"What he is trying to say," said Zoé, "is he did it all for me."
"You saved the Pope's life, Matt. The publicity hasn't done my business any harm. I'm dropping hints that it was an assignment from the Vatican."
"I wouldn't put it past him," said Matt quietly to Zoé.
"Good business sense," said Ken. "Quite some racket they were running here. All sorts of famous names have been dragged into the papers. What a mess." He stood up and walked towards the balcony.
"They had a great scam." Matt smiled briefly. "The fees were sky high, and some of the patients weren't even ill."
Ken seemed fully at ease now. "The doctors must have been sending specimens off for analysis. Four of the ones you sent me came back with the all clear. Wouldn't that have been a bit of a give-away?"
Matt breathed in deeply. The smell of lavender was intense. "The patients never saw the lab reports. They were just told they were terminally ill."
"Or the surgeons sent an unhealthy biopsy from someone else to an outside lab," added Zoé. "No one was thinking to do a DNA test. They had plenty of samples from every blood group in the freezer, some good and some malignant. That is where Leanne got the samples for us. That woman, she was courageous. No wonder they called her Lion Woman."
Ken shook his head. "What if the patient went somewhere for a second opinion?"
Zoé was her usual chirpy self. "This is supposed to be a holy site. They were told they might miss their miracle by waiting."
"I still can't believe they never got caught out before you two came on the scene."
"That is because you are not in medicine, Ken." Zoé seemed wound up. "It is a fear of everyone that they have something seriously wrong."
"I know the feeling." Ken pulled himself upright in the wicker chair. "Last year I had a gallstone. Remember, Matt? The pain was dreadful. If the doctor told me I had cancer I'd have sold up the business to pay for a cure. I take it no patients died?"
Zoé leaned against the balcony rail. "Some of them did. Many of them were seriously ill, and beyond medical help. K7 had members around the world to refer their patients here, whether they were sick or not."
Ken frowned. "But when the ones who weren't sick got home, their local hospital would see nothing had been wrong."
Zoé shook her head. It looked like smooth ivory, with dark bristles showing an outline where her hair had been. A large pad covered the point of entry for the life-saving operation. "Often all the surgeons did was cut out the tissue, even if there was no cancer." She made a slow slashing movement across her front. "Their own doctor would find healthy scar tissue when they got home, and tell them they were now completely healed."
Ken rubbed his stomach. "All that worry over health. No wonder everyone was keen to pay up. How did this Bernetti kill your nursing friend?"
"Toxins," said Matt. "Bernetti was an expert with toxins. He realized Leanne had found his papers and CDs on the Russian icons. Maybe he caught her looking through his desk. I never did buy her story about finding them in the corridor."
"I think Leanne had the headaches anyway," said Zoé, "so Dr. Bernetti had a good excuse. He told Alain Corbin it was Dr. Kappa who operated on Leanne. He wanted, I think, to divert the suspicion."
Ken looked at Matt accusingly. "See, I told you not to mess with them." He turned his attention to Zoé's head. "You are going to get better?"
"Of course she is." Matt glared at his boss. In a few minutes the sun would be round on the whole balcony. Perhaps a tan would make Zoé's shaved head less conspicuous.
"Was Dr. Kappa planning to kill the Pope?" asked Ken.
Matt shook his head. "Kappa wanted to heal whatever was wrong with the Pope and be so famous that the Vatican would leave K7 alone. But he knew Bernetti had a different plan. One that would really blow it for his Knights."
"I wish I could have met this Bernetti," said Ken. "He sounds a crazy doctor to have around the place. Another twenty-four hours and the Pope would have been dead. Is that right?"
Matt shrugged. "Bernetti was a Catholic -- okay, a lapsed Catholic -- but kill the Pope? Sister Angela overhead him phoning someone in Rome, but Louviers thinks he may just have been talking big."
"I do not agree. I think Bernetti and his friends wanted the Pope dead," said Zoé. "There were hundreds of icons, and Bernetti knew that the Holy Father had been making investigations. Louviers thinks he arranged for Dr. Bisenti and Professor Rossano in Rome to be served with food containing something toxic, to stop them coming here to take charge of the surgery. They would soon see if Bernetti was doing something wrong. With the Pope dead, the new man might have more important things in his bowl. Or on his plate. Or whatever it is you English say."
