The Dante Conspiracy Read Online Free Page A

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the last couple of lines of one the verses as having come from The Divine Comedy , so he claims that the
rest of the text is entirely new material. He has no idea whether or not Dante himself
wrote it, or if somebody else did it at a later stage, after the poem was published.
But he says in the article that it’s certainly in the style of Dante, and he’s also
suggested that if a full version of the poem is published, including the new verses,
it should be called the “Ravenna Variant” to distinguish it from the original.’
    ‘Well, maybe that paper with the new verses on it has a value.’
    ‘It very probably has,’ Perini agreed, ‘but it’s sitting in an
armoured glass case in a museum in Ravenna, as Bertorelli states clearly in the
article. If it was hand-written by Dante, it would certainly have quite a considerable
value, because as far as I know none of his original hand-written work has survived,
and he is reckoned to be the greatest of all the Italian poets. But it is only one
sheet and a handful of lines of text, so I doubt very much whether anyone would
think it was worth killing for. And in any case, anyone who read the article would
know exactly where it was. If whoever snatched Bertorelli wanted that paper, they
were wasting their time torturing the professor, because he had no special access
to the relic. What they should have been doing was making plans to knock over the
museum in Ravenna.’
    Lombardi nodded.
    ‘So I was right. There was obviously a really good reason why
the professor was kidnapped and killed, but it can’t have anything to do with his
work. It must be something in his personal life. As I said before, he must have
had something or known something that made him a target, and my money’s on something
tangible, because you don’t ransack an apartment if you’re looking for something
which you know is inside a man’s head.’
    ‘I agree. And the two obvious questions are what information
did Bertorelli have, and did he tell his kidnappers what they wanted to hear?’
    ‘You can bet he told them. When people start working you over
with a box cutter and then snipping off joints of your fingers with a pair of pliers,
you tell them whatever they want to know.’
    At that moment, a uniformed junior officer walked into the office
and strode straight across to Perini’s desk and handed him a large buff envelope.
    The Inspector nodded his thanks, unsealed the flap and pulled
out a couple of sheets of paper. He glanced at the top of the first page, scanned
through the rest of the information and then read the final paragraph on the second
sheet carefully. Then he slid the sheets back into the envelope and tossed it on
his desk.
    ‘Pathologist’s report,’ he said shortly, ‘and not telling us
anything we didn’t already know, or guessed, anyway. The victim died of asphyxiation,
and the doctor is reasonably certain that the killer used a garrotte because there’s
a circle of fairly consistent tissue damage all the way round his neck, which is
what he told you at the scene. Obviously if he’d just been strangled there would
only be damage to his throat and the front of the neck. Whoever did it was strong,
which suggests it was a man, not a woman, just because of the pressure that was
inflicted on his neck. And, frankly, that kind of gratuitous violence and torture
isn’t the kind of thing I’d associate with any woman.’
    ‘It was probably those two that the witness saw driving down
the road. Real shame he didn’t get the number, or at least a better look at them.’
    ‘You’ve issued a watch order, though?’
    ‘Yes, but it won’t do any good. We don’t even have a confirmed
make of vehicle. All I’ve done is ask our patrols to look out for any occupants
of a small white van, probably two males, who seem to be behaving suspiciously.
But if it was them, they’ll most likely have dumped it by now.’
    ‘What about the financial stuff?’ Perini asked.