Death of a Serpent (5 page)

A pause. Overlong.

Minerva said, “What? So what, Gasparo. Please to continue.”

“What I know of the numbers, six and seven, I tell you now. Or…”

Another pause.

“Or?” Minerva asked.

“If you prefer, you can read my book,
Numbers and Ecstasy
.

“Tell us please,” both women said in unison.

“So. Six is a perfect number,” he said, looking first at his sister, then at Serafina.

“Please to get on with it,” Minerva said.

“A perfect number is a whole number greater than zero. When you sum all of its factors, except for the number itself, you get that number.”

Serafina rubbed her forehead. “I take your word for it. Six is a perfect number.”

Minerva explained. “The factors of six are one, two, and three. When you add them, they make six. So six is a perfect number.”

“Six is followed by twenty-eight, then four-hundred ninety-six, followed by—”

“Somehow I don’t think the killer is a mathematician,” Serafina said.

“Not too many murderers are interested in the genius of Euclid,” Gasparo said, biting his mustache.

Minerva nodded.

He continued. “Now we come to the number, seven. According to the Greeks, it contains perfection, being the sum of the sides of an isosceles triangle and a square. The Romans, on the other hand, thought the number contained everything since it is the sum of four, the four corners of the earth, and three, a symbol of the divine.”

Serafina thanked the professor. She and Minerva were about to depart when he stopped them. “Caught in the web of numerology, perhaps, your killer. But sometimes the mad will act according to the heavens, a full moon, for instance.”

Serafina shook her head. “Not a full moon last Saturday. I would have remembered.”

• • •

Midway home Minerva said, “Trouble ahead. Can we take another way?”

Serafina heard only a faint blowing in the distance, like the whisper of air through fronds. “Children playing?” she asked.

“Not children. Something else.”

Her best choice was to trust Minerva’s hearing and Largo’s sense of direction, so she turned the trap and headed into a maze of narrow streets. The mule plowed through one twisted lane after another.

“I hope you know where you’re going.”

Largo brayed, increased his speed.

In a few moments, she could see the piazza.

As they drew closer, Serafina peered over her shoulder down a cross street and saw what must have caused the commotion, a crowd gathered around a cart. She slowed. An accident? A dodgy cart vendor? Voices grew louder. Pushing and shoving his way out from under the throng, a disheveled creature emerged, chased by a knot of yelling men. He pulled a swaybacked mule and weather-beaten cart.

“Poor man. Living rough, I suspect,” Serafina said.

Minerva said nothing.

Serafina flicked the reins, stopped in front of Lorenzo’s studio. She thanked her friend, kissed her on both cheeks, and led her inside.

The Autopsy

W
ho else but Dr. Loffredo would sit at his desk with his breakfast served on fine china by a maid dressed in black with a white apron, a table linen tucked into the collar to protect his boiled shirt.

Pulling at the napkin, he came around to kiss Serafina’s hand. So gentle his touch and understanding of women, and with eyes that would melt Scylla. Tall, not a hint of paunch, his clothes from the best tailors in Palermo. No children, a shame: they would have jammed that empty villa of his with offspring. She remembered their university days together, heady times, when class differences didn’t matter and bedroom walls echoed with daring talk of revolution. A pity she had loved her Giorgio so much.

He held the back of her chair. “Latté, my dear?”

“Don’t worry about me. Eat your breakfast while you tell me the results of the autopsy.”

He rang the bell. “Too early in the day to talk of murder.”

She ignored his remark. “Rosa asked me to investigate the deaths of her women.”

“But you’re a midwife.” His gaze was tender.

She raised her shoulders, palms out. “My best friend, Rosa. I can’t sit by while her business is destroyed. Colonna does nothing.”

“The police have their hands full.”

The maid entered, balancing a silver coffee service. She swept up his plate and left. Loffredo poured espresso and steaming milk, passed a cup to Serafina.

She said, “You’ve heard the rumors.”

“Don Tigro?” Loffredo sipped his caffè.

“Doesn’t make sense. Not to me. You?”

He shook his head. “Not the don’s kind of killing, unless, of course, Rosa’s not telling us everything.”

“She doesn’t hold things back from me.” She paused. “Well, almost nothing.”

He reached over and touched her hand.

