Chapter 279: It’s A Key
{TYLER}
Sasha is more relaxed than I’ve seen him in a very long time. It’s as if concluding his business with Magda allowed him to regain mental space to devote to fun instead of worry.
That’s what I think, anyway, and when I tell him my theory, he laughs and tells me that maybe I’m right, but that what it means to him is that he has more time to devote to solving the mystery of the pendant.
"It would be a good title for a book," I muse as we unpack in the hotel room. We’ve returned to a budget option in Florence, and although it’s nowhere near as bad as the Roman hotel, I already miss our palazzo in Venice.
I pull out the pendant from the hidden pocket at the bottom of my suitcase and hold it up to look at it once more. "The Mystery of the Pendant: Tyler and Sasha Investigate."
"I prefer genres with a little more erotic content."
I grin across at him. "Oh, there’ll be plenty of that."
But we spend the morning doing touristy things, and then in the afternoon we have an appointment with a Dr. Bonaventura, the lead art historian and restorer at a small, private company that works for the most prominent galleries in Italy and Europe.
Sasha seems genuinely pleased that he can now add Patron of the Arts to the list of his achievements.
I just hope they can actually help us.
On our arrival, we’re shown into the boardroom, where we have to sit through a presentation on the work of the company, and which is performed twice over—every sentence stated first in Italian, and again in English, for my benefit, I assume. Sasha is almost literally on the edge of his seat, hanging on every word, asking questions that sound intelligent and appropriate.