Blood from a stone - Donna Leon

‘What do you think?’ she asked in a voice so level he had no idea if she was talking about the pesto or the reason for Patta’s fear. He waited, knowing his silence would prod her to explain. ‘You know him better than I do,’ she finally said, ‘so I thought you’d be able to sense which it is, his job or his safety.’

Brunetti thought about this for some time and finally admitted, ‘No, nothing more than that he’s very frightened.’

‘If you keep going, you’ll find out,’ she volunteered.

‘Investigating, you mean?’

She stopped and looked at him, surprised. ‘I assumed you’d continue to investigate, no matter what he said. What I meant was if you continue to let him know that you’re doing it.’

‘I’ll try to see that he doesn’t find out,’ Brunetti said.

‘To spare his feelings?’

Brunetti laughed. ‘No, to spare my job.’

‘He can’t fire you, can he?’ she asked, and he could already see her marshalling the forces of her family and their network of connections.

Brunetti considered this, then answered, ‘No, I don’t think he could do that on his own. But he could suggest that I be transferred. That’s the usual way of getting rid of people.’

‘What sort of people?’ she asked.

Walking at her side, he occasionally fell back a step to allow others to pass them on the narrow calli. ‘Inconvenient people,’ he answered finally.

‘Which means?’

‘People who ask questions and who try to prevent the entire system from becoming hopelessly corrupt,’ he said, surprising himself with his own seriousness.

She reached and took his arm and tucked it under her own. He had no idea if the gesture was a request for help or an offer to provide it. It didn’t much matter to him which it was.

16

Brunetti woke the next morning to bright sunlight. For the last week, the fog had been trying to transform itself into rain but had managed to do nothing more than drape a slick film on the pavements. During the night the rain had finally come — Brunetti had a vague memory of hearing it slash against the windows while he slept — but some time before dawn it had given up and left the day to the sun.

He lay in bed, made happy by the strip of light that spread across the bottom of the covers. He turned on to his back and stretched to his full length and, yes, his feet found that, at the very bottom of the bed, where the sun had been shining for some time, it was warm.

A half-hour later he woke again, this time suddenly, remembering that Christmas was only four days away, and he had, once again, done nothing about getting gifts for anyone. His first impulse was to blame Paola for not having reminded him, but the instant he caught himself thinking that, he cringed away, embarrassed, from the idea. A few minutes later, she came into the room, carrying a large cup of caffè latte. She wore a green woollen dress he did not remember having seen before. She set the cup and saucer on the table beside him, sat on the edge of the bed, and said, ‘I wanted to be sure you were up before I left.’

‘Where are you going?’

‘To meet my mother and take her shopping.’

He picked up the cup and pulled it close to his mouth before asking, ‘Christmas shopping?’

‘Yes. I don’t know what to get my father.’

He took three small sips, drawing in life with each one. ‘I don’t know what to get anyone.’

‘You never do,’ she said mildly and with great affection. ‘If you meet me at four at San Bortolo, we can go and get some things together.’

‘You’re not home for lunch?’ he asked, trying not to sound aggrieved.

‘I told you last night, Guido. My mother and I are invited to Aunt Federica’s for lunch today.’

That explained the dress, then. He drank more coffee and stifled the impulse to ask her how she could stand the thought of two hours in the company of her aunt. But if she was willing to go shopping with him, something she loathed even more than he did, then he would forgo comment on her family.

‘We go every year; you know that,’ she said. She saw the face he made when she spoke of certain members of her family, and it prompted her to say, ‘Remember that she’s the one who brought a successful case against the diocese of Messina for fraud.’

He covered his eyes with his left hand and asked, ‘Must you always brag about your family?’ When Paola made no reply, he looked out at her from between his fingers. She did not smile.

He set the cup on the saucer, chose the noble path and said, as if he approved of her destination, ‘Sorry. I’d forgotten you told me you were going. Four o’clock is fine. I’ll try to think of what I’d like to get everyone.’

She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. ‘I love it when you lie to me.’ She pushed herself away from him and was about to get up from the bed when he lunged and seized her in both arms.

He pulled her towards him, watching her astonishment, delighted by it. He squeezed. She laughed. He squeezed again. She giggled. Suddenly he let her go and she jumped to her feet.

