Return to Umbria by David Wagner (13 ebook reader txt) 📗

“She called me this afternoon to say she wouldn’t be here tonight. She was crying, but she wouldn’t tell me why.”

Thanks to Betta, Rick was sure he knew why.

***

As he walked back to the hotel Rick went over his conversation with his cousin. The kid was almost there, almost ready to give up and head home; only the headstrong tenacity that went along with his age was keeping him there. It made Rick think about his own age, and what he was doing when he was Fabrizio’s, and it made him feel old. Perhaps the thought of someone breaking in would push his cousin to leave, once the ramifications started to sink in. Better than waiting for another incident, more serious, to force the decision.

With his mind wandering, his feet did the same, and he got confused as to where he was. Fortunately, in Orvieto all streets and numerous signs put up for the benefit of the tourists lead to the Piazza del Duomo. When he reached it he checked his phone to find it was almost eleven o’clock. Lights lit the facade, and a few stragglers stood enjoying the show as Rick turned up the street to the hotel. He tapped on the door of the room and Betta let him in. She was dressed in jeans and a sweat shirt, and held her book in one hand. After closing the door she put a marker in the pages and returned to where she had been sitting on the bed.

“From how long you were gone, he must have been there. Tell me how it went.”

Rick took off his jacket and hung it next to hers on a hook near the door. “Not like I expected.” He told her what had happened, leaving out only the detail of being knocked sprawling to the floor. Betta listened to the whole story before speaking.

“Do you think it was Aragona?”

“Hard to say. After seeing him in the restaurant I tend to think that he would send someone to do his dirty work, but I’m not an expert on the behavior patterns of desperate husbands.”

“Do you think this might push Fabrizio to hit the road?”

Rick sighed. “If only it would. I was thinking about that on the walk back to the hotel.”

He looked at Betta’s bare toes poking out from the jeans, remembering that he’d heard somewhere most women thought their feet to be the ugliest part of their bodies. That’s silly, he thought. His eyes went to her face, full of concern as she thought about Rick’s cousin, whom she’d never met.

“Betta, this is not fair for you. We’re here to have an enjoyable few days away from work and enjoying the culture of Orvieto, and I’ve dragged you not only into my family problems, but a murder investigation. We haven’t been together much at all.”

She stood up, put her arms around his waist, and kissed him softly on his cheek. “Rick, don’t be concerned about me, I’m fine. Just getting away from the office has worked wonders for me. Spending a few days in Orvieto with you is more than I could have asked for.”

“I feel the same way, Betta. And nights. Don’t forget the nights,” Rick added, just as his cell phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and checked the screen. “I think it’s from the States, but I don’t recognize the number.”

“You’d better answer it.”

Reluctantly he put it to his ear. “Montoya.”

The voice was almost a whisper. “Rick, this is Gina. Someone is outside. I think they’re trying to break into the villa. You must help.”

***

Because of the hour, few other vehicles were on the road, allowing the police car to take the inside lane on the curves and gain maximum speed when it broke onto the straightaways. Rick and LoGuercio rode in the backseat, holding tight to the hand grips and watching the heads of the two uniformed policemen in front jerk left and right. Only fifteen minutes after the car picked up Rick did it slow down at the driveway of the villa. As instructed by his boss, the driver pulled over, blocking access to the road for any vehicle trying to leave the villa. Another police car silently pulled in behind them.

LoGuercio gathered the five uniformed policeman from the two cars in a circle around him, Rick at his side. “All right, when we get up to the house, you two will go with me around the side of the house to the left. And you, Sergeant, will take the other two and go around the right side. We’ll meet in the back by the pool if we don’t find anyone. Have your weapons in hand. Be as silent as you can as we get closer to the house, we want to catch this guy. Don’t use the flashlights unless you need them.”

Rick was holding his hand over his cell phone. “Are you sure you don’t want me to go with the Sergeant, Inspector?” There was annoyance in his voice.

“You’ll stay in front of the house and keep the Signora calm, Riccardo. Okay, let’s go.”

They began walking up the driveway in silence. A three-quarter moon gave just enough light to see the driveway as it bent right and left as it climbed the hill. By the time they reached the parking area in front of the villa, Rick’s eyes had become adjusted to the semi-darkness. He could see the outline of the villa and the Mercedes parked by the front door. He also noticed a structure he had not seen on the previous visit. A small, low house, which he guessed to be a maintenance storage shed, squatted at one side of the parking area. Likely it was where Donato stored his gardening equipment and other tools to fix what needed fixing.

Without speaking, the policemen split into two groups and moved as planned. Rick watched them disappear. The villa appeared larger in the darkness, perhaps due to the black shadows from a moon now unencumbered