Page 5 of A Chance in a Million
‘Dino, no! No cakes for dogs. You’ll just get fat and then David will tell me off again.’
‘Isn’t he your dog?’
‘No, he belongs to my son, David. He’s away for the whole month so Dino’s been left with me. He’s a lovely dog but, given half a chance, he’d eat himself to death.’ Jane was pleased to see her employer’s expression soften a fraction as she glanced down at the dog.
Jane stroked Dino’s head and did her best to keep the conversation light. ‘We used to have a lab and he was the same. I think it’s the way they’re made.’ She glanced out of the window at the waters of the Grand Canal. ‘Where does he go for wal… W – A – L – K – S, or does he only understand Italian?’
‘When it’s a matter of food or exercise he’s bilingual. Alvise looks after him mostly. You’d better ask him. I don’t go out much.’
A slightly uncomfortable silence then ensued, interrupted by the return of Maria with another silver tray, this time holding a bottle of gin, two glasses, two small bottles of tonic and a crystal bowl filled with ice. She set it down on the coffee table and retired, but Jane couldn’t miss the expression of compassion on the housekeeper’s face as she turned away. Jane wondered just how much of a habit Miss Leonard had developed. Certainly, working for an alcoholic wouldn’t be easy and, for the first time, she began to question the wisdom of accepting what had seemed like a dream job. However, she was slightly reassured to see her employer add almost a whole bottle of tonic to a fairly modest quantity of spirit. After a few more moments of silence, she decided to ask the question that had been plaguing her ever since being offered the job.
‘Could you satisfy my curiosity and tell me how come a British lady happens to be living here in Venice?’
She was relieved to see that this elicited a hint of a smile on her employer’s face. ‘Peter, my husband, was posted all over the world by the army and I followed him at first but when the children arrived we decided it was only fair to give them a settled family home. Although Peter was born and bred in Oxfordshire and we lived there for a while after getting married, he came from an old Venetian family on his mother’s side and we decided to settle here in Venice when his father passed away almost thirty years ago now. I’ve always loved the country and, of course, for him, it was a sort of homecoming.’
‘Well, I think your decision to come here was inspired. It’s magnificent. Now, I wonder if you could give me an idea of my duties. Do you have a regular daily schedule? Do you have an office? Would I have an office? Do you write in the mornings or later on?’
‘Do I write?’ Miss Leonard took a mouthful of her drink before replying. ‘The answer, Captain Reed, is that I don’t write.’
‘You don’t write?’ Jane looked up in amazement. ‘But you’ve been publishing book after book. I imagined you at the computer all day long.’
Miss Leonard didn’t raise her eyes from her glass. ‘I used to be like that, but that’s all changed now. About the only things I’ve written in the past two years have been replies to letters of condolence after my husband passed away.’ For a second she glanced up and Jane read deep sorrow on her employer’s face before the weary eyes dropped again. ‘As for a regular daily schedule, that’s what you’re here for. I want you to be my eyes and my ears. You take the phone calls; you answer the emails and letters. I can’t be bothered any more.’ Her voice was flat, her demeanour, deflated.
Jane was beginning to see what Mr Russell had meant about this job involving treading carefully. Working for somebody suffering from serious depression was likely to be tricky. Still, she told herself, she was a fine one to talk. When it came to depression, she was no novice. Maybe this would be the opportunity for both of them to emerge from beneath their respective clouds of gloom. She took a deep breath and hoped for the best. There was no getting away from the fact that this job would be a chance in a million to work alongside a world-famous author and to experience life in these unique surroundings. Her counsellor and her mother had both urged her to make a radical change, and life in a seventeenth-century palazzo alongside the Grand Canal was certainly that.
Chapter 3
A fine old grandfather clock was striking seven when Maria reappeared and led Jane up to her accommodation, and it was well worth the climb up three more flights of stairs to get there. It turned out to be a self-contained apartment on the top floor of the palazzo and the views from the windows were stunning. Jane stood and gazed in awe at the red-tiled roofs, the spires, cupolas and towers of the city, as well as the network of canals of all sizes that sliced through the closely packed buildings. The sun was dropping towards the horizon and reflected on the waters of the lagoon, giving them and the city a pink glow, filling the whole scene with a magical feel. She was so enthralled that she barely heard Maria’s voice behind her.
‘Dino, you shouldn’t be up here.’
Jane turned to find that the Labrador had followed them up the stairs and was sniffing her suitcase with interest. She smiled down at him.
