Elegant Death Read online

  Enzo gasped. “He was strangled.”

  She took a step back. “We mustn't touch anything. I'll get Stefano. Maybe he can find someone to identify him.”

  “Don't you know him?”

  Carlina didn't look at the victim. As short as her brief glimpse had been, the picture was seared into her brain, but she hadn't recognized the distorted face. “No. Do you . . . do you know him?”

  Enzo cleared his throat. “Of course I do. And so do you.”

  Carlina balled her fists, but she still didn't look at the man. “Who is it?”

  “It's signor Belfiore.”

  “Dorotea's lawyer?”

  “Yes.”

  Carlina's knees went weak. “His office was searched last night. His computer files were hacked. And now he's been strangled. He must have known something. Something dangerous for the murderer.”

  Enzo swallowed. “I guess.”

  “I'll get Stefano. You stay here.”

  Her brother paled. “Do I have to?”

  “Yes. Don't touch anything.”

  She flew out of the door and ran back into the office, where she found Liza, still sobbing. Patting her shoulder in passing, she ran to her handbag, pulled out her phone and pressed his number. “Aaawful commissario.” When she'd met him during the first case, he'd asked her to put her number on speed dial, and with her old-fashioned phone, that had been the best way to do it. She'd done it to provoke him, but by now, it was like a secret joke between them. A faint warmth stirred inside her when she saw it, warming her frozen insides. She pressed the phone to her ear. “Answer, please answer the phone.” Her whisper was like a prayer.

  “Carlina?”

  “Thank God you're there.” Carlina suppressed a sob.

  “What happened?” He was instantly alert.

  “Signor Belfiore was strangled. We just found him in the ladies.”

  “What?” His shout was loud enough to fill the whole room. “Where are you?”

  “I'm in Liza's office, so I could get my phone. Enzo is staying with . . . with the victim.”

  Liza sobbed louder.

  “I'm coming. Hang in there.”

  Two minutes later, he burst through the door, went straight to her, and pulled her into his arms. “Tell me.”

  Carlina leaned into his strength and held him tight. When she took another deep breath, his scent steadied her. “Liza found him. She came running to Enzo while I was still with him. We went to the bathroom and found him. That's all.”

  He cupped her face. “Get yourself a drink and sit down in Enzo's office, together with Liza. You've had a shock. I'll have to go and check it out. Then I'll call Cervi and Sergio.”

  “Okay.” She let him go with reluctance, but she was feeling much better already. She got two glasses of water, pulled Liza into Enzo's office, installed her in one of the leather chairs, took another one next to her, and slowly started to sip the cool water. Her knees were still shaking, and her hands trembled.

  Liza was slowly calming down.

  Carlina pressed a tissue into her hands and waited until she'd blown her nose, then she asked, “Can you remember when you went to the bathroom?”

  Liza swallowed. “I think it was two-thirty.” She looked at her watch. “It's only two-forty now. It's seems like an eternity.”

  “Yes, it does.” Carlina frowned. “But when you left, you said you wanted to go for a walk.”

  Liza blushed. “I first wanted to make up my face a bit.” She shuddered. “I can't believe I was in there, only two steps from him without noticing anything.”

  “And when you had freshened up your makeup, you decided to use the toilet?”

  “Yes. I wish I hadn't.”

  “Do you always use the first stall?”

  Liza nodded. “Yes. I don't know why. I guess it's just . . . habit or something.”

  “And when did you use the bathroom the last time before two-thirty?”

  Liza scrunched up her face. “I can't recall. I think just before I went to lunch. Around twelve-thirty or so?”

  “Do you think anybody else used it in the meantime?”

  Liza slowly shook her head. “I don't think so. You see, on this floor, there are only the directors, and they're all male. Now that Dorotea is dead,” she squeezed her eyes shut, and two tears rolled down her cheeks, “I'm the only one left.” Then she opened her eyes wide and stared at Carlina. “Until the murderer gets me, too.”

  Carlina put a hand on her arm. “Don't panic. The murderer has no reason to kill you, unless you know anything.”

