Chapter 9

“Marco and Dani, your driver today is my lovely wife, Claire. Claire, the guy immediately behind you is my old roommate Marco, and the other guy is his partner Dani.”

“Good to meet you guys at last,” she said. “You’ll excuse me if I don’t take my hands off the wheel in order to shake yours. The Italians drive like maniacs, and I have to keep an eye on traffic.”

“No problem,” Marco said.

“Ditto that,” I said. “I’m surprised that you and Claire haven’t met, Marco.”

“Don’t you remember?” Marco said. “We were invited to the wedding, but it was in California and I was ass-deep in my internship at Johns Hopkins at the time. Interns don’t get that much time off. So, Joel, how far is it to your place?”

“About twenty klicks,” Joel said. “In this traffic, perhaps forty-five minutes.”

“Are you guys hungry?” Claire said.

“After that breakfast in first class?” Marco said. “I don’t think so. What we really need is a long, hot shower.”