Read Online Walking in the Midst of Fire by Thomas E. Sniegoski - Free Book Online

me?” Malatesta asked.
    “Detective Mulvehill informed me that somebody from Rome was asking questions about me, yes.”
    “Then you lied a moment ago,” the man said, putting his identification away. “You do know something about me.”
    “Only what Detective Mulvehill could tell me, which wasn’t much. But what I’d really like to know is what could the Vatican possibly want with a private investigator from Boston?”
    Malatesta crossed his legs and smiled, saying nothing.
    “Well?” Remy prompted. “Care to explain?”
    “Our records on your whereabouts were relatively accurate until the mid-thirties,” the man said, picking a piece of lint from his pant leg and letting it drop to the office floor. “But then things got a little sketchy.”
    Remy remained silent, glowering at the man sitting across from him.
    “There were a few sightings here and there, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that we received some solid information on your location.”
    Remy leaned back in his office chair, hands clasped behind his head. “You keep mentioning we .”
    “Of course, the people that I work for.”
    “At the Vatican.”
    “Yes, at the Vatican.”
    “May I ask who these people are?”
    Malatesta chuckled softly. “I doubt that you’ve ever met any of them, but they are very familiar with you, Mr. Chandler. They are the people charged with tracking things of . . . an unusual nature. Many of these things—these items in our possession—are ancient writings and artifacts of power, while others are of a more transient nature.”
    “And do these people have a name?”
    “They’re known simply as Keepers,” Malatesta said.
    “And, are you a Keeper, Mr. Malatesta?”
    The blond-haired man seemed amused by the question. “Oh, no, Mr. Chandler. I simply do their bidding,” he explained, slowly shaking his head. “I am but one of their humble agents out in the world.”
    Remy knew where this was going and resigned himself to the fact.
    “Would you like some coffee?” he asked, rising from his desk chair and going to the coffee cart he had set up in the corner beside an old file cabinet.
    “Yes,” Malatesta answered. “That would be lovely.”
    Remy went about the steps to prepare a pot. He’d had multiple cups at home before leaving for the office and hadn’t even thought about making coffee when he’d gotten in that morning. That alone should have told him that something was off about this day.
    As the machine burped, hissed, and gurgled, Remy spurred the conversation on. “So your employers, the Keepers of the Vatican’s secrets, have sent you out into the world looking for me.”
    “They sent me to Boston, yes,” Malatesta said. “There have been quite a few incidents in this region of the world that have caught their attention of late.”
    Remy should have seen this coming, and deep at the back of his mind, maybe he had. With what was going on out there in the world, and the potential for so much worse, he just couldn’t bring himself to care all that much about what the masters of the Catholic Church would be up to.
    But whether he wanted to know or not, now he did, and it appeared that they had been looking for him.
    “There has been quite a lot going on around here lately,” Remy acknowledged with a knowing nod.
    Malatesta reciprocated with his own slow nod. “Quite a bit, yes.”
    The coffee was just about done, and Remy looked to see if the mugs he had were clean. One was. The other wasn’t, its bottom covered with a gross brown stain. Remy took the cup and went to the small washroom at the far end of the office space. He ran the hot water into the cup and washed away the old coffee residue.
    “So, I’m curious,” he said, leaving the bathroom. “How did you narrow it down? How did you find me?”
    Malatesta folded his hands in his lap, shifting his weight, as if he was considering what exactly he should share, and what he shouldn’t.
    “There are others out there in the