Chapter 46 Fon
Fon
The sun beat on their stomachs, warming the skin, as they lay side by side on the ground.
Fon could feel his own pulse against the red earth, a distant drumbeat in the silence.
He turned his head to look at Fede. The stubble was already coming back, growing in quickly, and Fon raised a hand to brush against his cheek.
Fede smiled; he might still be in chains but Fon had done what he could to minimize his discomfort, bringing cushions with him in the car and a blanket too, for the nights could be cold. Fede’s eyes closed as he enjoyed the attention. ‘… You want to shave me again.’
‘Yes,’ Fon smiled as he got up and walked over to the old farmhouse to fill the washing bucket.
He felt oddly happy, somehow at peace as they lazed together here, doing nothing at all.
He looked idly through the broken window as the water ran; the supply was weak, coming in fits and starts.
A blackbird had got into the building and was flying around inside.
It landed on a windowsill opposite, knocking the ash from a cigarette butt to the ground before taking flight again, skittish in its captivity.
He walked back to Fede and set the bucket down. ‘Sit in the chair.’
Fede obeyed, his eyes never leaving Fon’s face as he dipped the soap into the bucket and began lathering him.
Fon couldn’t get used to the attention; no one had ever watched him before, never looked for him.
He’d seen the way Rafaella’s eyes had always searched for Cosimo in a crowd, how Cosimo almost drank her in; he had never thought he would be wanted like that.
He only knew the opposite. Scenes from last night ran through his mind again – Rafaella’s desperate pleas as she leapt away from his touch, her cry as he got a hand to her clothes, the viciousness to her kick as she finally got him off her and locked herself away.
He had been glad she’d escaped him, crazy though it was to admit; he was proud of her for fighting against what he himself had been too scared to deny his brother.
It had broken him, not just seeing her terror and revulsion, but the toll it had placed upon him too, forcing him to take something he didn’t want, to hurt someone he didn’t want to.
It had taken him back to that morning in the oaks, when murder had come in the guise of mercy.
He had left here yesterday so happy. He had spent his entire life avoiding the truth of what he was until Fede had unmasked him.
Fon didn’t want to have to pretend with him – he was the only person who saw him truly – but how could he be open with him now?
The scythe was swinging over Fede’s head, and Fon had only one chance to save him.
‘What is it?’ Fede asked, seeing the tension in his jaw. ‘Tell me what you’re thinking.’
Fon’s hands fell from his face, soap suds on his fingers. ‘There’s something we need to discuss.’
‘… Sounds serious.’ Fede’s eyes still roamed over him, but the heat in them was beginning to cool as he braced for what was coming. For all his confidence with Fon on the intimate plane, he was still shackled in chains.
‘I want to get you out of here, Fede.’
He gave a relieved laugh. ‘That would definitely be my preference too.’
‘But I can’t do it without your help. The ransom was never for money.’
He watched as a quizzical look came into Fede’s eyes. ‘Then what?’
‘The diary. The one your father keeps … Dante is fixated upon it. He won’t let it go.’
There was a long pause as Fede pulled back. He looked away, towards the distant trees on the rising hill. ‘Well, then, that is bad news.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘If it was money you wanted, you’d have it by now. But that diary …? It’s priceless. His entire career is built on those secrets.’
‘We know. It’s why you’re here. The only thing more valuable than money …’
‘Is family?’ Fede finished for him. He gave a cold laugh. ‘Not for the Franchettis! Not my father, anyway.’
Fon frowned. ‘But you’re his son.’
‘So?’
‘So he’s already lost a daughter! He’s not going to lose you too!’
Fede gave him a pitying look. ‘He lost her because he had betrayed Cosi. You really think he’d pull back from doing the same to me? … That diary is his last remaining source of power, Fon. It’s all he’s got left.’
‘OK, OK. So, then, he won’t willingly hand it over … But you must know where it is.’
‘No,’ Fede shook his head. ‘We hadn’t spoken in nine months before this happened. He’s moved house since. I have no idea where he’s put it.’
‘But there must be somewhere safe. We didn’t think he would let it out of his sight, but we’ve gone through his office now, and his apartment, and yours—’
Fede looked shocked. ‘You’ve ransacked my apartment?’
Fon threw his hands out. ‘… Fede, look where we are! Breaking into your place and looking around is hardly a surprise, is it? … We expected a quick capitulation, not a drawn-out saga, but none of this has gone to plan.’ He stared at Fede, feeling sick.
It was clear he still had no idea of the gravity of his situation, and Fon didn’t want to have to spell it out to him.
‘I need you to think,’ he went on, in the calmest voice he could manage.
‘If I don’t give Dante the diary or its whereabouts, he’s going to send someone else here to get the information out of you …
’ He looked at Fede. Did he understand what that meant?
What Fon was trying to tell him? ‘He wanted to send him here today, and I managed to stall him for a few more days. I said I’d speak to you.
’ He could see Fede was about to make a wisecrack, but he shook his head.
‘… This is serious. Dante is dangerous.’
‘I can’t tell him something I don’t know.’ Fede shrugged, and Fon could tell he thought this was a bluff. Or exaggeration.
