Chapter 31 Chapter 29 Santa Marta Dormitory

Paula stood in front of the building, startled.At the end of the street, a very long motorcade is waiting to refuel.Dante told her that gas prices are 30% cheaper than in Italy because there is no tax on gas at the Vatican.But you must have a special gas card. There are seven gas stations in the Vatican City. Even so, the queue for gas has never stopped. Paula, Dante and Anthony were waiting at the door, and the Swiss security guard went in to report that the three of them would come in later.Only then did Paula have a chance to reflect on what had happened this morning. Two hours earlier, at UACV headquarters, she had avoided Troy's questioning and dragged Dante aside.

"I want to have a word with you." Dante ignored Paula's staring eyes and walked into her office with Paula. "I know what you're going to say to me, Paula, we're in the same boat, aren't we?" "I know. And I also noticed that you, like Troy, call me a police officer instead of a doctor, because the police officer has a low position, and I don't really care. Since you have a sense of superiority, you always have this condescending look at work. Like you just treated that technician." Dante blushed, "I just want to tell you that there is no personal grievance here."

"You want me to pay attention to Anthony? Then your goal has been achieved. But you are clear about my position in the group, right? I don't need to explain in detail?" "That's clear, officer," Dante said, sounding like a kid who's made a mistake, rubbing his face with one hand. "You knocked out all the fillings in my teeth. What I don't understand is how did you not break any bones in your hands?" "Because your face is hard." "It's not just these places where I'm hard." "I'm not interested. And I hope you don't forget about today."

"Is this a woman saying 'no'? Officer?" He made Paula nervous again. "What's a 'no' for a woman?" "That's when they say 'yes.'" "They say 'no' is 'no'! Big man!" "Relax, don't get excited, hot girl." Paula cursed silently.She fell into Dante's trap, making him laugh at her for losing her temper, but it didn't matter.She should have spoken more formally so that he could see her contempt more clearly.Paula decided to learn from Dante, since he always hides the knife with a smile like this.

"Well, now that the matter is cleared up. I have to tell you that I have spoken to our mate from North America, Father Fowler, and I have told him my concerns, and Fowler has convinced me, from my own judgment For me, I trust him. I have to thank you for the trouble you caused me to dig up his information. This is your credit." Dante was a little surprised by Paula's calm words. He knew he had lost the battle. "As for the person in charge of the investigation of this case, I want to ask you formally, do you fully support the capture of Victor Karoski?" "Of course, officer," Dante said through gritted teeth.

"Then there is another question, why did you come back so soon?" "I called my superiors, but they ignored me. They ordered me to let go of my personal animosity." After hearing Dante's last words, Paula's ears perked up.Anthony didn't admit that Dante would trouble him, but the deputy chief detective's words clearly had other meanings.Before this, Paula had already felt that the two of them seemed to know each other already, even though they had been pretending.Paula decided to ask Dante directly. "Did you know Anthony before?" "I don't know, officer," said Dante, his voice firm and without hesitation.

"But you will have his information soon." "The Vatican Police is a very efficient unit." Paula stopped asking.As she prepares to go, Dante puts Paula in good stead with a flattering remark.Dante said, "One more thing. If you still need to call me to order, I prefer you to hit me. I don't stick to any form." Paula asked Dante to show her the district where the cardinals lived, where they are now.St. Mar's Dormitory, also known as St. Mart's Building.This is a building located in the interior of the Vatican City, west of the Cathedral. The building looks unremarkable from the outside, with straight and elegant lines, no bumps or sculptures.Compared with the beautiful buildings around it, St. Marres Hall is like a golf ball in a barrel of snow.It is easy to miss for a casual tourist, and of course it is strictly forbidden to visit, people will not give it a second look.

But when the Swiss security let a few of them in, Paula found that there are definitely two worlds inside and outside.It looked like the hippest hotel, with marble floors, tropical wood floors, and the smell of lilacs in the air.Paula looked around while they waited in the lobby.There are paintings on every wall here, some of which Paula knows are works of famous Dutch and Italian masters in the 16th century, and none of them look like fakes. "My God." Paula tried her best not to swear, but she was still stunned.She had to try her best to keep herself calm and suppress those words.