  Liza reared back. “What should I know?”

  “I don't know. Did you see or hear anything fishy or strange in the last weeks? Anything that might be a motive for murder?”

  Liza lifted both hands as if fighting off a blow. “I don't know anything, anything at all! I don't want to! I don't want to be killed! I swear I don't know anything!” Her voice rose.

  “Ssh.” Carlina tried to give her a soothing smile, but with her own inside in turmoil, she doubted it looked comforting. She recalled Liza had gone before the telephone conversation with the agency. How long had that lasted? Ten minutes? Fifteen? What had Liza done in those minutes? “Liza?”

  “Yes?”

  “When you left the office, what did you do?”

  “Why, I didn't do anything! What do you mean? You told me to go for a walk! It was you who said I could go.”

  Carlina clenched her teeth. “Yes, I know. I'm not accusing you or anything. I just wondered what you did. You didn't go for that walk right away.”

  “No.”

  “And you didn't go to the bathroom right away.”

  “Yes, I did! Why do you think I tell you lies? I'm not telling lies! I swear!”

  Carlina decided to shed any gentle approach. Obviously, Liza was fixated on being a culprit and only heard through one ear – the one that suspected an accusation behind every statement. “Why did it take you so long to find signor Belfiore?”

  Liza shuddered and hid her face in her hands. “I . . . I took my makeup bag to the room and freshened up a bit. I . . . I didn't want to look like a wreck. And all the time, he . . . he sat behind me. Oh, it is too gruesome to think about. I'll have nightmares from this for the rest of my life!”

  Carlina swallowed and touched her hands. “I know. But please don't go on like this. It won't get us anywhere.”

  Liza continued to babble, but Carlina tuned her out. She had to think and think fast. Someone had strangled signor Belfiore. What did he know? It had to be something about the will. What if Dorotea hadn't left everything to Enzo? What if signor Belfiore had faked the will, knowing Enzo, expecting him to refuse to accept the inheritance? What would have happened with the money in that case? There was this relative in Australia. No, not Australia. Canada. A cousin. A cousin who hated Dorotea Di Silva. Like everyone who had worked with her. Everyone but . . . the lawyer. He had carefully maintained a neutral attitude. She'd thought it was a work habit. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe he hid some strong feelings. Maybe he was in some sort of connection to the cousin. A secret wedding? What a motive!

  Liza sniffed. “You can ask anyone I know, they would all confirm I knew nothing! Madonna, half the time signora di Silva talked, I had no idea what she meant. How could I know something dangerous?”

  Carlina blindly stared at Liza and nodded without hearing a word. She needed Stefano here. She needed someone with a cool head to talk about this new idea in her head. It was a perfect motive. The police had the means to dig into the details, to find out about the private life of signor Belfiore.

  But no. Her thoughts crashed to a halt. She'd built up a wonderful motive for Dorotea's murder, and everything fit. But if Belfiore had killed Dorotea – or had arranged the killing, because for the life of her, she couldn't imagine the precise lawyer as a sniper – then who had killed Belfiore? Her mind drew a blank.

  She sat back and took another sip of her water. At least, she'd had Enzo at her side the
whole time, so he couldn't be a suspect . . . if the police accepted her word, seeing as she was the sister. Cervi wouldn't believe her, that much was sure. When had they followed Alessandro Stellari down the steps? It was just around lunchtime. Was Belfiore still alive then? She sighed. The doctor would come and confirm the time of death. That would make things clearer. She looked at her watch. Where was Stefano? She didn't feel like going to the ladies room and facing the dead man. A shudder went through her.

  The door opened, and there he was. Carlina had to hold onto herself not to jump up and run into his arms. Their gazes met, and the warmth in his tingled all the way down her spine.

  Behind him, Cervi and Sergio came into the room. Cervi immediately addressed Liza. “Is it true you found the body?”

  Liza grabbed Carlina's arm. “I'm innocent! I didn't do anything wrong! I don't know nothing!”

  Carlina made a grimace. If Liza was losing her grammar, things were bad indeed. She patted her arm. “Please calm down, Liza, and tell the police exactly what happened. They are on our side. You needn't be afraid.”

