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

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

SATURDAY NIGHT

‘Well, what did you think of La Traviata at the Arena?’

Dolores appeared carrying a massive silver platter. On it were two huge lobsters, a mountain of prawns and crayfish, and these were surrounded by a luxurious mixed salad containing everything from slices of avocado to pieces of Gorgonzola, orange and walnuts. Earlier today, Violetta, when she had heard that Anna and I were going to the opera, had insisted on asking the chef at the villa to provide us with an after-show dinner, but neither of us had been expecting anything on this scale, particularly at almost ten o’clock at night.

Alongside Dolores was Elektra and I saw Oscar jump to his feet as they approached. Anna glanced down at him as he stood there wagging his tail.

‘He’s going to miss his girlfriend when we leave tomorrow, isn’t he? I had the feeling there might be romance blooming.’

I didn’t comment. As Dolores reached the table, I could clearly see that Oscar’s attention was on the food, rather than Elektra. The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach after all…

Anna was the first to reply to Dolores. ‘This food looks amazing, Do, please, thank the kitchen staff so very much. I hope they didn’t have to stay later specially for us. As for the opera, we both loved it, and there was a very touching tribute to Rodolfo Argento at the start. His mother would have been very proud.’

I nodded in agreement. ‘I thoroughly enjoyed it and, I’ll be quite honest, I know so little about opera that I wasn’t sure how it would affect me, but it was amazing. When we arrived here on Wednesday, the first person we met was Giorgio, in full Rigoletto costume. He said something then that came back to me this evening while I was sitting in the Arena. He said that opera wasn’t just singing, it was for all the senses, and he’s absolutely right. Tonight, yes, I enjoyed the singing, but it was the setting in that wonderful Roman amphitheatre, the delightful scenery, and the costumes of all the people on the stage that really made it for me. Am I likely to play opera music when I’m driving down the autostrada in the car tomorrow? Maybe not, but I know that if I get the chance to go to another opera, I’ll jump at it for the sheer spectacle. So, in answer to your question, it was a terrific evening and this meal is absolutely perfect. Please thank everybody in the kitchens.’

When she went off to pass on our thanks to the kitchen staff, I looked across at Anna and raised my glass. On Violetta’s instructions, we had been provided with a very good French Champagne to accompany our lobsters. The lights in the villa dining room had been dimmed and we were the only people in the room. ‘I must call your daughter and thank her for giving us the tickets and forcing me to do something new. We both know that I came here seriously wondering whether I was going to need ear plugs, but I need to tell her the experiment worked. A delightful evening in delightful company.’ I clinked my glass against hers and took a sip, savouring the feel of the bubbles against my tongue before letting the Champagne run down my throat .

Anna smiled back at me.

‘I’m so glad, and our visit to the Lago di Garda this afternoon was fun too, wasn’t it?’

Right on cue, Oscar’s face appeared at my side, not looking in the least bit penitent. Driven by his love of water, he had chosen to leap into the lake and swim about for a good ten minutes, resisting all attempts by me to call him back. As a result, when we had delivered him to Dolores to look after while we went to the opera, he had still been damp and smelly, but she hadn’t batted an eyelid.

I gave him a hard stare and pointed my finger at him, but that did absolutely no good at all. He just wagged his tail and reached up to lick my hand. Still, I told myself, without his barking last night, Alessia might now be dead, so an occasional swim was probably fair enough.

A bit later on, at the end of what had been a monumental and memorable meal, we had two visitors. I looked up as I heard the door and was delighted to see Alessia, accompanied by Violetta, who was holding her arm. Alessia still had a dressing on the side of her head just above her ear but, otherwise, she looked pretty normal. What was immediately obvious was that both she and her mother-in-law were smiling broadly. I stood up to shake hands, but Alessia was having none of it. She put her arms around my neck, pulled my head down, and kissed me on both cheeks before leaning close to my ear and whispering, ‘I don’t know what to say to the person who saved my life. Thank you doesn’t seem enough somehow.’

As she stepped back, I gave both of them an answering smile. ‘I’m delighted to see you up and about, Alessia. How are you?’

Violetta answered for her. ‘They’re both fine.’

Anna picked up on her choice of vocabulary. ‘When you say they’re both…? ’

Violetta, still beaming, nodded emphatically. ‘Three months already, and mother and baby doing well.’

We added our congratulations to the mother-to-be and the future grandmother and I reflected that this would be one child who would want for nothing – apart, of course, from a father. But the cheerful news hadn’t finished yet. Violetta caught hold of my arm and gave me a more serious look. ‘I thought you might be interested to learn that I’m going out for lunch tomorrow with Tosca. We have a lot of catching-up to do.’

After the two of them had disappeared upstairs, I looked across at Anna. ‘Maybe things haven’t worked out so badly after all.’

She nodded. ‘All you’ve got to do now is to avoid exploding.’ In answer to my bemused expression, she pointed across to the kitchen door. Dolores was advancing towards us carrying a tray loaded with the two biggest ice cream sundaes I’d ever seen.

I pointed under the table to where Oscar was stretched out on the floor, full of breadsticks, prawns and odd bits of lobster.

‘It’s all right; we’ll have help if we need it.’

Oscar looked up and I swear he winked.