"I know what you think," Anthony said. Paula remembered that Anthony had said that his experience here had not been pleasant at all. "It's so different from the other buildings in the Vatican, as far as I know, old and new, it's so different." "Do you know the history here? You may remember there were two elections here in 1978, one followed the other within two months." "I was a little girl at the time. But I still remember some scenes." Then Paula fell into the memory: Ice cream on St. Peter's Square.Mom and Dad had the lemon one, and I had the chocolate and strawberry one.The believers were singing, and there were joyful crowds everywhere.Dad's hand is very strong, I like to hold his hand all the time from morning to afternoon, we looked at that chimney and saw white smoke coming out, Dad lifted me on his shoulder, his smile is the world best looking.My ice cream dropped and I cried, but my dad laughed and said buy me another one. "Let's buy an ice cream cone and bless the Pope!" Dad said.

"This building was chosen during the short tenure of the two popes. After the death of Paul VI, his successor John Paul I died suddenly after only 33 days in office. Then there was another election, which was for John Paul VI. Paul II. At that time, the cardinals lived in those small rooms near the Sistine Chapel. It was inconvenient and there was no air conditioning. The summer in Rome was hot like a steamer. Some elderly cardinals suffered very much. More than one entered Emergency Room. When John Paul II put on his 'Fisherman's Ring', he personally decided to leave the ill-equipped quarters so that when he died, the same problems would not happen again. The result was With this building. Paula, are you listening to me?"

Paula recovered from her own reverie, embarrassed. "Sorry, I was thinking of something else, it won't happen again in the future." Dante is back, and he went to talk to the head of security in the building just now, and Paula found that he avoided Anthony, probably just to avoid conflicts.Both were tense, ready to speak in normal tones.But Paula doubts that Antony is on his own level and attributes this hostility to Dante's jealousy.Now, even though the group was together, there was an air of tension hanging over her, and she'd better keep the relationship and ignore the problems, which was actually one of the things Paula wasn't very good at. Dante brought back a diminutive nun in a black robe, laughing and sweating.Her name was Helena, she was from Poland, and she was the supervisor at St. Matthews, reporting daily changes throughout the building.Changes here are broken down into several phases, the last being in 2003.They followed her up the wide staircase, each step polished to a shine.The building has large terraces and thick carpets on each floor, and doors on each side leading to each room. "There are 106 suites and 22 private rooms. All the furniture is centuries old and there are valuable pieces of furniture donated by German and Italian families." Aunt Helena opened the door of a room. It was a very large room, about two hundred square feet, with a parquet floor and a beautiful rug.The bed was made of wood, with a beautifully carved headboard, a desk covered with a woolen tablecloth, and a bathroom. "This is the room of one of the six cardinals who will be arriving soon. The other 109 have already moved in." Paula couldn't help thinking that at least two of them would never come here again. "Are the bishops safe here, Aunt Helena?" Paula asked cautiously, not sure how much the nun knew about this, that a man in a red robe was a danger. "It's safe, my child, it's safe. There's only one entrance to the building, and there's Swiss security on duty 24 hours a day. We also took the phone from the room as required, and there's no TV." Paula found this method of prevention somewhat peculiar. "The cardinal cannot communicate with the outside world during the election period. There is no telephone, no mobile phone, no radio, TV, magazines and the Internet. He is not allowed to have any contact with the outside world, otherwise he will be expelled." Anthony explained to Paula, "This It was a rule established by Pope John Paul II before his death." "But it won't be so easy to completely isolate them, don't you think, Dante?" Dante can't wait to answer, which gives him a great opportunity to brag about his department's heroics as if he did them all himself. "You'll be glad to know that, officer. We use state-of-the-art signal control technology." "I don't understand espionage terms very well, please explain." "Our electronic processing equipment houses two electromagnetic fields. One is here and the other is in the Sistine Chapel. In fact, they operate like two invisible umbrellas, under which any communication equipment does not work. Neither directional microphones nor spy equipment of any kind will work here. Try your phone." Paula took out her phone and saw it displayed in the roaming area.They walked down the hall, still no signal. "Then how will the food be served?" "Preparation in our kitchen," said Sister Helena proudly. "The kitchen staff is made up of ten sisters. They are here all day long. Only the front desk staff are on duty at night, in case of some emergencies. No one. Anyone can enter here without authorization, except the Cardinal." Paula opened her mouth to ask a question, but something blocked her throat.When at last she was about to speak, suddenly there came from upstairs a terrible cry of pain.