Page 32 of Change of Heart
And her secret to herself for tonight.
Chapter 20
Next morning there was the usual Monday meeting with the family and, predictably, the main topic of conversation was the article in theGazzettaand the question of how the mayor was likely to respond. Alice had asked Luca the same thing the previous night and he had shrugged his shoulders.
‘I honestly don’t know, but I’d be surprised if he doesn’t try something to get back at the Varaldo family.’
‘What sort of something?’
‘I really don’t know. Maybe Simonetta can try asking Tommi.’
‘He’s not going to do something stupid, is he? I mean, he wouldn’t try and physically assault the baron or Simonetta or somebody up at the castle?’
‘I certainly hope not, but I just don’t know the man anymore. From what my brother told me, he was incandescent about the newspaper article and he’s been getting ever more erratic in his behaviour, so I suppose anything’s possible.’
When Alice recounted this to the family on Monday morning, she was impressed by their reactions. The baron frowned pugnaciously and snorted, while his mother – all five foot nothing of her – put her defiance into words.
‘Just let him try. We’re not living in the Middle Ages any more. If he did threaten any of us, I’d be on the phone to the police like a shot. We live in the twenty-first century and the rule of law will always prevail.’ To reinforce her point, she thumped her little fist on the table so hard it woke Baffo the cat.
Simonetta and her brother looked equally determined, although Simonetta added regretfully that she had spoken to Tommi but that he had no idea what, if anything, his father might be planning. He had, however, confirmed that his father was still incensed; so incensed that Tommi had decided to delay telling him about his relationship with Simonetta and he asked them all to keep the secret for now. Once again, Alice felt sorry that things were so tough for him, and like the others, she promised Simonetta that their secret would be kept for as long as he wished. Nevertheless, Alice felt they should at least attempt some sort of rapprochement with the mayor.
‘With your approval, I’d like to go and meet him face to face. I’d be happy to try to act as a sort of neutral intermediary. Would that be all right?’
‘You’d do that?’ Achille looked astonished. ‘Why would you want to get involved with our troubles?’
‘Because they’re my troubles as well now. You’ve all been so kind and welcoming and I feel great sympathy for this family. Besides, as castle manager, I believe it’s my job to go and see if I can pour a bit of oil on these troubled waters. What’s the worst that could happen? He’s hardly going to physically assault me.’
Simonetta reached over and caught hold of Alice’s forearm. ‘That’s very sweet of you, but I’m afraid you’d just be wasting your time.’
‘From what I’ve been hearing, I imagine you’re probably right, but I’d like to give it a go if you all don’t mind. I’m curious to see this man who sounds like a hang-back to the Dark Ages.’ She produced a little smile for the benefit of the room. ‘Please let me go, just so I can satisfy my curiosity, if nothing else.’
After receiving their reluctant agreement, she proceeded with the agenda and told them what her father had said to her about the versatility of alpacas, which raised a few smiles. She then informed them that Luca’s friend, the classic car expert, would be coming the following day to cast an eye over the old Mercedes. ‘He says it might even be worth more than we thought.’
She went on to let them know that an expert on antique furniture, old books and other precious items would be coming on Wednesday, but the baron immediately added a caveat.
‘But I really don’t want to sell anything that can go into the castle museum. Let’s wait and see how much this car man thinks the Mercedes might be worth. If it’s a decent amount, I’d like to avoid selling too many of our family heirlooms. Our thanks to our new architect…’ He smiled across at Simonetta. ‘…my daughter’s boyfriend’s twin brother, who found this treasure we didn’t know we had.’
At the end of the meeting, Alice called the town hall and asked if she could make an appointment to see the mayor. She was told in no uncertain terms that he was a very busy man, but when she mentioned her job title and the name of her new employers, the tone changed. She was asked to hold for half a minute and when the telephonist came back on the line it was with confirmation that an appointment had been made for that same day at noon, in less than two hours’ time. Although nervous, Alice was looking forward to meeting Luca’s father for the first time and to discovering how awful the man really was.
She walked up to the little house in the woods at eleven where she found Alfonso and Pietro. Accepting a cup of coffee – which surprisingly didn’t appear to have anything sinister floating in it, at least at first sight – she told them what her dad had said about alpacas and, for once, it was Pietro who spoke up.
‘They were talking about that on the TV only the other day. There was a report on a farmer up north near Asti who’s offering walks with alpacas, and he was saying that they’re very popular.’ He looked up from his coffee and caught Alice’s eye. ‘And not just with kids.’
Alice tried to digest the fact that this was the longest single sentence she had ever heard from the taciturn giant while also digesting a suspicious lump of something she had just swallowed in her coffee. After taking another sip to wash down whatever it had been – and a silent prayer that it had at least been dead – she gave Pietro a big smile.
‘Quite a few places in England offer that sort of thing nowadays. Apparently lots of stressed executives go walking with alpacas as a way of finding inner peace – that’s the expression they use. There’s a lot of industry around Parma, Bologna and Modena, so I imagine that means there must be lots of stressed executives here in this part of Italy as well. We’ll have to see if we can get local TV interested.’ A thought occurred to her. ‘I have an appointment with the mayor in half an hour’s time, so I think I’ll probably need a walk with an alpaca after that, don’t you? That should be a good way of putting the de-stressing theory to the test.’
‘You’re going to meet Cesare Montorso?’ There was awe in Alfonso’s voice. ‘Are you sure that’s a good idea? We saw that article in the paper at the weekend. I bet he’s furious.’
‘I imagine he is, but I think it’s my duty to at least try to mediate.’
‘Well, good luck with that, Alice. I think you’ll need it.’ There was renewed respect in his voice but, also, more than a touch of concern.
In consequence Alice was feeling quite nervous when she arrived at themunicipioat twelve. She was greeted cordially enough by the man on the front desk who asked her to take a seat and wait. Less than a minute later a tall man in his sixties emerged from a side door and came across to where she was sitting. Even without seeing the photo in the paper she felt sure she would have recognised him, as the similarity between him and his sons was all too obvious. In spite of what she had heard about him, this gave her a strange feeling of familiarity. She stood up to shake hands.
‘Buongiorno, Signor Montorso.’
He didn’t return her smile, but he shook her hand politely enough and led her through to his office. This was a big room overlooking a well-tended ornamental garden which she hadn’t realised existed at the rear of the building. He waved her into a seat and then sat down behind his desk which was groaning with paperwork. ‘How can I help you, signora?’
