Broken Chord (17 page)

“Did you kill her?”

“Of course not!”

“You could have done. You were in the house all night.”

“But I didn’t. You can’t think that!”

“You’ve admitted you are working through ‘old stuff’ with your shrink and then there was the problem of your boyfriend.”

“I wish I hadn’t said anything. You’re just twisting things.”

“What about Roberto?”

“OK, she disapproved and we argued about it, and she was going to send me away to New Zealand with aunt Felicity, but it wouldn’t have made any difference. I’m going to be eighteen next month. She wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it after that. I come into my inheritance from my father and I’ll be free to do whatever I want. I didn’t need to kill her. How could you think I would kill my own mother?”

“You wouldn’t be the first.”

“Well I didn’t, believe me.” She stared unblinkingly into his eyes.

“Couldn’t you live with Tebaldo and his wife?”

“I think they’re about to split up and, no, I could never live with Isabella. She’s awful.” She grimaced.

“How awful?”

“Oh, I don’t mean I think she killed Mamma. Not that sort of awful. She’s just not really… one of us.”

“Perhaps because you won’t let her be.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Oh, but I do, very well actually.”

“You make me feel as though I’m in the wrong.”

“Being discourteous always puts one in the wrong.”

“I know, but she’s just so… different. I can’t connect with her.”

“But you can connect with Roberto who is also quite… different.”

“Yes, but, you see, I love him.”

“So now your mother is dead you can marry Roberto and live happily ever after, is that it?”

“I deserve a chance, don’t you think?”

“Don’t you think everybody deserves that?” There was a heavy silence.

“Can I go now? I need to go and see Roberto.”

“Yes, you can go. Bruno will escort you to the office where you’ll make a very brief written statement about your movements that night.”

“My lack of movement, you mean. How about, ‘I went to bed at eleven p.m., took a sleeping pill, and got up at eleven a.m. Will that do?” she asked facetiously.

“That will be fine if it’s the truth.”

“Actually, I have just remembered something. I did hear Lapo come in. His room’s above mine. I woke up and looked at my clock because he made so much noise I thought it must be morning but it was only four o’clock. I expect he was drunk. Anyway, after that I went back to sleep.”

“OK, so make the statement and then you can go.”

She went out of the room as she’d entered it, waiting for the door to be opened for her as a natural thing and walking like a princess, head held high and with an air of serenity. Drago shook his head. What a family! Damaged goods seemed an apt description, Tebaldo vomiting, Lapo wheezing and oozing hatred for the whole of mankind, and this emotionless doll.

As soon as she had left the room Drago asked, “So what do you think of her as a suspect?”

“Possible. No one can say she did or she didn’t, but her clothes came back clean from forensics and what about motive?”

“She could have got rid of her clothes, she had all night to do so and as for motive, well, things are simpler with her mother out of the way.”

Yes, but her mother could never have stopped her.”

“No, but there would have been a lot of pressure. She’s already seeing a therapist. How strong is she?”

Bruno said thoughtfully, “Actually, I thought she looked very strong and devoid of emotion, like an ice-maiden. I could hardly believe it when she said she was in love. She looks totally frigid.”

“Dear Bruno, you didn’t look beneath the surface. That’s one very passionate girl.”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree on that. Brrr. Passionate, her? Never.”

Claudio leant across the table and said quietly, “My spies tell me the Signora threw you out before she got clobbered.”

“Do they? What’s that to you? I presume that’s what you wanted, or you wouldn’t have told her what you did.”

“Why shouldn’t I tell her? She had the right to know what she was marrying.”

“How noble of you. You had no business telling her. You should have kept out of it.”

“You had no business doing what you did and then pretending it never happened.”

“What’s it to you? You didn’t lose out. We’re quits.”

The boy thrust his wristwatch under Guido’s nose. “This, you mean? Thanks for nothing. That’s not why I did it.”

“No? Then why?”

“Are you really as thick as you make out?”

“Obviously, because I don’t understand why you had to mess things up for me or what it had to do with you. How did you find out about the row?”

“I know all about you and the family. I make it my business to know things and I’ve got someone who keeps me informed. There’s nothing I don’t know about what goes on up at the villa. Word has it that you drove off in a terrible state and you say you never went back.”

“I wouldn’t put it quite like that.”

“Nor would I, because it isn’t true.”

Guido’s jaw dropped open.

“I won’t breathe a word but you’ll have to make it worth my while.”

“That’s blackmail!”

“Call it what you like. I call it payment for services rendered. That’s something you know a lot about.”

“How much?”

