[Aurelio Zen 09] Medusa by Dibdin Michael

Author:Dibdin, Michael [Dibdin, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780571246021
Publisher: Faber and Faber Ltd
Published: 2008-09-03T23:00:00+00:00

‘You learned of the discovery of an unidentified body in a system of abandoned military tunnels from the television news. Your mother, Claudia Comai, resident in Verona, had already informed you, following the death of her husband Gaetano, that your biological father had in fact been one Leonardo Ferrero, who had died before your birth in a plane crash over the Adriatic. She now phones to say that the body that has turned up in the Dolomites is his and instructs you to make a formal application to take possession of it.’

‘Those are the facts.’

‘Very well, but let’s try and put a little flesh on them, shall we? And may I remind you once more that you are not under oath and will not be required to sign a written statement on this occasion. That will of course change if I suspect that you are attempting to conceal anything or to protect anyone.’

A particularly violent gust of wind hacked at the house like an axe. The still, stale air inside seemed to vibrate under its assault.

‘I have nothing to hide,’ Naldo Ferrero stated truculently.

‘That’s as may be. But your mother certainly does.’

‘Leave my mother out of this!’

‘I’m afraid that’s not possible, assuming that she told you the truth. Did you believe her?’

‘Why would she make up a story like that?’

‘Well, it would be easy to suggest a number of reasons. Let’s assume that she’d had an affair with this Ferrero, had been genuinely in love with him, and that he’d broken off with her and then died. She might have tried to convince herself that you were his son so that something of him would remain.’

‘My mother’s not crazy!’

‘All right, let’s assume that her version of events is true. We know that Leonardo Ferrero died in a plane crash. How sane is it, after all these years, for her to tell you to make a claim for an unidentified body discovered deep underground on the basis that it is his?’

Ferrero got to his feet.

‘Do you think I give a damn either way?’ he shouted. ‘I never even met the man.’

‘You changed your name from Comai to Ferrero,’ Zen reminded him.

‘That was to please my mother! Everything I’ve ever done has been to please her. She asked me to contact the authorities in Bolzano and I did so. When I told her the result, she asked me to make a judicial application, and that’s what I’m in the process of doing. She’s my mother and I love her. This business obviously means a lot to her for one reason or another, so I’m playing my part and doing as she wishes. Personally, I couldn’t give a damn who my father is.’

He strode away and disappeared round the corner of the bar. Zen lit a cigarette and looked around. Il Ristorante La Stalla was closed for the season, but even at the height of summer it was hard to imagine such an isolated venue packed out with the boisterous crowd of noisily

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