temptation in florence 04 - expected in death (6 page)

Olga tottered toward the old man and leaned against his chest.

Garini lifted an eyebrow and glanced at Carlina.

She shrugged.

“Oh, Teo,” Olga sighed. “I know you'll find it hard to believe, but someone from your family tried to kill me tonight.”

Uncle Teo blinked, but he patted her back in a futile attempt to calm her down. “I-- I don't know what to say. Are you quite sure, my sweet?”

“She is positive,” Fabbiola cut in, her voice icy. “She claims she felt a hand on her back while smelling my perfume, and then someone pushed her down the stairs in the hope of murdering her.” She sniffed, making her opinion clear of that particular train of thought.

Olga lifted her head and looked at Garini. “I'm asking you to investigate,
Commissario
.”

Garini shook his head. “I won't do anything of the kind.”

The assembled family on the steps – Benedetta and Leo, Lucio and Emma, and Fabbiola – beamed full approval at him as one man. The only exception was Uncle Teo, who looked confused.

Carlina bit her lips. She knew why Garini was refusing the job.

“But you'll have to do it!” Olga's voice became shrill. “It's your job to investigate shady proceedings.”

“I'm a homicide investigating officer,” Garini corrected her, unemotional as always. “I investigate deaths. Not accidents.”

“Well, we could change the situation,” Fabbiola suggested under her breath.

Carlina nudged her mother in the side and gave her a forbidding frown. It was bad enough that Olga sprouted stupid stories - no need to egg her on.

Olga threw a malicious look at Garini. “Well, I can see where your loyalty is. Never mind. It would be stupid to ask you to investigate anything that had to do with the Mantoni family - you would never find fault with them anyway.”

Carlina choked. The one thing Garini prided himself on was his incorruptibility. Olga's ability to put her finger right into everybody's tender spot was almost devilish. She glanced at him, afraid of the reaction she would see.

However, he had himself well in hand. The muscles around his mouth tightened for a moment, but if she had not been looking for his reaction, she would never have seen it. He didn't take up Olga's bait, just looked at her without wavering until she averted her gaze.

Just then, a cell phone gave a ping. They all jumped. Emma – who had not said a word for ages – pulled out her phone and checked her messages, then looked up. “It's for you, Carlina.”

“For me?” Carlina frowned. “Why do you get messages for me?”

“It's from my friend Andrea. He said a friend of his cousin is moving out of an apartment right here in the historical center, and I told them you might be interested.”

“Why sure.” Carlina looked at Garini for confirmation.

He nodded.

Emma looked at her cell phone. “They say now would be convenient.”

“Now?” Carlina gulped. “It's eleven o'clock at night.”

Emma shrugged. “They're leaving town for a week tomorrow and just remembered to send the message.”

“Well, then we don't have much choice.” Carlina turned toward the staircase. “I'll get my coat.”

“What about me?” Olga asked. “Are you shelving the topic of an attempted murder just because it's not convenient?”

A pause followed, so intense it was almost painful. The bolder members of the family – Emma, Lucio, and Fabbiola - met her gaze without smiling. The others looked away.

Uncle Teo cleared his throat. “Come with me.” He took her arm. “We'll cool your wrist, so you'll soon feel better.”

Twenty minutes later, Carlina and Stefano were standing in the middle of an apartment. It was on the second floor in a historical building, with the neighboring houses so close that you could touch them if you leaned out of the window.

“I know why they wanted to do the viewing at night,” Garini whispered into Carlina's ear. “At night, you don't notice that the place is much too dark.”

“Our house is pretty dark, too,” Carlina said. “At least on the ground floor.”

“True, but at least it doesn't smell of mold.”

“It's not that bad.” Carlina was determined to see the good points of the apartment. “The bedroom is nice, though, isn't it?” She knew that Stefano liked to spend time in his bedroom. That's where he played the saxophone and listened to music. It was also the place she liked most in his current apartment. It was full of his personality, while the other rooms had a bare aspect that didn't make her feel welcome.

The young man who showed them around the apartment flung open the door to the bathroom. “I won't follow you in. It's too small for all of us.”

Carlina went through the door and almost stumbled backward. The smell of mold became so strong that she had difficulty breathing. “Oh, my.” She suppressed the reflex to cover her nose with her hand.

