A Long Finish - 6 Read Online Free PDF

family, but unfortunately on the wrong side of the stream which marked the boundary of the DOC zone. Because of this, the resulting product could only be sold on the open market as generic Nebbiolo, which commanded a tenth of the price.
    ‘I ran into the maresciallo at market this morning,’ said Minot, setting another completed bottle in its crate. ‘You know what he told me? Apparently the police are opening their own investigation. Not only that, they’re sending some big shot up from Rome to lead it.’
    The two brothers exchanged a brief glance, then returned to their work. This went without incident, except when the wine started overflowing and Gianni Faigano ripped off a fingernail grabbing for the spigot. Minot retrieved the severed sliver.
    ‘I’ll keep this for good luck,’ he joked, as though atoning for his earlier outburst.
    Once the final bottles had made their way through the production line, the three men stood up stiffly.
    ‘Not like you to drop a bottle, Minot,’ said Gianni, sucking his injured finger. ‘You’re not nervous, are you?’
    ‘Why should I be?’
    Gianni smiled.
    ‘I just wondered, since you mentioned this new investigation of la cosa …’
    ‘I’m not nervous, I’m angry!’ Minot snapped back. ‘As if there weren’t enough real problems facing the country, without sending some bastard up from Rome to make our lives a misery.’
    ‘Speaking of bastards …’ said Maurizio.
    Minot whirled round on him.
    ‘What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?’
    Maurizio held up his hands.
    ‘The canine kind,’ he explained, alluding to one of the dialect terms for a mongrel.
    ‘Well?’ demanded Minot. ‘What about them?’
    Maurizio hesitated a moment.
    ‘The day Aldo died, I happened to be outside the house here, clearing my head with some fresh air and a raw egg.’
    ‘And?’
    ‘And I heard a dog barking over on the Vincenzo land.’
    ‘Why do you keep going on about Aldo Vincenzo? Let the son of a bitch rot in peace!’
    ‘By all means. Only if there’s going to be another investigation, we’d better get our story straight.’
    ‘My story is straight!’
    ‘Of course, Minot,’ said Gianni evenly. ‘We know that. But some people may be more awkwardly placed, you understand? The owner of that dog, for instance.’
    Minot turned to face him.
    ‘You recognized it?’
    Gianni looked at his brother.
    ‘Why don’t you two go on upstairs? I’ll clean up down here and join you in a minute.’
    ‘An excellent idea,’ said Maurizio. ‘Come on, Minot. After helping us out like this, the least you deserve is a glass of something. I don’t know what we’d do without you, I don’t really.’
    The earlier silence had been replaced by a verbosity almost equally oppressive. But Minot allowed himself to be taken in hand and steered up to the large sitting room at one end of the brothers’ house, where he accepted a glass of the wine he had helped bottle several years earlier. Maurizio left the open bottle on the table and sat down, shaking his head sadly.
    ‘All this, coming so soon after Chiara’s death,’ he sighed.
    Minot sniffed.
    ‘You mean there’s a connection?’
    ‘For some of us there is,’ Maurizio replied, with a sigh. ‘I suppose it’s stupid, after all this time, but Gianni was hit hard when she died. In his mind, she was immortal.’
    Minot stared into his wine and said nothing.
    ‘And just when he’d started to get used to the idea,’ Maurizio Faigano continued, ‘this happened. Every time someone mentions la cosa , it’s as if Chiara’s tomb has been descrated.’
    Minot reached out and grasped Maurizio’s arm sympathetically.
    ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.’
    Maurizio nodded sadly. After a while, Minot let go of his arm and took another gulp of wine.
    ‘What was that about hearing some dog in Aldo’s vines the night it happened?’
    Maurizio looked at him.
    ‘Oh, nothing, I suppose. I couldn’t see anything, what with the mist,