Chapter 6 Chapter 4 St. Mary's Church, No. 14 Concord Avenue

After Serin finished speaking, the church was extremely quiet and no one spoke. At this moment, prayer bells came from St. Peter's Square, breaking the silence. "A second victim? There is another cardinal who was torn to pieces and we only know about it now?" Pontello's words showed his extreme dissatisfaction. Sellin remained motionless, staring at Pontillo's back.There is no doubt that Sellin is a different man.He was of medium height, with brown eyes and no real age.He was wearing a plain suit with a gray coat over it.His clothes make him unremarkable, but in fact this is a very special character.He is a model of ordinary people. He tries to be brief every time he speaks. It seems that this can make him stand outside the circle. This is very confusing, but in fact everyone here has heard of the camera. A heavyweight who runs the smallest police force in the world: the Vatican Police.A team of 48 agents (official figure), less than half the employed Swiss Guard, but very powerful.In his own little country, nothing escaped Serin's attention. In 1997, there was one man who tried to surpass him. That man was Alois Sterman, the newly elected head of the Swiss Guard.But two days after his appointment, Sterman was found dead on the street together with his wife and a corporal with an unblemished reputation.They were shot, and suspicion fell on the corporal, who allegedly went berserk, shot the couple and pulled the trigger in his own mouth.The whole explanation seems reasonable, but there are two small details: the corporal does not carry a weapon with him in the Swiss Guard, and apparently the corporal has all his front teeth knocked out.All these details lead to the belief that someone brutally forced the gun into his mouth.

An airport colleague reported the incident to Paula.After the incident, the policeman and his companions were called in to help the Vatican police as much as possible, but they were politely called back to the station and locked in the door before they even set foot on the scene of the crime.The dark tales of Serin passed from mouth to mouth and were known throughout Rome, even by the Department of Violent Crime Analysis. The three stood outside the door of the chapel, confused by what Serin said just now. "Mr. Director, if it is true that there is a killer in Rome and killed people as you said just now, I think you are obliged to report to our department." Paula said.

"Exactly. That's what my good colleagues do," Troy said. "He has informed me privately. We both agree that this case should be kept secret, which is for everyone's best. And we also agree with each other on other things. No one in the Vatican is equipped to deal with this criminal, So let's just say, this is a very special case." Serin suddenly interjected, which caught everyone's mind. "I can tell you frankly, Miss, that our work is strictly confidential, and it is the containment and protection of state forces, including counterintelligence. In these fields, I guarantee that we are number one or number two. But for this criminal, we let him go In what category? He was cunning, out of our jurisdiction and beyond our reach. When we heard about the second crime, we wanted to ask for help."

"It will take more of our wits to catch this criminal, Paula," Troy said, "so we won't restrict you from creating your file, as you're doing now, and we want you to directly lead this investigation." Paula was not moved by Troy's words.The case was more suited to a field agent than to a criminal psychologist.Of course, she can do as well as any field agent, which is one of the trainings she received in the FBI, but this request came out of Troy's mouth at this time, which still made her a little unexpected. Then a man in a leather jacket walked towards them, and Serling turned to look at him.

"You are finally here. Let me introduce you, this is Fabio Dante, Deputy Chief Detective of the Vatican Police. He is your liaison with the Vatican. He will introduce you to the first murder case and let you quickly Enter the state, and then you investigate this case together, because the two cases are actually one. You ask him, you ask me, and vice versa. If he refuses to answer any question, I will refuse. In the Vatican, we have our own rules, I hope you understand. I also hope that you can catch the murderer as soon as possible. He killed two Cardinals of the Church of Our Lady and must not go unpunished."

Selin turned and left after speaking. Troy approaches Paula, making Paula uncomfortable.Paula still remembers their one-night stand. "You heard me, Paula. You've just been linked with the most powerful man in the Vatican. He's given you a special assignment. I don't know why he picked you, but he specifically mentioned your name. You know what you have to do. Report to me every day, be brief, to the point, and to the point. Above all, gather all the corroborating evidence. I hope you've got some ideas now, so message me as soon as possible." After speaking, Troy turned to chase Serin.

"What a bastard," Paula muttered, of course, after making sure the others couldn't hear. "Go on, don't stop." Dante, who arrived last, said with a smile. Paula blushed and held out her hand. "I'm Paula Dicandi." "Fabio Dante." "Murize Pontello." As Dante and Pondello shake hands, Paola watches Dante carefully.He looked to be in his forties, not tall but very muscular.His black hair was two inches high on top of his thick neck, and he probably wasn't more than five foot six.The person in charge is charming, although not very handsome.His eyes were olive green, and he was of a race from the southern part of the Italian peninsula.

