The Florentine Cypher: Kate Benedict Paranormal Mystery #3 (The Kate Benedict Series) by Carrie Bedford

my report. He hadn’t shown much concern. Still, I dug around in my purse for Lake’s card and handed it over. The policeman wrote down the information and gave it back to me.
    “I will escalate this case to the attention of my superiors,” he said. “Please be assured we will do everything possible to find these people and Dr. Hamilton.”
    I breathed a sigh of relief, glad to have the authorities involved.
    When the young policeman had left, Valeria said she’d find someone to check on Claire. She soon returned with a nurse who took Claire’s blood pressure and temperature.
    “You need to sign this release form,” the nurse said. “Then you may go.”
    I waited outside the cubicle while Claire got dressed, and Valeria came out to join me. “I have an idea,” she said. “Let’s go to my flat. It’ll be a safe place while you consider what to do now.”
    I hadn’t really thought ahead to whatever came next, but Valeria’s suggestion made sense. I’d feel better leaving Claire with her in the morning.
    When Claire was ready, we walked outside, Valeria and I on each side of her. A car idled at the taxi rank and we got in.
    “Where to?” asked the driver.
    “Via di Tiratoio,
numero dieci,
” said Valeria.
    “
Va bene, signora
.” The driver adjusted his rear mirror before he pulled out and I caught a glimpse of someone standing on the pavement who appeared to be watching the cab. Twisting in my seat, I turned to look out of the back window. Silhouetted in the light of the afternoon sun was a man with fair hair. He looked like my friend from the Duomo.

CHAPTER NINE
    Valeria’s flat occupied the second floor of an ochre-painted villa on the south side of the river. The living room was small and neat, filled somewhat eclectically with contemporary furniture covered with bright-colored cotton fabrics. Glossy fashion magazines lay in haphazard piles on the coffee table. Ethan would want to straighten them into perfect stacks, I thought. My stomach clenched. He’d been out of touch for so long.
    “I’ll make some tea,” said Valeria. “Claire, if you want to lie down for a while, you can use my bed.”
    “No thanks, I’m fine. I’ll help you.”
    When they both disappeared into the kitchen, I found my mobile and called Detective Lake. I hoped that once he knew about the attempted robberies, he might take Ethan’s disappearance more seriously, but the brusque woman who answered the phone said he was out, and she’d put me through to his voicemail. I left a message to let him know that I was in Florence looking for Ethan, and that there seemed to be other parties who were interested in a key that had been in Ethan’s possession.
    “You should be getting a phone call from the police in Florence,” I concluded. “Can you ring me when you get this message?” I left my mobile number. “And you’ll have to enter the country code first. It’s 39.”
    I considered making a quick call to Leo, but my phone was running out of power. Claire and Valeria were still clattering around in the kitchen, so I walked to the window to look outside. The air was crystalline, the sky arching blue over the orange dome of the cathedral in the distance and burnishing the muddy Arno into a shimmering ribbon of bronze.
    On the street below, a green three-wheeled Ape trundled by, loaded with firewood, its loud buzzing engine shredding the quiet of the afternoon. As the noise faded, I caught a glimpse of a man standing on the opposite side of the road looking up at the building. Instinctively, I pulled backwards, and peered cautiously around the edge of the curtain. He wore a leather jacket and black jeans. I didn’t recognize him.
    Valeria came in and put a tray on the table before joining me.
    “Did you see something?” Her voice was sharp.
    “That man over there. He’s been standing there since we arrived in the taxi.”
    “Maybe he’s waiting for a bus,” she said. I noticed he was standing close to an orange