The Devil in Music (70 page)

Julian
forbore to explain how he had made the deductions he had. He wanted
to entice Carlo to talk, not to trumpet his own acuteness. "You'd
known nothing of Lodovico's marriage to Giulietta until Guido told
you of it?"

"No,
nothing. But Guido's story made sense of a good deal I hadn't
understood before. My poor brother!" Carlo laughed with bitter
satisfaction. "He must have been off his head when he realized
what an act of folly he'd committed in marrying a singer. He
couldn't get an annulment without making the marriage public, and he
would sooner have cut his own throat if you'll pardon the allusion
than braved our father's anger. In the end he rid himself of
Giulietta by convincing her, with Guido's help, that Guido was no
priest, and the marriage was no marriage. But when he returned to
Milan from Naples, our father began pressuring him to take a wife.
He was the eldest; it was his duty to produce an heir. He resisted
for a long time I couldn't fathom why. But in the end he was more
frightened of our father than he was of committing bigamy. But why
should I tell you all this? You've obviously guessed."

He
straightened, suddenly businesslike. Guido stood to attention.
Julian felt his sands running out. He said quickly, "I haven't
guessed everything. I don't understand, for instance, why Guido
waited more than thirty years to tell you about Giulietta."

"Lodovico
paid him off and insisted he leave Italy," said Carlo. "He
went to Spain, where he led a distinctly un clerical life and
eventually was put in prison. When he got out, he was penniless. He
came to me and offered to sell me his information about Lodovico's
marriage to Giulietta. I persuaded him to let me have it on account,
with the promise that he would be well paid when I became Marchese
Malvezzi."

"Which
you proceeded to arrange," said Julian. "Which of you
actually killed Lodovico?"

"I
did," said Carlo. "And now, Mr. Kestrel "

"I
must say, you accomplished it brilliantly," said Julian. "You
didn't leave the slightest trace that could identify you. You even

thought
to use a piece of paper ruled with musical staffs as a wad. I
suppose you hoped to implicate Orfeo?"

"The
thought occurred to me," Carlo acknowledged. "Of course I
didn't know he would be so obliging as to disappear, and so bring
suspicion on himself or that Conte Raversi would be such an ass as to
keep the murder a secret, and thus make a hash of the initial
investigation."

Carlo
smiled reminiscently. "Fortune favoured me from the beginning.
I travelled from Parma to Milan with Guido, then sent Guido to the
lake to reconnoitre. A few days later he brought me word that my
brother planned to spend the night nearly alone at the villa. I was
at the lake by nightfall, and rowed out in a boat Guido had stolen
for me. I intended to go to the villa, but I saw the light in the
belvedere and decided to investigate, hoping I would find Lodovico
there. As, of course, I did."

"You
climbed up the embankment into the garden, I suppose."

"Yes."
Carlo cocked his head at Julian appraisingly. "I notice you
haven't asked how Guido found out that Lodovico would be all but
alone at the villa that night?"

"No,"
said Julian, with interest. "How did he know?"

Carlo
smiled unpleasantly. "Don't pretend you haven't guessed. Guido
got it out of Tonio, whom he met in the village after Tonio had got
the sack. This, of course, made Tonio's continued existence
inconvenient. So in the morning, Guido sought out Tonio and told him
Lodovico had been killed. He warned Tonio that he would be suspected
of the crime after all, Lodovico had brought about his dismissal only
yesterday. The boy was in such a panic, he didn't stop to reflect
that he had an alibi. Guido persuaded him to hide here in the
grottos until nightfall. He was never seen again just as you and
your servant and his sweetheart will never be seen again."

Julian
cast about for another question. "How did you know I would come
back from Milan alone tonight? I might have had a troop of police at
my back."

"I
didn't know," said Carlo. "But desperate straits call for
desperate measures. I had two choices: flight or attack. Right
would have been too costly. And if I attacked and lost, I would at
least have the satisfaction of bringing you down with me."

He
came closer, stepping out of the light of the lantern at his feet, so
that Julian only saw him in outline and heard the scowl in his voice.
"I've had one disappointment after another. The fall of
Napoleon left my life in ruins. Lodovico had everything, and I had
nothing. In Parma I was a mere courtier a lapdog to the Archduchess
I, who

had
been one of the chief ministers of the Kingdom of Italy! For six
years I struggled to rebuild my fortunes and support my children, but
I only slid deeper and deeper into debt. And then Guido came, and
offered me Lodovico's rank and wealth and all he possessed, if only I
could eliminate that one life standing in my way.

"My
plan was that, as Lodovico's executor, I would miraculously
'discover' his marriage to Giulietta. But when I met with Palmieri
to discuss Lodovico's estate, he told me how he had helped Lodovico
arrange a secret second marriage to Isotta." Carlo laughed
harshly. "Lodovico had said he feared there was an irregularity
in the first marriage! Palmieri, being the soul of discretion, never
asked what the irregularity was. But he thought I should know, as
executor, that whatever it was, it had been corrected before Rinaldo
was born.

"I
was staggered. I had killed my brother for nothing. Rinaldo and
Niccolo both stood between me and the title. I couldn't kill all
three of them and hope to escape detection. Who would have had a
motive but me?