When Claudio named the sum, Guido’s jaw dropped even further.

“You’ve got to be joking.”

“No, I’m dead serious, and dead is the key word here, I think you’ll agree.”

“Look Claudio, I can’t possibly pay that amount.”

“I know you’re not quite as flush as you expected to be but you can sell something and get me the cash. I’ll give you two days. Cough up or I’ll have to do my duty as a good citizen and tell the police what I saw.”

“They’d never believe you. It’s your word against mine.”

“Why should I tell a lie? I’ve got nothing to gain by lying, unlike you.” His hands spread out as though to emphasise his innocence.

“But I didn’t do anything, you must know that,” Guido protested.

“Don’t tell that to me. It’s the cops you’ve got to convince.”

Guido pushed his chair back and stood up.

“Don’t forget to pay for the coffee.”

Guido put his hand in his pocket and pulled out some coins. He threw them on the table.

“Very kind. I’ll see you here the day after tomorrow at this time. You can offer me a coffee again if you like and bring a nice fat bulging envelope for me. Got it?”

Guido turned away from him and marched out of the bar. He was in a terrible situation. Claudio obviously knew something, but if he paid him now it would never end. He’d be held to ransom for the rest of his life. On the other hand, how could he risk Claudio
telling what he knew? Who would the police believe? From what he could see, they’d already fingered him as a prime suspect so it would be foolish to take any risks, but what could he do about Claudio? He had a vision of being sucked dry and left with nothing.

Lapo was furious. He had never felt so humiliated. He’d seen himself mirrored in the eyes of that policeman, who thought he was only half a man. He’d seen the man’s pity for him. His breathing became so laboured that he had to sit down in a corridor and use his bronchodilator. God, how he hated that supercilious bastard. What was he anyway, just a civil servant, a nobody. He tried to slow his breathing, calm the rage that was swelling in his chest, tightening it and making respiration difficult. There was only one antidote for this and he would make use of it as soon as possible. He’d made his statement in a state of suspended animation but as soon as he was free to go, the anger had welled up in him crippling him again. He sat quietly for another ten minutes and then walked slowly out of the building. Across the road were the famous tree lined walls of Lucca. Fields of lush grass surrounded them, intersected by little pathways that led through the ramparts and into town. For a moment he was tempted to cross the road and enter. Seeing him stand there a journalist detached himself from the group and came towards him but after Lapo shot him a terrifying glance, changed his mind and moved away again.

He’d left the car in a car park in one of the streets behind the
Procura
building and decided to go and have a drink before going home, to take the edge off his anger. As he neared a bar he saw Guido come out and hurry away. A few minutes later Claudio Rossi came out and crossed the road to where he had parked his monstrous motorbike. Lapo asked himself whether this was mere coincidence and decided that it was definitely not, and then asked himself what it was all about. He’d dearly love to know. He went into the bar, had a coffee and read the paper. His mother’s death was prominent on the front page. Someone had found an old photo of her when she was years younger, smiling, and given it to the press. He remembered her like that, when he was a child.
He felt a stirring of emotion and a lump in his throat. He clamped it down. Lapo never cried, ever. He hadn’t done since childhood when he’d learnt to be strong and to give as good as he got. Kids were cruel, but no one was as cruel as Lapo and they soon learned that.

When he came out of the bar he saw his sister floating along the road like some fairy princess. He went towards her.

“Oh Lapo, I thought you’d left ages ago.”

“No, I’m still around. Do you need a lift?”

“Thanks. I was going to take the bus. I’m going to the hospital.”

“Ah, to see your future husband. Lucky man.”

“That’s right.” She looked at him warily. He sounded most peculiar.

“OK, I’ll take you. I haven’t got anything better to do.”

He could hardly wait to get her in the car and drive away to some dark corner of an underground car park where he would hurt her, make her suffer, like he suffered. He couldn’t help it. He had to do it. Besides, she deserved it. It was time she got off her rosy cloud and faced the harsh realities of life.

Isabella arrived at the car park just as Lapo and Marianna pulled away. She actually parked in their slot. Lapo hadn’t seen her. He had a demonic look on his face, totally concentrated on himself as usual. She was terrified of him. Teo had told her some alarming stories about Lapo; that was in the days when he used to actually talk to her. She always kept out of his way.

Opening the door let in a blast of hot smelly air, thick with pollution. She got out into the heat. How was it that Marianna always looked cool and elegant, while she felt sweaty and uncomfortable straight away? It had to be the excess weight. Well, as soon as they got away from here she was going on a diet and to the gym every morning for an hour. Not that that would bring Teo back to her, but at least she’d feel better. She couldn’t feel much worse than she did now.

