Chapter 16
WEDNESDAY MORNING
The first thing I did when I got back to my room was to send a message to Paul in London.
Inspector Paul Wilson and I worked together for many years when I was at Scotland Yard, and we are good friends.
From time to time, he’s been able to help me when I have a query about somebody with a UK background, and I felt sure he wouldn’t mind if I asked him if he could run a check on a William Rogers, age about thirty, allegedly a graduate of Cambridge University and a former staffer for a member of parliament. I wondered what this might throw up.
When I went into the breakfast room, I found Anna with Selena on one table while Calogero and Cinzia Naselli occupied another on the opposite side of the room.
Although Calogero appeared to have recovered from the shock of yesterday afternoon, his wife still looked pale and troubled by what had happened to Bartolomeo.
I helped myself to a couple of croissants and sat down alongside Anna.
Seconds later, Marina appeared, and I asked her for a cappuccino.
She seemed to have bounced back after the shock of yesterday and she managed to produce a hint of a smile for Oscar.
I was relieved for her. After she had gone off, I asked Selena how yesterday morning’s negotiations had gone.
‘Are you going to be the new face of Aquila Sports? Am I allowed to ask or is it a state secret?’
She shrugged. ‘It’s a good question. Yesterday, I had already decided to say no but, in light of Bartolomeo’s death, I might rethink things.’
‘Can I ask why you decided to say no yesterday?’
‘I’ve just been telling Anna. I’ve only been here since Sunday, but it very quickly emerged that the real reason Bartolomeo had invited me wasn’t so much in order to get me to work for them, but so he could add me to his list of conquests.
’ She shook her head slowly. ‘He was unable to keep his hands to himself, but luckily, I’d been warned what to expect.
One of my girlfriends had a bad experience with him, so I’ve been very much on my guard, but even so, he started pawing me on Monday and it was getting me down.
If I had signed the contract yesterday, I knew that it would mean meeting with him regularly and, sooner rather than later, I would have ended up giving him a slap.
’ She gave me a little smile. ‘Not really the best way to cement a good working relationship.’
I nodded. ‘I get that. I noticed that he couldn’t keep his hands off Anna on Monday night either. Even his daughter knows that he was a womaniser. Anyway, now that he’s no longer in the frame, are you considering signing on the dotted line after all?’
‘I might. It all depends who takes over. I like Orlando and I feel I could work with him, but I’m not so sure about Ingrid. If she’s the one giving the orders, I think I’ll pass. Life’s too short for that kind of hassle.’
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cinzia Naselli jump to her feet and head for the door.
She was holding a handkerchief to her face, and I wondered if she had started crying again.
I assumed that this was just delayed shock, but might she have been fonder of her husband’s boss than I would have expected?
I registered this information and watched her leave the room.
This seemed like an excellent opportunity for me to have a few words with her husband with nobody listening in.
I excused myself to Anna and Selena, walked over to Calogero’s table, and addressed him in Italian.
‘Signor Naselli, would you mind if I join you for a few minutes?’ He looked surprised, but didn’t object, and I sat down in the seat recently relinquished by his wife and pulled out my notebook and pencil.
‘As you may know, I’m a private investigator and I was brought here by Bartolomeo Viviani because he was concerned for his personal safety after the death of his business partner a few weeks ago.
I warned him that I wasn’t a bodyguard, but his death came as a real shock to me and, although the police are now on the case, I feel it’s my duty to dig down as closely as possible to help them find out exactly what happened to him and why. ’
He nodded his head a couple of times. ‘I quite understand, Signor Armstrong. I’m more than happy to help in any way if I can.’ He sounded sincere enough.
‘Thank you for your cooperation. It’s my understanding that the company has been having financial problems – apparently, money has been disappearing without explanation. Could you confirm if that’s correct?’
As I asked my question, an expression of surprise or more appeared on his face, and he answered sharply. ‘Who told you that? That is highly sensitive information.’
Orlando had told me about the disappearing money in confidence, so I avoided naming him, taking refuge in obfuscation.
