Tricky Death Page 10

  Suddenly, he frowned. Sergio referred to her as Ambrosia Amore, even though it was clearly not her legal name. Had Sergio found the time to establish the real identity of the girl? He couldn't recall. Stefano pulled the file toward him and dug into it. Yes, here it was. The club owner had given them the real name with bad grace, insisting the girls were employed as dancers only, not prostitutes, and that the beds in the secret rooms were for the employees to rest during breaks. “Rosetta Rana.” He suppressed a smile. Now I see her point. If your surname translates as frog, it's better to make up something new. And she'd kept an alliteration. He'd have to do a background check on her. Had Sergio already filed for one?

  His phone rang. Reluctantly, he picked it up. Why could he never finish a thought in peace?

  “Stefano, this is Gloria. Tonio Ferrero from the drug squad is here again. Should I send him up?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Two minutes later, the young man came in with slumping shoulders.

  “Tonio. Anything new?”

  “Yes, but it's not good news.”

  “Sit down.”

  The mop of yellowish hair shook when Tonio dropped into a chair. “I just got the test results for the flour.”

  “And?”

  A deep sigh that was almost a groan emerged from behind the curtain. “I was so sure, ready to bet my life it wasn't normal flour.”

  “But it was?”

  “Indeed, it was.” His voice was bitter.

  “Normal wheat flour?”

  The mop nodded. “Normal wheat flour. The kind you use for cakes. The kind my nonna always buys.” Tonio shook himself. “I managed to smuggle a highly toxic bag of normal wheat flour out of the club. I'll be the laugh of the whole team for months to come.”

  Garini smiled in sympathy. “Don't take it too much to heart. This kind of failure happens to all of us.”

  Tonio shrugged and got up. “Are you sure? By the way, your request for the audit went through. This afternoon, the IT team went to get the files from Capomastro BB Top.”

  “Excellent, thank you. I guess I'll see you tonight.”

  “You'll be at the bar?”

  “Yeah. I plan to talk to some of the girls, learn more about Ambrosia's background.”

  “You should come early, say eight o'clock. They usually take a break and have some takeout dinner in one of the meeting rooms before the club opens.”

  “Thanks, I'll do that.” But before that, I'll run home to have a rest.

  II

  When Stefano opened the door to the bathroom at home, a black, tan and white guinea pig ambled up to him and sat at his foot. He blinked. I'm having hallucinations.

  He shook his head, pinched himself, and looked down again. The guinea pig was still there. Somehow, that was a relief. “Hello, Gracy,” he said and picked her up. “What on earth are you doing here?”

  She nibbled at his finger.

  He looked at her and stiffened. “What on –?”

  Carefully, he placed her on the floor again and called Carlina. “Carlina? Where are you?”

  “I'm at Temptation, where else should I be? And you?”

  “I'm at home. I planned to take a short nap because I've to go out tonight again, to the nightclub.”

  “Oh, dear. Did you –?”

  “Yeah. Our bathroom is sort of occupied.”

  “Sorry.” She sounded guilty. “I'd planned to warn you, but I thought you'd only come home later.”

  Gracy now snuggled into the remains of the shirt he'd worn that morning. When he'd changed earlier that day, he'd dropped it on the floor. That'll teach me.

  “I see.” His voice was dry. “But why couldn't they have stayed with Uncle Teo or Aunt Violetta?”

  “They were both going out to research some gambling establishments, and because Gracy's pregnant, they didn't want to leave her alone for too long. I'll be home in half an hour. Do they bother you?”

  Garini squatted down and looked at his shirt, right next to the big wire cage. A smile played around his lips. “No, they don't bother me. My shirt's a goner, though.”

  “Your shirt? What are you talking about?”

  “Gracy fancied it as a birth nest.”

  “Oh, my God. You mean … ?”

  “Yeah. Aunt Violetta and Uncle Teo now have two more guinea pigs. The newcomers are slim and red. They look like peperoncini, not like their mother at all.”

