Page 34 of Murder at the Ponte Vecchio

‘No, I had already mentioned the cigar box, but I just said it was in there and it contained items of considerable value allegedly belonging to Axel Jacobs. But that isn’t common knowledge to everybody in thequestura,only to people with access to the file – and that definitely includes our three suspects. Why do you ask?’

‘I reckon I might have come up with a way of setting a trap. What time did you say you’re going to see Luuc Berg this morning?’

‘Nine. Do you want to tag along?’

‘That would be good, yes, thanks, but I need to sit down and talk to you first to see what you think of my idea. Why don’t we meet up somewhere before nine so I can go through what I’ve been thinking?’

Before going to meet Virgilio, I loaded what Anna calls my ‘bag of tricks’ into the van. This is a small case in which I keep mainly electronic surveillance equipment, ranging from tracking devices to spy cameras and voice-activated eavesdropping recorders.

Virgilio and I met up in the car park of a supermarket on the outskirts of Signa and parked side by side in a remote corner. He came and joined me in my van, stretching his arm back to ruffle Oscar’s ears and dissuade him from climbing over the back of the rear seat. After he had suitably greeted my dog, he turned back towards me and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

‘Well, what’s this plan of yours?’

Ever since the first spark of an idea had occurred to me, I’d been turning this over in my head. It wasn’t perfect, but it might do the trick.

‘This is principally aimed at the three police suspects, but seeing as we’re talking to Luuc Berg this morning, maybe we can extend it to him as well.’ I pulled out the bag of gravel andhanded it to him. ‘Without opening the top of the cigar box, it’s impossible to tell whether it’s full of diamonds or gravel, right?’ He nodded and I continued. ‘What I’m suggesting is that we open the safe, take the diamonds out of the box, put them into a bag and leave them there. Then we refill the cigar box with gravel. Like I say, for anybody who sees the closed box, who’s to say what’s inside it?’

He nodded. ‘Okay, I get that, but what are you planning on doing with the box of fake diamonds?’

‘I suggest you stick it in a clear evidence bag so it’s easily identified and take it back to your office. Somehow or other, it will then be up to you to make sure that the three prime suspects are aware that you’ve got it. Faldo will be easy enough because he’s already been assigned to the case. Superintendent Grande is your superior officer so it would be normal for you to report to him, and you could maybe ask him to inform thevice questore. By the way, I hope you didn’t mind my having a go at him yesterday, but he got on my nerves. I rather hope he turns out to be the killer. I really didn’t like the man.’

Virgilio laughed. ‘I almost choked myself trying not to laugh. After you’d left, he queried which branch of the force you were from – quite probably so he could put in a complaint for impertinence to a superior officer – and I told him that you were from outside the force, something to do with the Protezione degli Animali. Anyway, go on with your plan.’

‘I’ve brought a selection of surveillance devices with me and what I would suggest is that you take the box of gravel back to thequesturaand make sure that the suspects know that you’ve locked it into one of the drawers of your desk. I’ve seen your desk. It was probably made thirty or forty years ago and the locks should be very easy to pick or to force. I’ll set up a couple of cameras in your office and then we sit back and wait to see what happens.’

Virgilio took his time before replying. When he did, there was caution in his voice. ‘I think it’s worth a go, but I seriously doubt whether our killer would take the chance of exposing his identity by removing such valuable evidence. After all, my office could only be accessed by a serving officer and he’d know that by stealing evidence, he’d immediately start a witch hunt. Let’s try it, by all means, and I hope it works, but my feeling is that the killer has acted very professionally so far and I doubt whether he’d be prepared to take such a risk now.’

‘I know what you mean, but he’s almost certainly already killed the two Dutchmen, plus probably the two asylum seekers, so as to get his hands on the contents of that cigar box. Maybe he desperately needs the money. Given that it seems very likely that he tried to kill Marco, this means that he knows we’re onto him and it’ll only be a matter of time before the noose tightens around him. What if he’s decided to make a run for it before we catch up with him? Three hundred thou would be a nice little nest egg to help him start a new life somewhere a long way away. I’m certainly not suggesting that you give up the investigation in the meantime but, like you, I think it’s worth a go.’