One look at Garini was enough – they had to get out of here, and fast.

As they trooped out, her shoulders slumped. “We'll never find something.” A sigh from somewhere deep inside went through her, and a sudden wave of fatigue almost swept her off her feet. “Is it us? Are we too demanding?”

“No.” He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer. “We'll find something. We just have to keep on looking.” He stopped at the next lantern and turned her face to him. “You're too tired tonight.” His lips brushed hers. “Tomorrow, things will look better.”

Carlina sighed. “I don't want to go home. The idea of possibly meeting Olga on the stairs is making me queasy.”

He smiled. “I've got a solution for that. Stay with me tonight.”

Something warm filled her, and her heart expanded. “I think I'll take you up on that offer,
Commissario
.”

A quarter of an hour later, Stefano opened the door to his apartment and let her go in first.

One of the nicest things about being in a relationship is the way you can snuggle up together at night.
Carlina smiled as she went inside and hung up her coat. Due to his job, they couldn't share the night as often as they wanted, and she was looking forward to curling up with him. Safe from interruptions, able to shut out the world for a few hours. She sighed in happy anticipation when her foot slipped and she lost her balance. With a crash, she ended up on her back. “Ouch!” Her hand touched the stone tiles on the floor and slipped to the side. “What on earth . . . ?”

Garini bent down. “Are you all right?”

She stared at the floor. “Everything's wet! That's why I slipped. Look!” She pointed at the floor where a puddle had formed.

His gaze followed her outstretched finger. The trickle of water came from underneath the bedroom door. With two big strides, he went to the door and pushed it open.

From where she was on the floor, Carlina could only see the profile of his face. It looked grim. She could see him swallow hard. Fear clutched her stomach. She scrambled to her feet and hurried to his side, where she took his hand while forcing herself to look inside.

Something in the center of the ceiling had leaked and had caused the plaster to come down in big, white blobs. The bed was covered with wet plaster, as was half the floor, where bits of plaster floated around in puddles. Behind Garini's double-bed, the wall was covered with fitted shelves which went from floor to ceiling, one side filled with CDs, the other with books, and all the books at the top and at the bottom had soaked up the water.

Carlina winced. It looked as if most of the damage was in the middle of the ceiling and on the floor, but who knew if the four music boxes that were hanging in the four corners of the room at a tilted angle had suffered. And what about the expensive CD player on the wall? And most of all, what about Stefano's beloved--

“My sax.” His voice sounded as if something had been torn from him. He crossed the room and picked up his saxophone like a baby. With one hand, he wiped the water from its shiny surface. The instrument had rested on its stand by the window, so at least it hadn't stood in a puddle, but bits of plaster had dropped onto it. “I know I should have kept the sax in its case, but I love to see it. It's such a beautiful instrument.” He swallowed visibly. “How could I know that the ceiling would fall onto it?”

Carlina bit her lips. “I'm so sorry.”

He looked up and gave her a wry smile. “I'm afraid I can't offer you a bed tonight after all.”

Something inside her cracked.
How sweet of him to think of me when his most precious belongings are under water.
She returned the smile. “We still have mine.”

It only took ten minutes to find out that the water came from a broken pipe somewhere inside the walls because the neighbors above them had no problems at all. The subsequent call to the landlord was frustrating because he proved to be extremely reluctant to do anything at all – he just advised them to cut off the main water supply to the apartment, claiming he wasn't in town and could only come to look at the damage in two days' time. Garini's face was grim when he cut the line. “That's it,” he said. “I'll have to move out as soon as possible. He was never easy to deal with, but this is taking things to extremes.”

“Can't you threaten him?”

He looked at her, his mouth a thin line. “Sure. I could threaten him with legal consequences. But then, I'd have to deal with mountains of paperwork, would have to be bothered with this for years, and in the end, I would only spend a huge amount of money, probably to settle out of court. No way.” He shook his head. “Choose your battles, they say. This is not a battle I'm going to fight. I was going to leave soon anyway. We'll find something else, something better. I'll warn my neighbors, though.” He cocked his head to the side, and for the first time since entering the apartment, his forbidding expression softened somewhat. “The guy on the top floor is well connected to several powerful people in town. I don't like him and have given him a wide berth in the past, but I'm sure he can give my landlord hell.”

