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associated with that part of the world. And that,
as we both agree, doesn’t make any kind of sense in the context of some relic left
by Dante. But then I started thinking laterally, and I wondered if we’re looking
at that particular aspect of the verses in too narrow a fashion. Because there is one other animal, of a sort, that’s always associated
with the Greeks and which seems to me more likely to be the right answer here.’
    Lombardi paused and looked at his superior, waiting for him to
respond.
    Perini nodded encouragingly.
    ‘Right, I’ll buy it. What you talking about?’
    ‘Well, it’s not really an animal at all, just a trick.’
    ‘Of course,’ Perini said, his face lighting
up. ‘You’re talking about the Trojan horse.’
    ‘Got it in one. Now, as far as I know,
nothing like the Trojan horse is actually involved here, but it occurred to me that
maybe we should be looking at the concept, rather than the actual mechanics of what
happened at Troy. We already know that Dante was banished from Florence, from his
home, in perpetuity. We also know that he was desperate to get back here, but that
he never managed to do this, and that his bones still lie in his tomb in Ravenna.
So taking all those facts and putting them together, I wondered if, before he died,
he might have asked one of his friends in Ravenna or elsewhere to try to get something
of his, something important to him, back into the city of his birth, just as a kind
of token, I suppose you could say, after his death. But because he had been sentenced
to permanent exile, they couldn’t do this openly, because the city fathers of Florence
would almost certainly have refused to accept whatever it was. So the only option
would have been to get something sent here that probably would have been accepted,
but include something else in the package, just like the Greeks did with the Trojan
horse.’
    Lombardi paused for a moment, as if marshalling his thoughts.
Then he continued.
    ‘So that’s my theory, if you like. The trouble is that I can’t
really make the other cryptic references in the new verses fit the object I think
is being referred to, and there’s also another problem. If Dante’s friends were
trying to sneak something into Florence in accordance with the poet’s dying wishes,
I’m also not sure whether or not the city fathers would have accepted this particular
relic.’
    ‘Don’t keep me in suspense, Cesare. What are you talking about,
and where is it?’
    ‘It’s in the Palazzo Vecchio , and it’s
Dante’s death mask.’

 

 

 
    Chapter 13

 
    ‘I can assure you, Inspector Perini, that our security precautions
are entirely adequate. This palace contains a large number of extremely valuable
objects, and several that are almost literally priceless. The chances of anyone
being able to break in here are extraordinarily slim. As well as what you might
term our perimeter defence, the external walls, windows, doors and alarms, many
of the exhibits here are protected by their own individual security systems, everything
from armoured glass to motion sensors and infrared detectors.’
    The senior custodian of the Palazzo Vecchio ,
a short, dapper and slightly plump middle-aged man who looked as if he should probably
be wearing spats, twirled the end of his well-trained moustache before he continued.
    ‘And the other obvious objection to this theory you seem to have
concocted is that this object’ – he tapped the top of the polished wooden box containing
Dante’s death mask – ‘is realistically little more than a curio. Its value depends
entirely upon who wants it, but if a gang of thieves was, as you have suggested,
determined to break in here and commit a robbery I can think of fifty or sixty items
that they could take which will be worth far more money on the black market for
antiques than this.’
    Perini opened his mouth to point out that that wasn’t actually
what he’d said at all, but Lombardi beat him to