Page 7 of Murder at Christmas

‘Should we start thinking about turning back?’

Valentina nodded, and I called Oscar. Seconds later, he appeared from the shadows with his huge new buddy at his heels, and we started to head back the way we had come. I delicately brought up the other question that had been on my mind.

‘It was very kind of your father to invite Anna and me. Presumably, that was Selena’s doing? Are she and your father…?’

I didn’t need to say more. Valentina understood, but her reply came as a surprise.

‘They’re fairly friendly, but not in that way – although it’s not for want of trying on his part.’ Her tone was sour again. ‘She’s here for business – at least that’s whatshesays – but I imagine he has other ideas.’ Even in the shadows, she could probably see my quizzical expression so she went on. ‘He’s trying to persuade her to become the face of Aquila – you know, doing adverts and appearing everywhere using the company’s gear – but, as I say, it’s obvious he can’t get over the fact that she’s a beautiful woman and he’s like a moth to a flame. It’s about time he got that sort of thing out of his system and then maybe he’ll be able to start dedicating himself to the business a bit more.’

‘And to you and your brother, of course?’

She didn’t answer, and the silence spoke volumes. I felt a wave of affection and sympathy for her. What was that thing about the poor little rich girl? I changed tack again, determined to try and cheer her up.

‘So what are you doing now? Are you working, studying?’

‘I’m in the process of finishing a doctorate at Nottingham University. My father wanted me to do an MBA and join the company, but that’s the last thing I’d ever want to do. I’ve seen what it’s done to my father and now to my brother as well.’

Although I was tempted to dig a bit deeper into what she had just said about her brother, I decided to leave that for now. Instead, I queried what she was doing for her doctorate, and she elaborated.

‘I’m a geologist. I’m doing a PhD on asbestos mining in this part of northern Piedmont and its effects on public health.’

‘Wow, I didn’t know there was asbestos around here. That can be a killer.’

‘And it was. There have been numerous cases of asbestos-linked cancer. Did you know that asbestos used to be minedusing the opencast method – effectively throwing up lethal dust into the atmosphere, which then blew down the valleys and into people’s lungs? And as if that wasn’t bad enough, there were factories producing asbestos sheets, where the workers were exposed to the stuff all day long. Fortunately, the mines, including the worst one of all – the biggest in Europe, only thirty kilometres down the road from here – were closed in 1990 and covered over.’

I was still digesting this frightening information when we got back to the villa. Walking into the warmth was wonderful and I could feel my face and ears burning. The crowd in the lounge had reduced in size, and by a process of elimination, I worked out that Selena, Bartolomeo Viviani and his son, Orlando, along with Calogero Naselli, the Head of Accounts, and stern-looking Ingrid were missing. I wondered if they had gone off to start negotiations to see if they could attract Selena to be the face of Aquila Sports for next year. The only people left in the lounge were white-haired Umberto Viviani and his wife, along with Cinzia Naselli, Orlando’s wife, Fiona, and the young man named William. He was sitting on his own at a side table, engrossed in his laptop, but he looked up when we came in and Valentina went over to sit with him. I immediately wondered if this was just her being a good hostess or whether there might be something going on between them but, I reminded myself, this was no business of mine – at least for now. The others were sitting on the three sofas – it was a big room. Anna had positioned herself alongside Cinzia Naselli, but when she saw me, she got up and came across to meet me.

‘You look healthy! You’re glowing – and your ears look as if they’re burning.’

I gave my ears a tap. It felt as if they were gradually coming back to life. ‘It’s bitterly cold out there. I wouldn’t think anybodywould survive outside for long without shelter. It’s absolutely freezing. We did bring my woolly hat, didn’t we?’

She shook her head, and my heart sank for a moment. ‘That scruffy old thing – no way. You can wear that back home in the garden if you like, but I went out and bought you a new woolly skiing hat. It’s upstairs in the bag along with your gloves.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘Paolo tells me our room’s ready and that cocktails will be served down here from six-thirty. I’d quite like to take a shower and change into something a bit smarter first – and it might be an idea if you did the same. He’s told me where our room is. Shall we go up?’

I followed her back along the corridor to the hall. Before leaving the lounge, Oscar shot a look at Winston, who had headed straight for the fire and was now stretched out on a rug in front of it, looking as if he had just run a marathon. Despite his thick fur coat, he clearly didn’t have a problem with the heat – or the cold. Deciding against joining him, Oscar followed us out of the room.

The staircase leading up from the entrance lobby was, predictably, made of solid wood with carved rails and posts. The treads were laid with a thick blue carpet that continued onto the first-floor landing and along the corridors that led off it to the left and the right. We turned left and walked to the end, passing four other rooms on the way, each of which had a ceramic plaque on the door depicting a different type of flower. Our door had a little red tulip on it.

We had been given a corner room, and it was predictably luxurious with windows on two of the walls, an enormous bed and an ultramodern bathroom. A sturdy tree trunk served as a beam to support the ceiling, and the rustic theme was echoed by the sculpted window surrounds and the carved wooden furniture. Paolo had been true to his word, and our bags were sitting on a low bench set against the side wall. While Oscarsniffed happily about, I asked Anna what she thought of our host, and she answered with a grin.

‘The reincarnation of Casanova, you mean. Talk about touchy-feely. He certainly fancies himself, and I think I’ll keep out of his way from now on just in case. Selena has been keeping an eye on me anyway, so it’s all good.’ She leant over and kissed me on the cheek. ‘It’s all right,carissimo; you won’t need to fight a duel with him for my honour.’

I smiled back and looked around before pointing to a spot beneath one of the windows. ‘I’ll go and get Oscar’s bed from the van and put it there. Okay?’

She nodded in agreement, and I went back out again, my canine shadow following at my heels. I let myself out of the front door, noticing as I did so that it wasn’t locked, but I reflected that it was unlikely that anybody would come visiting up here at night – or by day, for that matter. There was no doubt about it, we were just about as far off the grid as it was possible to get anywhere in Italy, if not in the whole of Europe. As Selena had said on the phone, Bartolomeo’s hideaway was certainly in a very secure location.

I hadn’t stopped to put my jacket on, so I didn’t waste time. I jogged over to the van, my clouds of breath in the freezing air making me feel like a steam engine, pulled out Oscar’s bed and his all-important food bag, then hurried back into the villa again before my ears started freezing once more. As I closed the front door behind me, I almost bumped into an unfamiliar face.

This was a fair-haired woman, probably in her early thirties, and I didn’t need to be a detective to see that she was furious about something. Her cheeks were red, her lips tight shut, and I could almost hear her grinding her teeth. She looked up at me in surprise and did her best to summon a smile.

‘Good evening, sir, my name is Marina. Can I help you?’

I remembered her name as being Paolo’s wife. Her English was hesitant and nothing like as good as her husband’s, so I answered in Italian. ‘Good evening, Marina. My name’s Dan, and this is Oscar. My wife and I are friends of Selena Gardner and we only arrived an hour ago. Are you all right? Has something upset you?’

For a moment, I got the feeling that she would have liked to unburden herself but, no doubt remembering that I was one of the guests, she just shook her head. ‘No, thank you, sir, just something that happened, but it’s not important.’

By this time, Oscar had worked out that she was unhappy and had wandered over to nuzzle her gently. This managed to bring a real smile to her face, and she stroked his head before giving me what looked like a hint of a curtsey, after which she turned and disappeared along a side corridor, from which both Oscar and I could smell a lovely aroma of food wafting towards us.

I carried on up the stairs, wondering why she had looked so angry – might it have had something to do with her ‘touchy-feely’ boss? Oscar, on the other hand, was probably wondering what was for dinner.