The Burial Hour (Lincoln Rhyme 13)

Rossi spoke to Daniela, who vanished then returned a moment later with a large foldout map. She taped it to the wall.

"How are we coming, Ercole?"

"I...There are quite a few underground areas of the city. I didn't realize how--come si dice--how extensive the passages are."

"As I was saying," Beatrice offered to Ercole.

"Some are contradictory. Indicated on one map but not another."

"I would think certain underground areas will have been filled in, construction," Rossi said. To Rhyme, Sachs and Thom he said, "This is a problem in Italy. A real estate man wishes to build an office or apartments and as soon as the excavation is started, a Roman or--here often--a Greek ruin is discovered, and all construction comes to a stopping."

"Give me something to work with, Ercole. We need to get on this."

"I have some, a few passageways, old buildings, grain storage warehouses, even some caves that are promising." He looked up. "How do I print?" he asked Daniela.

"Here." She leaned over him. She typed and a moment later, the Hewlett-Packard in the corner came to life. Rhyme didn't know why he was surprised--perhaps because he was in an ancient city, looking at ancient maps; wireless printing routers seemed out of place.

Sachs fished the pages from the tray and handed them to Daniela. Rhyme instructed, "Draw the passages on the map."

"Tutti? All of them?"

"Except the ones that seem to be bricked off."

In her firm, swift strokes, she outlined the networks.

Rhyme said, "Now add public works. Sewers. But just the older ones, from historical maps. Old shit, remember? And open, not enclosed, pipes. The Composer stepped in the trace."

The young officer began a new search. The maps Ercole found were obviously incomplete but they showed some sewage sluices that had been in operation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Daniela put these on the map.

"Okay, now eliminate the walking-tour routes," Rhyme instructed.

Ercole printed out the website information from "Underground Naples, See History Up Close!" and a half-dozen others. Daniela noted the routes and marked off any that coincided with the passageways and sewers they'd found.

Still, miles and miles of places to stash the victim remained.

Rossi said, "And an area where prostitutes worked, you were suggesting?" He looked at Giacomo, who gazed at the map and said, "I have patrolled--you would say in vice squad--many of the areas where working women and men are found, the Spanish Quarters, Piazza Garibaldi, Corso Umberto, Gianturco, Piazzale Tecchio--the San Paolo stadium, Via Terracina, Fuorigrotta, Agnano and Corso Lucci. These are active now. The Domiziana--or now Domitiana--area, north and west of Naples, was known historically for prostitution, and still is. But it's very congested and the population is mostly immigrant. It would be hard for the Composer to get his victim there. And no underground passages are nearby."

Rhyme said, "Circle the first areas you have mentioned, Officer."

Giacomo took the marker from Daniela and did so.

This narrowed down the number of passageways and chambers to about two dozen.

"What are they exactly," Sachs asked.

Rossi said, "Roman roads and alleyways and sidewalks before they were built over. Tunnels for delivery of merchandise to avoid the congested streets. Water reservoirs and aqueducts. Grain warehouses."

"Water?"

"Yes. The Romans built the best water delivery infrastruttura in the world."

Then Rhyme called, "Beatrice, you found limestone and lead?"

She didn't understand, and Ercole translated.

"Si. Yes, we did. There it is, you can see."

"Were the old Roman aqueducts limestone?"