"Did the 'bastard' you just said include my superiors, officer?" "Honestly, yes. I'd say I'm getting the honor I don't deserve." "We all know this case is not a good one. It's a tough job. It's not an undeserved job. Your record shows you'll be prepared for this case, but you haven't really taken advantage of it." You can’t get anything done in your specialty position, but that’s about to change right now, isn’t it?” "Have you read my file? Is there any secret here?" "Not to him." "Listen, you pretentious little..." Pontillo became angry.

"Pondylo. No need. We're at a crime scene, and I'm in charge. Let's get to work. We'll talk about that later. Now we're going," said Paula. "Well, you are the boss, you have the final say." On one side of the red cordon there are two men and a woman waiting.They are members of the crime scene analysis team, experts in uncovering evidence.Paula and her two companions walked toward the nave. "Then we are united, Dante, and tell us what you know," said Paula. "Of course, the first victim was the Italian Cardinal Enligo Portini."

"Impossible!" Paula and Pontello said in unison. "I'm right, my friend. I saw it with my own eyes." "He is the strongest candidate for the Reform Party! He is an enlightened person. If the media finds out about this, won't they blow up the pot?" "Ponteiro, the media won't know. It's a disaster. President George W. Bush's family came to Rome yesterday morning. There were two hundred other delegates and dignitaries of state who will be at the pope's funeral on Friday." It is within my protection range. We are now on the first level of alert, but look at the situation here, it is very complicated, and the last thing we want to see is panic. Come out, I want to smoke."

Dante took the two of them to the street.The crowd is still getting crowded.Concord Avenue is full of people.Flags of many countries: French, Spanish, Polish, Italian, and others.Some young people were playing the guitar, lighting candles of faith, and even a blind man came with his guide dog.Here two million people prepare for the funeral of the Pope, the great man who rewrote the map of Europe.This is the worst place in the world to work now, Paula thought, and the cultists would lose any evidence. "Cardinal Potigny lives in the Madeleine quarter, in Jaspery," said Dante. "He arrived on Thursday morning because he knew about the preparations for the Pope's funeral. The nuns said Friday night that everything was going well, He stayed in the chapel for a long time after supper, praying for the Pope. No one saw when he went to sleep. There was no sign of a struggle in his room. No one could tell that anyone slept in his bed unless the The killer made the bed again. He didn't come down for breakfast on Saturday, but people thought he was doing his Vatican duties. We don't really know what happened on Saturday morning, but the Vatican is in a mess, you understand? He was in the Vatican The streets of the city disappeared." Dante paused, lit a cigarette, and handed Pontello another, but Pontello didn't ask for his, and took out one himself. Dante continued: "His body was found yesterday morning. In the chapel residence. But like the one found here, there was not much blood on him, indicating that the killer was well prepared. Fortunately, the man who found him A very honest monk, he called us right away. We took pictures of the place where we found it. But when I suggested calling you, Serin told me that he would take care of everything. He ordered us to clean it up completely. Bishop The body was moved to a very inner part of the Vatican City. There we cremated the body." "What? They destroyed the evidence of this serial killer? On Italian soil? I can't believe it!" Dante looked at them, obviously not convinced. "My boss made the decision. Maybe not a good decision, but he called your boss and explained everything. So now you are here. Do you understand what case we have now? We don't Imagine dealing with something like this." "So you should keep it for our professionals to deal with!" Pontillo retorted, dissatisfied on his face. "You still don't get it. We can't trust anyone. Serene is the best defender of our Church of Our Lady and did everything he was supposed to do. Don't look at me like that. Paula, think why he did it. If Poe The death of Bishop Tini is the only one, we can find any excuse and bury the body. But the fact is not like this, this is not a private event, please understand." "All I understand is that we're invited to a second course. Only half the proof. That's great. What else should we know?" Paula was really pissed now. "For now, no more," Dante said, with another mocking smile on his face. "Damn, damn, damn! What we have is a mess, Dante. I want you to tell me everything from now on. And I want to make one thing clear: I'm in charge now. They sent you to assist me in my investigation , but I want to tell you that the most serious fact is that the deceased was a cardinal. Both murders took place in my diocese. Do you understand now?" "Fully understand." "Better. The two murders in the same way?" "As far as I know, yes. The body was at the altar with his feet separated. His eyes were gone and his hands were cut off like this corpse and placed on canvas next to the corpse. Disgusting! I packed the corpse myself in a bag, and then carried it to the crematorium in the cemetery. Then I took a bath all night, don't you believe it!" "You ought to wash a little longer!" grumbled Pontillo. Three people worked for four long hours on the body of Cardinal Robaya before the body was taken away.By special order from Troy, the body had to be carried to the morgue in a plastic bag by the same man who analyzed it so that no one else could see the bishop's remains.Everyone knows that this case is very special and the identity of the deceased must be kept secret. This is for everyone's benefit.