Chapter 7 #2
She turned back towards me and looked me in the eye.
‘Who are you? Eddie says you’re a detective chief inspector from London.
’ Seeing the surprise on my face, she explained.
‘He said he thought your name was familiar, so he checked you out on the Internet. I think he said you arrested somebody he knew. Does this mean the British police are investigating over here as well?’
I gave her a smile and shook my head, wondering idly which East End villain Eddie and I had in common.
‘The Met hasn’t got enough officers for its own purposes, let alone for sending abroad.
No, I retired a few years ago and I have my own private investigation agency here in Florence.
I sometimes help the local police when there’s a case involving English speakers, that’s all. ’
She dabbed her face with the towel and then wrapped it around herself. ‘Who do you think killed Tristan? Do you really think it might be somebody here?’ She was sounding more communicative than she had done in the small lounge.
I decided to play down my part in the investigation.
‘That’s what Chief Inspector Pisano and his colleagues have to work out.
Like I say, I’m just helping as an interpreter.
’ Seeing as she appeared happy to talk, I thought that it wouldn’t do any harm if I did a bit of digging.
‘Can I ask you something? When DCI Pisano asked you if you thought the killer might be somebody here, I noticed that you didn’t say no.
Does that mean you think you might have a murderer in your midst? ’
Her eyes flicked apprehensively around, but there was nobody to be seen apart from the three police officers further up the slope, well out of earshot.
Even so, when she answered, she kept her voice low.
‘I don’t know is the honest answer. Things have been tense ever since we left London.
Tristan was unusually short-tempered, and there have been a few flare-ups between some of the others.
’ The facade of icy coolness had evaporated, and in its place, I felt sure I could sense uncertainty and maybe fear.
‘Flare-ups about what?’ This was interesting – not least as she had previously denied any knowledge of arguments among the TXA people.
She shook her head. ‘I’ve no idea. Nobody’s said anything to me. I think they see me as an outsider as I’ve only worked for the company for such a short time, while some of them go back to the time when Tristan was an officer in the British army.’
Somehow, this didn’t come as a great surprise to me. ‘Really? What was his rank?’
‘I believe he was a major in one of the Guards regiments.’
There was the sound of a door shutting, and we both spotted a figure emerging from what was most probably the kitchen door.
It was only Rosina with a tablecloth that she set about shaking vigorously, but Penelope clammed up all the same, gave Oscar one last pat on the head and headed across to a row of empty sunbeds on the far side of the pool.
I returned to the three police officers and passed on what Penelope had just told me, as well as mentioning what Eddie had said about the South African mercenary.
Virgilio nodded pensively. ‘I tend to agree that the most likely candidates for Angel’s murder are probably former customers – or their victims – but finding them is going to be far from easy.
As for what Penelope Green’s just told you, it sounds as though Eddie’s story of the people here all being one big happy family maybe isn’t completely true after all.
I wonder what the problem might be. Could it be that Angel was aware that he was in danger?
Had he been getting threats? Maybe they came here to get away from what they saw as potential danger in the UK. ’
Diana Dini produced a suggestion of her own. ‘Or maybe Angel deliberately brought this group of people because he believed that one of them might be a traitor or a thief?’
Virgilio nodded. ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. You might be right, Dini. But the idea backfired on him when the guilty party took pre-emptive action and murdered him.’ He glanced over at me.
‘The interviews we’ve just had this afternoon didn’t throw up anything earth-shattering.
Nobody knows who Angel was meeting this morning or, if they do know, they’re not saying.
Alexander Murray is the head of sales, and Liam O’Connell describes himself as Technical Director, whatever that means.
Sinclair, the American, is their PR manager, and the big guy – he’s German, by the way, Peter Schneider – just says he’s security, but he didn’t do much to help his boss, did he? ’
I told them what Eddie had said about Schneider being too visible as a bodyguard when Angel had been out and about, and how the task of shadowing Angel had been Eddie’s responsibility – but not today.
Or so he said. I had little doubt that, beneath his cheeky cockney grin, Eddie Smith could be a hard and ruthless man. Maybe even a killer.
Virgilio carried on his debrief to me. ‘Vincent Archer – he’s the older, bald man – is financial director, and it’s pretty clear that Hicks is now in charge, and it looks as though Archer has taken his place as second in command.
You won’t be surprised to hear that none of them could come up with any idea as to why Angel should have been murdered. ’
‘Were any of them in the duomo this morning?’
‘As far as we can tell, they all called in at some time, except for Peter Schneider and Alex Murray. So if we add in Donald Hicks, Emilia Cortez and Penelope Green, that means almost all of them were in the right place at the right time.’
Virgilio’s phone started ringing and he answered it. The call lasted barely ten seconds and his expression visibly darkened. As soon as the call ended, he broke the news to us.
‘Our security service friends from the AISE have arrived. Dan, if you’ve got any sense, you’ll head off now before they start shooting.’
I jumped to my feet and gave him a grin. ‘That sounds like an excellent idea. Good luck, and if James Bond arrives from the British embassy in Rome, don’t mention my name.’