A Florentine Death Read Online Free PDF Page A

on the cover, which had been found lying under the body, so thoroughly drenched in blood as to be completely unreadable.
    Perhaps this was the object the assistant had been showing, or intending to show, the customer, if the murderer had indeed been a customer. There were similar books displayed on the shelf behind the counter.
    The shop was emptying. Soon the last men would leave and seals would be placed on the door.
    Ferrara walked back to the square and got there just in time to see Gianni Fuschi of Forensics, an old friend of his, heading for one of the police cars.
    He called to him.
    'Can you do me a favour?' he asked when he came level with him.
    'Maybe even two, Gatto,' Fuschi replied, using the nickname - the Cat - that many of his men, and even some journalists, used for Ferrara. It was an affectionate term that not only showed their admiration for the shrewdness concealed beneath his often secretive exterior, but also alluded to the catlike shape of his eyes and his sharp, penetrating gaze.
    'Follow me,' he said, drawing Fuschi away from the other men, who were getting into their cars and vans to return to Headquarters. Spotting Rizzo among them, he called, 'Go ahead, I'll join you!' Then, turning back to Fuschi, 'There's another thing I'd like you to take a look at. But whatever you find, I don't want anyone else to know. Just me, okay?'
    From his jacket pocket he took out a plastic envelope containing the threatening letter, which he had wiped clean of fingerprints - a serious mistake, perhaps, but there was no avoiding it if he didn't want his own fingerprints or, worse still, Petra's to be identified.
    He had decided that nobody, at least for the moment, should know that his life had been threatened. There were too many people who could have used it as an excuse for removing him, for his own safety, from the Monster case.
    'All right, all right,' Fuschi said, amused. 'So - the upright Chief Superintendent Ferrara has taken to removing evidence from a crime scene. For his own personal use. I have a couple of friends on La Nazione who'd be prepared to buy me dinner at Sabatini's for a scoop like this. Maybe even two dinners. With a nice Havana cigar to finish off, not one of those disgusting pieces of charcoal you stick in your mouth!'
    'This is important, Gianni,' Ferrara said.
    But Fuschi had already grasped that.
    On the way back Ferrara let Officer Franchi give free rein to his motor racing ambitions. There was no reason to slow down now - quite the contrary.
    As they drove, they passed a white van with the letters RAI in blue on the side.
     
     
     
    5 p.m.: the Commissioner's office
     
     
     
    At exactly five o'clock, Ferrara reported to the Commissioner.
    Riccardo Lepri, who had replaced the Mephistophelean Angelo Duranti, was almost the exact opposite of his predecessor. Where Duranti had been in a constant bad mood, Lepri was affable, sometimes even merry. A man of large build and clearly robust appetites, he very rarely lost his temper and exuded an air of calm and self-confidence. But there was something a tiny bit ambiguous in that diplomatic stance of his, something Ferrara could not quite put his finger on. It was as if, deep down, his real interests were not those his position dictated, but lay elsewhere. That was why Ferrara's relations with him, although cordial and polite, were not really as friendly as they had been with other commissioners.
    'So, a difficult case,' he commented rhetorically when Ferrara had finished his report.
    'Like any case where the killer isn't either caught red-handed or identified immediately. A victim with no criminal record, no witnesses, no murder weapon, no apparent motive. It may have been an attempted robbery that went wrong, but I doubt it. First, because this was an extremely violent attack, and second, because there wasn't much cash in the till, which wasn't touched anyway, and there was little or nothing of any real value in the shop.'
    'The press are going