‘You need to listen to me. If Dante doesn’t get an answer, then he’ll … take something from you instead, to show your father he’s serious and scare him into complying.’ He willed Fede to understand what he was telling him. ‘You’re going to be the one to suffer and I can’t … I can’t stop him!’
Fede pinned him with a level stare. ‘You could just take these things off me.’ He rattled the chain.
Fon gave a shocked laugh. ‘You don’t think I would if I could? Francesco has the keys, Fede!’
‘Then ask him for them!’ Fede cried. ‘You’re Fon Giannelli. He works for you!’
‘No, he works for Dante. And if he told Dante I was after the keys to the chain that’s holding you here … I have no power in this.’
Fede blinked. ‘So, then, we’re each as helpless as the other. No key and no diary.’
‘No! No!’ Fon rubbed his face in his hands. ‘It’s not the same. A diary isn’t like a key … It’s no small thing to hide. You must know where he would put it.’
‘Maybe it’s not just Dante who wants it so badly. Maybe it’s you, too,’ Fede said, watching him. ‘Maybe all this …’ His eyes roamed over Fon, standing by the shaving bucket. ‘… Is your way of getting me to talk?’
‘That’s really what you think?’ There was a moment of tension before Fede looked away.
‘This – whatever this is between us – it wasn’t planned, Fede. I didn’t know I …’ He trailed into silence; he couldn’t even say the words. ‘But if Dante knew, I think he’d kill us both.’
Fede looked back at him, watching as Fon sank to his heels, his head in his hands. They were quiet for several moments.
‘I know it’s hard for you to trust me when we’re … here, like this … but I’m trying to help you. I want you to get out of this. I want you to be OK.’ Fon gave him an imploring look. ‘I would like for us to somehow continue … away from here …’ He threw his hands out. ‘I like you, Fede.’
Fede blinked. ‘I like you too,’ he said quietly. ‘I don’t know what to tell you, Fon. If I could point you somewhere, I would, but since the divorce, everything’s everywhere. Everyone’s everywhere! Mamma and the little ones are in Florence. Cosi’s in Otranto—’
Fon sat straighter. ‘Wait – what?’
‘He’s in the seminary down there now. I got a letter from him the day you grabbed me … He was moved over from Lecce a few weeks ago …’ He took a better look at Fon’s expression. ‘Why? Is that important?’
Fon didn’t stir, only his mind moving fast. Fede had no sense of where he himself was right now. He had been snatched from Rome and bundled into a car with a hood on his head; he had no idea Otranto was just three miles from here.
He sat back on his heels again, hardly able to take it in. Cosimo Franchetti was living in the very same port as them? … The seminary was right opposite Dante’s home.
Too late, far too late, he remembered Franchetti’s offhand comment the night he’d come for dinner. He had said he was here on a private visit. They had assumed he was meeting a woman, but what if it had been his son? A son walled away in a fortress. There would be nowhere safer than …
‘The seminary,’ he breathed.
Fede caught on fast. ‘You think he gave it to Cosi?’
‘It’s the only thing that makes sense.’
‘But Cosi hates him. He wouldn’t do anything to help our father.’
‘He may not know he’s helping him.’
Fede looked up as Fon jumped to his feet. ‘… Where are you going?’
‘To tell Dante. This is it, Fede! This is how we get you out of here.’
‘But how will you get in? It’s a seminary! They can hardly get out, much less anyone else get in!’
Fon glanced over with a smile. ‘We have someone who’s already in … Not Cosimo, don’t worry. We’ll keep your brother out of it.’
He saw the disbelief on Fede’s face as he began to understand their reach: police, local government, Church … He looked equal parts shocked and impressed.
Fon turned to leave but stopped and came back again, crouching before him. He picked up the black hood and held it in his hands. ‘I have to put this back on you.’
‘No …’ Fede said warily.
‘I have to. Listen to me, Fede, this is important … When I come back tomorrow, I may not be alone. In fact, you have to assume that I won’t be.
Dante never leaves anything to chance. Once we get the diary, he’s going to want to see for himself that you don’t know it’s us who’ve got you here – which means you have to be wearing this.
If he thinks you’ve seen my face, we’re both dead. ’
‘But …’ Fede sounded defeated, recognizing the logic.
‘It’s vital you don’t say our names, you don’t say anything about Tricase … Don’t even lift your head. He will only let you walk away from here if he believes you’re oblivious to our identity. Do you understand?’
Fede stared back at him, blinking rapidly.
Fon put a hand to his cheek, tracing it with his thumb. ‘Tell me you understand, Fede.’
‘I … I understand.’
‘Good.’ Fon reached for the black hood, placing it tenderly over Fede’s head again.
‘I can’t breathe,’ Fede whispered, panicking.
‘You can – you can do this. You’re safe now. This is it. You’re almost out of here.’
Fede fell still.
‘It’s just for tonight, I swear. I’ll get back here as soon as I can in the morning.’
He walked over to the door and hesitated there, hating that he was locking Fede in the dark and the silence again. But it was for the last time.
The rest of their lives could start tomorrow.