Wake the Dead

Kydon Chronicles, Vol 5

By Robert Legleitner

Dead men seem to be breaking out of their graves. Are they the walking dead? Or are these sightings connected to a posh spa run by a doctor rumored to have worked with Nazi medical experimentation? Reunited lovers Kydon Schmidt and Robin Wyngate track fleeing Nazi war criminals. Gay content, adult situations.

ISBN 1-59431-081-5 Action-Adventure/ Gay/ Mystery

Cover Art byMaggie Dix

Also available in RTF and HTML formats.



Chapter One

Italy, February 1946

Death was in his hand. The man calling himself Signor Dicosta held an amber capsule, easily swallowed, and then blessed release and freedom. Many people, if not most, believed or hoped that death was only the gateway to a better life. He was fortunate. He knew it.

Dicosta beckoned the waiter and ordered steamed shellfish. His command of Italian was not good, he had to repeat himself, and that annoyed him.

The elderly quartet rattled sheet music. Three white-haired men and a fragile old woman no larger than her cello began playing "Musette's Waltz." None of the patrons seemed to notice them. Dicosta lit a cigarette as the waiter served the wine. A man and woman came in and took a table near him. The smell of rain and wet wool came with them mingling with the aroma of food and cigarette smoke.

Outside, the street was shiny but the rain had stopped. Here in the village, the houses and the apartments above the shops were curtained and shuttered against the bitter February day. Beyond the piazza, beyond the church, the houses were farther apart, the trees thicker. Farther out, between dark umbrella pines and spears of black cypresses, stood the clinic.

He wondered if they'd take his body back to the clinic. No, the mortuary.

He put the capsule in his mouth and washed it down with the pale wine just as the plate of steaming mussels was put in front of him. Thirty minutes left in this life, a life that had gone awry. He took his watch from his pocket.

The seal his father had given him was gone from the chain. The tiny gold ring which held it was still on the chain but the solid gold disk with an embossed Roman eagle was missing. He had not meant to take this last journey without it. It must be in his room at the clinic. Too late now to go after it.

Later, when he sagged against the table, fell sideways off his chair, and heard alarmed voices that dimmed at last to silence, it didn't seem to matter.

***



Ida Gentili held a parcel tight as she hurried along the street. Her aunt knew someone in the black market, and tea and sugar were always wanted. Ida would brew a pot for her English employer when she got to the house.

As Ida passed the restaurant, she glanced through the steamy windows. She saw Signor Dicosta alone at a table. He had been pointed out to her at the clinic, but she never expected to see him in Santa Maria a Mare where her two surviving relatives felt safe. She must tell them.

She was startled when he fell to the floor. The people around him turned to see and some rose to bend over his prone body. Another man she recognized, the local doctor, gestured for the others to stand back as he knelt by Dicosta. Ida saw the doctor feel for a pulse, saw him touch Dicosta’s neck, before he shook his head and got to his feet. A woman near the fallen man screamed.

Two people came out into the street saying, “He’s dead, did you see?” and Ida answered, “Yes,” as if they’d spoken to her. She hugged herself. The parcel pressed against her chest and reminded her that she must go.

At the house, Ida hung her coat on a peg in the closet near the kitchen door. She drew water for the kettle. Signora Parmenter was busy writing in her study but she would want a cup of hot strong tea. Dinner must be prepared and served.

Ida wondered if she should tell anyone that Signor Dicosta was dead. But by now everyone in the village must know. The man died in a crowd and the word must be in every house. Lina Monti, her aunt, and her cousin Rosa would hear the news and be comforted. The matter was settled. Ida set out the cup and saucer, filled the sugar bowl, and laid the tea tray. The matter was settled and she hadn’t lifted a hand against the man.