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“But why would someone want to blame MRK for Alison’s murder?” Poppy asks.
“My guess: to protect whoever really took her.”
“And who would that be?”
Ziggy looks at her, exasperated. “You need to listen to Episode Eighteen.”
28
FLORENCE, ITALY
Nora was right. Pinky Man raced to the Florence airport. But the trail ran cold at the rental car drop-off. The AirTag stayed with the car, so Pinky Man is now somewhere in the crowded airport, if not already on a plane heading to who-knows-where.
Peretola Airport is a madhouse. There are no separate departure and arrival areas like in the U.S., and cars and cabs zig and zag, stopping abruptly to load and unload travelers.
Ryan looks around for a place to pull over, but the van is too big. He needs to get inside before his quarry gets away. “Can you take the wheel?” Ryan asks Nora. “If he gets to the gate we’ll never—”
Nora shakes her head. Of course. Ryan’s the only one who can drive stick.
“You need to go inside. See if you spot him.”
“Okay, but what if I see him? What then?”
“Tell security he has a gun.”
Nora appears skeptical. But when he judders to a stop, she gets out and hurry-walks into the terminal.
As Ryan circles the airport a second time, he receives a text:
Don’t see him and can’t go to gates without ticket
Ryan contemplates having her buy a ticket to anywhere. But it’s pointless. The airport is large and Pinky Man could be boarded by the time she gets a ticket and makes her way through security. He texts back, asking her to check what flights are leaving within the next hour. That might at least narrow down where the man was rushing off to.
Ten minutes later, he retrieves Nora.
“He stopped somewhere before he went to the airport,” Ryan says in a rush. “Does the AirTag show the address?”
“Yeah, I pinned it.”
Nora taps her phone. Ryan hears a chime on his phone and sees the address arrive by text.
“What now?” Nora asks.
Ryan pauses. “This is pointless. Let’s go meet the others.”
She seems surprised he’s giving up. Crestfallen. But she says nothing.
It takes an hour to return to the Arezzo train station. He stops at the street adjacent to the drab entrance.
“I’ll meet you on the platform.”
She shakes her head, confused.
“I need to get the van back to the rental company.”
She looks at her phone. “There’s a train to Rome in thirty minutes.”
“I should make it, but if not, I’ll catch the next one. You go on ahead.”