  Carlina gave a little squeak. “How sweet.”

  “Yeah. But we're not going to adopt them, you hear me?”

  “Oh, no. What about the other two?”

  Garini checked the cage next to him. “There's one in the cage. A sort of caramel color.”

  “That's Kabuki. What’s he doing?”

  “He’s munching some salad.”

  “Good. And Gustavo II?”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “There must be a third guinea pig. I mean fifth. Black and fluffy, with a mane of hair and a white face.”

  He looked around with a twinge of dread. “You mean he escaped?”

  “He seems to know how to open the door of the cage.”

  “Then why didn't you close the door of the bathroom?”

  “I really thought I'd done so.”

  Garini looked around. “I don't see a black guinea pig anywhere.”

  “Damn. Can you look for him?”

  He sighed. “Sure. I didn't have anything better to do anyway.”

  “Please don't hang up. You can look for him while you talk, can't you?”

  “That's multitasking. Not sure if I can manage that at this stage. I'm exhausted.”

  She chuckled. “Try it. You didn't tell me anything yet about your day.”

  “Not enough sleep, lots of information. Oh, and I talked to a sheep.”

  “A sheep? Do I have to start worrying?”

  “More like a mop, really. You know those dogs that have so much hair you don't know which end is front and which end is the back?”

  “Yeah, I do. So funny.”

  “Well, there's a guy from the drug squad who works with me on this case, and that's his hairdo. It's a mystery to me how he manages to see anything at all, but he notices a lot of things. Tonio is clever, too. A true relief after Piedro.”

  “I can imagine.” Carlina hesitated. “I don't really know if I should ask, but how about Lucio?”

  He sighed. “Not much progress there. So far, I haven't unearthed other leads that look anywhere as promising as the clues that show him to be guilty.”

  “Damn.”

  “Just how agile is this black guinea pig? Would he be able to squeeze underneath the sofa?”

  “I'm afraid so.”

  He groaned. “Then I have to hang up. I need both hands for this.” It took him twenty minutes to unearth Gustavo II behind the trash can in the kitchen, where he was happily munching bread crumbs. Chiding him, he returned the black guinea pig to the cage and fastened the door with extra wire. He decided to leave Gracy and the peperoncini where they were for the moment, supplied the young family with fresh water and salad, and then carefully closed the door to the bathroom. He felt so tired, he wanted to drop. With a groan, he dropped onto the sofa and immediately fell asleep, only to wake up at eight o'clock. Damn. He was late. Carlina was nowhere around. Maybe she'd gone straight over to support Emma. He freshened up and hurried to the club.

  At half past eight, he walked through the door, having shown his identification to the reluctant guard. Five minutes later, he looked at the three girls, sitting in front of him at one of the tables close to the bar and wondered if they all looked the same because of their hairdos and makeup, or if it was because he was so tired. No wonder Lucio couldn't tell them apart.

  “You've all heard what happened to Ambrosia Amore last night?”

  The girls nodded, their faces sober.

  “We're trying to find the killer, and we need your help. Please tell us as much as you can about her.”

  They e
xchanged a look. “We've already talked about it,” one of them finally said. She was a bit taller than the other two, and her chin stuck out as if she was being stubborn. However, this seemed to be her general way of looking at the world. “But there's nothing much we can share. She only started working here three months ago. That's pretty much it.”

  “Did you do anything together in your private lives, when you're not working, I mean?”

  They all shook their heads. “No. She kept to herself.”

  “Did you ever talk with her about her background? Where she came from?”

  “She came from Umbria,” another girl said. She wore dangling earrings that reached down to her shoulders. “From a small village.”

  “Do you know the name of the village?”

  They all shook their heads.

  “Had she been in Florence for long?”

  “No, only three months or so. She came here right from that village. It took her a bit of time to get used to things. She said she couldn't sleep because of the noise from the street,” said the girl with the earrings.

