Playing with Fire

1

From the doorway I can already smell the scent of old books, a perfume of crumbling pages and time-­worn leather. The other antiques stores that I ve passed on this cobblestoned alley have their air conditioners running and their doors closed against the heat, but this shop s door is propped open, as if inviting me to enter. It s my last afternoon in Rome, my last chance to pick up a souvenir of my visit. Already I ve bought a silk tie for Rob and an extravagantly ruffled dress for our three-­year-­old daughter, Lily, but I haven t found anything for myself. In the window of this antiques shop, I see exactly what I want.

I step into gloom so thick that my eyes need a moment to adjust. Outside it s sweltering, but in here it s strangely cool, as though I ve entered a cave where neither heat nor light can penetrate. Slowly, shapes take form in the shadows and I see book-­crammed shelves, old steamer trunks, and in the corner a medieval suit of tarnished armor. On the walls hang oil paintings, all of them garish and ugly and adorned with yellowed price tags. I don t notice that the proprietor is standing in the alcove, so I m startled when he suddenly calls out to me in Italian. I turn and see a little gnome of a man with eyebrows like snowy caterpillars.

I m sorry, I answer. Non parlo Italiano.

Violino? He points to the violin case that I have strapped to my back. It s far too valuable an instrument to leave in my hotel room and I always keep it with me while traveling. Musicista? he asks and plays air fiddle, his right arm sawing back and forth with a phantom bow.

Yes, I m a musician. From America. I performed this morning, at the festival. Though he nods politely, I don t think he actually understands me. I point to the item I spotted in his display window. Could I see that book? Libro. Musica.

He reaches into the window display for the book of music and hands it to me. I know it s old, by the way the edges of the paper crumble at my touch.

New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen earned international acclaim for her first novel of suspense, Harvest. She introduced detective Jane Rizzoli in The Surgeon (2001) and Dr. Maura Isles in The Apprentice (2002) and has gone on to write numerous other titles in the celebrated Rizzoli & Isles series, most recently The Mephisto Club, The Keepsake, Ice Cold, The Silent Girl, Last to Die, and Die Again. Her latest novel is the standalone thriller Playing with Fire. A physician, Tess Gerritsen lives in Maine.

Compelling . . . I defy you to read the first chapter and not singe your fingers reading the rest. David Baldacci
 
One of the best and most original thrillers of the year. Providence Journal
 
[A] novel brimming with emotion, literary description, and psychological suspense. The Huffington Post
 
Will make readers drop everything to immerse themselves in its propulsive dual narrative. Los Angeles Times