When she entered the cool building she was taken straight up to Dragonetti’s office. He had a handsome young man with him who he introduced as his colleague. Isabella felt even fatter and
lumpier when faced with this elegant person. It had been a long time since a man had looked at her with appreciation and this one was no exception. Dragonetti seemed kind, as he had done at the house. She’d been a fool to tell him she disliked her mother-in-law but she’d got nothing to fear by telling the truth, well, mostly the truth. He didn’t have to know everything. She felt terribly tense, but took a deep breath and sat down facing him.

“Sorry to drag you away from the children. I know it must be very difficult for you at the moment.”

“Well, you know, we let the au pair go off on holiday and now in this situation, you’re right, it is difficult. Teo’s… not well. He has a very delicate stomach.”

“Yes. He told me he’d taken an anti-emetic this morning.”

“Mmm. It’s psychosomatic. There’s nothing actually wrong with his stomach. It’s his nerves. This… I mean, his mother’s death, seeing the body like that, well he can’t take that sort of thing. His brother’s in a bad way, too. He’s wheezing badly, and the only one who seems calm is Marianna, but nothing ever seems to upset her.”

“You think so?”

“Well, obviously I’m not saying she’s indifferent to her mother’s death but, well, she’s not shed a tear.”

“Nor have you.”

“Ursula wasn’t my mother.”

“Quite. Look, I know we spoke yesterday, but I wondered whether after twenty-four hours you’ve remembered anything else. People sometimes do, you know, when they’ve calmed down. It’s very difficult to think clearly in the heat of the moment.”

“I don’t think so. I mean I’ve told you everything.” She sat on her hands to stop them shaking.

“Just to recap, you went to bed and neither saw nor heard anyone, apart from Lapo who came in rather noisily at four, which was when you got up to go to the bathroom. Correct?”

“Yes.”

“And your husband was in bed all night too?”

“Yes, to the best of my knowledge.”

“You’re quite sure you don’t want to change any part of your statement?”

“No.”

“Yesterday you said you thought Guido might have killed Ursula, do you still think that?”

“No, I just said it because they’d had a row, and well, I was shocked, but I’ve changed my mind. Guido can’t stand the sight of blood and I understand from my husband there was quite a lot of blood.”

“Yes, there was. Ursula had been stabbed several times and disfigured.”

“I can’t honestly see Guido doing that. I don’t like him and I was horrified to think that Ursula was going to marry him but I won’t say that I think he did it because I don’t really. Guido’s very fastidious. I don’t think he’d dirty his hands. If he were going to kill someone, he would probably poison them.”

“Now that you’ve had time to think, do you have any more ideas about who could have killed Ursula?”

“No. I’ve thought about it quite a lot, I’m sure we all have, and the more I think about it, the less likely it seems that one of the family did it. It has to have been someone from outside. Piero said there had been some anonymous letters. Perhaps that’s who did it, the madman who wrote the letters. It couldn’t have been anyone who knew her well. No one would do that to her unless they were quite mad.”

“Thank you Signora von Bachmann. You have been very helpful. If you would like to follow my colleague he will take you to the officer who will take down your statement. A simple statement about your whereabouts that night will be sufficient.”

Isabella gave a sigh of relief. That had gone quite well and apart from one small thing she’d told the truth. The omission was something that had nothing to do with the murder and she’d no intention of telling the police about her private life. There were always leaks during investigations and all she needed now was to see her family all over the papers with all the juicy details there for everyone to read. No way.

Marianna was weeping quietly, hunched in the corner of the car. Lapo got out of the car and lit up a cigarette. He wasn’t allowed to smoke because of his asthma but he needed to. He peered into the car. She was still weeping, the stupid cow. He shouldn’t have done it, after all she was his half-sister, but he had to hurt her and he knew how to.

“Marianna.”

“She looked up at him with those dead eyes of hers. “What.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t believe it. You’ve actually said you’re sorry.”

“I went too far.”

“Yes you did. This time Lapo you went way too far. Take me home please. I need a bath.”

“You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

“No. You know I never do.”

“Good. Are you alright?”

“I don’t know. Stop talking and take me home. I need to be alone.”

He threw the cigarette away and got back into the car. Marianna didn’t speak again and when they got home she opened the car door and ran up to her room. Lapo banged his fist on the steering wheel. He was losing control. He was losing it. Piero, watching from the garden, observed the flash of red on Marianna’s pristine dress and closed his eyes as though in pain.