Stiletto by Harold Robbins Read Free Book Online

die, say while you are at the fencing match one hundred fifty meters away from here, you would be a rich man again.”
    Cesare looked at him for a moment then got to his feet. “Gio!” he called. “Bring that bottle of Napoleon brandy. We are going into the library.”
    When Gio had closed the door behind him and they were alone in front of the leaping fire, Cesare turned to Matteo. “Why did you come here?” he asked directly.
    Matteo smiled and picked up his brandy. “I had heard about you, Major.”
    “Heard what?”
    “You remember of course that part of the war just before the Allies invaded Italy?” He didn’t wait for Cesare to answer. “An associate of mine, who is at present in Naples, and I gave the American government a list of people to contact in preparation for that invasion. These people were members of an underground that had existed long before the war, before even the first war. The Mafioso.”
    Cesare didn’t speak.
    “I learned that you were one of the Italian officers assigned to cooperate with the O.S.S. by the Italian High Command. You were assigned to contact nine men and secure their cooperation. You murdered five of them.”
    “They would not cooperate,” Cesare said quickly. “That was explained in my report.”
    Matteo smiled. “The official explanation does not concern me. I have made enough of them myself to have no faith in their veracity. But you and I know better. You see, the officials never saw the bodies of the men you killed. My friends did.”
    Matteo put down his glass of brandy and looked across at Cesare. “That’s why I do not understand about your uncle, my friend. When death comes so joyously and easily to your hand, how you could let him live?”
    Cesare looked down at him. “That was different then. It was war.”
    Matteo smiled. “War was only the excuse for you. There were others. The soldier down in the village when you were still a boy, the young Englishman you ran off the road in your car the last year you were in school, the German mistress of your commanding officer in Rome when she threatened to expose you to him.” He looked up into Cesare’s face. “You see, I have much better sources of information than the authorities.”
    Cesare sank into the chair opposite. He took a drink of his brandy and smiled. “So you have the information. It is of no use to you, so what can you do with it?”
    Matteo shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t intend to do anything with it. I have told you just to let you know that I am interested in you. You see, we can be of much mutual help to one another.”
    “So?”
    Matteo nodded. “Circumstances have forced me to return to the land of my birth, but I am an American, not an Italian, in my heart. And also in my business interests. Unfortunately I cannot return to America for some time. Legally, that is. Of course I can go back for short periods but that is very dangerous and I cannot remain too long. Also I foresee a time when I will need an ally there, someone like yourself, someone that no one would connect me with, someone who could be of help when necessary.”
    Cesare stared at him. “What about your associates? Your friends in the Society? Surely you have many allies there?”
    Matteo nodded. “True. But they are all known. To each other and to the police. Sooner or later there are no secrets among them.”
    Matteo got to his feet and walked over to the open hearth. He turned his back on the fire and looked over at Cesare. “You must be bored with the poverty of your existence by now. It is dull and drab and not at all in keeping with your nature. What would you do if you were free of all this?”
    Cesare looked up. “I don’t know. Travel, maybe. I would get some cars and race them. Le Mans, Turino, Sebring. There is much excitement there.”
    Matteo laughed. “I mean how would you make a living? Money does not last forever, you know.”
    Cesare shook his head. “I never thought of that. I never liked