  “Where did she stay?” He knew the address, but he wanted to know how well the girls had been connected.

  “Actually, we all stay at the same apartment.” That was the girl with the stubborn chin again. “Our boss rents it to us at a reasonable price.”

  How convenient. Probably he already deducts the price from the salary, so he doesn't have to pay the taxes. But that wasn't his problem, not now. He forced a smile. “So you got to know each other quite well, I guess?”

  They all shook their heads, then the one with earrings said, “Ambrosia – she wanted us to call her that, though we usually call each other by our real names – kept to herself. She did her share and was always correct, but we always had the feeling she didn't belong – didn't want to stay on for a longer time.”

  “Do you know anything about her plans?”

  “No.” The girl with the stubborn chin shook her head.

  “Did she ever meet any friends, out of work? Or a man?”

  They all shrugged. “Not that we know of.”

  “Was she any different in the last weeks?”

  They exchanged a look. Then stubborn chin said, “We didn't know her for long. But her mood surely didn't improve. She often seemed angry and out of patience. She snapped at us.”

  “At all of you?”

  They all nodded again. “Yeah. We talked about it, but we didn't know why.”

  “Can you remember when it started?”

  The girl with the earrings wagged her head. “No. It sort of slowly became worse.”

  He looked at the third girl, the one who hadn't said a single word so far. “How about you? Have you ever talked a bit on a more personal level with Ambrosia?”

  The girl blinked. She had a soft mouth that was round and full.

  In Garini's experience, this kind of mouth often belonged to women who liked to pout. Maybe because their mouth was made for it? He caught his errant thoughts and forced them back to Ambrosia. The girl with the mouth looked as if she could tell him something if he gave her the right cue. “Yes? What is it you know?”

  She shook her head. “It's nothing.”

  “Tell me anyway.”

  “She once said she lost touch with her family. Hated her stepbrother. No contact with her father anymore. And her mother died when she was small.”

  “When did she say that?”

  “I think it was just after she'd arrived. Later, she stopped talking.”

  “So she was all on her own?”

  “Yeah.”

  The girls looked at each other. “But that's normal, isn't it?”

  He looked at them with a sudden pang of sadness. How lonely. But then, not everyone came with a surfeit of family members like Carlina. “I see. Thank you for your time.” He handed each of them his card. “If you should ever remember anything else about Ambrosia, call me, no matter when.”

  When he got up, he felt dizzy with fatigue. He looked around the club. Tonio and Filippo were busy behind the bar. He should go and talk to the owner of the club. But all at once, he knew he couldn't take in another word. His body seemed to go on strike, seemed to tell him it had reached the limit. Was he getting the measles, too? He'd heard it hit adults hard. Apparently, Paolo's face had swollen so much his glasses didn't fit anymore, and he had such a high fever that he'd started to hallucinate. Garini swallowed and comforted himself with the thought that his other colleague, Sergio, felt much better already. But there was no way around it – he had to take a break. He left a message at the office, then returned home. Carlina still wasn't in. He made a beeline for his bed and fell into oblivion.

  Chapter 9

  The next morning, Carlina hummed to herself as she fixed little price tags to the new delivery she'd received this morning. She loved the new lingerie – it was a basic set with an embroidery of little flowers that ended in a flowery lace shape all around the rim of the cup and panties. She had ordered three sets – one in white, one in black, and one – the eye-catcher – in poppy red with the flowers in orange. The red one would go into the window, to make her customers stop and draw them in. The other two would sell more. She was happy when she was at Temptation, her universe. It gave her the feeling that she was in control, which she couldn't very well say of her family. There was something going on, an undercurrent of excitement, hidden glances and hushed whispers. She'd spent the evening in Benedetta's kitchen with the distinct impression that they were brewing up a storm, only this time, she was excluded.

