That hit closer to home. “Yes.”
Her face lit up. “I know! You’re a spy!” She was as excited as a child.
Robert had to laugh. “Am I?” And he thought, Out of the mouths of babes.
“Admit it,” Pier insisted. “You’re a spy, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Robert said gravely. “I’m a spy.”
“I knew it!” Pier’s eyes were glowing. “Can you tell me some secrets?”
“What kind of secrets?”
“You know, spy secrets … codes and things like that. I love to read spy novels. I read them all the time.”
“Do you?”
“Oh, yes! But they’re just made-up stories. You know all the real things, don’t you? Like the signals that spies use. Are you allowed to tell me one?”
Robert said seriously, “Well, I really shouldn’t, but I suppose one would be all right.” What can I tell her that she’ll believe? “There’s the old window shade trick.”
She was wide-eyed. “The old window shade trick?”
“Yes.” Robert pointed to a window in the bedroom. “If everything is under control, you leave the shades up. But if there’s trouble, you pull one shade down. That’s the signal to warn your fellow agent away.”
Pier said excitedly, “That’s wonderful! I’ve never read that in a book.”
“You won’t,” Robert said. “It’s very secret.”
“I won’t tell anyone,” Pier promised. “What else?”
What else? Robert thought for a moment. “Well, there’s the telephone trick.”
Pier snuggled closer to him. “Tell me about that.”
“Er … let’s say a fellow spy telephones you to find out if everything is all right. He’ll ask for Pier. If everything is fine, you say, ‘This is Pier.’ But if there is any problem, you say, ‘You have the wrong number.’”
“That’s wonderful!” Pier exclaimed.
My instructors at the Farm would have a heart attack if they heard me talking this nonsense.
“Can you tell me anything else?” Pier asked.
Robert laughed. “I think those are enough secrets for one morning.”
“All right.” She rubbed her body along his body.
“Would you like to take a shower?” Pier asked.
“Love to.”
They soaped each other under the warm water, and as Pier spread Robert’s legs and began to wash him, he became tumescent again.
They made love in the shower.
While Robert was getting dressed, Pier put on a robe and said, “I’ll see about breakfast.”
Carlo was waiting for her in the dining room.
“Tell me about your friend,” he said.
“What about him?”
“Where did you meet him?”
“In Rome.”
“He must be very rich to have brought you that emerald bracelet.”
She shrugged. “He likes me.”
Carlo said, “Do you know what I think? I think your friend is running away from something. If we told the right party, there could be a big reward in it.”
Pier moved over to her brother, her eyes blazing. “Stay out of this, Carlo.”
“So, he is running away.”
“Listen, you little piscialetto, I’m warning you – mind your own business.” She had no intention of sharing the reward with anyone.
Carlo said reproachfully, “Little sister, you want it all for yourself.”
“No. You don’t understand, Carlo.”
“No?”
Pier said earnestly, “I’ll tell you the truth. Mr Jones is running away from his wife. She has hired a detective to find him. That’s all there is to it.”
Carlo smiled. “Why didn’t you tell me this before? Then it’s no big deal, I’ll forget about it.”
“Good,” Pier said.
And Carlo thought, I’ve got to find out who he really is.
Janus was on the telephone. “Have you any news yet?”
“We know that Commander Bellamy is in Naples.”