Page 20 of Murder in Verona

She hesitated for a few moments. ‘I think “strained” would be the polite way of putting it. She and Rodolfo had a strange relationship – to my mind not a very healthy one. It was clear that she worshipped the ground he walked on and it was equally clear that she could do no wrong in his eyes.’ She looked across the table and gave me a weak smile. ‘You can probably imagine how difficult it was for me in the middle of that.’

I certainly could. I had already gained the impression that Violetta’s relationship with her son had been very close and I could sympathise with the new wife caught up in the middle of some fairly tight apron strings. Whether that could have led to such frustration that murder had appeared the best solution remained to be seen. I left that subject for now and stuck to generalities.

‘You were married last September?’

She nodded.

‘How would you describe your relationship with your husband?’

She didn’t hesitate. ‘Warm, loving, trusting.’

‘I’m interested that you use the word “trusting”. A lot of the people I’ve been speaking to seem to think that your husband was an inveterate womaniser. What do you say to them?’

Her expression soured. ‘I would tell them to mind their own business. Of course I knew when I met Rodolfo that he had a reputation, but I can honestly say that, since getting married, I have absolutely no doubt that he was ever unfaithful to me once. Nor I to him.’

This last remark was in stark contrast to the allegationslevelled against her by Violetta, but I decided not to rake them up for now. After all, Dolores had had no doubts about Alessia’s probity, so maybe this was all the work of the octogenarian’s malicious imagination.

‘If we consider for a moment that your husband might have been murdered, can you think of any enemies he might have had? Is there anybody who stood to win or lose as a result of his death?’

‘I suppose the only winner is Violetta, who’s inherited half of his considerable wealth – much to the chagrin of his cousins, I’m sure, but I can’t see a mother murdering her son, can you? In an opera maybe, but not in real life. Not least a mother who so clearly doted on her son and he on her. Their relationship was so close, I felt almost jealous sometimes.’ She deliberately looked me straight in the eye. ‘And of course the other person to benefit is me. I’m many millions of euros richer than I was before his death, but I would give it all away in an instant just to have him here with me.’ I couldn’t miss the tears back in her eyes and I couldn’t detect any hint of insincerity in her voice. If it was a performance, it was a very convincing one. Interestingly, this provoked a movement from under the table and Oscar emerged, stretched, and wandered over to Alessia’s side, where he sat down and laid a heavy black paw on her knee in a sign of solidarity. He always seems to know when somebody needs the canine equivalent of a hug. She smiled at him and fondled his ears.

I carried on with my questions. ‘How do you get on with Rodolfo’s cousins? Do you see much of them?’

She paused for a few seconds’ reflection. ‘I like Rosina and I think she likes me. I see her every now and then. Her brother, Alfredo, keeps himself to himself and I rarely speak to him or Ingrid, his wife. I’m afraid I’ve never really got on with her. I think she made up her mind at an early stage that I was just a gold-digger and she’s never been able to give me the benefit of the doubt.’

‘And Violetta? She’s a very self-opinionated old lady. How difficult were things between the two of you?’

Alessia shook her head sadly. ‘It’s a shame. I’m sure I could really have got to like her if it hadn’t been for her suffocating influence on her son. She has so much character, but I’m afraid her opinion of me is probably the same as Ingrid’s.’

‘She thinks you’re a gold-digger?’

‘I’m not sure if she thought I was after his money, but she and I have never seen eye to eye. Like I told you, her relationship with Rodolfo was intense and I suppose no woman was ever going to match up to her expectations for her beloved son.’

‘Can you think of anybody outside the family who might have wished harm to your husband?’

‘A few years ago, quite possibly. Like I told you, I knew his reputation and it wasn’t pretty. I’m sure there were numerous cuckolded husbands and discarded lovers with a burning hatred of him, but that was before I came along. He was still a terrible flirt after I met him, but it no longer led anywhere. I can genuinely confirm that what we had was real love and I trusted him implicitly.’

After this unswerving vote of confidence I saw little point in continuing the questioning. Unless Alessia was a remarkably good actress, it seemed clear that she utterly denied the accusations I had been hearing – and Oscar appeared convinced of her sincerity. If her assertion that her husband had changed his ways was indeed the truth, then it neatly removed a whole heap of jilted lovers and brought me back to his immediate family. Still, even if it was just for the record, there was one question I knew I had to ask.

‘Would you mind telling me where you were on the day of the accident? I’m asking everybody.’ Even though I wasn’t.

‘I was here with Rodolfo. At least, we were here for part of the morning but then we both went down to the Porsche dealer in Verona to pick up a new tailpipe and a few other bits for my car. We were probably away for an hour or so.’

‘And that was in your Porsche?’

‘That’s correct, yes.’

‘And for the rest of the morning?’

‘We were together. We went upstairs but then came down for lunch in the dining room with the other residents. I was only really separated from him when he went off after lunch and of course then…’ Her voice tailed off.

‘I believe I heard that he was going down to the lake for a walk. I’m surprised you didn’t go with him. Why was that?’

‘He was upset. Not with me but with one of the students who annoyed him.’

‘Really? I thought everybody here loved him.’

‘Most of them did but not all…’ There was a pause before she carried on. ‘To tell the truth, one of the students made a comment about my dress and Rodolfo took exception to what he said.’

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