"My
life became more wretched than ever. I had to play the affectionate
uncle to Rinaldo, who had everything I wanted. And I had to keep
this one with me." He jerked his head at Guido. "He knew
what I'd done. If he got safely away, he might betray me. I had to
endure his demands for money and the insulting tone he thought he
could take with me, once I'd stooped to become his fellow criminal.
For years it went on! And then "

Carlo
breathed hard. "My chance came again. I had the perfect
opportunity to kill Rinaldo and throw the blame on Francesca. With
both of them gone, I would have charge of Niccolo and could deal with
him at my leisure. But I must have been born under an unlucky star
fated to win battle after battle, only to have the prize snatched
away. Valeriano revealed he was the son of Lodovico and Giulietta,
and that gave you the information you needed to piece together what
I'd done, and why. Do you know what it means to steel yourself to
commit two murders, and have both of them rendered futile? I had no
one to punish the first time it happened. But, by the Madonna, you
will suffer for it now!"

"There's
something you don't know," said Julian. "Before I left
Milan I entrusted my evidence against you to Conte Raversi, and he
promised to lay it before the Director-General of Police. So you'll
gain nothing by killing us, except to increase the number of murders
for which you'll be held accountable."

Carlo's
whole body stiffened. "I'm not sure I believe you. But if you
really have denounced me, I have little to lose. What worse
punishment could befall me for six murders than for three? And Guido
and I may still be able to escape before the local police have cause
to suspect us."

"Not
if we keep hanging an arse here," Guido rasped. "Let's
have done with this, Master!"

"Very
well," said Carlo. "We'll bring this comedy to a close."

Julian
dared not reveal how he had slipped Raversi's letter to the boatman.
If Carlo thought he was in imminent danger of arrest, he might shoot
them all out of hand. "Let them go," Julian urged,
glancing toward Dipper and Nina. "I'm the only one who's seen
Palmieri. They don't understand what we've been saying, and the
authorities wouldn't take their word over yours in any case."

"Very
heroic," Carlo sneered. "But I don't doubt for a moment
that your servant is in your confidence. And surely little Nina
wouldn't want to live without her lover."

Nina
sobbed and twisted in her bonds. Julian knew he must do something
but there was nothing left to do. A numbing exhaustion crept over
him. His lungs were parched for a breath of fresh air. He felt the
dry, dead cold of this place in all his bones. Every scrape and
bruise he had got climbing over the rocks ached. There was no hope
left, only a faint curiosity about how he was going to die-He must
not give up. He would soon have all eternity to rest in.
Concentrate. There is always something more to do. Kick over one of
the lanterns? No, the other would still provide light enough to
shoot Dipper and Nina. Start a scuffle? Not while they were such
helpless targets.

"We'll
go up now," Carlo was saying. "Mr. Kestrel, you may come
with us. This will interest you."

"He'll
try to get away," Guido warned.

"You
don't understand the English," said Carlo. "Mr. Kestrel
will never abandon the ship while his crew remains in danger. And,
really, it seems only right, after promising him a tour of the caves,
to show him the sights I omitted when we were here last. Go ahead of
us, Guido: I'll cover him from the rear."

Cursing
under his breath, Guido ascended the ladder. Carlo slung the ring of
his lantern over his right wrist, leaving both hands free to cover
Julian with his guns.

Julian
ascended the ladder, Carlo following. The air above ground,

even
inside the cave, was deliriously fresh. Julian took several deep
breaths and felt his head clear, his senses sharpen.

He
gazed around the Salon. Its walls looked white and bleak in the
lantern light, every fissure and pockmark thrown into relief.
Nothing could be hidden there. In all the Salon, there was not a
spot that could mask a mystery. Except

Yes,
Carlo and Guido were bringing him to the little marble pool, with its
rectangular basin hollowed out of the ground and its back, some three
feet high and four feet wide, set into the cave wall. At the centre
of the back, the small grotesque face stared out, its mouth in an
astonished O, the nozzle protruding from it. While Carlo covered
Julian, Guido set down his lantern, put his guns in his pockets, and
took hold of the nozzle with both hands. He wrenched it sharply to
the left and twisted it.

With
a long, low moan, the marble back of the pool swung slowly outward.
Guido took up his lantern again, revealing a recess, hardly big
enough for a man to stand upright or lie at full length. There
appeared to be nothing in it but a large horizontal drum, with a
chain wound several times around it and a winch at the side. The
other end of the chain seemed to disappear through an opening in the
ground.

Carlo's
eyes shone. "You remember my telling you about Achille
Delborgo, Mr. Kestrel the man who built the grottos two centuries
ago? I showed you his little trick of hanging a mirror at the end of
a passage in the grottos, to frighten guests. But that was only a
trifle. Now you are about to see his piece de resistance."

Guido
crawled into the recess, lantern in hand, and crouched before the
winch. Julian was preposterously reminded of a surly dog looking out
of its kennel. "Now, Master?" he grunted.

"Now,"
said Carlo.

Guido
grasped the winch with both hands and leaned into it with all his
strength. It yielded. Panting with the effort, he forced it round
and round. The chain clanked fiercely as more and more of it coiled
around the drum. From below in the grottos came a rumbling, like
some underworld god disturbed.

"That's
enough," said Carlo.

Guido
stopped. In the sudden silence, his heavy breathing resounded
through the cave. He still gripped the winch half lay on it, using
his weight to help hold it in place. Julian realized that if he let
it go, the drum would spin out of control, the chain unwind, and what
would happen?

"Come,
Mr. Kestrel," said Carlo. "You must be curious to see

what
the mechanism is for." He shot a look at Guido. "Whatever
you do, don't let go of that winch until I give the signal."

Guido
nodded, wasting no strength on speech. Carlo drove Julian before him
to the ladder and made him descend. Julian heard Carlo following and
thought of seizing him by the foot. But Carlo stayed just out of
reach, while keeping Julian within range of his guns.