Chapter 48
Finally, I had rested, and Salvo had fed and tended me enough that I was strong enough to drive on to Rome. I stayed a few days. Saw the Colosseum, threw coins in the fountain and ate wonderful dinners in tiny little trattorias. And I made some calls.
I called Mikey and he got me some contacts. Then I went to the harbor and found a fisherman who was eager to make a deal, and I sailed for the island of Ischia.
The wealthy little seaside town of St. Angelo perches in steps on a steep slope, down to the golden coast. With a stunning view of the clear, glassy sea, I found the perfect cafe by the harbor, serving the perfect coffee.
A tall, elegant lady sits alone on the terrace, perfectly framed against the waves and the sand mount in the bay.
The moment she hears my voice, she rouses and slowly turns.
“Darling! Are you American? All we get here is Germans and the occasional snotty Brit. Nobody speaks my language. You must come and join me.”
Her strong features and quick eyes, the way she commands the staff in the cafe and all the space around her, I think she’s the perfect model of how a woman should be. When I grow up, I want to be her. I want to look as hot as she does at her age, too.
She tells me she comes at the same time every morning for coffee, “but it’s so nice to see a fresh face. And such a lovely young face, too.”
After she congratulates me on the hotel I’ve chosen and she starts straight in to telling me all about the island, but then she says, “I can’t stay too long this morning, I want to book for the opera tonight and it will take some serious schmoozing. I know I should have booked well in advance, but where would be the fun in that?”
She sips her cappuccino and nibbles on a biscotti. “You have some Italian heritage, don’t you, darling? I can see it in your eyes. Do you love opera? Surely, you must. Darling, it’s wonderful. Tonight it’s Tosca. It’s all about love and betrayal and dreams, and how if you love someone, you’ll do anything for them. Anything. It’s huge and drenched in passion, it all ends tragically, and everybody dies. Darling, you’ll love it. It’s what life’s all about. You must come.” I don’t see how I could refuse. Especially when she says. “Let me be the one to take your opera virginity.”
She gives me a huge flirtatious blink. “We have to take a boat to Naples, of course. Are you alright to travel, my dear? You do look as if you’ve had some shocks. Or was it just one very big one?”
As she gets up to leave, she holds out her long-fingered hand. “You must call me Esther. It’s short for Estella. I’m Donna Fortuna.” She gives me a dazzling flash from her eyes. “But I think you knew that, didn’t you?” She could have thumped me in the chest. “Lucrezia, isn’t it?”
She watches as I gape, open mouthed. “Oh, don’t worry, darling. You’re not the only one who knows clever people.” She smiles. “Besides, we have some interests in common. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”
As she leaves, she nods toward the harbor wall. “See that little jetty? Wait for me there at six.”