Game for Five Read Online Free PDF Page B

offices.”
    â€œDo you know if anyone knew her well?”
    â€œNo idea,” Massimo said. “I didn’t know her, I don’t even know who she went around with. Dr. Carli knows her mother well, and I’m sure he knew her too, but only because she was her mother’s daughter. You’d better ask him.”
    â€œHow does the doctor happen to know Signora Costa?”
    â€œShe’d been the best friend of the woman who later became his wife, when he was at university. His wife forced all her dreadful friends on him before they were married, and made him keep seeing them afterwards. From what Dr. Carli says, Arianna Costa is the only decent person among those his wife allows him to see.”
    â€œHow come? I mean, how come Signora Carli is so . . . ”
    The inspector couldn’t find the right word, so Massimo kindly helped him out. “Selective? Domineering? Such a pain in the ass?”
    â€œAll three would do. Anyway how come?”
    Massimo heaved a long, eloquent sigh. This was something he felt competent to speak about. Ever since he had started working as a barman on the coast, this kind of subject was a constant topic of conversation.
    â€œPractically speaking, when the two of them met she had lots of money, whereas he, although he wasn’t too badly off, wasn’t all that well off either. So they had different habits, vacationed in different places, met different people. But while he would never have dreamed of taking her to his friends’ homes to watch soccer matches, she started introducing him into her world. She took him to the Rotary Club, she took him to regattas, she took him to Forte dei Marmi, and so on. Along the same lines, if his friends phoned the house, she wouldn’t put them through to him. I know that sounds very Victorian, but that’s the way it is. She won’t allow intruders into her gilded world.”
    Fusco had now turned and was leaning on the window sill with his hands on the edge. “And he lets her?”
    Massimo leaned back in his chair and started to swing his legs slightly. “Obviously, it’s not as bad as it sounds. To hear him tell it, he seems to live in a novel by Wodehouse, full of characters who don’t do a stroke of work from morning to night and keep their brains under wraps for fear that they might get damaged, seeing that they don’t have a lot there in the first place. It’s not surprising he became friendly with Arianna Costa: she was the only person from his wife’s circle who has any idea what’s going on. She’s a snob, but she’s intelligent.”
    Fusco rose from the window sill. The conversation was obviously drawing to a close.
    Thank God, Massimo thought. I have to rush to the bathroom or I’ll do it in my pants.
    â€œSo, in conclusion, you can’t tell me anything about the victim.”
    It wasn’t a question, and Massimo didn’t bother to reply. He was only waiting to be dismissed, given that his bladder was close to exploding, so he also stood up and walked toward the door. In a sudden fit of kindness, Fusco got to the door first and opened it for him. “Please. I really would like to know something about the victim.”
    Massimo, who had been about to go out, stopped in the doorway. He pretended to ponder the inspector’s words, nodding slowly, then made as if to move and was again blocked by the inspector.
    â€œOften, it’s by finding out about the victim that we track down his murderer.”
    â€œI’m sure that’s right. So can I—”
    â€œLook, let me tell you something. But please, try to keep it to yourself.”
    Massimo resigned himself and leaned back against the doorpost. “That’s getting harder by the minute. No, sorry, I was thinking of something else. Go on.”
    â€œThe girl didn’t show up for a date last night, but that was almost two hours before she was killed. We need