‘Will you do that to Patta the next time he accuses you of lying to him?’ she asked.

He looked her up and down. ‘Only if he wears a dress as short as that one.’ He pushed the covers aside and got out of bed.

Strangely enough, the sun appeared to have had no effect on the temperature: when Brunetti left the house, it felt even colder than it had the day before. By the time he got to Rialto, he felt the cold in his ears and nose, and he regretted the light-hearted optimism that had encouraged him to leave his gloves and scarf at home. As if the fog of the previous week had also dropped from his eyes, he registered for the first time that the city was ready for Christmas: tinsel and bulbs hung in almost every shop window.

He looked up and saw that strings of lights crossed above his head: how could he have walked home in the dark for weeks and not have noticed this? His thoughts turned to Paola’s Aunt Federica. Brunetti knew that she had taken Paola aside, years ago, and warned her that her marriage to a man ‘of his class’ would be her ruination, not only personally but also, and far more importantly, socially. It was not until the birth of their second child that Paola had told him about her aunt’s remark, and he had been so drunk with joy at the sight of Chiara’s toes that he had said only, ‘Socially?’ and laughed: a Falier could marry the dustman and suffer no social consequences.

He was glad to enter the Questura if only for the warmth to be found in some parts of the building. In his office he shed his overcoat and headed back down towards Signorina Elettra’s office. Unfortunately, he ran into Patta on the stairs. ‘Good morning, Commissario,’ he said. ‘I’d like a word with you.’

‘Of course, sir,’ Brunetti answered, falling into step with him and giving every indication that he was a man who had been in the office for hours, was already well entrenched in his work for the day. He resisted the temptation to ask what it was that Patta wanted or to display his surprise at finding Patta at work so early and followed him into the small anteroom where Signorina Elettra and her computer held court.

She smiled at them but said good morning only to her superior before returning her attention to her computer screen. Patta went into his office; Brunetti turned at the door and looked back, but Signorina Elettra had time only to give a small shrug before he closed the door and followed Patta over to his desk. His superior removed his overcoat and laid it over the back of the second visitor’s chair, careful to fold it so that Brunetti could see the Ermenegildo Zegna label. Brunetti made an attempt to look suitably impressed and waited for Patta to take his seat before sitting down himself.

‘I want to talk to you about this vu cumprà thing,’ Patta announced.

Brunetti nodded but made sure to look inattentive, as if to suggest that he had heard about the vu cumprà some time in the past and would not mind being reminded just what they were.

‘Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about, Brunetti,’ Patta said irritably.

Brunetti nudged his expression a little closer to intelligence and asked, ‘Yes, sir?’

‘As you might recall, I told you I thought it would be too complex a case for us to handle,’ Patta began; Brunetti resisted the impulse to tell him that, no, he had not said that but had ordered him — without explanation — to stay away from the case. He contented himself with nodding, waiting to see what manoeuvre Patta had devised. ‘I was right,’ Patta said with every indication of modesty at what must to him have seemed embarrassing redundancy. ‘It has ramifications far beyond Venice, and so it’s been assigned to special investigators from the Ministry of the Interior, who will take over from you.’ He looked at Brunetti to assess his response.

When his subordinate said nothing, Patta went on, ‘They’re already here and have begun their investigation. I’ve had all the records and documents handed over to them.’ Again he stopped, but in the face of Brunetti’s continuing silence was forced to resume. ‘They believe the killing is related to another case they’re dealing with at the moment.’

‘And what case would that be, sir?’ asked a respectful Brunetti.

‘They are not at liberty to tell me that,’ Patta answered.

‘I see,’ Brunetti said, his imagination spawning possibilities as quickly as a cell divides.

‘I think this is a case of what the Americans call “need-to-know”,’ Patta said, unable to disguise his pride in having thought to use — and managed to pronounce — the foreign term. Then, as if concerned that Brunetti might not have understood, he added, ‘That is, only people who are directly involved in the case will have access to the information obtained.’

Brunetti nodded, silent.

Patta paused for so long that he began to give evidence of finding the silence embarrassing. He pushed himself back in his chair and crossed his legs, trying to wait Brunetti out and force him to speak. The silence grew. Finally Patta could stand it no longer and asked, ‘Do you understand?’

