Page 38 of Murder at the Ponte Vecchio

She was, of course, perfectly correct that I could have got myself killed but, once again, I did my best to play it down. I knew I would probably relive this afternoon’s events in my dreams for many nights to come, but there was no point increasing her anxiety by telling her that if I hadn’t tried to fight my way out of it, I felt sure I wouldn’t be here now. Instead, I pointed to my bedraggled-looking dog – but I had no doubt that I looked just as drenched – and gave him the accolade he richly deserved.

‘And I love you too, Anna, but it was okay, it was two against one. I had backup.’ I squatted down on the kitchen floor and gave Oscar a well-deserved hug. I was still so wet that I barely felt his soggy fur against me. ‘Thanks, old buddy, you’re one heck of a wingman.’

In reply, he licked my cheek and then burrowed his head under my armpit, tail wagging cheerfully. I gave him a squeeze before standing up and holding out a hand towards Anna. ‘I would give you a hug as well,carissima, but I’m still a bit damp.’

‘A bit damp? You English and your love of understatement! Have you seen what you’ve done to the floor?’

My eyes followed the direction of her pointing hand and saw the mess Oscar and I had made. There were actual puddles on the terracotta. I glanced back at her. ‘If you think that’s bad, you should see the inside of the van. Sorry about that. I think I’d better go and change, hadn’t I?’

She gave an exasperated sigh, softened by the smile on herface. ‘And I get the pleasure of drying this soggy beast out, I suppose?’

Oscar chose to ignore the ‘soggy beast’ comment and wandered across to lean heavily against her leg, looking up at her with soulful eyes. She reached down to ruffle his ears before returning her attention to me. ‘You might just as well leave all your clothes down here and I’ll throw them in the washing machine along with a pair of trousers that I found in the bathroom with a massive coffee stain on them and which are now soaking in a bucket.’

Obediently, I removed my trainers, which were still half full of water, peeled off my wet clothes, and went upstairs to shower and change.

By the time I came back downstairs again, I was feeling a whole lot better, although the knuckles of my right hand were giving me a bit of grief from where I’d punched Faldo. Still, I told myself, it had been worth it and I would happily do it again to a monster like him. Downstairs, the kitchen smelled of damp dog, although the hero of the hour was standing shivering with his tail between his legs while Anna ran the hair-dryer over him. He’s a brave dog in important situations, but hair-dryers and vacuum cleaners terrify him.

Anna looked up when she saw me and nodded approvingly. To Oscar’s relief, she turned off the hair-dryer and stood up. He immediately shook himself and started rolling about on the now dry kitchen floor, all four legs in the air, tail wagging happily now that the noisy implement of torture had gone away. Clearly our close call earlier this afternoon hadn’t worried him in the slightest. As for me, I was just happy to be alive and I went over to give Anna a warm hug and a kiss. She gripped my arms with both her hands and looked up at me.

‘I’m very proud of you, Dan, but you frighten the life out ofme on occasions.’ She added a kiss of her own to soften her words.

‘I frighten the life out of myself on occasions but, in this case, I had no alternative. I wish I could explain it to you, but until I get the all-clear from Virgilio, I can’t say a word about it.’

At that moment, my phone – which had justified the maker’s claim that it was water-resistant – started ringing. I disentangled myself from Anna, picked it up, and was delighted to see that it was none other than Marco Innocenti.

‘Ciao, Marco. Am I glad to hear from you! How are you? I would have come to see you, but I was told they were limiting visitors.’

‘Ciao, Dan.’ I was delighted to hear his voice sounding near enough normal and, in fact, quite excited. It soon turned out there was a reason for this. ‘I’ve just been speaking to thecommissario, and he’s told me what happened at the quarry. I actually calledhimat three to tell him that my memory’s been steadily coming back to me and I’d just remembered that it was Faldo who called me that afternoon, ordering me back to the station in a hurry. Faldo said something bad had happened to thecommissario, and he needed me pronto. Thanks for catching that maniac, Dan. We owe you.’

‘Oscar did most of the work, but I did have the satisfaction of punching Faldo in the face. He was a really unpleasant piece of work. I’m just glad he’s behind bars now.’

‘Thecommissariotold me to ask you if you could call him. He’s in his office.’

‘I’ll do that right away. I’m delighted to hear you sounding all right again. You had us worried for a few moments.’

He laughed. ‘Thecommissariosaid he wasn’t worried. He says my head’s too thick and solid.’

I laughed in return. ‘Take it from me, he was as nervous ashell – we all were. How long before you’re going to be back on the beat?’

‘Another three days lying on my back and then they’re going to start physiotherapy. They say I should be upright again within a week and I’ll come back to work as soon as the medics tell me it’s all right.’

I wished him well and immediately called Virgilio as requested. He, too, was sounding animated when he answered.

‘Ciao, Dan. How are you feeling?’

‘Dry again, thank God. I’m just going to have a cup of coffee and then I’ll come down to the office so we can check the footage from the camera that survived the intervention by our friend Faldo.’

‘You’ll do no such thing. You take it easy. We’ve got him now. It can wait until tomorrow.’ I heard him chuckle. ‘Besides, haven’t you got to learn your lines?’

My heart sank. ‘Ah, you know about that, do you?’

‘Anna told Lina and she told me. She’s booked us tickets for Saturday night.’

‘That’s all I need! I’ve been hoping to keep my appearance low-key – I’m only doing it because I was badgered into it, you know.’

I could still hear the mirth in his voice. ‘And I’ve spread the word around thequestura. There should be quite a crowd to see you strutting your stuff.’

‘I don’t know whether to thank you or come down there and thump you. And I will come down there now. I’ve got a couple of pieces of evidence I managed to get off the front of Faldo’s Land Rover and they need to go to Forensics.’ I checked my watch and saw that, remarkably, it wasn’t even four-thirty yet. So much had happened in the last hour. ‘I’ll be with you by five-thirty.’

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