The Devil in Music (69 page)

"It's
a custom in Naples," said Guido. "We do it for luck, after
a storm." He leaned toward Julian. "I'm going in the
direction of the villa, signer. I'd be happy to take you the rest of
the way."

"Thank
you." Julian rose and handed him back the letter.

"Now,
for the love of the Madonna, that's not fair!" cried the
boatman. "I've brought this gentleman nearly all the way, and
you want to rob me of my fare "

"You'll
be paid," said Julian. "Here." He reached into his
trouser pocket. His hand touched Raversi's letter.

He
tucked the letter into his palm, along with as many coins as he could
grasp. Under cover of darkness, he put both coins and letter into
the boatman's hand. The boatman stared. "Signor "

"Isn't
it enough?" asked Julian quellingly.

"Y-yes,
signer. But "

"Then
good night." Julian stepped into Guido's boat, and Guido rowed
quickly away.

The
boatman gazed after them blankly. Julian prayed that he could read,
or if he could not, that he would have the sense to take the letter
to the villa. It would not tell the villa party where Julian was,
but at least it would reveal Carlo's guilt and suggest there was
something sinister about Julian's disappearance. Search parties
might be sent out. But could they arrive in time?

Julian
had little hope of that. He must watch, think, make the most of his
opportunities. There would be no second chances now.

Once
Guido had pulled well away from the boatman, he shipped his oar and
stepped to the middle of the boat where Julian sat. Plumping down in
the seat opposite, he drew out a pistol and pointed it at Julian's
heart. With his free hand, he felt in Julian's pockets. Finding
Julian's pistol, he tossed it over the side of the boat.

"Was
that really necessary?" said Julian. "You've broken up a
pair."

"You
won't have any use for them now." He threw Julian's bullets and
powder flask after it, then thrust the oar into Julian's hand.
"Here. You row. And remember, I'm watching you all the time,
and if you make any sudden move, I'll shoot you dead."

Julian
rose and began to ply the oar with quick, deliberate strokes. Guido
burned Carlo's letter in the boat lantern. Then he drew out a second
pistol he was taking no chances his first shot might miss and kept
both barrels trained on Julian as he rowed.

"I
must say," Julian observed, "your master has managed all
this with his usual discretion. The boatman saw you with me, but
Conte Carlo has contrived not to be seen at all."

"That's
no matter. I'll let on that the note I brought was from your
servant, and you asked to be set down on the shore to look for him,
and that's the last I saw of you."

"That
won't be very convincing, once the police realize you were the last
person to see me alive."

"That
won't mean much, because no one will ever see you dead.

It's
hard to prove a murder without a body, signer very hard." "You
mean to throw me in the lake? That can be dragged." "Not
the lake. We have something else in mind. You're going to disappear,
signer. Just like Tonio."

When
Julian's and Guido's boat drew near the promontory, Guido took the
lantern from the prow and closed the shutter, rendering them all but
invisible to any night fishermen who might be abroad. Then he
ordered Julian to row around to the side of the promontory away from
the villa. Straining to see by the faint moonlight, Julian Guidod the
boat around the crag and concealed it in a rocky inlet. They got
out, Guido still covering Julian with both pistols.

Guido
hung the lantern on his wrist by an iron ring at the top. Then he
opened the shutter enough to let out a sliver of yellow light. He
and Julian began climbing over the rocks toward the cave mouth.
Julian remembered Carlo's telling him how pirates used to hide their
boats behind the crag and creep over these rocks to steal wine from
the caves. The lake was a lawless place in those days, Carlo had
said. From Julian's perspective, it had not much changed.

Their
progress was agonizingly slow. How many of the precious fifteen
minutes were they consuming, getting over these great, ungainly rocks
wedging their feet in hollows, slipping on lake wash, tearing their
trousers and skin on knife-like protrusions? Each time Guido
stumbled, he cursed floridly in Neapolitan, and Julian knew that here
was an opportunity for him to jump into the lake and escape and, of
course, leave Dipper and Nina to die. He clambered on, using feet
and hands to propel him forward, like a monkey.

At
last they reached level ground. It was only a few more steps to the
cave mouth. Carlo was waiting just inside, looking out through the
curtain of blood-red creeper, a double-barrelled pistol in each hand.
"Come in, come in," he said affably, under his breath.

Julian
passed into the great round cave known as the Salon, Guido behind
him. "I'm delighted to see you, Mr. Kestrel," Carlo
continued. "Also a little relieved, I must confess. I couldn't
be certain my stratagem would fetch you. It was hard to believe that
even an Englishman would give up his life for his servant."

"I'm
sure there's no danger of your making such a gesture," said
Julian, for Guido's benefit. "Where is my servant?"

"I
shall take you to him." Carlo made a motion with his guns,
indicating that Julian was to go before him to the trapdoor at the
center of the cave.

The
trapdoor lay open, a lantern beside it. Guido went down the ladder
first, then Julian. Carlo waited above, holding his lantern over the
trapdoor and pointing a gun at Julian, so that Julian was lit and
covered from both above and below. The silence closed over him as he
descended, leaving only the sounds of this dark, enclosed world.
Guido's harsh, heavy breathing filled his ears; his own footsteps
steadily marked his descent, like the drums leading up to an
execution.

