Murder in Verona (An Armstrong and Oscar Cozy Mystery #9)

Chapter 22

22

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

Lunch was as good as ever and the main course a local speciality: roast guinea fowl in a wine sauce, served with a fascinating mix of mashed pumpkin and mascarpone cheese mousse. It was a refined dish and I felt sure Anna would be sorry to have missed it. I texted her to see how she was getting on with her historic tour of Verona and she replied almost immediately, telling me she was sitting in a café having a hot dog – hardly on the same gastronomic level as my lunch but no doubt satisfying all the same.

At the end of the meal, we shook hands with Clarissa and she went off to supervise the final preparations for tonight’s event. Ventura and I went out into the grounds with Oscar and, when we were sure that nobody was listening in, we discussed what had been a busy morning.

We both agreed that, of the main suspects, Ingrid headed the list in that, as well as possibly having two motives – gain or revenge – she had been far and away the most unpleasant of the four, but there’s a big difference between being a pain and committing murder. In second place was Romeo with his open animosity towards the victim and his knowledge of cars, although he had put up a pretty convincing display of proclaiming his innocence. He was followed by Clarissa, although she had replied to our questions with apparent sincerity, particularly demonstrating what appeared to be considerable respect and liking for Rodolfo, even if her support for Alessia had been a bit less enthusiastic. Least likely was Tosca, who had struck us both as genuine even though she, of all people, had potentially more to gain from the death of first her brother and then her mother. This of course left us with the barista down by the lake, who seemed unlikely, or the theatrical agent keen to get his hands on his million euros, but Ventura told me that in the interview he had had with one of the inspector’s team this morning the man had broken down in tears and sobbed at the loss of his ‘dear, dear friend’.

I asked Ventura what he thought of Romeo’s theory that Rodolfo might have gone back to Clarissa more recently. What if the liaison had been uncovered by his wife, who had exacted brutal retribution? From what I knew of Alessia so far, I didn’t see this as credible, but I was keen to see what the inspector thought.

‘Anything’s possible. With the exception of Ingrid Argento, everybody we’ve interviewed has been cooperative and believable – at least to some extent. Alessia came across as telling the truth, having been deeply in love with her husband and still missing him a lot, but you and I have met a great many talented actors in our time, haven’t we? Personally, I tend to trust her, but she stays on the list of suspects.’

‘And are we sure that none of the students apart from Romeo are in the frame? I must confess that I’ve been unable to dig up a shred of evidence against any of them.’

He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Your guess is as good as mine. Yes, there are some good-looking women who might or might not have been involved with Rodolfo, but my people who interviewed everybody didn’t find anything suspicious. For now, all we can do is concentrate on the main suspects.’

His phone started ringing. It was a short call and when it ended, he gave me the news. ‘That was Alessia. She tells me she’s checked the terms of her existing will with her lawyer and everything does indeed go to her parents if she dies.’ He shook his head slowly. ‘Pity, I was about to get my people to investigate her ex-husband, but I think this puts him in the clear.’

He called his boss at the station and received confirmation that a pair of officers would be allocated the task of spending the next three nights at the villa, deliberately creating an overt police presence, just in case the murderer might be thinking of striking again. If that were the case, those most at risk were Violetta and Alessia so the officers would be instructed to pay special attention to the top floor where they lived, along with Anna and myself. Needless to say, no sooner had Ventura contacted his superior than he was instructed to return to the questura to give a full report of the situation so far. Tonight’s concert was scheduled for six o’clock, to be followed by dinner, and we agreed to meet up again here at five forty-five.

After he had left, I carried on for a longer walk with Oscar, my mind still on the case, turning over in my head the possible suspects and their answers to our questions. I was still deep in thought when I emerged from the vines to see a now familiar face.

‘Beppe, good afternoon, hot enough for you?’ The mid-afternoon temperature had to be well into the thirties and both Oscar and I had been hugging any shade we could find.

He took off his flat cap and fanned himself with it. ‘Too hot for working in the fields. I’m just on my way back to the villa for a drink. How’s your investigation going, or aren’t you allowed to tell me?’

I set off through the field alongside him, dodging from scrap of shade to scrap of shade with Oscar glued to my legs. As for my answer, I kept it vague. ‘The inspector’s got his eye on a number of possible suspects but nothing definite yet.’

‘My money’s on it being a woman. Sooner or later, Rodolfo’s past was sure to catch up with him.’

I nodded. ‘It’s a possibility but why wait until now? Most people agree that since meeting Alessia, he turned over a new leaf and no longer got up to his old antics.’ As Beppe probably knew as much about the goings-on here at the villa as anybody, I added a question. ‘Before Alessia came along, was he involved with any of the women here?’

He stopped in the shade of a huge chestnut tree and wiped his throat and neck with a handkerchief. As he did so, he took a cautious look around. ‘Well, there was Clarissa, but I imagine you already know that.’

‘People keep telling me they were together, but Clarissa herself denies it most vehemently.’

He gave me a knowing wink. ‘Well, she would, wouldn’t she? After all, he was the one who dumped her, not the other way around.’

‘So you’re saying they were carrying on together before Alessia came along?’

‘Definitely.’ He stopped and corrected himself. ‘Well, let’s say probably. I often saw them together, and, the way she looked at him, I reckon she was sweet on him.’

‘But you have no concrete proof?’ He shook his head reluctantly and I continued. ‘And what about his attitude towards her? Do you think he was in love with her?’

He snorted. ‘Love? I don’t think he knew the meaning of the word – at least as far as fidelity was concerned. When it came to women, Rodolfo was a beast.’

Remembering Romeo’s allegations, I tried another tack. ‘And after he married Alessia, maybe more recently while she’s been away touring, do you think he and Clarissa got together?’