“Spent time combing through Bella’s room. I uncovered some information, nothing that gave me answers, only more questions.” Serafina’s gaze swept his face. She savored her first sip of latté, breathing in the cocoa, the caffè, and the steam. “To tell you the truth, I’m intrigued. Horrified, yes, but also fascinated by the prospect of sleuthing.” She looked into his eyes. “Of late, my practice has been slow. Most families do their own birthing when coins are scarce, so no more coins from grateful fathers.”

“Is it hard for you with Giorgio gone?” he asked.

Her face colored. She couldn’t tell Loffredo coins were difficult. Wouldn’t do. “Oh, that. We’re fine. No worries there.”

Loffredo swiped his mouth with fresh linen. “Be careful, Fina.”

“You know me.”

“Too well. Yes, you’re a wizard, but sometimes it takes more than magic to right the world’s wrongs.”

“But I have to try.”

“Perhaps, but I couldn’t bear to think of your meeting the same fate as those women.” Loffredo crossed long legs. “This killer knows what he’s doing.”

“He?”

“Don’t know for sure.” He ran two fingers down a perfect pleat. “A knife has been the weapon of choice for female killers for centuries. Takes great skill to wield a deadly blade, but not great strength. Judging from the wounds on the three victims, the blade was razor-sharp. Double-edged, a stiletto. A vigorous woman could have killed Rosa’s women, but with these murders, I’m inclined to suspect a man, even though—”

“What?” she asked.

“There was no indication that this prostitute had been sexually violated either before or after death,” Loffredo said. “No bruising.”

And the other two?”

He shook his head. “None. But I still think the killer is male.”

“You said
rigor mortis
had been broken.”

“Yes. Bella’s right arm defied gravity. The body was moved sometime after death.”

“So that means the murderer could have left the scene, returned for the body.” But why, she wondered. Did he need to perform ritualistic acts after killing? Or did he wait for help to arrive? She asked, “Did the autopsy tell you anything more?”

“It corroborated what seemed apparent when examined initially: the wound to the heart was mortal. No food in the small intestines, so Bella died at least eight hours after taking food. Assuming she ate a light supper at the normal hour, say, anywhere between four and six o’clock, death occurred very late on the sixth or early on the seventh.”

The Embalmer

T
he embalmer wore a large apron over striped pants. A round man with fish lips and protruding eyes, he stood in the doorway of his shop sucking on a cigarillo.

Serafina told him that Rosa had asked her to find the killer. “I am interested in the mark on the dead women’s foreheads. I saw Bella’s body on Sunday morning when Rosa found her, but wanted to talk to you before the wake this evening. I’m sure you’ll make her look like a sleeping angel.”

He gave her a pursed smile.

“Dr. Loffredo told me Rosa’s women died from a single stab to the heart, the wounds, identical.”

“Almost finished, the body, but the face, not yet painted. Would you like to see?”

Did she want to see Bella’s body again? She followed him.

The embalmer slammed the butt of his wet weed between his lips and opened a door.

Serafina lifted her skirts, held her torch high, and walked down a stairwell wide enough to hoist a casket. The smell was like the distillation of death. She heard the scurrying of claws, the swish of tails. Her imagination? A lizard slithered away.

He held the door and beckoned her inside. Before her was a room with a long table. On it was a body covered with a sheet, and by its side, an oil lamp, vials, powders, a glass magnifier.

He turned back the covering, handed her the glass.

It was Bella, all right, the face like wax. Through the magnifier she studied the mark on the prostitute’s forehead.

“All three marks the same, but this one, artistic.”

“How so?”

He pointed a nicotine-stained finger at the cut. “The top of the coil has a faint mark, like the tongue of a serpent.”

Serafina peered down at the evil brand and saw the split of a serpent’s tongue. She turned away.

“Yes. And the look on the first one’s face? Who or what did she see the instant before death? Perhaps the scales of Satan himself.”

His shoe ground the butt of his cigar and he motioned her upstairs and into his office, a room cluttered with papers, caskets, and the dusty contraptions of his trade. A diploma from the Capuchin catacombs in Palermo hung above his desk. The room smelled of tobacco, vinegar, and dust.

Something deep and complex ran through Serafina. The thought, or whatever it was, disturbed her stomach.

