The Venice Sketchbook: A Novel by Rhys Bowen

Author:Rhys Bowen
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3, epub
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2021-04-13T07:00:00+00:00

The next day I came home to be greeted by my landlady with a suspicious look on her face.

“Somebody left flowers for you,” she said, indicating a bouquet wrapped in paper, tied with a white ribbon, lying on the hall table.

“Really? How nice!” I couldn’t think who that would be. “Did they leave a note?”

“I believe there is one with it,” she said, and I got the impression that she might have opened and read it.

I went over and picked up the bouquet. The sweet smell of red roses, mixed with other scents, came up to me. She was right. A little note was tucked in between the flowers. I opened it.

You see. It was easy to find out where you live. Everybody knows everybody in this town. I just had to ask for the woman from Turin!

It wasn’t signed, for which I was grateful. I gave my landlady a little smile. “Do you have a vase? We can put them on the kitchen table and both enjoy them.”

“You know who they are from? An admirer?”

“Just a friend.”

She nodded. “Someone said they saw the Da Rossi boy in this street.” She said it casually. From the way my face flushed, she confirmed her suspicion. “Not a good idea. You don’t want to get involved with that family. And I’ve been hearing things about his wife, too. Her father has Mafiosi ties, so one understands. He wouldn’t take kindly to anyone . . .”

She left the rest of the sentence hanging. Anyone who crossed his daughter. I understood.

“Just a friend from my childhood,” I said. “Nothing more.”

“Keep it that way.”

“Don’t worry. I intend to, signora,” I said. I took the flowers through to the kitchen.

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