Present Day Carabinieri HQ, Venice Valentina listens to everything Tom has to say, interrupting only a couple of times to ask questions, then leaves him alone in the interview room.
The story is an incredible one.
Global time differences mean it will take a while to check it all out and see if Shaman really is who he says he is, and if he really did what he said he did.
Valentina uses Google as a shortcut. 'You're never going to believe this!' Pulling the printouts from the tray, she crosses the Incident Room to where her boss is. 'Our witness – the man in Room 3 – he's an ex-priest who killed two people.'
'A killer priest?'
'No, not like that. A hero.'
Vito Carvalho laughs loudly. 'Hero – killer – priest. I don't think I've ever heard those three words together before.'
'Well, you're hearing them now. Look-' She hands over the wad of papers. 'Seems he stepped into some street incident. Three against one. Couldn't save the girl being attacked, but killed two of the bad guys. He told me most of it but I wanted to cross-check before I said anything.'
Vito takes the pages. 'It's some strange kind of Padre who can handle himself like that in a street fight. What's he like?'
She raises her eyes, tries to stay factual. 'Maybe 1.9 metres tall. I guess ninety kilos, perhaps a bit more – he's a big guy. Lean, you know, muscular. Somewhere in his early thirties.'
Vito peers over the top of the printouts. 'Hey, remember he's a priest, and a witness. Not dating material.'
'Ex-priest.'
'Still a witness.' He gives her a paternal stare. 'And still not dating material. By the way, the internet's notoriously unreliable. Make sure all these details and whatever he said to you are checked properly. Get Maria Santanni to do it, she's thorough.'
'Si.' Valentina picks up a phone.
'Do it later. First, let's go and talk with your hero killer priest.'
'Ex-priest!' stresses Valentina again, as she lapdogs after him. Vito Carvalho doesn't pause at the interview-room door like Valentina did. He bursts straight in. Maximum noise. Maximum surprise. Looking to see how jumpy the guy waiting on the other side is.
Tom Shaman is slouched low on the hard-backed chair, chin comfortably resting on interlocked fingers. He looks up at the grand entrance and his eyes track Carvalho into the room. He only sits up when he sees Valentina. A sign of respect, nothing more. Her face gives away that she's run checks on him. That's no surprise. It's what he'd expect a cop to do. Hopefully, they'll let him go now.
'Hello again,' he says to Valentina.
'This is my boss, Major Carvalho.' She gestures to him as they slide into seats across the grey table. 'He's leading the enquiry into Monica's death.'
'Monica?'
The major fills in the blanks: 'Monica Vidic. Her father has identified her. She's fifteen and came from Croatia.'
'Poor guy. I imagine he's in pieces.' Tom momentarily recalls the horror of dragging the girl from the canal.
Carvalho is watching every gesture, every crease on his face, every movement of his lips. 'Why didn't you tell us straight away that you were a priest? That you left the Church such a short time ago?'
Tom shifts in his seat. 'Why should I? What difference does it make to you whether I used to be a priest or a rocket scientist?'
Carvalho drums his fingers. 'It probably doesn't make any difference. But a priest who left after the experience you went through – well, maybe that's something worth us talking about, right?'
'I didn't think it was worth mentioning. Not then – and not now.'
Carvalho tries coming at him from another angle. 'When I became a policeman I stopped believing in coincidences. Phrases like, "I just happened to be there when I came across this body," stopped ringing true. And I have real trouble believing that you left two corpses behind in LA, flew all this way and just happened to be on hand to find another one here in Venice. Do you see what I mean?'
Tom smiles. 'I do. I absolutely do see what you mean. But, at the risk of annoying you, I did just happen to be there. Ask the old man, he was the one who found the young girl – Monica.'
'He found her,' interjects Valentina. 'But maybe you put her there. Killers like to be around for the find.'
Tom shakes his head. 'You don't believe that. Not for a minute. I know you've got to do your job and go through all this. But you don't really believe that.'
'Okay, let's talk about belief for a moment.' The major leans forward and rests on his arms. 'What kind of man do you believe could have killed a young woman like that?'
'A very disturbed one,' says Tom. 'He was either mentally ill – or worse. Perhaps overcome or possessed by the powers of evil.'
'The powers of evil?' says Carvalho mockingly.
Something in the major's tone gets to Tom. 'I've seen a lot of murdered people. Probably more than you'll ever see. I've heard the confessions of many serial killers, child abusers and rapists. And I tell you, you're dealing with the devil's work. It was his hand that guided that blade, as surely as if he'd stood there in all his cloven-hoofed glory and killed her himself.'
Tom looks across the table and sees their scepticism deepen. 'Okay, the bit about cloven hooves is probably over the top. But the rest of it I mean. I really mean.'