  Cervi gave her a grateful glance.

  “I didn't do anything!”

  “No, of course you didn't.” Carlina kept her voice low though she felt like shaking Liza until her teeth rattled. “But why don't you tell signor Cervi here what exactly you did do? It will help him to catch the murderer . . .” She looked deep into her eyes. “. . . before he can continue to kill people.”

  That got through to her. “I . . . I went to the bathroom, at two-thirty.”

  “Why?” Cervi's voice was curt.

  “Why?” Liza's eyes widened. “Why do you sound so accusing? I didn't do anything wrong! I didn't–”

  Carlina clenched her teeth and interrupted her. “Yes, yes, quite right.” Then she glared at Cervi. “Why does one go to the bathroom, signor Cervi? To pee and to poo and to wash your hands and brush your hair and freshen your make-up. That's what you do in the bathroom. At least, that's what you do when you're a female.”

  Cervi colored. “I didn't mean to be indelicate. I just wanted to know if there was a special reason.”

  Carlina turned to Liza. “Was there a special reason to go to the bathroom, Lisa? Apart from the ones I've already mentioned?”

  “No.” She looked like a terrified mouse.

  “Right. Then tell the police exactly what you did.”

  Liza swallowed. “I went in and opened the door to the first stall. I always use the first stall, the one right next to the door. It saves time, and I don't like to be away from the office too long. Every second counts. Signora Di Silva insisted on being efficient in everything you do, and if one stayed too long in the bathroom, she made nasty comments, so I always hurried.” She colored and looked at her hands. “Only today, I was rattled, so I took a bit of time to repair my makeup first. Then I decided to use the toilet before going out for a walk.”

  Cervi's eyes bulged. “Go on.”

  “I grabbed the door and pulled it open, and . . . there he was, sitting on the toilet. It gave me such a shock.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I screamed.”

  “And then?”

  “Then I turned around and ran out.”

  “Did you touch him?”

  “Madonna, no!”

  “What did you touch?”

  “Nothing!”

  “You must have touched the door.”

  “Oh, that.” Liza swallowed. “Yes, of course. I touched the handles of the doors. Obviously.”

  “Did you recognize the victim?”

  “Yes.” Liza bowed her head. “I knew his shoes. He had handmade shoes. My father worked as a shoemaker, and I still notice shoes. His were very nice. And expensive. I . . . I only looked at his face for an instant, and I didn't recognize it. It was–“ She broke off and swallowed. “But then I saw his shoes, and I knew it was signor Belfiore.”

  “And then you ran.”

  “Yes.” It was a whisper.

  “Where did you run to?”

  “I came here. I had to tell signor Ashley.”

  “And signor Ashley was here?”

  “Yes.” She nodded. “Together with signora Garini. I told them, and they ran to the bathroom.”

  “Thank you.” Cervi nodded at her. “We'll type your statement, and then, you can sign it.”

  Liza's eyes grew big. “Do I have to?”

  “Is there any reason why you shouldn't want to sign it?”

  Liza started to tremble. “Oh, no.”

  “Then I don't see why you shouldn't.”

  Carlina exchanged a look with Stefano. It seemed Cervi had long ago forgotten the art of dealing with frightened humans. Or had he never known?

  She looked steadily at Cervi. He was her husband's boss. She'd better hide her disdain.

  As if sensing her eyes on him, Cervi turned to her. His artificially black hair was still carefully waved.

  I wonder if he fixes it with hairspray.

  “Can you tell us what happened next?”

  “Of course.” Carlina nodded. “We ran to the bathroom, just like Liza said. I'm afraid we opened the outer door with our hands on the handle as usual, but when we'd come inside, I remembered the fingerprints and opened the doors with the tip of my finger at the farthest end of the handle. I did that with both stall doors.”

  “Did you touch anything else?”

  “No.” Carlina shook her head. “I ran back to the office to alert Stefano, and Enzo stayed to make sure nobody messed with the body.”

