Page 36 of The Venice Murders

‘When you say her father had been unwell, how unwell?’ Flora swooped on the information she hadn’t known before. Piero Benetti had appeared perfectly fit on their trip to Burano.

‘He’d had a heart attack. He’s OK now, back to work, I believe, but it was uncertain for a while and hugely worrying for her. She’s his only child.’

‘No other family?’

‘His wife was too sickly to have more children and died when Bianca was a small girl. She seems very close to her father though they don’t always get on. Bianca has her own ideas and they’re not always his. He planned for her to work in an office when she left school – actually found her a job in a local boatbuilder’s, she told me. But she hated it from the first day and begged him to let her leave and travel. What she most wanted was to improve her English. She reckoned that would mean she could move to a better job. In the end, after a lot of nagging, it seems he agreed she could go for a short holiday as long as she lived with people he knew. She stayed in Worthing – his late wife had distant relatives there.’

Sally took a long drink of her remaining wine. ‘Her father was delighted when she came back to Venice, she said, but now this fiancé business seems to have really stirred him up. From what I can gather, he was impressed by Franco Massi, at least to begin with. Probably believed the chap genuinely loved Bianca, but then Franco walked out on her. Dumped her just like that. No real reason. I can see why her father is so angry – and anger’s not good for a heart.’

A final sip and Sally had emptied her glass. ‘Oh, Jack’s been successful!’ She smiled broadly. ‘Reinforcements, Flora!’

Flora looked across the crowded terrace. Somehow her husband was finding a way through the scatter of tables and drinkers, balancing three full wine glasses between his hands.

‘So how was Abbeymead when you left?’ he asked, handing the women their drinks and purloining a spare seat from a neighbouring table.

‘Much the same.’ Sally gave a smile that could only be called weary. ‘Kate and Tony are battling to manage the café while looking after a baby who has colic, poor darling. Auntie seems happier, now that I’ve managed to recruit more staff for the kitchen. Oh, and Hector and Rose have named the day.’

This last snippet of information was given as airily as Sally could manage, but neither Jack nor Flora were deceived. Hector Lansdale was always going to be a prickly subject. For a time, the Priory’s sous chef had been Sally’s conquest until he set eyes on Rose, Flora’s assistant at the bookshop, and set the Abbeymead tongues wagging. Rose Lawson was a woman who had already had one husband, and that for the village was deemed quite sufficient.

‘I’m glad the Priory is doing so well,’ Flora said, trying to bridge the uneasy silence that had fallen. ‘And glad that Alice is feeling more cheerful.’ As head chef, Sally’s aunt was a kingpin of the hotel.

‘She’s amazingly cheerful, in fact.’ Sally leaned across the table. ‘She suspects a plot!’ This was said in a stage whisper. ‘You’d better get back to the village quickly with your sleuthing hats on or she’ll steal your thunder!’

‘The new tenant?’ Flora hazarded a guess.

‘The very same.’ Sally burst out laughing. ‘Auntie thinks he may be some kind of spy. Why, she asked me, has he moved to Abbeymead? Why doesn’t he work? He’s no more than fifty, apparently. And if he’s got money, why choose to rent Overlay of all places? I know you loved it, Jack, but these days the house has become quite run-down.’

‘Do you think there’s anythingtosuspect?’ Flora was inclined to take Alice’s qualms more seriously.

‘No, of course not, but I’m not saying so. If it keeps Auntie happy, it’s worth having fun with. It’s quite comical after all the times she’s scolded the pair of you for poking around, and here she is setting up as her own detective.’

‘Let’s hope not,’ Jack said lazily. ‘We don’t want any competition!’

‘About Bianca…’ Flora was eager to return to the subject. ‘What reason did Franco give for ending the engagement?’

‘Like I said, no real reason. A pathetic excuse at best. Bianca certainly thought so and so did her father. Franco said his parents were elderly and increasingly needed his help, particularly now that his younger brother’s disability had become worse. If he was married with his own family, he said, he couldn’t give his parents the time or the care they should have. And living in Mestre – he and Bianca were buying a flat there – while he still worked on the Giudecca meant long days and even less spare time. Itispathetic, don’t you think?’

Flora nodded. ‘His parents haven’t suddenly grown old. He must have considered the problems he’d face before he asked Bianca to marry him.’

‘It’s more likely that Mestre put him off.’

They stared at Jack. ‘It’s not exactly a smart place,’ he said, ‘but presumably it was what they could afford.’

‘Why would that put him off?’ Flora was puzzled.

‘Think about it. The man worked in a luxury hotel, the best in Venice. The disjunction between that and living in a semi-industrial area would be jarring.’

‘But he would never expect to live in Cipriani-style,’ Flora objected.

‘No,’ Sally said thoughtfully, ‘but he probably wanted better than Mestre. Bianca took me there yesterday and showed me the flat they were going to buy. It looked OK, reasonable, I suppose, but from what she said of Franco, I really couldn’t see him living there.’

‘What did she say of Franco?’

‘That he was extremely smart. It was the first thing she noticed about him. How well-groomed he was, how his clothes fitted perfectly, what beautiful manners he had.’

Remembering Franco’s suave greeting when they’d arrived at the Cipriani and what she’d seen of his room there, Flora inwardly agreed.

‘How did they meet?’ she asked.

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