Page 22 of Palazzo
Luca claimed to Gian Battista that it was all a trumped-up case against him because of the flask. He denied the charges and demanded that Gian Battista get him out of jail immediately.
“I’ll look into it,” Gian Battista said in a dry tone. Luca’s fall had been a long time coming and didn’t surprise him. He knew that if he was found guilty, Luca would go to prison, no matter how illustrious his family was, and Gian Battista personally felt he belonged there.
The attorney called Luca back two hours later, having spoken to the chief detective and the chief of police, his friend. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Luca was guilty, and they believed they could prove it. They had told him about the sworn statement from the dealer at the casino. It was all hearsay, but it had the ring of truth. Gian Battista told Luca about the statement without giving up the man’s name.
“I was drunk,” Luca shrieked into the phone.
“I’m sure you were, but you gave them all the information they needed to convict you, and you bragged about the insurance money.”
“I need you to come here and get me out,” Luca said, sounding desperate.
“I can’t. I’ll get a good man I know in Venice to be your lawyer. I don’t do criminal law. I’d be doing you a disservice if I took the case.” He would have done it in an instant for Cosima if she needed him, but not her brother. Gian Battista had a powerful dislike for everything Luca represented, and thought he belonged exactly where he was. He called the lawyer, who took the case as a favor to GianBattista. Then Gian Battista had the thankless task of calling Cosima and telling her where Luca was and what had happened. She was silent for a moment afterwards, digesting what he had said.
“Do you think the lawyer can get him off?” she asked him.
“I honestly don’t know. I doubt it. The evidence is strong against him. He wasn’t smart enough to pull it off and not get caught, and if he could have let you take the blame, he would have. That’s who he is.” She sighed as she listened.
“I know. I don’t know if I love him or hate him. Maybe both. I’ve been responsible for him for fifteen years, but he has never turned into a decent human being, or the man he should have been.”
“And he never will,” Gian Battista said with certainty, and no pity for Luca. “I don’t think you can stop what’s coming. He’ll probably make some kind of deal with them to get off or reduce his sentence if he’s found guilty. Be careful, Cosima. He’ll sacrifice you in an instant, or anyone in his path. Keep your distance. You’re not responsible for him anymore, and he never lived up to your faith in him, or your parents’. He has to live with that now.” She knew he was right, but she felt bad for her brother. She told Allegra what had happened, and Allegra was realistic about it. She saw him more clearly now than her older sister and understood how worthless he was. She had lost all her illusions about him. He had tried to burn down their home and implicated them all. They could all have ended up in jail for arson and fraud, and still might.
Cosima didn’t rush to Venice to see Luca, or try to rescue him, and he didn’t call her. He knew she couldn’t help him, so she was of no use to him.
She called Olivier in Paris that night and told him that Luca was in jail.
“I’m sorry for you,” he said sincerely, “but I think he deserves it. Do you think he’ll get out of it?”
“No, I don’t,” she said. She didn’t disagree with him. They all felt the same way about Luca. He had committed a crime and had to pay for it now. She thought even her father would have believed that. She just hoped he would learn a lesson and clean up his life when he got out.
—
Gian Battista informed Cosima when Luca was formally charged with arson and intent to commit insurance fraud. Any concerns about her were dropped, and the entire guilt rested on her brother, where it belonged. Gian Battista said that Luca was trying to make a deal to lighten his sentence if he was found guilty, or even to get them to drop the charges. She couldn’t imagine what kind of deal he could make. Luca was trading on his name and his family, which was getting him nowhere, and two days later, Olivier called her, and sounded near tears.
“Max was arrested this morning, at the request of the Italian police. Apparently, Luca told them that Max helped him plan it and set fire to the palazzo with him, hence the flask with both their prints on it at the scene. They were going to share Luca’s portion of the insurance money when he got it. Max is being charged with the same crimes as Luca, to a slightly lesser degree because they believe he was an accessory, but not the one who planned it. Luca had alreadybragged at the casino that he was the mastermind behind it. They could serve as much as ten years in prison,” Olivier said, sounding devastated. She felt terrible for him, and guilty that her brother had caused it. But in some ways Luca and Max were equally to blame, looking for fast money, no matter what they had to do to get it.
“They won’t serve that in Italy,” Cosima reassured him. “People rarely go to prison in Italy. No one was injured, no one died. They didn’t get the money. What they did is awful, but at most they’ll serve five years or even two.” She thought it was disgusting too that her brother had sold out his friend to save his own skin. That wasn’t lost on Olivier either. Luca was rotten through and through.
“There’s a hearing in two weeks. I’m going to be there. I assume you will too,” she said hesitantly.
“Yes, of course,” Olivier said. “Let’s go together. Max is on his way to Venice right now. I have to find him a lawyer in Venice, maybe your friend could help me.”
“Of course. I’ll ask him.”
“I never thought a child of mine would go to prison.”
“We never thought that either. It would have killed my parents, but he’s been out of control for years. I wasn’t strong enough to rein him in. I wasn’t old enough at the beginning.”
“I don’t think that’s it. I think there is something broken and deeply twisted way deep down in people like Luca and Max. Max’s mother was like that too, and came to no good. She got into drugs right after he was born.”
“I don’t know where it comes from on our side. Some rotten nobleman in the fifteenth century maybe. But I think you’re right. Luca is broken. He always has been. I tried to fix him, and I couldn’t.”
“You can’t. It’s up to each of them, and they don’t want to be fixed. I’m not looking forward to the hearing.”
“How was Max when he left?”
“Shocked. He didn’t say a word.” His coconspirator had betrayed him, which shocked all of them too. Luca had no loyalties or decency at all.
“I’m so sorry,” she said to Olivier.
