Page 56 of The Unraveling of Julia

“I don’t know.” Julia’s mind was already coming up with possibilities, each worse than the last. “You saw the watercolor. It’s a girl’s self-portrait. Rossi locked her down there.”

Anna Mattia’s gnarled hand flew to her lips. “Madonna, no.”

“The question is, who’s the little girl? There are a few possibilities. One is that she’s Rossi’s daughter, so that means Rossi had a little girl,despite what she told you and everybody else.”

Anna Mattia grimaced.

“It’s possible, right? She could have given birth in the villa. She could have raised the child alone. We’re in the middle of the country. Nobody would know. Right?”

Anna Mattia nodded, jittery.

“Still, even if the girl was Rossi’s daughter, we don’t know if either of them was related to me. We look a little alike, but that’s subjective. Luckily, I got hair from the little girl’s comb, so we can get it tested and find out.”

Anna Mattia nodded, following along.

Julia had a darker possibility. “But what if the little girlwasn’tRossi’s daughter, or wasn’t related to Rossi at all? What if it was a random girl? What if Rossikidnappedher?”

Anna Mattia gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.

They both turned to the sound of Piero coming out of the tunnel, and he squeezed through the door into the living room, having gone pale under his tan, weathered skin. He set down the flashlight and spoke to Anna Mattia in hushed tones.

“What’s he saying?” Julia asked, unable to follow.

“He say tunnel under vineyard, ’e dig to see.”

“Good, okay. Thank you, Piero.” Julia took stock of the situation. “Look, this is a crime, whether it’s Rossi’s daughter or not. I mean, what if shekilledthe girl? Obviously, she didn’t kill my biological mother or I wouldn’t be here. But what if Rossi murdered the girl? What if she wasn’t the only girl? What if she was just thelastgirl?”

“Mio Dio!” Anna Mattia yelped.

“Well, it’s possible.” Julia crossed to the tunnel and looked down into the blackness. Cold air chilled her to the marrow. “I’m calling the police.”

33

Julia, Anna Mattia, and Piero stood aside as Marshal Torti, twocarabinieri, and three crime techs emerged from the tunnel, their expressions impassive. Marshal Torti was dressed in his black-and-red uniform with blue paper booties, and the techs had on white paper jumpsuits that readPOLIZIA SCIENTIFICAand booties, too. They carried green metal toolboxes and flashlights, which they switched off.

Marshal Torti conferred with thecarabinieriand crime techs in low tones. Their demeanor was professional, if hardly urgent. It had taken them so long to get here, Julia had the time to shower, change, and eat lunch. She’d even checked her horoscope, dismayed to learn that today was a once-in-every-fourteen-years conjunction between Jupiter and Uranus, one of the most intense days of the year.

“So what do you think?” Julia asked Marshal Torti. “It has to be child abuse to cage a little girl down there. God knows how many times she was in there or for how long. She painted pictures, she slept there. That’scriminal.”

Marshal Torti stiffened. “At this juncture, we cannot be certain which crime or crimes were committed. We have very few facts.”

“I know, but doesn’t it shock you? Clearly the child was locked inthe cell. What if it wasn’t Rossi’s child, but somebody else’s? What if she kidnapped a child? What if she evenmurderedthat child? What if there was more than one?”

“I do not engage in speculation.”

“It’s completely possible, and that dungeon isnotspeculation.”

“Such tunnels are not uncommon in this region. This property must have been part of a feudal estate. Perhaps from centuries ago.”

“Okay, the question is, what are you going to do about it?”

“Some additional facts, please.” Marshal Torti cocked his head in his black cap. “How did you happen to discover it, again?”

“I noticed the crack in the wall.” Julia hadn’t told him about Caterina. He already thought she was crazy.

“You had no previous knowledge of the cell?”

“No.”

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