He
reached the bottom and felt the familiar haunting sensation of being
under water. The lantern light was suffused with the blues and
greens of the mosaics on the walls and vaulted ceiling. Exotic fish
stared from all sides; plants seemed to reach out living tentacles
for prey. I am going to die in an under-sea fantasy, Julian thought.
His investigator's mind, like a disembodied thing, tried to make
sense of this prospect. Why am I going to die here? What can they
possibly do with my body? They'll only have to drag it up again

There
were strained murmurs behind him. He turned. Dipper and Nina stood
close together, their backs to the wall. Julian perceived that their
four wrists were bound together behind them and tied to an iron
bracket. Their mouths were stopped with linen rags. Dipper's eyes
above the gag were full of anguished remorse at the sight of his
master. Julian's throat closed. Not a whit of reproach, although
this horror is all my fault

He
beat down his guilt. It was a luxury he could not afford. He turned
back toward the ladder, where Carlo was just descending. On reaching
the bottom, he set his lantern on the floor and levelled both his
guns at Julian. Guido covered Dipper and Nina.

"You
have four guns between you," said Julian. "Surely you can
untie them now, or at least take off their gags."

"You
may do that yourself presently," said Carlo. "You'll have
time for that before you die."

He's
enjoying this, Julian thought. All the better, if it makes him
prolong it. I must keep him talking. Every moment of delay is
precious. "Why is Nina here?"

"She
was the bait we used to catch your servant," said Carlo.

"She
was in league with you?"

"No,
no," laughed Carlo. "She was the victim of her own
jealousy. Guido told her he'd been to Solaggio and heard Rosa
bragging that Dipper was coming to see her tonight. Poor little Nina
was in despair. Guido counselled her, "You must ask Dipper to
walk with you this evening away from the village, toward the caves."
Nina did exactly as she was told. She and Dipper went walking here
after the storm, and Guido and I were waiting."

"We're
wasting time," muttered Guido.

"Bah!"
said Carlo. "There's no hurry. No one will intrude on us
here. These grottos are reputed to be haunted, and the servants
never like to come here after dark. Besides, we're all accounted
for, more or less. People think I was caught in the storm, and
you're out searching for me. These two are lovers" he glanced
toward Dipper and Nina "so their disappearing together won't
excite remark. And Mr. Kestrel will simply appear to have been
delayed."

"The
gardens are swarming with soldiers," Guido reminded him.

"Yes,
my chicken-hearted friend, but they're Germans, which means they do
everything according to a precise, methodical pattern. I've observed
their rounds, and they never come anywhere near the caves. Why
should they? They have no reason to think anything sinister will
happen here."

"That's
no reason to take chances," Guido insisted. "We ought to
kill them and be done with it."

Nina
whimpered through her gag. Dipper looked at her sympathetically.
Julian said to Guido, "Not a very fitting sentiment from one of
your calling."

Guido's
eyes narrowed, and his thumb tapped tensely on the barrel of his
pistol.

"We
knew you'd guessed that," Carlo remarked. "You must have
suspected it very early, else why would you have tried to find out if
Guido knew Latin?"

Julian
shrugged. "I happened on the knowledge that he could read and
write, which I thought surprising in a Neapolitan of his class. Not
only would he have had little opportunity to learn he would have seen
little need. But there's one large body of men in Naples for whom
literacy is essential. Once I discovered that Guido understood
Latin,

I
was certain he had been one of their number. Or rather, he still is
I believe a Catholic priest remains ordained to the end of his life,
and however debased he becomes, the sacraments he administers are
binding."

Carlo's
face hardened. "That is correct. I suppose it has occurred to
you by now that you're too clever for your own good?"

"At
the moment, I can find it in my heart to wish I were a little more
obtuse."

Carlo
smiled suddenly, giving Julian a glimpse of his everyday self the
courteous patrician, the charming courtier, the warmhearted liberal.
The man was so likeable. No wonder he had come so far.

The
next moment his smile faded, and the murderer looked out of his eyes
again. "I've watched you gathering all the strands together bit
by bit. You expressed doubt that my brother would have contracted a
mock marriage. You studied our family tree. You warned Francesca
not to bring Niccolo here. But I consoled myself by thinking that
you couldn't have any proof. Then I found out you intended to see
Palmieri."

"How
did you know that?" Julian asked.

"Once
again, I have little Nina to thank. Soon after we came to the lake,
I began to think I had better find some way to keep abreast of what
you suspected, and what you were going to do. Guido reported to me
that your servant was both loyal and clever, which meant we couldn't
bribe or trick him into betraying your plans. So we set Nina to spy
on him. It was quite easy. Guido befriended her a priest knows how
to make women talk and in no time at all she was pouring out to him
that she feared Dipper was deceiving her with Rosa. Guido told her
she must find proof watch his every move, listen to his
conversations, steal his letters. She did and of course brought
every tidbit she discovered to Guido to be talked over.

"This
morning she was in Dipper's room looking for love-tokens from Rosa,
when she heard you and Dipper coming and hid in the wardrobe. She
heard your whole conversation. Of course she didn't understand very
much of it, since it was in English, but she heard you mention
Palmieri's name twice. She told Guido as much. I suppose Palmieri
gave you the information you wanted?"

Julian
saw no point in pretending otherwise. "Yes. I know that
Marchese Lodovico secretly married his wife Isotta a second time in
1793. And I know why."

"The
strange thing is," mused Carlo, "that it never occurred to
me

he'd
resorted to such a simple expedient. When Guido sought me out and
told me how he'd married my brother to Giulietta Petroni all those
years ago, all that mattered to me was that Giulietta was alive when
Lodovico married Rinaldo's mother. That made Lodovico a bigamist,
Rinaldo a bastard, and me Lodovico's direct heir." His lips
twisted. "I never thought to ask if Giulietta was still living
when Rinaldo was born."