He gave a helpless shrug. ‘Who knows? That’s the sort of man he was, although I must say, he and Alessia did look so very happy together.’

Needless to say, this did little to resolve any of the issues going around in my head.

When we got back to the villa, I was very tempted to go upstairs and stand under a cold shower but, instead, I just went to the bar for a cold drink and a bowl of water for Oscar before going out to the scalding-hot van and setting off to pick up Anna in Verona. I had told her I’d pick her up at three-thirty and I found her waiting for me at the end of the Castelvecchio Bridge as arranged. She was looking as hot as I felt – even though I had the air con in the van on full – and the first thing she suggested was an ice cream. On the way down the hill from the villa, I had noticed a café boasting handmade Gelato Artigianale so I headed back up there.

Fifteen minutes later, we were sitting under a pergola covered with intertwined rambling roses, looking out over the city of Verona below us. From up here, it was clear to see the way the river curved around in a loop creating excellent natural defence for what had been an important city in the history of Italy and which today is over twice as large as the historic part of Venice, and the same size as the whole area of Greater Venice, making it a major commercial hub as well as a magnetic tourist attraction. The plains of the Veneto stretched out beyond the city but soon disappeared into the heat haze. At least up here, there was a hint of a breeze that wafted the scent of roses along the terrace. It was a very beautiful and a very romantic place and my companions apparently felt the same way. Anna reached over and took hold of my right hand and gave it a squeeze. At the exact same time, a hairy head landed on my thigh and a pair of big, brown eyes looked up at me. I gave Anna a kiss but limited myself to scratching the bridge of Oscar’s nose. He likes that.

We consulted the menu and both chose the same thing: mixed fruit and chocolate ice-cream sundaes. At the bottom of the menu, I spotted a treat for Oscar and I ordered a strawberry-flavoured gelato per cani for him. As they say in the adverts, he’s worth it.

Over our refreshing ice creams – needless to say, Oscar’s didn’t last long – Anna told me about her day in Verona visiting four different museums and even more churches. It sounded exhausting but she had obviously found it very fulfilling. I told her names of a few of the operatic pieces I could remember that we were going to be hearing tonight at the concert and gave her the news that this would also see all of our main suspects for Rodolfo’s murder brought together under one roof. She looked up from her ice cream.

‘How’s the investigation going? Any front runners among the suspects?’

I gave her a brief rundown of the state of play so far and was interested to see that she had little doubt that either Ingrid or Tosca must have been involved and, in consequence, she thoroughly approved of the inspector’s decision to place an officer on the landing outside Violetta and Alessia’s rooms just in case. I didn’t want to bore her by talking shop any more than necessary so I just told her that hopefully by now, Violetta would have informed her niece and nephew that murdering her would be pointless as far as they were concerned – unless they then murdered Tosca as well. I told her that I tended to believe that Tosca was innocent and left it at that, but she didn’t look convinced.

‘It seems to me that she’s the one with most to gain from Violetta’s death. Maybe she’s just a good actress. Maybe getting the suspects all together tonight will lead to a breakthrough.’

I took a mouthful of peach and white chocolate ice cream and nodded. ‘I sincerely hope so. Put it this way: unless something does happen tonight, I have a feeling Rodolfo Argento’s death is going to end up being put down to an unfortunate accident and that’ll be that.’

Back at the villa, there was an atmosphere of barely concealed panic as the staff and students made the final preparations for the concert. This was to take place in the ballroom. Anna and I had never been in there so we took a quick peek through the doors. The room was huge, almost twice the size of the dining room, and the high arched ceiling was covered with spectacular frescoes depicting pastoral scenes with nymphs and shepherds in various stages of undress. Rows of seats had been set up in front of a low stage, and there were tables along one wall forming a bar where waiters and waitresses were already preparing Champagne glasses. I recognised a few familiar faces including Giorgio – AKA Rigoletto – and Luther Green, manhandling a big table across the room. In the far corner, I spotted Romeo snuggled close up alongside a very pretty girl and reflected that this particular leopard didn’t appear to have changed its spots.

We were just turning away when we almost bumped into Clarissa. She was looking pale and Anna gave her an enquiring look. ‘Are you all right, Clarissa?’

She nodded and then immediately shook her head. ‘It must be something I’ve eaten. I’m afraid I’ve just been sick and I feel awful. I just hope I manage to hold it together for the concert. I need to stand up and welcome the guests at the beginning and say a few words about Rodolfo. At least when I’ve done that, I’ll be free to go back to my room and lie down. Fortunately, Giorgio has volunteered to be Master of Ceremonies and introduce the performers, and Signora Violetta will say a few words at the end.’ She shook her head ruefully. ‘It just had to be on Midsummer Concert day, didn’t it?’

We made commiserating noises and headed for the lift. Upstairs, I was impressed to see a police constable sitting on a chair directly between the stairs and the lift. Nobody would be able to get to any of the apartments without being spotted. We told him our names and showed him our ID and he ticked us off on his clipboard. Hopefully, this would mean that nothing sinister was going to happen up here tonight. We walked down the corridor to the two guest suites and, on impulse, I walked past ours to the next door and tapped on it. There was no reply so I turned the handle and found it unlocked. Inside, I saw a carbon copy of our suite, complete with stylish furnishings and French windows to the roof terrace. The bed was untouched and it was clear that this second guest suite was not being used. I had half wondered whether maybe a member of the family might be staying over, but obviously this was not the case. The top floor would house only Alessia, Violetta and us.

When we got inside our room, Oscar headed for his water bowl and then his basket, slumping into it with a satisfied grunt. Anna headed straight for the shower and I picked up my iPad, determined to research the suspects more thoroughly but, like my dog, I soon felt my eyes closing. It had been a busy day.