Crime of the Ancient Marinara by Stephanie Cole

Author:Stephanie Cole [Cole, Stephanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2021-01-26T00:00:00+00:00

13

I found Police Detective Giovanni Battista Onetto, Joe Batta for short, casting his eyes around the courtyard without moving his bald head. He then proceeded to unwrap a hard candy. I swear if he dropped the wrapper I’d make a citizen’s arrest for littering. Instead, he rolled the cellophane into the size of a grain of rice and slid it into his pocket. Popping the round sugar blast into his wide mouth, he managed a ghastly smile at Chef, who was standing with him. Nina, the translator, dressed in a red skirt and white blouse with a deep-cut V-neck, oozed up alongside her boss. A plainclothes subordinate who drove made the threesome.

Some Italian etiquette about murder scenes followed. Murmurs, head bobbles, brays. That done, Chef made a grand gesture with his free left arm, swinging wide in the direction of the kitchen, and stepped back. The four of them headed toward the main building, all but Chef Claudio Orlandini striding as though they wouldn’t be wandering off for a nap anytime soon. In the late afternoon light, the red skirt swayed with a certain amount of snap.

A second car disgorged two more carabinieri, flanking Glynis Gramm, who had aged about twenty years in twenty-four hours. If George Johnson wanted a gander at skeletal remains, Glynis might be his best bet. Her cop companions were questioning her, but she seemed dazed and unhelpful. My cue. As I loped over to them, Pete appeared at my right. In a low voice, he said, “I’ll show them the barn. You done in there?”

A tight little nod was all I could muster as I pulled up next to Glynis Gramm, not knowing quite what to expect. She was here, back at the place where widowhood began. If she had dissolved into hysteria or launched into accusations, I really think I would have understood. But then we locked eyes. It was rather touching that she appeared to remember me, and I slid an arm around her shoulders, quietly telling the others, “I’ll take care of Glynis.” Grateful, Pete signaled for the two cops to follow him to the barn, where the Gramms had been staying.

With nothing better to suggest, I placed my hands on Glynis’s shoulders, then found myself telling her there’s a nice, unoccupied room in the dormitory where she could lie down. For the first time since she’d arrived at the villa, she had no opinion. On anything. And that wry, cheerful personality was nowhere in the vicinity. Her backbone appeared to have lost a few vertebrae, her rumpled clothes were looking dingy, and she couldn’t quite hold her lips together. As I headed toward the dormitory, steering Glynis as far as possible from the barn, Rosa and Sofia hovered, and peppered me with some ideas in such rapid Italian that I didn’t have a chance of catching it. But they seemed satisfied with their plan and darted toward the main building. All of a sudden, Rosa stopped short and called after me, “Vinci?”

“Vinci,” I called back.

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