"And Bernetti stole these icons from the Russians?"
Matt shook his head. "No, Ken, not Bernetti. An American diplomat working in Moscow bought them illegally in the nineteen seventies from a corrupt Communist official. The diplomat smuggled out a few at a time to a colleague in Italy."
"In the diplomatic bag?"
"Probably," agreed Matt. "Whatever one of those looks like. The diplomat was transferred from Moscow to Washington in nineteen eighty. He moves to Rome when he retires in nineteen eighty-five and hangs the icons on every wall of his house. He sits with them all day. Then he's taken ill."
"Punishment for his greed?"
"A brain tumor." Matt wished Ken wouldn't interrupt. "Bernetti was his specialist at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome. The diplomat is dying and asks for a priest. Bernetti guesses the man has a secret and prescribes drugs that make the man so confused he thinks Bernetti is a priest. He tells Bernetti about his apartment and where to find the key. So Bernetti and his friends raid the apartment as soon as the diplomat dies, and help themselves to the icons."
"But guess who was working on the ward," said Zoé.
Ken laughed. "Crazy old Sister Angela?"
"She's not crazy," protested Matt. "She was an orderly doing unpleasant work like emptying bedpans, but she knew something dishonest was going on."
"And she was keeping an eye on Bernetti?"
"She confronted him about his treatment of the diplomat when the man died, and he told her she would be declared insane and locked away for ever if she told anyone."
"And she believed him, kiddo?"
"She did. She's been brought up to be afraid of anyone in authority. Then she comes back here to rejoin the Sisters, and one day Bernetti turns up. They recognize each other but each one is afraid of the other. So they stay well apart until..."
"...Until Sister Angela overhears Bernetti on the phone," guessed Ken.
"Bernetti knows the Vatican is on to him because Archbishop Valdieri comes to his room here at the clinic asking questions. Valdieri sees a recent photograph of Bernetti and Kappa that was taken in the room, and in the background there's a large icon hanging above Bernetti's desk."
"Wasn't anyone suspicious?"
"Bernetti told everyone it was a modern copy. But there's just a photo of some kid on the wall when Valdieri calls, so he knows Bernetti has something to hide. Bernetti was evil."
"I wouldn't have thought Dr. Kappa was a saint," added Ken.
"Dr. Kappa was more cunning than evil." Zoé stretched, revealing a bare midriff covered in bruises. "I think he saw how much money he could make by a little false diagnosis, followed by unnecessary surgery. Then he heard about the visions of Sister Angela, and his greed took over. It is sad when people are asked to pay for their miracle."
Ken shuffled his feet awkwardly. He took Matt aside. "How soon can Zoé travel?"
"You mean how soon till I'm back at work?"
Ken gave an embarrassed laugh. "Something like that, kiddo. It's hectic there now."
"Zoé's parents are picking her up from here in a few days, and taking her back to Clermont-Ferrand. You were right about Zoé's mother. She's been here, giving me hell, blaming me for the accident."
"Come back with me. It's much safer than facing an angry m
other-in-law."
"Future mother-in-law."
"It doesn't get better. Believe me."
"As soon as Zoé's well enough, we're going to get married in Clermont-Ferrand, with or without her mother's blessing. And there's a bit of good news for you. One of the nurses from England has written to say that the unpleasant sister has left the hospital where Zoé works, so we won't need to move. I didn't realize it until I came here, but I think I actually enjoy working for you."
They walked out to join Zoé again on the balcony. Ken pointed down the hill towards the village of Tourvillon. "Is that the rock you fell from, young lady? That will teach you to go looking for bird life in the dark. Hell of a height."
Zoé smiled and picked up her flute. "Luckily, it was only my head." She played a few bars of the Arabesque. "By the way, Ken, those little micros you sent were garbage. Next time please do not be so tight of the fist."
"Is that so?" Ken looked closely at Zoé. "I don't how to say this, young lady, but did you know your head is a mess? You'll have to buy yourself a wig."
THE END
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