Marco Vichi - Inspector Bordelli 04 - Death in Florence Read Online Free PDF Page A

things.
    ‘I don’t know …’
    ‘Love, first of all,’ said Rosa, speaking for him, and Bordelli shot her a worried glance.
    Amelia started turning the cards over, studying them carefully. In the dimness her long, thin nose had something sinister about it. When all the cards were face up, she raised her head and looked Bordelli straight in the eye. Her gaze was now aflame, without a trace of sadness.
    ‘A beautiful blonde woman, about thirty-five … suddenly broke off a relationship, a short time ago …’
    ‘That’s true,’ Bordelli whispered, trying to hide his scepticism. Rosa must certainly have informed the fortune-teller.
    ‘She wasn’t the right woman for you,’ Amelia said darkly. Rosa couldn’t suppress a smile.
    ‘You see? I was right,’ she said, quite pleased. The seer took another look at the cards.
    ‘Soon you will meet a beautiful, dark-haired young woman … a great passion will ensue, but it won’t last long … Something horrible will come between you … And she’s not the love of your life, either …’
    ‘And will I ever find her? The love of my life, I mean,’ the inspector asked, so as not to disappoint the two women. He couldn’t wait to lie back down on the sofa. Amelia looked hard through her tarot cards and at last found something.
    ‘In a few years … A beautiful woman, a foreigner … very rich … divorced … with two children …’
    ‘I really don’t see that happening,’ the inspector muttered.
    ‘… I can’t tell you whether it will be for ever, but it will certainly be the greatest love affair of your life,’ Amelia concluded, looking up.
    ‘Are you sure about that?’ the inspector asked, feigning keen interest.
    ‘The cards never lie,’ said the fortune-teller. She calmly collected the tarot cards and put the deck back together.
    ‘Now for his health,’ said Rosa.
    ‘No, please … I don’t want to know anything about it,’ Bordelli was quick to say, just out of superstitiousness. The clairvoyant looked at him, waiting for him to ask something else. Rosa butted in again.
    ‘Tell him something about his job, Amelia. The inspector is trying to find that boy who went missing.’
    ‘Never mind about that, Rosa,’ said Bordelli, but the fortune-teller was already lining the cards up on the table … A devil, a death’s-head, a sun … and other images the inspector looked at without interest. Gideon had fled to the darkest corner of the room, green pupils glowing in the dark. Suddenly Amelia gave a start and brought her hands to her face.
    ‘What is it?’ Rosa asked anxiously.
    The fortune-teller gestured to her to keep quiet and kept looking at the cards with an anguished expression. The inspector fumbled for a cigarette and lit it. In spite of himself he felt a long shudder run up his spine. The whole thing had taken him by surprise. He looked at the fortune-teller, waiting for her to say something.
    ‘Tomorrow morning …’ she stammered, unable to continue.
    ‘Tomorrow morning what?’ asked Bordelli, now gripped by the situation. To find little Giacomo, he was ready to follow any lead whatsoever, even the most absurd. But the psychic didn’t answer. She collected the cards and stood up. Her gaze seemed far away.
    ‘Amelia, what’s got into you?’ Rosa asked, as though feeling guilty. It was she who had asked her to consult the tarot about the missing boy. The fortune-teller put on her coat without saying a word. She gestured to Rosa to let her know she wanted to leave and headed for the door. Bordelli wanted to hold her back and ask her what she’d seen, but didn’t have the courage. How could he let the power of suggestion make him believe such idiocies? How could the cards possibly know human destiny?
    Rosa accompanied the card-reader on to the landing and stayed there for a few minutes. When she came back to Bordelli, he was already lying down with his shoes off, a small glass of grappa in his hand. She sat down beside him on the