The antique wall clock in Vito Carvalho's office noisily ticks towards midnight. It makes a strange, slow clunk, almost as though it's taking a quick break, before it officially starts another day.
Vito and Valentina sit at his conference table with a bottle of brandy from his bottom drawer and two glasses that look as though they haven't been washed since the last time he used them. He tips the Vecchio and listens to the satisfying glug of its honey-gold liquid. 'I really thought Nuncio had come up with something with that company search and directorships.'
'We do have something,' insists Valentina. 'We know Mera Teale and that lawyer Ancelotti are missing. And his name's on the company that bought the tablet. They're strong connections. '
'But not illegal. Nothing about those connections breaks the law.' Vito hurriedly downs his brandy and lets out a fiery sigh. 'We should have noticed Teale was missing when we brought Fabianelli back here to be interviewed.' He tops up his glass. 'Now both she and the lawyer have vanished. Tom's missing. That whore of a reporter he slept with has disappeared. ' He bangs the glass down and spills liquid across his fingers. 'What's going on, Valentina? Has a black hole appeared? A Bermuda triangle? Have these people just vanished? '
She nods her head towards the operational map on his wall. 'In a way, they have. There are more than a hundred islands around us, that's our black hole. It will take for ever to search them.'
'We don't have for ever.'
'And they may not even be in the locality.'
'Tina Ricci hasn't left the country. I've checked the border records,' says Vito.
'Patrols also have alerts on Ancelotti and Teale,' adds Valentina. 'There's no record of them travelling under their own names.'
Vito remembers something. 'Did you check Teale's connection to Lars Bale?'
Valentina looks annoyed that she's been asked. 'I did. There's nothing obvious. They're not related, there are no links to victims or other members of his cult. The only common thing is that they both come from LA. That said, Los Angeles is home to thirteen million people.'
'Could they have met?'
'Unlikely. Teale is twenty-six, Bale is forty-nine. He's been in prison eighteen years, so when he was arrested he was thirty, maybe just thirty-one and she'd have been around eight years old. That's a big gap.'
'Did she ever visit him in prison?'
'I've asked. San Quentin are trawling visitor records. Nothing came up under the name Teale. I also asked the FBI the same question.'
Vito's phone rings. He moves from the small conference table to his desk and answers it. He looks back towards Valentina. 'The FBI. Right on cue.'
'Telepathy,' she says, and finally takes a jolt of her brandy.
Vito barely talks, just listens intently. 'Momento; let me put you on speakerphone, so my colleague can hear.' He flicks a switch and replaces the receiver in its cradle.
The voice of Supervisory Special Agent Steve Lerner spills out. 'Lars Bale was a prolific painter. We wondered what happened to his work. Seems he gave it all away to a charity that raises money to fight the death penalty. Interesting thing is, this charity sells them.'
'How, exactly?' asks Vito.
'You near a computer?'
'Yes.'
'Then type in the URL: www.deathrowtalents.com.'
Vito nods to Valentina. She slips behind the keyboard and taps it into the browser.
Her eyes light up.
'You got it?' asks Lerner.
Vito looks over Valentina's shoulder. 'Si.'
'Then go to the home page – type Bale's name in the search box – and you'll see he has his own virtual gallery.'
Vito and Valentina are astounded to see a head-and-shoulders shot of Bale pop up, surrounded by dozens of his paintings.
'You're shocked, eh? Welcome to America, where even serial killers have the rights to express themselves and become famous.'
Vito's truly amazed. 'He's done hundreds, literally hundreds of paintings.'
'Scroll down, pick one and double-click on it,' says Lerner. 'You'll be able to see it full frame and zoom in on any sections you want. You can get a better look online than if you were stood next to the real thing.'
Valentina works the mouse as she talks. 'So Bale would paint something that had hidden messages in it. Give it away to the charity. They'd innocently post it on the net, and then his followers would access the website and decode his instructions.'
'You got it,' says Lerner. 'Simple when you know how.'
'Isn't everything?' Vito can't take his eyes off the bottom of the screen. 'There's one posted six days ago.' He does a double-take. 'Have you seen it?'
'Sure we have,' says Lerner. 'It mean anything to you?'