‘That’s all right, Maria. I love dogs. It’ll be nice to have some company. And many thanks to Alvise for bringing my suitcase up all those stairs. Tell him I’m sorry it’s so heavy but I had to pack for a long stay.’
Maria showed her around the kitchen, the living room, the two bedrooms, both with scrupulously clean bathrooms, and a little room equipped with a desk and a telephone that would make a perfect office. Jane reflected that this was a whole lot more luxurious than any flat she had lived in before and in a unique, outstanding setting. Her new boss might be going to create problems for her of a different kind, but providing sumptuous accommodation wasn’t one of them. She thanked Maria profusely and asked for her advice as to where to go to eat. ‘I’ve heard that Venice can be very expensive. Are there any reasonably priced restaurants around here?’
‘There’s a pizzeria a couple of blocks away which isn’t too expensive, but I’m afraid almost all the restaurants here in the centre aren’t cheap.’ Maria opened the fridge door. ‘That’s why I’ve filled the fridge for you. At least you should have enough to eat for a few days until you find your feet. If you like I can show you a couple of places where the food is good – even if it does cost a bit more than over on the mainland – so you won’t get ripped off too badly if you do decide to go out to eat. Why don’t you come shopping with me tomorrow morning and I can show you where I buy food for Her Ladyship?’
‘That would be great but won’t Her Ladyship want to see me?’
Maria shook her head. ‘Not before mid-morning. She’s never been a morning person and since Sir Peter died she’s been getting up later and later.’
Jane wondered whether this might be connected with her employer’s obvious depression and it struck a familiar chord in her. In the early months after Mark’s death, she, too, had spent an inordinate amount of time in bed – and in her pyjamas around the house. She decided not to bring up the subject with Maria until they knew each other better. They arranged to meet up in the kitchen downstairs at nine next morning and Maria went off to prepare dinner for Miss Leonard. To Jane’s surprise, the dog showed no sign of wanting to follow and settled himself down on a rather smart old rug in front of the huge empty fireplace while Jane pulled out her phone and called her mum to tell her she had arrived.
Later that evening she made herself a sandwich with some of the marvellous selection of sliced ham, cheese and salami from the fridge. She accompanied her meal with a glass of cold white wine from one of a row of unlabelled bottles that lined the fridge door. When she opened the wine it fizzed before settling down and she wondered if it might be Prosecco – although it was in an ordinary wine bottle – which she knew to be local to the Veneto area. Whatever it was, it was excellent.
At the end of the meal she stood at the open window and surveyed the lights of Venice below. The Grand Canal was still busy with boats chugging up and down while the orange glow of the lights of the mainland off to her right showed how densely populated this part of northern Italy had become. Up here on the top floor it was almost silent apart from the snores of the dog who was still snoozing happily on the rug. The whine of a mosquito by her ear finally decided her to step back and close the mesh screen across the window. Hearing her move, the dog woke up, sprang to his feet and shook himself.
‘Had a good sleep, Dino?’ Jane couldn’t help thinking of Fred Flintstone’s pet dinosaur as she used the dog’s name and it brought a smile to her face. Just like her new employer, smiles had been lacking on her own face for some time now, and it felt good. She went over to the dog and ruffled his ears. ‘You can’t stay here all night, you know. Maybe I should take you for a walk.’
The dog immediately displayed his bilingual comprehension skills as the magic word started him bouncing up and down excitedly, uttering happy little whines of anticipation. Jane glanced at her watch, grabbed her purse and her phone and headed downstairs with him. It was half past nine and she wondered if this would mean that the streets would be less crowded.
They weren’t.
Armed with a lead, a pocketful of poo bags and Maria’s directions to a couple of large squares – the closest thing to open space for dog walkers here in this part of Venice – she set off into the night and found herself surrounded by a mass of humanity. There were people of all shapes, sizes and nationalities. Dino had no compunction about greeting many of the humans he saw – especially those wearing short shorts – with his cold, wet nose, and Jane had to keep a close eye on him to avoid angry reactions from non-dog lovers. Even so, she still had time to begin to take in the sheer variety of the buildings around her and the beauty of this incomparable city.
After a few minutes among the crowds, they finally emerged into the large open space of Campo Sant-Anzolo and she found herself doing her best to prevent Dino from pulling her arm out of its socket as he attempted to chase the flocks of pigeons. Although night had fallen, the birds were still on the lookout for food under the streetlights, even though their country cousins would no doubt all be asleep by now. At the far end of the piazza a group of colourful Peruvians were playing their panpipes and the music echoed around the square. She was wandering about, soaking up the atmosphere, when her phone started ringing.
