She sniffed and smiled, a sadness in her eyes. Eventually she said: ‘Thank you, thank you for your offer.’
He took a long breath and tried to ride out his anger. A small, thickset man was hurrying past, a large green holdall over his shoulder. Scamarcio recognised him as a minor crim he’d booked on more than one occasion. The crim spotted him, and immediately looked the other way.
Scamarcio tracked him for a few seconds then just let it go.
‘There are good universities in Rome, Fiammetta; you wouldn’t need to leave,’ he said tentatively. He’d been thinking it, but hadn’t decided to put it into words yet. Why the hell had he just come out with it then?
She looked at him and smiled, and in that moment, Scamarcio felt whatever had been inside him finally break its moorings and drift away. It was as if the past months had been a nothing, an insignificance.
They finished their drinks and left the bar, heading in the vague direction of di Bondi’s flat. The ducks were out, and the evening sun had transformed the mud-brown Tiber into molten gold. Above it, the sky was a startling mesh of pinks and electric blues, dense and hyper-real, like distorted video.
As they rounded the corner heading for the bridge, a tall gentlemen in an expensive coat doffed his hat.
‘What is it, Leo?’ asked Fiammetta. ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
For a few moments, Scamarcio couldn’t speak, couldn’t muster a response. He turned and looked behind him, but Greco had vanished.
‘It was nothing,’ he said.
Acknowledgements
I owe a huge debt to Lisa Babalis for picking my first book from the slush pile at Curtis Brown and putting it in front of her colleagues. I’d also like to thank my agent Norah Perkins and the wonderful team at Scribe for their continued encouragement and excellent feedback. It has also meant a lot to read all the comments from readers who have taken the trouble to contact me at my website. Thank you.
A note to readers
First of all, I want to thank you for choosing to read The Hit. If you enjoyed it, I’d be very grateful if you could write a review. It need only be a few words or so, but it makes such a difference and helps new readers to discover the Scamarcio series.
I’d also love to hear from you. What did you make of Scamarcio? What would you like to see happen next in his life? He’ll be returning soon, with book 4 in the series due out in 2017.
You can reach me through Twitter, Goodreads, or my website. I read every message, and will always reply.
Much of the geography in this book is true to the real Italy, though some names of streets and places have been changed for the sake of the story.
Contents
About the Author
Dedication
Title Page
Copyright Page
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
Acknowledgements
A note to readers
The Hit Page 30
