Page 20 of The Venice Murders

‘You’re just as desperate – normally. Don’t pretend otherwise!’

‘But not this time. Not on what should be a very special holiday.’

‘We’ve promised MassimoandFather Renzi that we’d do what we could to discover what’s been going on – maybe we shouldn’t have promised, but we did.’

‘OK,’ he said, taking her hand, ‘but what does Bianca have to do with any of it? Nothing, as far as I can see.’

‘Asolo,’ Flora said, with certainty. ‘Asolo is where the priest’s difficulties began and where there’s still a family who hates him. It’s too much of a coincidence that Father Renzi was driven from the town and now faces a dreadful situation in Venice. This latest trouble has its roots in the past, I’m convinced.’

‘But Bianca – I still don’t see why it’s important to talk to her. Apart from the fact that she’s no wish to talk to us. She made that pretty clear.’

‘She was at work. It was difficult. And we weren’t given the time to speak to her properly. I think we should try again. Persuade her, if we can, to forget how angry she feels about Franco – for a short while at least – and cast her mind back to conversations she had with him. Conversations when he might have told her something – not daily worries, she was quite scathing about that – but suspicions he might have over what was happening in his home town. He would know Luigi Tasca. He would know Matteo Pretelli. And he returned home regularly. On one of those visits perhaps he discovered something about the priest or about the Tascas.’

‘That isn’t just a long shot, Flora, it’s out of sight. When is Franco supposed to have passed on this vital information? The man dipped out of his engagement weeks ago and now he’s dead.’

She gave a small hunch of her shoulders. ‘I know it’s unlikely that Bianca will be any help, but we have to follow the few leads we have. If they go nowhere, we can say honestly to the priest and your fath— and the count…that we tried but weren’t successful.’

He unlocked their door and walked through into the bedroom, crossing to the long windows and flinging them wide. ‘We could say that anyway and forget the whole business.’

‘But that would be a lie.’

‘It would, but would it matter?’ He turned to her. ‘What’s most important – finding out who stole Father Renzi’s painting, or our honeymoon?’

Flora plumped herself down on the bed. ‘It’s not just a painting, though, is it? There’s the safety of an elderly woman at stake – and justice for a man who could have been killed for simply knowing too much.’

A deep ridge appeared between Jack’s eyes. ‘If it wasn’t for the housekeeper, I’d give up the questioning right now.’

‘But you won’t?’

He gave a shake of his head. ‘I won’t, not until she turns up, hopefully unharmed. But Franco Massi’s death is another matter. That could well have been an accident, and why should it have any connection to what happened at Santa Margarita? Apart from the fact that Franco and the priest come from the same town, there’s no obvious connection.’

‘I’ve a hunch.’

Jack joined her on the bed, smoothing the strands of copper hair from her face. ‘Oh, one of those!’

Flora’s hunches had become the stuff of teasing between them.

‘Yes, one of those. I think we should eat at La Zucca again. Tomorrow, perhaps?’

There was bewilderment on his face. ‘But why? Why go back there?’

‘It’s another avenue. Another path to explore. If Bianca knows nothing when we speak to her again, perhaps someone at the restaurant will. Franco was furious on the night he died and his quarrel was with the owner of La Zucca.’

‘If Franco was concerned the restaurant owner was involved in something shady, which is what you’re suggesting, why would he have recommended the place to us a few hours earlier?’

‘Something happened in the hours between?’

‘Like what?’

‘Franco was very, very angry,’ she said stubbornly. ‘There has to have been a reason for that.’

‘No doubt, but it could be something totally unconnected to Asolo, to the Tascas, to the priest. In fact, it’s almost impossible to think it would be connected. Perhaps the restaurant gave a Cipriani guest a poor meal and Franco came to protest.’

‘It was more than a protest, but you’re right,’ she said calmly. ‘There could have been any number of reasons for the quarrel. But if it was personal…if the restaurant owner has links to Asolo…’

‘And how do we find that out?’

‘We ask him.’

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