  “Hmm.” Cervi didn't look as if he thought much of that idea.

  Carlina turned to Stefano. “That reminds me – did you catch Stellini?”

  He shook his head. “No. He must have slipped out somehow.”

  “Or he stayed inside and throttled Belfiore,” Carlina said slowly.

  Liza gave a little cry. “Do you think the murderer is still in the building?”

  Cervi looked at her and finally seemed to understand that rattling her wouldn't help anything. “I don't think so.” His tone was still curt.

  The door flew open, and Enzo appeared. He was pale, but his chin looked more determined than Carlina had ever seen before. “I've asked all the employees who knew where Dorotea would spend the weekend to come to the conference room for an immediate announcement, and I want you to be present. One of them must be the murderer, and I'm convinced one of them is also the murderer of signor Belfiore.” He focused on Cervi. “You've got to catch the murderer. This can't go on.”

  Cervi pulled back his shoulders. “We're doing the best we can to investigate.”

  “Well, look at them when we inform them about this latest murder, and you'll know more.”

  Sergio slowly nodded. “That might not be a bad idea.”

  Stefano shook his head. “But our first assumption that it has to be someone who knew where she would spend the weekend is invalid now because we've found a GPS device in her clothes. The person who hid it there did not necessarily need to know in advance where she would go.”

  “Of course.” Carlina groaned. “I never thought of that. Does this mean the case is wide open and we've looked at the wrong set of suspects all along?”

  Cervi drew himself up. “What do you mean, you've been looking at the suspects?”

  “I employed them as consultants,” Enzo cut in. “Because I wanted someone to look at the case from the inside.”

  Carlina slowly expelled her breath. She'd been afraid he would say he'd wanted someone who wasn't biased. She scrutinized her brother. He was rattled, and there was an air of determination about him that her laid-back brother had never shown before.

  “We need to discuss this quietly together,” Stefano said. “As soon as the meeting with the directors is over.”

  Cervi glared at Stefano. “All right. But you know your behavior is highly irregular.”

  Stefano didn't reply. Instead, he took Carlina's elbow and guided her out of the room. They all went to
the expansive room where the monthly meetings were held.

  Enzo positioned himself at the door and waited until all the directors were assembled. Then he closed the door and leaned against it. His curls stood up in wild disorder.

  He looked at each one in turn, and they all looked back with a mute question in their eyes.

  Marco Riva's face was the most wooden. Carlina wondered if he was afraid this was the moment when the cooked books would be revealed. He sure didn't let on.

  Next to his tall frame, Franco di Rosa seemed even smaller than usual. His eyes flitted from one person to the other in high alert. Of course, as sales manager, he was used to reading people, and it was obvious he had noticed the strained atmosphere. He was standing closer to Liza than was usual in an office meeting.

  On her other side, Benito Bellini leaned with his shoulders against the wall. For once, he didn't wear gloves and was inspecting his polished fingernails with a frown. He looked so relaxed he might have waited for a taxi.

  Silvio Orlando and Lorenzo Vitali were closest to the door, having been the last to come in. The production director looked at Enzo. “Sorry for being late, but we were in a meeting with a supplier. It's about that machine we talked about yesterday.”

  Enzo nodded, obviously not interested in the machine.

  Lorenzo Vitali patted his fringe of white hair into place and looked around in confusion. “What's the matter?” Then, with the easy authority that came from having been longest in the company, he looked at Cervi and Sergio who had unobtrusively moved behind them toward the door and were now standing in front of it. “May we know who you are?”

  Enzo stepped into the middle of the room. “These gentlemen are from the Florentine homicide department.” His voice sounded hard.

  Liza gave a little sob, and instantly, all the men looked uncomfortable. Even Benito lifted his long lashes and looked at her for an instant before his gaze dropped to his fingernails once again.

  “I've got bad news.” Enzo swallowed so hard they could all hear it. “Sometime this afternoon, signor Belfiore was strangled in this building.”

  For an instant, nobody moved.

  Carlina tried to study them all at once, but not one of them showed any feeling. It was as if they were frozen, unable to react.