“Mario — check the front door!”
The man reappeared in half a minute. Palewski heard his boots ringing on the stone floor of the passageway.
He whispered something urgently to Alfredo, who gripped Palewski’s arm.
It was as if no one could quite bring himself to contemplate the obvious. They stood together on the slippery ledge, and Palewski could hear them all breathing hard.
He started to remove his shoes. He took off his jacket, then his trousers, tied the laces of his boots together and slung them around his neck. He held his clothes in a bundle and sat down on the cold stone, his feet in the water.
“Come on,” he urged-and then he was in the water, gasping with shock, thrashing out toward the low mouth of the water gate.