42
Max was still asleep on my lap, oblivious to my inner turmoil. I put Carmen”s diary aside, feeling my head spin. I had opened it in search of distraction as I tried to put my thoughts in order. But the last few lines had only tripled the growing sensation of the ground shaking beneath my feet. It had also proved that my grandmother, in her insignificance, had been a thousand times braver than me.
On the floor next to the violin case, I saw two keys. One opened the terrace, and the other was for the car. I reached out stealthily and took them both, careful not to wake the sleeping, duplicitous Max.
I was furious with him but not surprised.
I covered him with his jacket and left as quickly as I could before remorse assailed me. Behind me was another liar, dozing on a bunch of cushions on the terrace of the best hotel in Piran, happily unaware that his charade had been unveiled.
I walked to the dock in search of the Audi, which was still parked there. The owner, whoever she was, would have to wait a while to get it back.
Holding back my tears, I adjusted the seat and started the engine, but as I drove out of Piran, my eyes were so full of tears that I could hardly read the signs indicating the road to Ljubljana.
I tried to distract my mind by thinking about my grandmother”s diary. The last entry confirmed that Enzo Rossi had given her a violin in the 1940s but hadn’t indicated that it was a priceless Baroque antique.
I wondered what could have become of the instrument if, indeed, it still existed. If my grandmother had sold the house in Bled, she had most likely taken it to Spain. After that, she had either given it to my father or kept it in her house. But when she passed away, everything she owned could only have ended up in my mother”s apartment. So, if that violin was still in my family”s hands, it could only be in...
“My God,” I slapped my forehead, suddenly realizing that I had been looking in the wrong place for days.
I rummaged through my purse and pulled out my cell phone with one hand while driving with the other. I switched on the speakerphone and dialed Indira”s number. It was very late, but her busy resident doctor”s schedule worked in my favor. I sighed with relief when she picked up on the second ring.
“Indira, I need to know what you did with my mother”s things,” I blurted out.
“Hello?” she answered in a sleepy voice. “Well... I did what you told me to do. I called a charity that empties apartments... they took away the last boxes yesterday. Why?”
I was so upset that, had I not been in the middle of the highway, I would have stopped dead in my tracks.
“No, no, that can’t be true,” I snapped, trying to keep my eyes on the road ahead.
Indira yawned.
“Of course it’s true. They did a great job. It”s as clean as a whistle. You”ll be able to do a waltz in the living room now with all the extra space.”
“Please tell me there were no musical instruments.”
“Now that you mention it, there were some things in the storage room. I don”t know, a flute... an old keyboard.”
“Violins? Were there any?” I cut her off abruptly.
“Yes, there were. Two. Very old, broken, moldy... They asked me if we wanted them, but they looked like they were useless. And anyway, you made it clear that you didn”t want anything from your mother.”
I took a breath and tried to pull myself together. I didn”t want to yell at Indira, but it was getting increasingly difficult. I took a deep breath through my nose.
“Okay,” I said slowly, “we have to get them back.”
“Ooff... that”s going to be impossible. The cleaners made me sign a contract giving them the ownership of any items in the house. I signed using the power of attorney you gave me. We can”t revoke it now. It’s just a formality, but they do it to avoid trouble later.”
A gas station appeared on the right, and I exited the highway. I needed to get out of the car and get some fresh air, or I would end up crashing into the central reservation.
“What’s that noise in the background?” asked Indira on the other end of the line.
“I”m driving,” I replied, too exhausted to explain the problem. I couldn”t think of a solution anyway. “I”m going home.”
“But... what about your inheritance?”
“There’s no inheritance anymore. Those violins were the inheritance.”
“Seriously? Just that? Wow, I didn”t expect that... well, that really sucks, Vesna.”
I parked by the gas station and leaned my head on the steering wheel.
“Yes. Just that. But it doesn”t matter anymore.”
“I’m sorry. What about that guy... the German...?”
“Austrian. He was Austrian.”
“What happened to him?”
“Another liar.”
“You know, we all have dark stuff in our past…”
“You”re kidding, right? You almost stopped talking to me because of Pedro, and now you”re defending that jerk?”
“I”m not defending him! I was just thinking about your grandmother and the awful secret she took to the grave... did you read that part?”
“Yes. This world sucks. Can”t anyone tell the truth for a change? Wouldn”t it all be so much easier?”
“Tell me what happened with the Austrian. I can tell you’re really upset.”
“What do you think happened?” I shouted, raking my fingers through my hair.
“Was he married?”
“How do you know?”
“I don”t know, but you have a talent for picking them.”
“I’ll never find a worthwhile man. There isn’t a single one able to make me happy.”
“That”s because you don”t need any of them, Vesna,” Indira replied gently. “You know perfectly well that you”ve been looking in the wrong place.”
I snorted, watching the lights of other vehicles pass by on the road as we said goodbye, but my friend”s words kept echoing in my head after I’d hung up the phone. I was too tired to drive any further, so I locked the doors from the inside and decided to take a nap in the gas station parking lot.
The sound of my cell phone awakened me.
A message from Pedro after such a long time.
I decided not to read it until later when I arrived at the airport. In the meantime, there was someone else I had to visit before I left Ljubljana, possibly for good. Someone who had also lied to me, and I wouldn’t leave the country without finding out why.