The Sandro Cellini Mysteries, Books 1-3 by Christobel Kent

Author:Christobel Kent [Kent, Christobel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782391562
Publisher: Atlantic Books

‘Private investigator? Into the Dottoressa’s – accident? You knew that?’ Nicki wouldn’t show Cate her face, letting her hair hang down, but she nodded almost imperceptibly.

They were in the kitchen, hurriedly polishing glasses and cutlery and setting them on trays, because everything was behind schedule now.

Even as she said it, though, Cate realized that somehow it wasn’t as much of a surprise as it should have been. Even when they ’d first seen him, from the brow of that hill, climbing out of his modest little car, there ’d been something about Sandro Cellini. Something careful and meticulous. Tiziano and Alec Fairhead had seen it too, she ’d known that by the way they fell silent in the dusk beside her.

‘Who told you?’

Nicki shrugged, looking truculent.

‘Ginevra?’

‘Actually, Mauro. Luca Gallo told him an investigator was coming, to put the wind up him, maybe.’

Cate took a step back and eyed Nicki more closely. ‘Because?’

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Nicki dully. ‘Mauro says Gallo wants to get him sacked, just like the Dottoressa did. Thinks it’s a big conspiracy, the whole thing.’

‘Really?’ She didn’t believe it. ‘Maybe he’s being paranoid about Luca,’ Nicki said, fiddling. She looked listless and uncomfortable, her skin even blotchier than usual in the heat of the kitchen.

‘Nicki,’ said Cate, ‘don’t take this the wrong way, but you need to get out of this place. I don’t mean just move to Pozzo, I mean, far away. Living down there, your mum, Ginevra, Mauro – ’

‘You think so?’ said Nicki, frowning, as if the possibility hadn’t occurred to her. She eyed Cate. ‘Well,’ she said, in a burst of confidentiality, looking around as if she might be overheard, ‘the Dottoressa certainly didn’t like Mauro, even before – that morning. She gave him a written warning. She said if she caught him drunk again he ’d be out; she even said she was going to get some kind of breathalyser.’

Cate recalled her recent trip into Pozzo to collect her things, Mauro sloping back from the bar with a flush and brandy on his breath. ‘Well,’ she said slowly, ‘she had a point, didn’t she?’

‘It’s his home,’ said Nicki simply. She came and stood beside Cate at the door. ‘This place is his life.’

Dangerous to turn a man out of his home. They stared at each other, both sensing that this was serious; the presence of Sandro Cellini in the castle confirmed that. Had she always wondered whether it had been an accident? Cate realized that she had; also that she, for one, was actually glad Cellini was here.

‘It’s snowing again,’ said Nicki, looking past her. Cate pulled the door open a little more and together they looked out. The snow was falling steadily under the arc of the wall light, thick and soft and silent. The bumpy surface of the back road was already carpeted with white, and the night seemed muffled.

‘Snowed in, are we?’ said Cate. ‘Does that ever happen?’

Nicki gave her a scornful look. ‘Once or twice a year. Mauro should be out there clearing the drive.

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