For All the Gold in the World Read Online Free PDF Page B

that Spezzafumo told you.”
    I darted an inquisitive look in his direction. “Well?”
    Old Rossini tasted the wine. “Nothing to write home about,” he commented. “Exactly like this case. As far as I’m concerned, I’m pretty sure we have no real right to be digging into it, but it’s also true that I’ve always hated those pieces of shit who do home invasions, and the housekeeper and her son have every right to fair retribution.”
    â€œSo?” I insisted.
    â€œWe have to give it a try, but we can’t hope for too much. If in two years neither the cops nor Spezzafumo found so much as a single clue, I doubt we’ll be able to.”
    I heaved a sigh of relief. “So where do we start?”
    â€œI know a guy who scouts out kidnapping targets in the Treviso area,” Beniamino replied.
    â€œNice people you hang out with,” Max kidded him.
    â€œWait until you see how happy he is to see us,” Rossini snickered.
    Â 
    Toni Brugnera had never bothered to find himself a cover. Everyone knew that he was supported by his wife, who owned a popular beauty spa. Between eleven in the morning and dinnertime, he could be found in any of a number of cafés and bars in the center of town, both recounting and collecting gossip. The gossip he liked best had to do with money, and how much of it people living in isolated villas had, especially if that money was being hidden from the tax authorities. And when he had hot gossip, Toni shared it with Nella Povellato, his longtime mistress, who, in turn, would turn it over to her daughter’s live-in boyfriend, the Croatian gangster Franko Didulica.
    Franko had a group of trusted friends who could cross the border, pull off a job, and get back home before the loot had even been missed.
    Toni and Beniamino had met when the scout had gone to Beniamino to ask if a member of the gang, who’d been wounded in a shoot-out with a security guard, could hitch a ride in Beniamino’s speedboat.
    Rossini had turned down the job because he believed that cowards who assaulted defenseless families in their homes were true scum. Brugnera had raised his voice, and gone home with a face swollen from Rossini’s fists. Didulica had threatened revenge, but he’d given that up once he realized it wasn’t in his interest to make an enemy of the Italian who boasted dangerous friendships in Croatian smuggling circles.
    That morning, when Toni walked out his front gate, he saw Beniamino step out of his luxurious sedan and invite him to come for a ride. And Toni turned white as a sheet.
    â€œI’m not coming,” he said in dialect as he bent over to peer inside the car. We both gave him a friendly wave.
    â€œWe just want to talk to you,” the old bandit clarified. “Don’t force me to hurt you.”
    The scout pointed to the corner of his building. “The video camera’s filmed it all, so be careful.”
    â€œI see you’ve taken precautions,” Beniamino commented ironically. “And I can’t blame you, what with all the sewer rats out there ready to rob the homes of respectable citizens.”
    The man got in back and sat down next to me. “What do you want to talk about?” he asked aggressively.
    â€œWhat do you know about the robbery at the Oddo family’s home two years ago?” I asked, point-blank.
    â€œThe place in Piove di Sacco?”
    â€œYes.”
    He raised both hands. “I didn’t have anything to do with that,” he said, still in dialect. “Two dead for fifty thousand euros’ worth of swag—that’s crazy. I’d always assumed that junkies did the job, but the fact that they never caught them made me change my mind. Maybe the robbery was cover for a revenge killing. I heard that Gastone Oddo liked exotic pussy.”
    â€œAnd who told you that?”
    â€œIt was a rumor that was going around at the time.”
    I