  She frowned. Maybe it was only the excitement due to the little guinea pigs? She'd insisted on carrying them back to Uncle Teo's apartment right after dinner. She knew her family – if she left it too long, it was a fait accompli, and she'd become the permanent zoo keeper. No way.

  The birth of the peperoncini might have explained her family's excitement, but not the furtiveness. She'd had all her antennae on high alert, but couldn't catch any further details. With misgivings, she'd finally gone home and was surprised to find Stefano in bed, fast asleep. Hadn't he said he would return late? Well, never mind. She'd snuggled up to him and when she woke in the morning, he'd already left, leaving her a note with a heart. She smiled as she remembered it. She loved his little notes, always written with black ink in his distinctive handwriting. She'd tucked it into the small box that she kept for them.

  A girl came into the store and looked around with a timid expression. Her black hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, and she wore black frame glasses.

  “Buongiorno,” Carlina greeted her with a smile.

  “Buongiorno.” Her dark voice was low.

  “If you're looking for anything special, just let me know. Otherwise, feel free to browse.”

  “Thanks.” She came closer. “Actually, the one you have right here looks really nice.”

  “It's brand new. Would you like to try it? Which color?”

  “Oh, the white one. Thank you.”

  Carlina smiled and handed her the size she estimated to be right. It was funny, but it happened so often that customers came into the store and snatched up brandnew models, as if they could smell how new they were. Humming, she continued with the price tags.

  A young man with a determined step came into the store and went straight up to the counter. “Hi, I'd like to buy a gift card. I need one for sixty Euros, please.”

  Carlina had to hide her amusement when she looked at him. His hair had a strange bleached color, and it was like a mop, hanging right in front of his face. But wait. Where had she –? Of course! Was this Tonio from the drug squad, the guy Stefano had talked about? What a coincidence!

  “No problem.” Carlina picked up the cardboard voucher with the distinctive logo of Temptation. “Just let me write the sum into it.” She took her pen, noted the amount, and looked up at him. Again, she had to suppress a smile. He really did look like those funny dogs. “To make it more individual, I've got an area where I can write the
name of the person who will get the voucher. What name should I write?”

  He frowned. “Gosh, I've forgotten.”

  Carlina blinked. That had never happened before.

  The young man laughed. “Please don't look so surprised. It's for my sister, but I've got five of them, and two will have their birthdays next week. I was told to get two vouchers, one from Temptation, and one from Gucci, and I can't recall which one wanted which. Hold on a second. I've got to call my sister.” He turned away and pulled his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans.

  Carlina grinned and shook her head.

  The woman with the black hair came back to the counter. “I'll take this set. It's perfect.”

  “Great. I love the design, too.” Carlina rang up the purchase and handed her client the credit card slip, then put the set into one of the small Temptation bags. However, just as she handed it over, the bag somehow fell out of their hands.

  The young man, who had finished talking on the phone, was standing slightly behind the girl with the black hair. “Allow me.” He bent down and handed over the bag, looking straight at her face for the first time.

  The girl smiled. “Thank you.”

  He froze in the middle of the movement, then he whipped his crazy hair away with one hand, staring at her as if he'd never seen anything so beautiful before.

  Carlina was intrigued. What was happening here right before her eyes? The girl was pretty, but she'd not have thought she was the material to cause a young man to fall head over heels in love with her with just one look.

  The girl's smile wavered a little under the intense look, but she plucked the bag from his lifeless hand. “Grazie.” She gave a wave to Carlina and left the store with a short, “Buona giornata.”

  The young man stared after her, still frozen.

  When the girl turned to the right, she was visible in full profile, illuminated by a freak ray of sunshine, and this finally galvanized him into action. He gave a start, shook his mop, and ran out of the door – bang into the middle of a Japanese travel group that had just come up from the left. There were at least fifteen of them, and in his hurry, he knocked one of them down. He stopped and apologized and tried to calm everyone, but when he was done, the girl had already jumped into a tiny Fiat Punto and driven off.