Page 82 of The Tuscan Child
“It’s magnificent, Father. There are other paintings down here, but this one—this is the most beautiful I have ever seen.” Renzo started up the steps with the painting. “Look. Isn’t it magnificent?” He held it up to Cosimo.
“It is indeed. We must decide what should be done with it. Now come up quickly.”
I looked up and saw that he was now holding a gun. “The young lady will have unfortunately had an accident. She was warned about coming up here. So dangerous.”
“What are you talking about, Father? Put that thing away,” Renzo exclaimed. I could hear the shock in his voice. “Why are you behaving like this?”
“She has been asking too many questions,” Cosimo said. “She wants the truth about what happened in the war. Why does she ask these questions?”
“I told you. I wanted to find out about my father,” I called up to him.
“No, I don’t believe you. There was no English airman. Sofia ran off with a German.”
“No, she was taken away because you betrayed her!” I shouted up the stairs. Renzo was still standing halfway up the flight, between me and Cosimo.
“That is not true. I loved her. She spurned me, but I took in her son because of my love for her.”
“I think you wanted her land,” I said. “You felt guilty so you took in Renzo.”
“You talk rubbish,” Cosimo said. “Get up here now, boy.”
“No, Father. Put that gun away. Joanna knows nothing that can harm you.”
“Ask him who killed Gianni Martinelli!” I shouted before I realised that it would have been wiser to stay silent. My voice echoed around the crypt. “Gianni was the only one who knew the truth about what happened.”
“What truth?” Renzo demanded.
I glanced at Renzo, trying to decide whether to remain silent, whether I could trust him to protect me from his father.
“Gianni liked to run messages and spy on people,” I went on, speaking fast and in English. “He saw the massacre. He saw that Cosimo betrayed the partisans to the Germans.”
“No, that can’t be true. It can’t,” Renzo said.
“Get up here instantly, boy!” Cosimo bellowed. He was waving the gun.
“I’m not going to let you shoot anyone, Father. Have you gone mad?”
“And I’m not going to lose everything I’ve worked for all these years.” I heard the click as the gun was cocked.
“No,” Renzo said. “I’ve suspected things about you, but I’ve stayed quiet out of loyalty. But not this. You are not going to harm her.” He dropped the painting and bounded up the rest of the flight of steps. I picked up the painting as it came bouncing down toward me. The beautiful boy smiled at me. I clasped it to me as I made my way up the steps. Over my head I could hear grunts and an animal-like growl. Renzo and Cosimo were locked in combat. Renzo was taller, but Cosimo was a big bull of a man and still very strong despite his stroke. Renzo had his hand on Cosimo’s wrist, trying to make him drop the gun. It went off, the sound of the bullet ricocheting from the walls. Pigeons fluttered upward, alarmed. Renzo and Cosimo were staggering on the uneven floor, slithering over rocks and beams. Cosimo tried to slam Renzo against the wall. There was a grunt and a howl of pain, but Renzo didn’t let go.
I had reached the top of the steps and started to creep around the outside of the wall toward the front door. I was close enough to see freedom ahead of me when I heard a shout.
“Hello up there? Anyone there? Joanna?”
Cosimo hesitated for a second. I fled out through the door to see Nigel Barton standing at the bottom of the steps. His face lit up and he waved when he saw me.
“Hello, Joanna. They told me you’d gone up here, so I thought I’d come and surprise you with the good news. But is everything all right? I thought I heard what sounded like a gunshot. But of course it might have been—”
“Nigel,” I interrupted as I came down the steps as quickly as I dared. “Run back to the village and get help. There’s a man with a gun. Go.”
Nigel’s mouth opened in surprise. “Are you sure? There really is a man with a gun? Then come down to me right now and I’ll get you away from this awful place.”
“Nigel, run!” I shouted. “Don’t wait for me.”
At that moment Cosimo staggered out of the door. The gun was still in his hand. I looked around for Renzo but didn’t see him. My heart was thudding so hard that I couldn’t catch my breath. Cosimo took aim and shot at Nigel but missed. The bullet pinged off the rocks. Nigel gave a little shriek of terror and fled down the last of the steps and into the woods. Cosimo now aimed the gun at me. “This time I shall not miss,” he said.
There was a sound from deep within the earth. Pebbles bounced down the steps. The rock on which Cosimo was standing started to tilt. Cosimo turned to move out of the way, but his bad leg buckled under him. “Renzo, help me!” he called.
