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In the open doorway stood Captain Boiardi, dressed in a dark civilian suit instead of a black uniforlad you could come so soon”

“If you would save more policemen’s lives, I’m sure you would always have excellent service” He embraced Sam heartily and slapped his back “Good to see you, Saht to see you again You soothedrive”

“Please come in and make yourself part of the party, Captain,” she said “Do you have any of your men with you? They’re welcome to join us too”

“No,” he said “You remember the trouble we had last ti Napoli This tiave myself the most pleasant”

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“Thank you,” said Sa to eat and drink If we don’t yet have what you like, we can order anything We’re in a hotel, after all”

“I’ll have a soft drink,” he said “Otherwise, water I still have ”

Saer ale, and they sat at the table Boiardi said, “The Ministry of Culture has approved our proposal of a joint project in the catacoranted a permit to excavate, secured the cooperation of the Divine Word Missionaries, and sent o in?”

“We’d like to start Tuesday, when the catacomb is closed to visitors”

“Perfect,” said the captain “We’d rather not waste men on crowd control”

“How did you get the Ministry to act so quickly?”

“You placed the first treasure—the one from Mantua—with the Ministry voluntarily and that showed you to be responsible and legiti yourselves to be true friends of the nation, of historical study, and of io Boiardi”

“I’lad we did,” said Sam “We plan to ask the Ministry to take physical custody of e find this time too”

“Excellent,” he said “We’ll be prepared to transport any finds to a space in Il Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli right away”

“Will you be co down in the catacomb with us?”