"A few hours south of here," he said, coyly, his smile taking on a sort of warm self-satisfaction. "Pompeii. A former client of mine is on one of the excavation teams, so we'll be able to tour some of the newer sites."

It seemed only appropriate that the two of them, who had been brought together by death and a desire to uncover seemingly lost facts, take a trip to a city whose death had given the world one of the best-preserved records of the distant past.