In a completely neutral voice, Brunetti said, ‘I think I do,’ and then asked, ‘Will that be all, sir?’

‘Yes.’

Brunetti got to his feet and left the room. As he closed the door, he glanced in Signorina Elettra’s direction but left her office without speaking to her.

He went to the officers’ room and walked over to Vianello, who was at his desk. ‘Do you have copies of the files?’ Brunetti asked.

‘You mean about the African?’

‘Yes.’

Vianello got up and went over to the battered filing cabinet that stood between the windows of the far wall. He pulled open the top drawer and flicked through some folders until he reached the back of the drawer, then went back to the front and looked through them again. He pushed the drawer closed and returned to his desk. He looked into the two files that lay to the right of the telephone, then opened all of the desk drawers, one by one. He looked up at Brunetti and shook his head.

Together, without bothering to speak, they went upstairs to Brunetti’s office, but his own search for the files proved just as fruitless as Vianello’s. ‘Scarpa?’ Brunetti asked.

‘Probably,’ Vianello agreed. ‘But it’s so stupid to take them. She’s got them on her computer, so she can simply make more copies.’

Both of them considered this, then it occurred to Brunetti to wonder if this were indeed the case. He was reluctant to appear anywhere near Signorina Elettra so soon after having left Patta’s office, and he did not want to use the internal phone to ask her about them. ‘I’d like you to go down and ask her if she’s still got copies,’ he told Vianello.

The inspector left the office. During the time Vianello was gone, Brunetti considered the situation. He knew how easy it would be to remove a file, any file, multiple files, from the various cabinets or offices in the Questura, but he failed to understand how, or if, information could be removed from Signorina Elettra’s computer. Instinct and past experience suggested that Lieutenant Scarpa was the person most likely to have been involved in the removal of the actual documents, but Patta’s reference to the Ministry of the Interior meant that there was now a different level of competence to be reckoned with. To pass the case over to them would effectively end it in Venice and would enable Patta to reach safety; Scarpa, had he been the one to remove the files, would earn the gratitude of his superior. But, beyond the two of them, who gained — and what was to be gained — by suppressing the investigation of the death?

A week ago he had used false identification to buy a second telefonino in the name of Roberto Rossi: he had given the number to no one, not even Paola. He took it out now and dialled the number of Rizzardi’s office. When the doctor answered with his name, Brunetti said only, ‘It’s me, Bruno. Carlo.’ He paused, giving the doctor time to register the name and the warning of caution it contained. ‘I wondered if by any chance you saw that report your office sent me?’

‘Ah, yes, Carlo,’ Rizzardi answered after the shortest of pauses, ‘how nice to hear your voice. I didn’t see it until this morning and I’ve already called once, but you weren’t there. I’ve got a few photos of that, ah, new line in sweaters. I’m not sure you’re going to like them, but I think they’re something you might want to have a look at. I think we do have a few patterns you’ll really want to see.’ Rizzardi paused, then added, ‘I thought it might be more convenient if you could stop by to pick them up yourself.’

‘Ah, thanks,’ Brunetti answered. ‘I don’t think I can do it myself today. You know how busy we always are at the beginning of a season, but I’ll send one of my salesmen over to pick them up. In about half an hour, say?’

‘Fine,’ Rizzardi answered. ‘I’ll just get them ready and put them in an envelope. Tell your salesman I’ll have them with me, and he can come to my office and get them.’

‘I’ll do that, and thanks. I look forward to seeing them.’

‘Yes, I thought you would. They’re very interesting. I’ll put a price list in with them, shall I?’

‘Yes. Thanks, Bruno.’

He thought he heard a muffled laugh, or perhaps it was nothing more than a snort of disgust from Rizzardi that they had to resort to this sort of cloak and dagger caution, but whatever it was, it was over as soon as heard, and Rizzardi put the phone down.

Knowing Vianello would wait when he came back from Elettra’s office and found Brunetti’s office empty, Brunetti went down to the officers’ room and asked Pucetti to go over to the Ospedale Civile to pick up an envelope from Dottor Rizzardi. ‘But you better go home first,’ Brunetti cautioned him, ‘and change out of your uniform.’

‘I’ve got clothes in my locker, sir,’ Pucetti said, getting to his feet. ‘So I can go over now, soon as I’ve changed.’