"At least twenty times before yesterday," Marini said. "And then yesterday the incident near the Rialto Bridge, and there were dozens of witnesses. That poor woman ... the German ambassador is already turning it into a diplomatic incident."
"He's blaming your government for a giant alligator?"
"The woman was his niece. At present, he only has an arm to send home for his sister to bury. I can understand the man's heightened emotions."
"Hmm," Abe said. "Quite."
The boat skipped from wave to wave, hull thudding with each impact, and Abe suddenly wondered how easy it would be for an alligator thirty feet long to tip them over. But this was a city built on water, it survived through water, and the first thing he had noticed upon his arrival was that the canals were as busy with traffic as ever. They could let this freak occurrence cripple them as a city, or they could defy it. So far, defiance seemed to be working.
"How is Hellboy?" Marini asked.
"Moody as ever," Abe said.
Marini lit up. "Ahh, not moody, Mr. Sapien. Deep. That's a very different thing. Hellboy has depths, I'm sure you know, and he frequently spends time trying to plumb them. That's where his moodiness comes from. That and the fact that there are no Italian shoes that fit him." He laughed at his own joke.
"He did tell me to beware of your sense of humor," Abe said.
"Did he really?" Marini shook his head and spoke quickly to his officers in Italian, still laughing. They smiled nervously, glancing at Abe as if he were about to bite their faces off. "Well, did he tell you about the time I painted an L and an R on his horns while he slept?"
Abe shook his head, aghast. "And you're still alive?" If Marini were telling the truth, he was lucky still to be in ownership of all four limbs.
The detective waved a hand, guffawed, then shook his head and looked down. "We only worked together for a couple of weeks, but we had much in common. I, too, never knew my parents."
I know how you feel Abe almost said, but he let it lie.
The launch powered down and nudged roughly against the dock. The young policemen jumped up and secured the mooring lines, then stepped back and watched in fascination as Abe went ashore. Marini finally seemed to lose his temper with his subordinates. He fired a few harsh-sounding words at them, and they scampered off, ducking into the nearby police station and letting the door drift shut behind them.
"Forgive them," Marini said.
Abe raised one webbed hand and smiled. "Of course. I can hardly blame them."
"Now, to business. We will consult the incident map inside. I've plotted the location of every sighting, investigated possible hiding places, and from all that I think we can decide where would be the best place — "
"I think right here," Abe said. He had turned away from the detective to see what was causing a commotion out on the lagoon. A gaily painted tourist barge seemed to be floating at the whim of the tide, drifting sideways with the waves, and shadows and shapes waved and danced on deck. Screams of fright and pain came their way. Balancing on the edge of the boat, head thrashing from side to side, mouth filled with tourist, was the largest lizard Abe had ever seen.
* * *
"But what can you do?" Marini asked. Abe was perched on the edge of the dock, webbed feet just inches from the tips of the waves. The screams continued from across the water, and now he could hear the splashes of people leaping into the lagoon. Bad move. The alligator would love that, and if he didn't do something soon, then Marini would spend the time between now and his retirement pulling body parts out of Venice's canals.
"I'm not sure yet," Abe said, "but I have to try something. You have guns in there?" He nodded back at the police station.
"Of course." Marini pulled out his revolver.
"No," Abe said. "Big guns."
"Yes."