Page 22 of Murder at the Ponte Vecchio

I asked him where I would find the castle and he pointed over to the other side of the lake. ‘There’s not much of it left now. All of this area has been quarried for sand and gravel since theMiddle Ages and I’m sure over the years, people have helped themselves to stones from the tumbledown walls of the castle as well. There’s just the tower left now.’

After paying for my beer, I left them to their wine and Zorro to his repose and set off around the lake, passing a number of pits left over from the days of the quarry. Some of these, along with heaps of earth, were clearly part of a track for the off-road club and I spotted what was presumably their clubhouse a bit further on in the largest of the quarries, with half a dozen dusty 4 x 4s parked outside. We finally reached the remains of the castle, where I sat down on a pile of stones in the shade of the dilapidated stone tower and called Marco to ask if the Swiss safe cracker had arrived yet. There was no reply so I called Virgilio and he sounded pleased to hear from me.

‘Ciao, Dan, how’s things?’

I gave him my report. ‘As far as the three police officers you suspect are concerned, nothing much to report. Superintendent Grande goes duck hunting in a place where there are also hookers available – I’m there at the moment and that’s been confirmed as a fact. If he’s been indulging, I suppose that could make him open to blackmail and so vulnerable to being forced to interfere with police records. Inspector Faldo lives in a smart house and might be up against it as far as money is concerned so, again, that might be a cause for a bit of moonlighting, but I don’t really see him or Grande as being the main suspects. For my money, the number-one suspect – but I have nothing definite against him and it’s just a hunch really – is thevicequestore, Giuseppe Verdi. I don’t know if you’re familiar with his house, but it’s in a fabulous position and I wonder whether he might or might not be living beyond his means. If I could get hold of his bank records, it would be interesting to see if he’s been receiving sums of money over and above his salary, but Isuppose there’s no chance of that happening at this stage. Any joy your end?’

‘Thanks for doing that, Dan, and you’re right about the bank accounts. Until we can catch one of them in flagrante, there’s no way I can ask for their bank records without an unholy row blowing up. I’ve discovered nothing more. I’ve just tried calling Marco to see how he’s getting on, but it went to the answerphone. He went off home earlier so he could spend a couple of hours digging around in the personnel files without being observed, in an attempt to see if he could unearth anything about our three suspects. I expected him back by now but until he starts answering his phone, I don’t have any news. I’ll let you know if anything interesting comes up.’

‘Have you been following the David Berg case? I was wondering if the company from Switzerland have sent their technician to open the safe at Berg’s villa yet.’

‘I’ve just been reading up about the case now, but I can’t give you an answer to that yet. I imagine Marco will know, and I’ll ask him just as soon as I can speak to him. I tend to agree with him that it’s looking like aggravated robbery, but I suppose it might be a family affair. A lot will depend on the terms of the old man’s will. Thank you, by the way, for acting as interpreter for Marco at Berg’s house on Sunday. How did the family strike you?’

‘Nothing out of the ordinary. They’re obviously shocked but, after thirty years of separation, they naturally enough don’t seem particularly disturbed by the old man’s death. They came here because of a possible inheritance and, like you say, until they see the will, I can’t see how it would have been to their advantage to murder him.’

‘Hang on a minute, Dan, I’ve got another call coming through.’ I waited for no more than a minute before I heard Virgilio’s voice again, now sounding stunned. ‘Marco’s beeninvolved in an accident and they’re taking him to hospital as we speak.’

‘Wow, what sort of accident?’

‘He was found lying in the road by a passer-by. Looks like a hit and run and he’s badly injured.’

My mind was racing. Could it be that this hadn’t been a simple accident? After all, Virgilio had just told me that Marco had been trawling through the files of the three suspects. Might this mean that one of them was guilty, not only of removing the missing files, but now of attempting to murder a fellow officer in order to stop him getting too close?

‘How is Marco? How serious is it?’

‘They say it looks bad, but for now, all I know is that he’s still alive and on his way to hospital. I’m going to go there straight away.’

‘I’m out in the country with Oscar at the moment. Would you give me a call as soon as you know how he is? Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’

His voice when he replied was grim. ‘Was it really an accident?’

13

TUESDAY EVENING

The call from Virgilio didn’t come through until gone six, by which time I was back in the office, checking up on the Berg family on the Internet, but without discovering anything untoward.

Virgilio was sounding subdued. ‘He’ll live, thank God. He has a compound fracture of his left arm, four broken ribs, a fractured right calf, and concussion. The medics say he’s seriously banged up, but they don’t think he’s sustained any serious internal injuries and he’s lucky to be alive. They’re keeping him in for the foreseeable future and if all goes well, he should make a full recovery. I haven’t been able to see him because he’s heavily sedated. They say I’m going to have to wait until the morning to speak to him.’ I heard him give a little snort of frustration. ‘I can’t stop thinking about who might have done it and why.’

He went on to tell me where the accident had happened – right outside Marco’s home in the north of the city, ironically not far from the main hospital.

‘The impact threw him onto the pavement against a rubbish bin, sending it flying. He was found by a neighbour who heardthe noise of the impact but by the time she got outside to see what had happened, the vehicle was long gone. There were no other witnesses and we have no CCTV images yet, but officers are checking shops and houses in the area for any recordings from security cameras, and an appeal has gone out to drivers who were in the area at the time who might have dashcam footage. Hopefully, Marco himself will be able to shed some light on the vehicle involved, but we can’t count on it. As you and I both know only too well, victims very often remember little or nothing after catastrophic events like this.’

I checked with Virgilio to see what he intended to do next. ‘Is there any way of finding out where Grande, Verdi and Faldo were at the time of the accident? And maybe somebody could take a surreptitious look at their cars for any damage.’ Something else occurred to me. ‘It may be a genuine accident, but in case it was an attempt to silence him, might it be worth putting an officer outside his door at the hospital for now to prevent the would-be murderer from trying again?’

‘My thoughts entirely. I’ve already arranged a twenty-four-hour guard and as far as checking up on our suspects and their vehicles is concerned, I’ll have to do that myself.’ There was real frustration and anger in Virgilio’s voice. ‘I can hardly believe that I can’t even trust my own colleagues!’

‘Well, you be careful. I don’t want to hear any reports of accidents happening to you. Is there anything I can do to help?’

‘Thanks for the offer, but I can’t think of anything for now. There’s no point you even going in to see Marco as you wouldn’t be allowed to speak to him. One thing, though: in his absence, I’m taking over the Berg case, and guess who’s going to take Marco’s place for now? Inspector Roberto Faldo, and he’s been parachuted in by Superintendent Vincenzo Grande with the blessingof thevice questore. What’s that old saying about keeping your friends close but your enemies closer?’

As I digested the ramifications of this, an idea struck me. ‘If it’s all right with you, why don’t you ask me along to help translate next time you visit Berg’s villa? I’d be interested to see Faldo close up. Who knows, maybe Superintendent Grande will put in an appearance as well so I could check out both of them at the same time. Would that be okay?’

‘Definitely. That looks like being around ten tomorrow. The technician from Switzerland is flying in from Zurich on the early-morning flight. I’ll make sure he’s met at the airport and taken straight to the villa. As soon as I have final times tomorrow, I’ll give you a call. Thanks again, Dan.’

Immediately after he’d rung off, my phone started ringing again. It was the mayor returning my call. When I’d tried to contact him earlier to give him the news of his daughter’s boyfriend, he had been in a meeting.

‘Good evening, Dan. Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you. Any news?’

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