Page 10 of Vengeance in Venice
If the police were involved, Solomon doubted the cause was natural, though it may simply have been a mark of respect to a prominent gentleman of the city. His mind flitted to Savelli’s sworn enemy, and he wondered uneasily if Giusti had merely gone home to bind his wounds and then returned to the Palazzo Savelli to continue the fight in person.
“We will come to that. How well did you know him?”
“Not at all. We never met. I have been in Venice only a few days.”
“And what brought you here, sir?”
“Pleasure. My wife and I are making a wedding journey.”
Foscolo’s eyes softened. “The honeymoon,” he said. “Your marriage is recent?”
“Indeed. I compliment you on your English.”
“Thank you. This way.”
Foscolo led him into a large, airy room containing two desks with chairs on either side, as well as more comfortable armchairs. Leather-bound books, some of which looked old and valuable, lined the walls, and several glass cases stood on cabinets at the far end, presumably containing other valuables.
The man who had admitted Solomon to the house stood to attention by a small table. Another fair and well-dressed man rose from the large walnut desk slanted across one corner of the room. Although probably about the same age as Foscolo—surely not many more than Solomon’s thirty years—he had an air of authority that seemed to be natural.
Foscolo made the introductions in English. “My superior, Signor von Lampl. Signor, Mr. Grey, from England.”
Solomon was not blind to the undercurrents. Apart from the wordsignor, which he seemed to emphasize, Foscolo continued to speak in English, no doubt in the hope that his superior—clearly an Austrian—would not understand.
But Lampl, looking weary, merely offered one smooth, elegantly aristocratic hand, saying, “How do you do, Mr. Grey?” Having indicated a chair for Solomon, he turned back to Foscolo and a quick barrage of Italian was exchanged.
Over the years, Solomon had picked up bits and pieces of many languages. In this rapid fire, he caught that Foscolo was repeating what Solomon had told him.
“But this is outrageous, Mr. Grey,” Lampl said, swinging on him quite suddenly. “Complete strangers pluck your wife from the street, from under your very nose, and yet you knew exactly where to go to get her back from said strangers?”
Solomon owed Giusti a debt of gratitude for that, but there was no way he could tell his story honestly without betraying his name. “It was not exactly under my nose. I was distracted at the time, by four men setting on a fifth. I went to help, leaving my boatman with my wife.”
“That was brave of you, sir,” Lampl said, his face expressing only politeness, “especially in a strange city and where your aid was unlikely to alter the outcome, since it still left four to two. Did you know the man being attacked?”
“No. I could not even see his face until I was in the thick of the fight,” Solomon replied. “It turned out to be a gentleman by the name of Giusti.”
Foscolo and Lampl exchanged glances, an instinct that appeared to embarrass them both.
“Ludovico Giusti?” Foscolo asked. “Had you or your wife met him before?”
“No. But it was while we fought off his attackers that two other men abducted my wife. I saw them drag her away down a side street.”
“But you remained to fight Signor Giusti’s battle?” Lampl asked.
“The battle was over by then,” Solomon said. “We had scared them off.”
“Two against four,” Foscolo said without emphasis.
“Actually, it was three against four by then, since my wife had sent our boatman to help us. Which left her unprotected.”
“So, you went after her? Alone?”
“No, Signor Giusti returned my help by accompanying me and my boatman to the Palazzo Savelli. He claimed to recognize those attacking him as Savelli’s men, recently hired bodyguards, and was convinced my wife would be brought here.”
A frown of irritation tugged at Lampl’s brow. “With what possible purpose when you and your wife are strangers to him? To all of Venice, in fact! Did Giusti tell you some tale of Signor Savelli’s villainy?”
“He told me about a feud, over a lady and some jewels. Giusti believed Savelli’s men acted under the mistaken idea that my wife was connected to Giusti, and I was merely her bodyguard.”
“Because you went to Giusti’s rescue,” Lampl said slowly. “Thatalmostmakes sense. So, on Giusti’s advice, you came directly here? Did you see Signor Savelli?”
