Commissario Brunetti - 07 - A Noble Radiance by Donna Leon

Author:Donna Leon
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 9780099269298
Publisher: ARROW
Published: 1999-01-14T10:19:19+00:00

15

The morning papers, as Brunetti had anticipated, fell upon the Lorenzoni story with vulpine avidity. Because of their assumption that the reading public was incapable of recalling even the most important details of a story that had appeared eighteen months before - in which assumption Brunetti believed them to be correct - each story began by retelling the story of the original kidnapping. In them, Roberto was variously described as 'the oldest son', 'the nephew', and 'the only son' of the Lorenzoni family, and the kidnapping was reported to have taken place in Mestre, Belluno, and Vittorio Veneto. Not only the readers seemed to have forgotten the details.

Doubtless due to their failure to obtain a copy of the autopsy report, the ghoulish delight the press usually took in cases of exhumation was strangely absent from the accounts, the writers contenting themselves with the lacklustre 'advanced stage of decomposition' and 'human remains'. Reading the stories, Brunetti found himself uncomfortable with his own disappointment at the tepid language, worried that his palate had become accustomed to richer fare.

On his desk when he reached his office was a video cassette in a padded brown envelope which carried his name. He called down to Signorina Elettra. 'Is this the tape from RAI?' he asked.

'Yes, Dottore. It got here yesterday afternoon.'

He looked down at the envelope, but it seemed to be unopened. 'Did you watch it at home?' he asked.

'No. I don't have a cassette player.'

'Or you would have?'

'Of course.'

'Shall we go down to the lab and have a look at it?' he suggested.

'I'd like that, sir’ she said and hung up.

She was waiting for him at the door of the ground-floor laboratory, today dressed in a pair of jeans that had been ironed to within an inch of their life. The casual note was reinforced by a pair of what he thought must be cowboy boots with dangerous toes and slanted heels. A silk crepe blouse re-established a professional tone, as did the severe chignon into which her hair was pulled today.

‘Is Bocchese here?' he asked.

'No, he's giving evidence today’

'Which case?'

'The Brandolini robbery’

Neither of them bothered to shake their heads at the fact that this four-year-old robbery, which had been followed two days later by an arrest, was getting to trial only now. 'But I asked him yesterday if we could use the lab to watch it, and he said it was all right’ she explained.

Brunetti opened the door and held it for her. Signorina Elettra went over to the VCR and switched it on as though she were entirely at home in the lab. He slipped in the tape. They waited for a few moments until the screen lit up with the RAI logo and test pattern, quickly followed by the date and a few lines of what Brunetti assumed was technical information.

'Do we have to send this back?' he asked, moving away from the screen and seating himself on one of the wooden folding chairs that faced it.

She came and sat in the chair next to him.

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