Death and Judgement Read Online Free PDF

his eyes on Brunetti long enough to see what response he'd give to the name of Patta's universally despised assistant.
    'Certainly, sir,' Brunetti said neutrally, took the folder, and got to his feet. 'Where have they taken Trevisan?'
    'To the Ospedale Civile. I imagine the autopsy will be done this morning. And remember, he was a friend of the Mayor's.'
    'Of course, sir,' Brunetti said and left the office.

6
    Signorina Elettra looked u p from her magazine when Brunetti emerged fiom Patta's office and asked, 'Allora?'
    'Trevisan. And I'm to hurry because he was a friend of the Mayor's.'
    'The wife's a tiger,' Signorina Elettra said, then added by way of encouragement, 'She'll give you trouble.'
    'Is there anyone in this city you don't know?' Bru netti asked.
    'This time I don't actually know her. But she used to be one of my sister's patients.'
    'Barbara,' Brunetti said involuntarily, remembering where it was he had met her sister. 'The doctor.'
    The very same, commissario,' she said with a smile of real delight. 'I wondered how long it would take you to remember.'
    When Signorina Elettra had first arrived, he remembered, he had thought her last name familiar; Zorzi wasn't at all a common name, but he would never have thought to associate the quick-witted, radiant - the other adjectives that presented themselves all suggested light and visibility - Elettra with the calm, understated doctor who numbered among her patients his father-in-law and now, it seemed, Signora Trevisan.
    'Used to be?' Brunetti asked, leaving the question of Elettra's family to be considered at another time.
    'Yes, until about a year ago. She and her daughter were both patients. But one day she went into Barbara's office and made some sort of a scene, demanding that Barbara tell her what she was treating her daughter for.'
    Brunetti listened but asked nothing.
    'The daughter was only fourteen, but when Barbara refused to tell her, Signora Trevisan insisted that Barbara had given her an abortion or sent her to the hospital to have one. She shouted at her and, in the end, she threw a magazine.'
    'At your sister?'
    'Yes.'
    'What did she do?' Brunetti asked.
    'Who?'
    'Your sister?'
    'She told her to get out of the office. Finally, after some more shouting, she did.' 'And then what?'
    "The next day, Barbara sent her a registered letter with her medical records and told her to find another doctor.'
    'And the daughter?'
    'She never went back, either. But Barbara's seen her on the street, and the girl's explained that her mother has forbidden her to go back. Her mother took her to some private clinic'
    'What was the daughter there for?' Brunetti asked.
    He watched Signorina Elettra weigh this one out. She quickly came to the conclusion that Brunetti would find out about it, anyway, and said, 'It was a venereal infection.' 'What sort?'
    'I don't remember. You’ll have to ask my sister.' 'Or Signora Trevisan.'
    Elettra's response was immediate, and angry. 'If she learned what it was, she never learned it from Barbara.'
    Brunetti believed her. 'So the daughter's about fifteen now?'
    Elettra nodded. 'Yes, she must be.'
    Brunetti thought for a moment The law was vague here - when was it not? A doctor did not have to divulge information about a patient's health, but surely a doctor was at liberty to provide information about how a patient had behaved, and why, especially in a situation where it was not his or her own health that was at issue. Better that he speak to the doctor herself than ask Elettra to do it for him. 'Is your sister's ambula torio still over near San Barnaba? ’
    'Yes. She'll be there this afternoon. Do you want me to tell her to expect you?'
    'Does that mean you won't tell her I'm coming unless I ask you to, signorina?'
    She glanced down at th e keys of her computer, apparentl y found the answer she wanted there, and glanced back at Brunetti. 'It doesn't make any difference if she hears this from you or from m e, commis sario. She hasn't done