Page 37 of Murder at the Ponte Vecchio

Doing my best to keep the disgust out of my voice, I brought up the subject of the other murder. ‘So why kill Jacobs? Did you think he had the diamonds?’

‘Berg told me he’d sold them to Jacobs, but he didn’t tell me that those diamonds were still in his own safe back home. What sort of imbecile pays three hundred thousand for a box of jewels and leaves them in the vendor’s safe? I felt sure Jacobs must have had them, but then it turned out he didn’t.’

‘And when you found he didn’t have them, you killed him.’

‘What else could I do?’ Once again, he was able to make it sound like the most normal thing in the world. He glanced around and I was bracing myself, about to launch myself at him, when he turned back again. A sinister smile appeared on his face. ‘Go ahead and try, Armstrong; it won’t do you any good. You’re an old man now, and you know I can take you even without a gun.’

My ex-wife often said I was a strange character, and I have to admit that she probably had a point. In spite of the threat and the very real likelihood of my untimely demise, I found myself far more bothered by the fact that he had called me old, than by what might be about to happen to me. Considering that I’d just about run out of options, I decided to call his bluff.

I did my best to adopt a sneering tone. ‘You, take me? I know old ladies who could beat you in a fair fight.’

That same manic smile appeared on his face. ‘Yes, right, and you’re one of those old ladies, I suppose.’

‘Put your money where your mouth is. Drop the gun and let’s fight it out as men.’

The sinister smile turned into an even more sinister laugh. ‘“Fight it out as men”? Just listen to yourself. This isn’t a cornymovie, Armstrong. No heroics for me. You’re going to die and that’s that. You see, I have no choice.’

‘Why do you have no choice?’ My eyes were fixed on his right hand, waiting for any sign of movement. My nerves and sinews were stretched to breaking point.

‘You know too much, you see. It’s your own fault. If you hadn’t come snooping around here, you would never have seen me again. I’m off to pastures new.’ He stopped and produced that same sinister laugh again. ‘But it’ll give me great satisfaction to settle accounts with you, you meddling fool. The moment I saw you here, I knew what I needed to do. You really shouldn’t go sticking your nose into other people’s business, you know.’

‘What business would that be, Faldo? The diamond business or the psychotic serial-killer business?’

I saw him tense and a twitch appeared at the side of his mouth. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was going to kill me now, and my only hope was to get him so angry, he might make a mistake.

We stood there in silence for several seconds, the rain still pouring down and the tension between the two of us reaching as far as Oscar. Although I didn’t take my eyes off Faldo’s right hand for a second, I heard Oscar produce a rare growl. He could tell there was something wrong. Fortunately, Faldo also heard it and he shot a fearful sideways glance towards Oscar.

Taking advantage of Faldo’s momentary lapse, I threw myself desperately towards him. His eyes turned back and his hand was already disappearing into his jacket when, wonderfully, help in the shape of a soaking-wet, black Labrador came to my rescue. Having sensed the tension in the air, Oscar launched himself towards Faldo, producing a totally out-of-character visceral snarl as he did so. This diverted Faldo’s attention long enough for my outstretched arms to reach him and grab his right hand before hecould draw the weapon. Even better, Faldo, seeing himself attacked on two fronts by two adversaries – one of whom was exhibiting a gleaming set of teeth – took a step backwards, slipped on the soaking-wet ground, and fell backwards into the mud with me on top of him.

His right hand was gripping the handle of the pistol that was halfway out of its holster while both of my hands desperately scrabbled for possession of the weapon. He landed heavily on his back, followed a split second later by my knee into his solar plexus with the full weight of my body behind it. I gave him a punch to the face, putting as much venom into the jab as possible, and had the satisfaction of seeing his head jerk backwards into the muddy ground. His body went limp for a moment and I was able to tear the pistol out of his grip without difficulty. Beside us, Oscar was growling fiercely but rather spoiling his performance by wagging his tail furiously as he did so. It looked as though he was having a wonderful time.

Faldo, on the other hand, appeared far more frightened of my normally docile pet Labrador than of the pistol now trained at his face. I glanced at the weapon and saw that it was a standard Beretta nine millimetre semi-automatic without a safety catch. Just so he could be under no misapprehension, I deliberately cocked it and held it closer to his face. As I did so, I heard a vehicle approaching and out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed Virgilio’s Alfa splashing through the puddles towards us. I didn’t take my eyes off Faldo for a moment and I leant towards him.

‘So who’s the old lady now, Faldo? Here’s thecommissario. He’s going to arrest you for multiple murders, and I hope you never see the light of day again.’ I heard running feet approaching but I still kept my eyes on Faldo and the automatic pointed firmly at him.

‘Ciao, Dan. I hope you realise you’ve made an awful mess ofInspector Faldo’s suit.’ Virgilio’s voice was heavy with irony. ‘Oscar, get off. You’re almost as muddy and wet as your master.’ He came into my eyeline and I saw that he was also holding a pistol trained at the man on his back in the mud. ‘Faldo, I want you to roll over onto your face and put your hands behind your back. If you want to make me a happy man, try putting up a fight. There’s nothing I’d like more than to empty this pistol into you.’ There was raw anger in his voice.

I knew how he felt.

22

THURSDAY AFTERNOON/EVENING

I went home for yet another change of clothes and found that Anna had come back from work and was waiting for me. Her reaction when she saw me was a mixture of relief and horror.

‘Virgilio called Lina and she phoned to tell me what happened. You know you’re crazy, don’t you?’

I very nearly told her that I hadn’t had a choice but then realised that I would have been copying the words of the psychopath we had just arrested. I could see Anna was worried so I did my best to play it down. ‘Yes, pretty crazy considering I wasn’t even being paid. Still, the shorts and the T-shirt will wash.’

‘Why did you go there on your own? Would it have been too much trouble for you to phone the police and get them to come?’

I shook my head. ‘I’m afraid it was more complicated than that. I’ll tell you about it some time – or maybe I’ll put it in my memoirs if I ever get around to writing them.’

‘Lina told me Virgilio said you were very brave.’ She was sounding less upset and more sympathetic now.

‘Lina wasn’t there. I was scared stiff, but sometimes you findyourself in the sort of position where all you can do is try to fight your way out of it.’

‘Onlyyouwould have got yourself into that position in the first place. You could have been killed.’ She reached towards me with both hands, realised what a soggy mess I was and made do with giving me a pat on the arm. ‘I love you very dearly and I can’t bear the thought of something happening to you.’

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