Even though Ben made a game of flirting with Dez, she and Matt were two of his favorite people, and the three were having a great time exploring the city. If he was free, Matt came along, but most times, he was running an errand for Beatrice or Giovanni. That morning, he happened to be meeting with some of his “friends” to procure a suitable weapon for Ben to carry when he was in Rome. Ben slipped a hand into his pocket and felt the cool grip of the knife his uncle had given him the night before.
“Carry it whenever you go out. Particularly if you’re with Dez. Get to know the neighborhood. Learn the streets. We’re relying on you. Be smart, Benjamin.”
His eyes darted around the square, watching the bustling crowd. Tourist season had already started, but Ben knew enough about cities to be able to spot the locals. He may have spent the previous few years taking it easy in Houston and L.A., but he had been born in New York and raised himself on the streets. And big cities, he knew, were remarkably similar in a lot of ways.
He could still spot the tourists with the fattest wallets. He could spot the savvy local girls. And he could definitely spot the guy with the shiny forehead wearing the unseasonably warm jacket who was trying a little too hard to be inconspicuous.
“Okay, I’m stuffed.” Dez stood and stretched, shoving her sunglasses up her nose and looking around. Ben could hear the trickle of the fountain in the background, and the murmur of the crowd, but he kept an eye on the suspicious man out of the corner of his eye. The guy was definitely eyeing Dez, and Ben didn’t think it was because of her California-girl looks.
“Ben?”
“Huh?”
“Let’s head back to the house. I’m getting sleepy. Do you mind?”
Ben stood and casually slung his backpack over his shoulder. “Nah, that’s cool.” He slipped his hand into his pocket and started toward the street that would lead them to Giovanni’s house. Very subtly, he noticed the man shift in their direction before he looked down at the newspaper he was reading. As Dez and Ben left the shade of the temple, they turned right and Ben caught the man following them at a distance.
“Hey, Dez?”
“Yeah?”
Ben grabbed her hand and hustled down a side street he had mapped out the week before. It looked like an alleyway, but led to a triangular-shaped piazza surrounded by office buildings. Also headed in that direction was a blond girl who was similar to Dez in height.
Perfect. “Let’s go this way, okay?”
“What?” She followed Ben, her pace matching his as they turned left into the cobblestone piazza. Ben hurried to catch up with the blonde, glancing over his shoulder. The man was definitely following them.
The triangle-shaped piazza opened up before narrowing down into a driveway leading out to a larger thoroughfare. Though that was the direction most of the pedestrian traffic was flowing; there was also a twisting walkway past a parking lot leading through the houses and to the primary school behind the Pantheon. Ben had found it when he was scoping out the neighborhood. It was roundabout, but the best way he could think of to lose whomever it was that seemed to be tailing them. The blond girl went straight; Ben tugged Dez’s hand and turned left.
“Ben? Where are we going?”
“I think I saw a bookshop that had English books in the window.”
Dez perked up immediately. Though Giovanni had a full library at the house, his selection of books in English was somewhat limited, so Ben and Dez had been on a hunt to expand it. He glanced over his shoulder as they turned the corner. He could see the man following the blond girl to the main road. Ben pulled Dez into a small shop that sold postcards and cigarettes. The man behind the counter, with the universal wisdom of all convenience store owners, eyed Ben with suspicion, only relaxing when he saw Dez walk in behind him.
“Signore, uno... uno cappelo, per favore?” Ben motioned to Dez. “Per la signora?”
The older man shrugged and pointed to the back of the shop where a few rows of tacky caps with pictures of the Colosseum were lined up. Ben grabbed a navy blue cap and tugged it on Dez’s head.
“Ben, I don’t see any books here. I think you—hey!” She was looking around and jerked back when Ben pushed the hat on her head. “Ew! I’m not wearing this.”
“You should.” He kept hold of her hand and pulled a few euros from his pocket, handing them to the shopkeeper on the way out of the store. “It’s getting warm and you don’t want to overheat.” He peeked his head out, but couldn’t see the man anywhere. “I think I was remembering a shop on the other side of the Pantheon. Where we were this morning.”
“Oh.” Dez looked around. “Yeah, that was a big triangle like this one. Ben, I’m not wearing this hat. It’s ugly. Why did you waste the money?”
He pulled her out into the parking lot and to the left toward the alley that led to the school.
“Oh, just humor me until we get home, will you?” His eyes never stopped glancing around, looking for the shiny forehead of the man who had been watching them before. He was nowhere in Ben’s sight, and he allowed himself to relax a little.
“Ben?” He finally turned and looked at Dez. She was no longer smiling. “Who was following us?”
Ben was moments away from denying it, not wanting to seem paranoid or worry her, but he stopped himself. Dez was too smart to buy the quick lie.
“I’m not sure. I remember his face. I’ll try to draw it when I get home.”