The Deliverance of Evil Read Online Free

really was a bit too much of a joker for a first encounter. I recognized it instantly as a way of covering up his insecurity—and Father Paul’s insecurity exuded from every pore.
    I went up on foot. As I was going past the first floor, a girl with the features of a young goddess came out of a door. She was wearing a long white nurse’s coat, and I would have considered feigning illness on the spot. That kind of a uniform tends to disguise the figure, but no kind of dress could have hidden that curvaceous outline.
    She stopped dead, her eyes lowered. “Please, go ahead,” she said, pausing to let me pass. Her voice was soft and childlike, a little dreamy, like her smile. Her arms were full of ring binders.
    “Can I help you?” I offered. She kept avoiding my eyes and shook her head, distracted. A ring binder fell to the tiled floor. While I was bending down to pick it up, I caught the scent of her soap. “I’m really sorry,” she said, absurdly overapologetic.
    I couldn’t persuade her to give me any ring binders, and we went up to the second floor in silence. She ushered me through a small door into a long corridor with several doors leading off it.
    “Mr. Dioguardi’s office is at the end,” she said. She hadn’t once met my eyes, and she quickly disappeared into the first room on the right.
    I found Angelo behind a desk, buried under papers, ring binders, and folders of every kind. Behind him hung a huge photo of the Pope. I almost laughed at the sight of him in that setting. In the workplace, his complete inability to keep things neat was striking.
    “I know, Michele—your brother looks the part behind a desk, but I look silly. Worse, here I am making a mess in a job that demands organizational skills.”
    “At least you’ve got some good-looking coworkers,” I said, gesturing toward the corridor.
    “I guess you saw Elisa,” he replied, laughing.
    “If that’s the kind of young goddess you have carrying your bits of paper . . .”
    He explained that Elisa Sordi had been there for two months as a weekend assistant; she was in college, studying to become an accountant, and would be taking exams in June. She was only eighteen.
    “And from whence does this manna from heaven descend on you?”
    “Paola’s uncle, Cardinal Alessandrini. Our illustrious neighbor the senator, Count Tommaso dei Banchi di Aglieno, introduced him to Elisa. The cardinal and the count do favors for each other, even though their morals and their politics are polar opposites: the cardinal’s a Catholic democrat, and the Count’s an anti-Church monarchist despot.”
    “I think they’ve done you a favor this time, Angelo. Sure, she’s a bit young, but you know I don’t hang about . . .”
    He shook his head with a smile.
    “She’s not your type, Michele.”
    “And why not?”
    “She’s awkward, incredibly shy, and a very devout Catholic—someone like me, who really believes.”
    “Is that what you think of me, Angelo Dioguardi? That I’m only a collector of fucks from cheap sluts?” I asked in a tone of obviously feined disdain.
    I expected him to laugh but instead he made a face. It was the noise of ring binders falling to the floor behind me that made me realize what was happening. Blushing, Angelo rose to help the girl gather them up. I turned round with my most innocent smile. Elisa was standing there with a stunned expression on her face, a look of shock in her eyes. Not having the gift of invisibility at my command, I excused myself and went to the men’s room, where I remained for a long time, cursing myself. The face I saw in the mirror was that of a vulgar idiot who had just made a complete fool of himself.
    I went back into Angelo’s office only when I was sure Elisa would no longer be there. He gave me a sardonic grin that made me furious.
    “Asshole! What’s so funny? You could have warned me, couldn’t you?”
    “I tried to, Mike. Anyway, Elisa certainly knows what you’re about now. But if