The man led him up a spiral staircase from room to room; each bedroom had a large en suite bath and a sitting room, as well. “And now the master suite,” the man said.

Casselli emerged into a large suite with two bathrooms, two dressing rooms, and a large sitting room with a spectacular view of the sea below. Still more art hung there.

“Your clothes have already been placed in your dressing room, Don Leonardo, as per your instructions.”

“Is there a cook present?”

“The house is fully staffed as of this moment.”

“Then I will have dinner served here,” he said, taking a seat in a reclining chair and switching on a six-foot television screen. “Where is the girl?” Casselli asked.

“In a maid’s room, on the lower level, awaiting your pleasure.”

“I need no pleasure from her, and I have no wish to see her. I merely want to know she is here. When is Sophia due?”

“She is being driven down from Rome, sir, and should be here within the hour.”

“Ah, good. Tell the cook to delay dinner until her arrival, and bring us a bottle of the Masi Amerone, the oldest we have.”

“Of course, Don Leonardo. You have only to lift the phone and press the upper-right-hand button to page anyone in the house.” He left his master to his news show.

—

Stone leafed through the plans that Jim Lugano had brought; Dante, the policeman, had joined them. “This is spectacular,” Stone said. There was a profile elevation showing the elevator shaft, plans of each floor, plus drawings of electrical and plumbing installations. There were renderings of each room, showing furniture placement.

“Look,” Stone said, pointing, “he even has a grand piano, and it’s a nine-footer, if this scale is correct. I wonder how he got it into the house.”

Jim applied a scaled ruler to the plans. “The elevator is three by three meters, big enough for the piano and large artwork, too. You only see elevators like that in museums. And there’s a security room on the lower level. He’s got cameras everywhere.”

“If we want to get in there, we’re going to need a power failure,” Stone said.

“That won’t work—he has a fifty-kilowatt generator on the lower level, enough to power the whole place.” Lugano looked at him funny. “Stone, you’re not thinking about going in there, are you?”

“I don’t see how we’re going to get Hedy out, unless we do.”

“That would not be a quiet operation,” Jim replied. “We’d need fifty people, at least. We’ve got three stories to deal with, plus that elevator.”

Stone pointed to the plans. “There are four staff rooms here, on the lower level. That’s where Hedy has got to be.”

“Yeah? In which one?”

“I’ll have to let you know about that,” Stone said.

41