‘And Luuc Berg, how do we involve him?’

‘I’ve been thinking about that. Why don’t you call him into your office and arrange to leave him alone with the box for a few minutes? You never know, he might succumb to temptation.’

‘Okay, that’s easy enough to do. I’ll ask him if he minds dropping in to see me later today. I’m sure I can invent a suitable excuse – like trying to identify a photo or some such.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Right, shall we go up to the villa now?’

I followed him up the road to David Berg’s villa and parked alongside his car. Ines opened the front door to us and we went upstairs to Berg’s study. We broke the police seal on the door, went in and closed the door behind us, pulling on disposablegloves, even though Forensics had already been through the contents of the safe with a fine-tooth comb. While Virgilio opened the safe, I took out the bag of gravel and emptied it onto a sheet of newspaper. He brought the cigar box over to the desk and carefully tipped the precious contents onto a clean sheet of paper. We then both took it in turns to weigh the diamonds in one hand and empty some of the gravel from my little bag in the other until we reckoned they were roughly equal. He then poured the diamonds into another bag and locked them securely back in the safe again. While he was doing that, I filled the cigar box with the gravel, squeezed it into a transparent evidence bag, sealed it, and handed it to Virgilio.

‘I would suggest you make sure Luuc sees the box, but don’t tell him what’s in it. If he starts talking about diamonds, that might be a step in the right direction, although, let’s face it, to be worth three hundred thousand in gold, it’s pretty obvious it has to be precious stones of some kind or maybe a different rare metal at a push.’

He nodded. ‘We can but try.’

When we went back downstairs again, we found Emma Berg and her brother waiting in the hall for us. Casper shook hands with us while his sister made a fuss of Oscar.

‘Good morning, gentlemen. I have a message for you from my brother, Luuc.’ Casper sounded irritated – either with us or with his brother. ‘You were expecting to see him here at nine, weren’t you? Well, his message was, and I quote, “I’ve never been to Florence before and I’ve got better things to do with my time. Tell the police I can see them between eleven and twelve but I’m booked for a tour of the Basilica of Santa Croce at nine-thirty, and I’m climbing Brunelleschi’s dome at one.” He said he’ll leave his phone on mute so he can be contacted by text.’ Casper shook hishead slowly. ‘I must apologise for my brother’s rudeness. I’m afraid he’s always had an awkward streak.’

Virgilio and I exchanged glances. This actually suited us better as it would solve the problem of how to get Luuc into thequestura. Virgilio thanked Casper for passing on the message and asked him if he would be kind enough to send a text to his brother, asking him to report to thequesturaas soon after eleven as he could.

I followed Virgilio into Florence and parked outside thequestura, where he surreptitiously pointed out the cars belonging to the three suspects. All three were a whole lot newer and cleaner than my van and, again, I found myself wondering how their owners could afford their respective lifestyles – particularly Inspector Faldo, as his salary was the lowest of the three.

Upstairs, I wasted no time in setting the trap, concealing two tiny cameras – each little bigger than a cherry – pointing towards the desk from different directions. I hid one among files on a shelf with the other peeking out of the folds of a scarf abandoned on top of a filing cabinet since winter. Virgilio set the cigar box down on his desk and made a phone call.

‘Hello, Superintendent Grande, I’ve just got back from the Berg villa and I thought it might be useful to give you and Faldo a summary of how far we’ve got with the investigation. Could you spare me a few minutes?’

When he set the phone down, he was smiling. ‘Excellent! Grande told me that thevicequestorehas been asking about the Berg case and he’s going to see if he can get him to come along for my briefing as well. That way, I can get all three of them together.’ He indicated Oscar, who was very interested in something in Virgilio’s waste bin. ‘You’d better clear off and take your four-legged friend with you. Verdi will blow a gasket if he sees him in here again.’

‘Right, I’m off. Good luck.’

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