape routes used
by German and other Nazi-affiliated war criminals.
I
’
m sure you
’
ve
heard of
Odessa
and
Die Spinne
, for example, haven
’
t
you?
”
“
Yes,
those were Nazi-operated escape organizations, weren
’
t
they?
”
“
Right.
Anyway, there were also some individuals
in the Vatican who helped Nazis escape.
All of this is carefully documented fact, I
’
m
sorry to say.
“
And
by the way, even the Allies made some dirty deals with German fugitives from
justice.
Obviously not with the
major criminals who were brought to trial at Nuremberg, but with others, many
of whom were equally guilty of crimes against humanity.
It
’
s one of the
nastiest little secrets of the war.
”
Nicola was horrified.
“
Wait a minute,
Bruno.
Are you saying that the
American government actually helped Nazis escape from justice?
”
“
That
’
s
right,
”
Bruno said, with a look of disgust on
his face.
“
In
exchange for so-called useful intel and
—
or so they claimed
—
because it would help in the fight against Communism.
At least that
’
s
one of the theories.
It
’
s
shocking, isn
’
t it?
“
And
as long as we're on the subject, Nazi gold and profits from the war were
filtered through the
IOR
on a regular basis.
The Vatican took a substantial
percentage of all German monies as overhead, so to speak, before passing them
on to various Swiss banks.
This, too, has been thoroughly documented, in case you were wondering.
“
Anyway,
let
’
s not get too sidetracked here.
We need to plan our visit to the
catacombs.
And the sooner the
better.
“
Look,
”
he
continued rapidly,
“
I think we can start with some basic
archaeological tools of the sort we
’
ve been using until
now.
You know, the trowels,
brushes, scrapers, tweezers, and picks that we
’
ve left in the
hypogeum
.
“
But
if we don
’
t find evidence of a hidden doorway or
crypt easily, I can borrow some equipment from the University
—
maybe a magnetometer or some tomography equipment to detect
underground objects.
My department
also owns some portable ground-penetrating radar to detect variations in soil
density that could hint at another underground chamber.
But that would probably raise some
questions I
’
d prefer not to answer right now, so
we
’
ll leave that as a last resort.
”
“
Okay,
”
she
broke in anxiously,
“
but you still didn
’
t
tell me, did Father Benedetto find out anything about Rostoni that might
connect him to the murders of my relatives?
Any real proof?
”