Page 54 of The Venice Murders

Renzi cleared his throat. ‘I have an apology to make to you both. I am embarrassed that I did not speak when we met at the Pietà.’

Flora schooled her expression to neutrality and waited.

‘I had a reason,’ the priest went on, ‘though that does not excuse my discourtesy. But…you see, I had received a most disturbing communication and I did not want to speak of it. I did not want to involve you in more trouble and thought that, if we talked, this would happen. You would ask me how I am and I would have to tell.’

‘But Stephano wishes to speak today,’ the count put in hastily. ‘He has realised he must share his trouble.’

‘What trouble would that be?’ Jack’s tone was not particularly friendly. He’d appeared increasingly irritated from the moment they’d walked into the drawing room. ‘What would you have been forced to tell us?’

‘I have received a note,’ the priest began, his voice a little unsteady. ‘I do not know the writer. It was a note that mentioned my dear housekeeper, Filomena. It asked for money.’

‘A ransom?’ Jack asked swiftly. ‘You pay the money and Filomena goes free.’

Renzi nodded, seeming for the moment too overcome to speak.

‘But why not tell us the evening we met? You’re telling us now.’ Flora had begun to share her husband’s irritation.

The priest’s strange behaviour that evening had disturbed her greatly, leading her – and it was her own fault, she acknowledged – into danger. She had found it difficult, impossible in fact, to forget that frightening pursuit through the alleyways of San Polo.

‘I thought I could find the money,’ the priest said humbly. ‘I thought I could pay and bring my housekeeper home, back where she belongs. No one would be worried. No one would be in danger.’

‘But you couldn’t,’ Jack finished for him.

‘A priest is poor and it has not been possible to find all the money this person demands. So…I have had to come to my good friend, Massimo, and beg him for a loan.’

‘And his good friend Massimo has counselled that he should not pay the money at all,’ the count put in. ‘It is blackmail, nothing more, and he should go to the police.’

‘And you have been to the police?’

Flora was confused. They had been summoned here to meet Father Renzi and learn of the ransom demand, it was clear, but why, when the police were already involved?

Stephano shook his head. ‘I dare not go to them. The note – it makes plain that Filomena is safe but only for the moment. If I go to the police, what terrible thing might happen to her?’

‘So…is this where we come in? A last resort.’ Jack’s tone verged on the acid.

‘You promised to help,’ Sybil said, her voice every bit as waspish. ‘I thought you should be given the chance.’

‘How very good of you.’

‘How much money did the note mention?’ Flora cut in, impatient with the inevitable sparring between mother and son.

The priest named a sum that was so modest it had her raise her eyebrows. Jack, too, she saw, was taken by surprise. Both had been expecting a very large demand.

‘It is not much,’ Renzi said, realising what their raised brows might signify, ‘for most people, at least. But for me, it is a fortune.’

‘And you have no idea who wrote the note?’

It was a forlorn question, she knew, but the priest seemed a man who kept things close to his chest and if he had even the inkling of a suspicion, he should disclose it.

He shook his head. ‘It was not written by a hand. The letters were cut from a newspaper.’

‘The old trick,’ Jack commented. ‘But is there anyone you suspect, Father?’

The priest seemed to shrink in his chair.

‘You must say.’ Sybil stared hard at him. As always, she pulled no punches.

‘I wondered…I did wonder if it might be someone from the Tasca family. Probably it is not, but Filomena’s nephew is still friendly with Luigi and?—’

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