Chapter 10
SATURDAY MORNING
I was up early on Saturday to give Oscar a walk.
I had checked with Diego the previous night and he had suggested taking Oscar across to the Lido where there was a lot more space.
As I left my room, I spotted Diego in the garden and went over to get the key to the outboard motor of the little boat.
He led me down the ramp to the jetty and showed me how to work the engine.
It was reassuringly similar to one I had used before, so I felt reasonably confident – as long as I didn’t get run over by a ferry or a cruise liner.
Diego told me where I could moor up but warned me to make sure I didn’t stray from the specific place he mentioned, for fear of getting a parking fine.
Venice really was just like any other city, give or take a bit of water.
Oscar jumped willingly into the boat and would probably have carried on over the other side and into the water if I hadn’t been hanging onto his lead.
I waved an admonitory finger at him and looped the end of his lead around my ankle when I sat down.
I knew of old how difficult it was to drag fifty or sixty pounds of soggy canine bone and muscle out of the water and into a boat, and I wanted to avoid that at all costs.
The trip across to the Lido was remarkably straightforward and took less than ten minutes. Diego’s directions had been spot on, and I easily managed to find the parking area he had indicated. I manoeuvred the boat to a mooring by the shore, and Oscar and I set off to explore.
The first thing I discovered came as something of a shock to the system.
Everywhere I looked, there were roads, and line upon line of parked cars.
A quick look at a conveniently situated map of the Lido showed me that this wasn’t an island but a long, slim breakwater, barely a couple of hundred metres wide, dividing the lagoon from the open sea, and it was connected to the mainland at the northern end.
As a result, almost every available space had been built on and along with the houses and the people had inevitably come the cars.
I kept Oscar on the lead just to be on the safe side, although at seven in the morning, there wasn’t much traffic.
It was remarkable how different the atmosphere was compared to the old city across the water.
Here, I found myself among apartment blocks and hotels, by the look of them, most built in the twentieth century.
The main roads themselves were pleasantly wide and lined with trees, but there wasn’t much in the way of open space for Oscar to run around.
Still, I made sure we both did a decent circuit before I spotted a café already open where I sat down for a coffee and a brioche.
As always, Oscar disposed of the tail end of my bun.
While I sat there, I thought back to the dress rehearsal the previous night.
It had gone remarkably smoothly. Dinner had been served out on the terrace and had started with a combination of drinks and canapés, allowing the actors to wander around, mingling with the non-existent guests and chatting among themselves in readiness for the main event today.
Although it hadn’t been easy, I had gradually managed to get the hang of eating and drinking with my mask on, in spite of my massive hooked nose.
During the sit-down meal, after every course, we’d had to get up and change seats so as to allow us all to communicate with each other.
I had a feeling there might be a certain amount of resistance from the guests at tonight’s main event, particularly some of the more elderly ones – and they made up the majority – but I hadn’t said anything.
I’d seen that the actors had all been issued with cards containing clues for them to pass on to the guests.
As far as I could see, they had obeyed Alice’s instructions not to discuss these with the others, although I’d seen our host take each of them aside for a one-to-one briefing in the course of the evening.
I was most impressed at the time and effort Alice must have put into planning the event, and I had a feeling that her guests were going to be similarly impressed.
After my cup of coffee, I headed back to the island and when I got there, I found Mary waiting for me on the jetty.
‘Hi, Dan, Diego told me you’d gone over to the Lido in the dinghy, and I spotted you coming back.
I thought I’d let you have the accommodation list, so you know who’s in which room.
’ She handed me a sheet of paper and a little paper bag with one hand while fending off a warm greeting from Oscar with the other.
‘And here’s a bow to tie to Oscar’s collar tonight.
Miss Graceland wants him to look good. I’m just waiting for Diego now.
We’ve got a busy morning ahead of us. We’ve had arrival details from the guests and we’re going over to the airport now to collect Jack Sloane, Maggie McBride and her boyfriend, along with Alastair Groves and his wife.
’ She glanced at her watch. ‘They’re arriving pretty soon from Rome and then, once we’ve dropped them off here, we’ll be going straight back to the airport again to pick up the two actors, Dirk Foster and Lucy O’Connell, along with Desmond Norman – they’re flying in on Norman’s private jet.
If they’re on time, we should be able to drop them off here before zooming back to the airport one more time to pick up Greg Gupta and Carlos Rodriguez, who’re coming in on the morning flight from Berlin. ’
I did a bit of mental arithmetic. ‘What about Wilfred Baker and his companion?’
She shook her head. ‘No word yet how they’re getting to Venice, but he’s told Miss Graceland he’s going to make his own way out to the island – presumably by water taxi.’
While we were chatting, Diego came hurrying down the ramp and jumped into the launch. As he passed me, I gave him back the keys to the dinghy and left them to it.
When I got back to my room, first things first, I gave Oscar his breakfast and then I opened the paper bag and pulled out an intricate bow made of wide, red ribbon.
A couple of strings hanging from it would be used to tie it to his collar.
As long as he didn’t eat it – he has an inexhaustible and fairly indiscriminate appetite – I felt sure he would look suitably impressive.
I put it with my magistrate’s costume and settled down to catch up on paperwork Lina had sent me from Florence.
