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“Who are we ?” Remi asked

“The curator,” Sam replied “Maria Favaretto”

Before catching their two o’clock Lufthansa flight fro, Sam had called the curator of their destination, the Museo Archeologico, and introduced hinora Favaretto had heard of theia, the fifteenth-century Machiavellian political operator/seductress, a year earlier in Bisceglie had been front-page news in Venice, she told Saue of hers was the assistant curator of the Vatican Library’s Museo Borgiano, where he and Rereed to ico

“Is that her?” Re

A wo to them from inside one of the entrance arches to the Procuratie Nuove, in which the Museo Archeologico was partially housed; the rest was located within the Biblioteca Nazi onale Marciana—the National Library of St Mark’s Sam and Remi walked over to the woman

“Signor Fargo, Signora Fargo, I am Maria Favaretto It’s my pleasure to meet you”

“Please call us Sa her hand

“And I’m Maria”

“Thank you for your help We hope we aren’t inconveniencing you”

“Not at all Reain, what period are you interested in?”

“We’re not positive, but none of the references we found are later than the eighteenth century”

“Good I think we’re in luck If you’ll follow me, please”

She led theh the arch, across a breezeway done in terra-cotta and cream tiles, and into the i and Assyrian chariots, Etruscan statues and vases and Ros and Minoan earthenware jars

Maria stopped at a wooden door and unlocked it with a key They went down a long, dimly lit hallway She stopped “This is our not-for-public library Given what you were asking about I thought the best person to help you would be Giuseppe He doesn’t have a title per se, but he’s been here longer than anyone—almost sixty years He knows more about Venice than anyone I know” She hesitated, cleared her throat “Giuseppe is eighty-two and a littleodd Eccentric is the word, I think Don’t let that worry you Just ask your questions and he’ll find the answers”

“Okay,” Sam said with a smile