A Few Drops of Blood Read Online Free PDF Page B

some regularity?”
    “Vincente was fascinated with the war, and I was able to tell him some stories, anecdotes about how it was in Naples in that period. Also I interpreted photographs taken then. Primary research, he called it.”
    “I’ve heard accounts from my grandparents. Did Vincente tell you why he was researching the war?”
    “For an article he was working on that he hoped to turn into a pictorial book based on his and other people’scollections of wartime artifacts and photographs. He had notions of curating a show and possibly making a documentary. I wanted to be helpful. The material deserves preserving.”
    “You say you interpreted photos?”
    “Yes. He often didn’t know what he was looking at. He had pictures, for instance, of Neapolitan women sewing from odd-looking materials. I explained there wasn’t any fabric. So we made dresses from curtains, coats from blankets. I still have mine. Vincente badly wanted them for his collection. I’ll show you sometime if you’re interested. You and Dr. Agari should come by for lunch.”
    “That would be nice. Maybe when things quiet down.”
    “Excuse me for saying this,” the countess said. “I have a habit of saying what’s on my mind. It’s gotten worse with age.”
    “Please,” Natalia said. “What is it?”
    “You girls. Women. Sorry. Francesca, of course. And now that we’ve met … the kind of things you are exposed to. I’m sure the work is fascinating. Compelling. Nonetheless …”
    “Thank you for your concern. If you don’t mind, what was the embarrassing part?”
    “The humiliation of having been so reduced. Broken in body and mind. It is traumatic to remember the war. We had no bread, no produce. We roasted acorns for coffee. The only meat—well, innards at best. Stray cats disappeared from the streets. Then pets.” She shuddered. “Can you imagine breaking into the aquarium and taking the lovely fish? My parish priest … the poor man was half mad from hunger. He made curios and tried to barter them for flour or military rations. Carved from human bones he had taken from the ossuary beneath his church. You can’timagine the conditions unless you were here. Girls sold themselves for food in the Santa Lucia district. We lined up for hours to get a bucket of water from the Red Cross. And then Vesuvius erupted and covered the city in ash. I fled with my parents to the family farm in Cantalupo, where I had been born.”
    “It was better in Cantalupo?”
    “Marginally, but yes.” She shook her head slowly, remembering. “A woman who had lost two sons to the war, who had nothing, insisted I take two precious tomatoes from her garden. So there were, even among these horrors, heroes and heroines—great kindness.”
    Natalia glanced out the window. The garden in daylight showed evidence of a firm hand. Carefully trimmed roses and hydrangeas, clearly marked paths. Lemon trees flourished along one wall. An enormous straw hat rested on a white iron chair next to a watering can. All signs of the carnage had been removed.
    A pair of feral cats took up seats just outside and stared at Natalia expectantly.
    “Speaking of hungry,” said the countess, “do you like my babies?”
    “They’re beautiful. If I wasn’t so overwhelmed at work, I’d love to have a cat.”
    “Not one of these wild things, I’m afraid. Even I can’t get too close.”
    “Such noble looking creatures,” Natalia said, “in so lovely a garden.”
    “My pride and joy, the garden. Designed to lift the spirit. I was so fortunate to be entrusted with this gorgeous piece of earth. Such a desecration, the murder, no?”
    “Tell me about Vincente Lattaruzzo.”
    “He was a cultured person, self-made in many ways.Educated at a state school, no pedigree to speak of. Worked his way to associate curator, then senior. Loved his job. A totally dedicated and dependable employee, though I can’t say it always extended to his personal life.”
    “Meaning?”