She took a deep breath. “Right. Then let's see what we can salvage here.” In the next two hours, they moved Garini's stuff out of the danger zone and put everything into the living room to dry. In the end, the apartment was a total mess, and they were both exhausted.

“At least, we still have a place to stay tonight,” Carlina said.

“Yes,” he said with a glimmer of a smile. “Let's just hope your family has already gone to bed.”

They were lucky and didn't meet anybody as they went upstairs to Carlina's apartment at the top floor of the Mantoni family house. When they finally fell into Carlina's bed, she felt too tired to blink.

“Thanks for your help, Carlina.” He pushed her hair from her face and kissed her. “I'll make it up to you. I'm not sure if I'll have time off work tomorrow night, but if I do, I'll--”

Her eyes closed all by themselves. “I don't have time tomorrow evening. I'm invited to Aunt Violetta's birthday.” Her words were a mumble. “And so are you.”

His hand jerked back. “Whose birthday?”

“Aunt Violetta's. It's her 99th birthday. If we're lucky, she'll be there, and --” Carlina fell asleep before she could finish the sentence.

When she opened her eyes the next morning, he was already dressed. “I have to go, love.”

She smiled at him. His hair was still wet from the shower, and she could catch a faint whiff of his aftershave.
Yummy.
“Good luck with everything today.”

He bent down and gave her a kiss. “Thanks. By the way, did I understand you correctly last night? We're invited to a birthday of some aunt or other but she might not even be there? Please tell me you were too tired to speak straight and that's it's not another Mantoni thing.”

Carlina stretched and grinned. She felt wide-awake and happy in spite of the trouble with the apartment.
Must be because he's here.
“I'm afraid it
is
a Mantoni thing. She'll be 99, you see, and it's possible that she'll be too tired to get up. However, if that's the case, we'll have the party without her.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Ever heard about canceling a party?”

“Oh, no!” Carlina shook her head with vehemence. “It would be a shame to let all that food go to waste.”

“Of course.” His voice was dry.

“It's a family tradition.”

He sighed. “I should have known.”

“Actually, I wouldn't miss her birthday party for the world. They're always spectacular as Aunt Violetta is not only quite deaf but also thinks that anybody over eighty has the perfect right to say the truth at all times without bothering to be polite. It's quite entertaining.”

“Sounds great.” The irony in his voice was obvious. “But what if she's not there?”

“Oh, then it's pretty tame, but I hope she'll be up to it tonight. She's only missed her own party once so far.” Carlina sat up and hugged her knees.

He smiled. “You're looking cute with your hair all tousled like that.”

She leaned her head to the side and gave him a mischievous smile. “Yeah? You can tousle it some more, you know.”

“Tonight,” he promised. “Now, I have to run.”

“Tonight? You mean, after Aunt Violetta's party?”

Garini grimaced. “Do I have to come?”

Carlina hesitated. “I don't want to scare you, but she said she's very much looking forward to meeting you.”

“What?” He took a step back.

She shrugged. “Real life romances are her hobby. And she's delighted that I've found someone 'at long last'. Or so she says.”

He closed his eyes. “Oh, no.”

“We could say you had to work,” Carlina offered. “Or that you had to take care of your inundated apartment. Which wouldn't even be a lie. She doesn't know that the landlord has refused to come tonight.”

He lifted his chin. “Or we might face the music. I guess I'll have to meet her sooner or later.”

“If she doesn't die first.”

Garini started to laugh. “That's one of the things I love about you, Carlina. There's nothing mealy-mouthed about you.”

She grinned. “I must have gotten that from Aunt Violetta.”

II

That evening, when he was introduced to Aunt Violetta, Garini realized that he had to ask for better preparation in the future to make sure his facial expression did not betray his feelings. Aunt Violetta was twice as broad as she was high. Her chins spread out until they merged into her massive chest, and the brown pile of hair on top of her head was so abundant that it could only be a wig. She moved around in a wheelchair that she worked with an electric panel and shouted her every thought at the top of her voice. To celebrate the occasion, she was wearing a vibrant orange dress that gave Garini the impression of looking at the setting sun with loads of hair on top. When she wheeled the chair around and faced him, he found it hard to keep his expression neutral.