The Salati Case Read Online Free PDF Page B

was Riccardo’s woman?’
    She paused. ‘A girl called Anna. She came up here once or twice, but she and Silvia fell out. They were both strong women and both had their opinions.’
    ‘What did they fall out over?’
    ‘I don’t know and I didn’t ask. But I expect Silvia thought she wasn’t good enough for her son and probably said as much.’
    ‘Riccardo and Anna had a child, right?’
    ‘They had a little girl. She was the other reason that Ricky’s disappearance hit Silvia so hard. It meant she lost her little granddaughter as well.’ She inhaled deeply and seemed to shudder with the effort. ‘Silvia mentioned them more and more towards the end. I got the impression she had an idea of what had happened. She felt guilty in some way for letting it happen.’
    ‘Letting what happen?’
    ‘Letting Riccardo disappear. Allowing him to walk out on his life and his family. Maybe it was just she felt guilty for giving up on him. She always said she just wanted to know. She said that until she knew she couldn’t get on with her life, and she said that even as she was dying — as if she had any life left to her. I can’t get on with my life until I know, she used to say.’
    I frowned. I was used to these pat phrases by now. People always said the same sentences over and over, and always with such solemnity.
    ‘She knew she was about to die’, the woman was carrying on, ‘and she wanted to straighten everything out.’
    ‘How did she intend to do that?’
    ‘Hire you, I assume.’
    I nodded. ‘Her other son, Umberto,’ I said. ‘He and his wife separated, right?’
    ‘Yes, they’re separated, but she was up here too when Silvia was dying. Roberta she’s called. A nice lady.’
    I tried to remember all the names I was accumulating. I didn’t want to write it all down for fear of freezing the old woman. I looked at her again. She was petite. Her grey hair was pulled back into a bun so that you could see her wrinkled, elegant face.
    ‘Did they have a happy marriage?’
    ‘Umberto and Roberta?’
    ‘No, Silvia and …’
    ‘Paolo?’ She looked at me with stern, blue eyes. She looked over my shoulder as if the distance might be able to provide her an answer. Eventually she looked back at me.
    ‘I honestly don’t know.’
    ‘But you have an idea?’
    She shook her head. ‘I’m uncomfortable speculating on anyone’s marriage, let alone that of a friend who isn’t yet buried.’
    I nodded slowly, as if in recognition of her tact. Tact, for once, was enough. It was as good as an admission that the marriage wasn’t a bed of roses. Marriage never is from what I’ve heard.
    ‘Were there other people?’
    She shrugged and said nothing. We stood there side by side in silence for a few minutes. I’ve never come across the family that doesn’t have secrets, and the Salati family sounded like it might have a few of its own.
    ‘I’ll go and pay my respects,’ I said, bowing slightly to the woman. ‘I didn’t catch your name.’
    ‘Lucentini. Maria Lucentini.’
    I nodded and walked towards the Salati house. As I was going through the door, I saw Umberto.
    ‘I thought I would come and pay my respects,’ I said.
    Umberto nodded and pointed me to the end of a corridor and towards the stairs. He looked different. He must have shut up the shop for
lutto
and it looked as if he had been crying. There were other women going in and out of the rooms, carrying drinks on trays. The whole house smelt of incense and spices, of cinnamon or cloves and candles.
    I walked up the stairs and found the coffin in a room beyond the other bedrooms. It was on varnished trestles and the lid was held open at an artistic angle. I looked at her marble face. I’m so used to seeing violent deaths that it surprised me how serene she looked. No blood and no bruises. I stared at her for a minute, half expecting her to twitch back to life.
    There was no one else in the room. I pushed the door slightly shut and looked around. There