‘I had a confidential talk with Signor Viviani in his study on Monday evening.’ I let Calogero draw his own conclusions so, technically, I wasn’t telling a lie.
‘That’s correct about money going astray, isn’t it, Signor Naselli? ’
He shifted uneasily in his seat before finally giving a nod of the head.
‘Yes, it would appear to be correct, but I say again, this is a very sensitive topic. If word were to get out that the company is having financial problems – however temporary – it could have a catastrophic effect. You do understand that, don’t you?
I need your word that you won’t divulge this information to anybody, not even the police or Carabinieri. ’
This was the same thing that Orlando had said and, although I nodded my head, I was puzzled. ‘I promise you that anything you tell me will be in the strictest confidence between you and me, but why don’t you want this information to be passed on to the Carabinieri?’
‘As Bartolomeo put it, we prefer not to wash our dirty linen in public. When I said that the effect of the news being leaked could be catastrophic, I wasn’t exaggerating.
Aquila has grown so much that we’ve started the process to become a public company, floated on the stock exchange, and our future shareholders would be understandably appalled if they thought us so incompetent.
We’re already treading a very fine line financially, and something like this – if made public – could put off floatation of the company for months, years even.
The fewer people who know about this, the better. I hope you understand and agree.’
I nodded again. ‘I agree. I give you my word. My lips will remain sealed, but I must reserve the right to reveal this information to the appropriate authorities if it becomes relevant in a murder investigation.’
He jumped as if I had struck him. ‘Murder?’
‘It’s one of a number of options.’ He was still looking incredulous, but I pressed on.
‘Now, am I right in thinking that you and Signor Viviani had a meeting to discuss the subject of the missing money yesterday morning?’ I didn’t wait for him to nod his head.
‘Was anybody else involved in this meeting?’ He shook his head, but I needed to be sure.
‘What about Ingrid? She is a partner, after all. Surely she should have been involved.’
A shiftier expression appeared on his face, and he lowered his voice even more. ‘Bartolomeo thought it better not to involve her… for various reasons.’
It wasn’t too hard to read between the lines. ‘Because you suspect that her husband might have been responsible for the embezzlement?’
Naselli glanced around warily, but there was nobody within earshot.
‘Keep your voice down.’ I had to wait a few seconds while he made up his mind how much to tell me.
‘Again, in the strictest confidence, it would appear that since Vincenzo’s unfortunate death less than a month ago, no further money has gone missing.
It’s potentially a very sensitive issue, and that’s why Bartolomeo insisted on the meeting involving only him and me – he didn’t even want Orlando involved, at least, not yet. ’
‘When do you hope to reach your conclusions about the identity of the thief?’
I saw him wince at my use of the word ‘thief’. His answer, when it came, was cautious.
‘It’ll take time. We managed to whittle it down to a handful of people but, without a fuller forensic examination of every single transaction, it’s impossible to be more precise at the moment.’
‘But you think you will be able to find out sooner or later?’
‘I would hope so, but it’s obviously been done by somebody who has gone to great lengths to cover their tracks.
’ He looked up at me, eyes wide. ‘Do you think there might be a connection between the missing money and Bartolomeo’s death?
Do you think he might have taken his own life because of it?
I suppose anything’s possible, but he wasn’t really the type. ’
‘Thank you for that. Other people have said the same thing about him, so if we discount the idea of suicide, we’re left with a tragic accident, or something altogether more sinister – murder.’
‘Surely it was an accident, wasn’t it?’
‘That certainly appears to be the most likely explanation at the moment, but I feel I owe it to him to be absolutely sure. Could I ask you another question? Obviously, you must have known his former partner, Vincenzo Mazzini, well. In your heart of hearts, do you believe he could have been the embezzler?’
Calogero took his time over replying. When he did, he sounded uncertain.
‘Signor Viviani and I discussed that possibility at length yesterday morning, but without reaching a conclusion. Vincenzo certainly had free access to the accounts and he was a very skilled operator, so we had to accept that it was a possibility – even if neither of us wanted to believe it. Hopefully, our investigations will be able to prove or disprove that before long.’