At just before ten, there was a tap on my door, and I opened it to find Alice Graceland herself standing there. She was wearing shorts and a baggy T-shirt, but she still looked amazing.
‘Good morning, Alice.’ It still felt strange to be calling such a huge star by her first name.
‘Good morning, Dan. I’ve brought you some more information about what’s going to happen tonight. Feel like a walk?’
This resulted in an immediate reaction from Oscar, who slipped out through Alice’s legs into the garden.
I followed – not through Alice’s legs – and the two of us walked slowly around for a couple of minutes, just chatting, until we came level with the greenhouse.
I pointed towards the mass of vegetation in there and pulled out my phone.
‘I’m most impressed with what you’ve done to the gardens, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a greenhouse with so many plants in it.
I don’t recognise half of them, and I wonder if you’d mind if I took a look inside some time.
I’ve got an app on my phone that claims to be able to recognise virtually every plant on the planet, and I’d like to put it to the test.’
Her response was enthusiastic. ‘I would be fascinated. Like you, I haven’t been able to recognise many of the plants either and I hadn’t thought about getting an app.
Before I bought the island, somebody was using the place as a market garden – illegally, as it belonged to the city and was off limits – growing fruit and vegetables.
I’ve no idea what nationality they were, but I have a feeling they weren’t Italian.
Apart from some familiar vegetables, there were also all sorts of exotic ones like mangoes and even papaya, and goodness only knows what’s inside the greenhouse.
’ She glanced at her watch. ‘I wish I could spare the time to accompany you now, but I’m going to need to go back to change pretty soon, before the first of the guests arrive.
If you do feel like taking a look around in the greenhouse, I’d be very grateful if you could let me know what you find. ’
I agreed immediately, and we carried on walking until we reached one of the stone staircases leading to the ramparts and climbed it.
We went across to one of the larger openings in the outside wall, from where we could look back across the lagoon towards the city to the left, and further over the islands of Murano and Burano to the right.
As I looked on, there was a distant roar and I saw an aircraft coming in to land at Venice’s Marco Polo airport – maybe carrying some of tonight’s guests.
Alice stood beside me and talked me through what would happen this evening, until I had a pretty good idea.
She ended by shooting me a decidedly cheeky wink.
‘If all goes as I’ve planned it, there’s going to be a twist in the tail right at the end. Hopefully, it’ll surprise the guests and, who knows, maybe even bamboozle the experienced detective.’
I smiled back at her. ‘I’ve always liked a challenge. I’m sure it’s all going to go really well. But don’t forget to give me the sealed envelope with the identity of the murderer just in case you really do bamboozle me.’
She gave a gleeful chuckle. ‘I promise I won’t forget the envelope. And please come and join me and the other guests at lunchtime. Valentina’s going to serve drinks on the terrace from midday. I’ll introduce you to everybody.’
Then she gave Oscar a final tummy rub – he had been lying stretched out at her feet – and set off back down the steps again. I stood there admiring the view for another minute or two and then headed for the greenhouse.
It was so overgrown in there that I told Oscar to stay outside just in case there were slug pellets or other poisonous things lying around, and I squeezed my way in between what my phone identified as a persimmon tree, Diospyros kaki, and a fortunately abandoned wasps’ nest the size of a basketball.
Above my head was a vine, hung with the most amazing blue flowers with unusual, prominent, yellow stamens, and dotted among the flowers were strange orange and purple fruits, the size of large apricots.
The phone identified this as Passiflora edulis or passion fruit.
I carried on down the length of the greenhouse, feeling like a Victorian explorer in the jungle, gradually collecting plant names ranging from Litchi chinensis and Cerbera odollam to Psidium guajava.
By the time I emerged again, I had a list of half a dozen Latin plant names that meant nothing to me whatsoever, and I resolved to do my best to find English names for everything when I had time, so I could pass the list on to Alice.
Back in my room, before plunging once more into a complicated quotation for a racing stables on the outskirts of Florence who believed their horses were being nobbled by rival racehorse owners or betting cheats, I went through in my head what Alice had told me.
I was to meet up with the new arrivals on the terrace before lunch for drinks.
She knew her guests well and had told me that this might turn out to be an alcoholic event for some of them, after which, a few would probably retire to their rooms for a siesta, while others might prefer to laze by the pool, or even take a trip into Venice to see the sights.
At the end of the afternoon, changed into our costumes, we would all meet up again on the terrace at six, and the murder mystery evening would begin.
From the way Alice had described it, the drinks would be followed by the evening meal on the terrace, like last night, involving musical chairs between courses.
This would probably take a couple of hours, during which the guests and actors would mingle and exchange information until the murder took place.
When Alice lay apparently dead, it would be my job to collect everybody together and give them all a chance to voice their suspicions until the killer could be revealed.
By my calculations, this probably meant that the murder mystery part of the evening would be done and dusted by nine or nine-thirty.
This struck me as pretty early for a party to finish until it occurred to me that a number of the guests were well over seventy, so maybe nine-thirty was bedtime for some, if not all.
At least this would mean that Oscar got his evening walk at a reasonable hour.
And it would mean I could remove the dreaded tights before they cut off my circulation completely.