The embalmer blinked several times and held out a plate of sweets. “Caffè, dolci?”

She shook her head, swallowed.

He bit into a cookie and said through the crumbs, “Ah, the inspector, he asked me to say nothing about the marks, but for you?” He smiled.

“One more question if I may.”

“For you, dearest lady, what you wish.”

“At the other two wakes, was there anyone you didn’t recognize?”

“Not many attended. Rosa asked me to do my best work, and I did. But no, no one that…but now that I mention it, yes, there was a man. To Gemma’s mourning he came, with leather face and seeping eyes.”

“Seeping eyes?” she asked.

“They watered, but not from grief. The eyes, disconnected from the mouth, you see.”

She nodded.

“Carried a cane, unusual for one his age. Not old, not young. Kept to himself.”

“How so?”

“He came alone, stood in a back corner until it was time to close. Then he walked to Gemma’s casket, scowling and shaking his head. I watched as he raised his fists and cursed the corpse.”

The Wake

A
tribute to the artistic powers of the embalmer, the corpse lay as if sleeping while the males in her family took turns standing alongside the bier. Candles flanked the open casket and flickered in wall sconces.

Accompanied by her son, Vicenzu, Serafina made her way to the front of the waking parlor to pay her respects, then stepped to the back of the room and watched as a stream of mourners filed to the front. Most of the men wore frock coats, carried silk hats. The women, corseted, clutched their children, whispered in their ears, and led them to the front to say their farewells.

Parting this sea of black, Nittù Baldassare wheeled his wife into the room. A gaggle of women flocked to her. In the lead was a dramatic, willowy figure in a flowing black gown. She was thick with rouge and French perfume. Sobbing and flouncing, the woman bent to hug Bella’s mother. Such a display. Not one of Rosa’s girls.

Younger mourners gathered in a far corner of the room. Rosa acted as hostess. She moved in measured grace and made introductions. Family members and Baldassare business associates greeted one another. Serafina heard the talk of wakes and funerals, knew this jargon by heart, she’d been to so many of these gatherings. Smiling, nodding, Serafina listened to snatches of the conversations: “I’m the cousin twice removed…how can the father…he’s alone now, except for the wife and she, poor soul…the harvest, another desolation…on her father’s side…the hair…? No, the heir…who will run the business…such a swagger.”

Someone tapped her on the shoulder.

“You don’t recognize me?” the man, a younger version of Bella’s father, said. Her eyes rested on his armband. “It’s me. Falco.”

Serafina shook her head, confused, until the years tumbled away. How could she forget him? He pointed to the casket. “Her father is my brother. He cleared his throat. “Such a pity. Lost his sons. I run the business now. My sons and I.”

She drummed a fist back and forth on her thigh, remembering their affair. Brief, torrid. Betrothed to Giorgio at the time, she had betrayed his love.

“Ravishing, still, Serafina. You are Rosa’s friend, no?

She smiled.

“Give her this message,” Falco said. “Tell her Nittù and I, we want to help her catch the killer. Tell her to call on us.” He kissed her hand, gazed into her eyes, a look that once had the power to melt.

“Rosa told me about your husband. My deep—” But he was interrupted by something that caught his eye. She followed his gaze, saw a lithe creature, one of Rosa’s prostitutes, wave to him. He took his leave with a nod and, she was sure, not another thought for her.

“See that tall man with the curls? I saw him kiss your hand. Who is he?” Vicenzu asked, pulling Serafina aside while Bella’s father talked to Rosa and Falco cavorted with the young woman.

“Later,” she said.

“Quite a way with Rosa’s women he has. Must know all of them,” Vicenzu added.

Before she left, Serafina gave Rosa a double kiss. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Falco and a young redhead in the back of the room. They acted like love birds in a nest of rooks.

Hadn’t changed, Falco.

Serafina took her leave. She walked out of the parlor the same way she’d entered, on the arm of her son. As they passed Falco’s group, the redhead waved.

Bella’s Letters

Wednesday, October 10, 1866

S
erafina chose to read Bella’s letters in her father’s study, hoping they’d contain information of value—not just addresses and facts, but something of the character of the writers and, more importantly, a glimpse of Bella’s life.