The Thief Lord

The Stella’s door is unlocked, and Prosper, Riccio, and Mosca uneasily make their way into the silent, dark auditorium. Hornet and Bo are missing. Riccio finds a note from Hornet telling them they left for the emergency meeting point because the police were at the door. Riccio is angry that Victor gave away their location. Prosper finds Victor’s gun to confront him, but Mosca reminds him about the emergency meeting point. They gather their money and run to the statue of the “Book Man,” but they don’t find any trace of Hornet or Bo there. Prosper takes off running to Victor’s house. Dragging Riccio behind him, Mosca follows to keep Prosper from doing something “stupid.”

Scipio meanders home and finds a police boat moored at his father’s house. He opens the door and sees two police officers coming down the stairs with Hornet. His father sees Scipio and assures the police he had nothing to do with the children in the Stella. The police ask if Hornet recognizes Scipio, and she shakes her head. She has refused to talk since they found her. The maid found Scipio’s bed empty at midnight and called the doctor away from his reception; then, police showed up with information about a gang of kids in the Stella.