Page 12 of Daughter of Genoa
Teglio grimaced. ‘I can imagine. I once had to sit opposite him at a dinner. I spent all evening fighting the urge to thump him.’
‘I wish you’d given in.’
‘Frankly, so do I. It would have been deeply satisfying. But we can’t change the past. We can only look to the present – and in the present, there is work to do. A great deal of pressing work that brings serious danger with it. It’s imperative you know what’s at stake. If you embark on this course of action, the Germans and their Fascist hangmen won’t just want to be rid of you.’
‘They’ll want to get information from me first,’ I said, remembering Vittorio’s words.
‘Correct. I have contacts inside their prisons. I know something of their methods, and I hate to broach such topics with a lady, but I must tell you that they are far more sadistic than they are efficient.’ Teglio cleared his throat, and his hand went to his upper lip, feeling for the moustache that wasn’t there any more. ‘I am speaking of violence, bodily violence of the most depraved kind. Do you understand me, signora Ricci?’
I suppressed a shiver of fear. ‘Yes, I understand.’
‘That’s why I must urge you to caution: for your sake, first of all, but also for mine and for all those who need my help. You must ask yourself whether you are willing to do all you can to keep silent, even as you are tortured to death. There’s no cowardice in deciding that you are not. Your survival alone is a gift. It defies every foul act, every vile intention. Don’t underestimate it, I beg you.’
He was looking at me so earnestly that I knew he was telling the truth. And I knew that I must be truthful with him in return. ‘I’m not going to pretend I’m not afraid of the Germans or the Fascists,’ I said. ‘I’m terrified of them, but I’m willing to face that terror. Besides, I’m already compromised, aren’t I? If the Germans have half a brain between them, they could easily decide to raid the shop downstairs simply because Silvia and Bernardo are typographers, and there must be typographers in Genoa doing clandestine work. The brand-new ration card you gave me is proof of that – I should wear those in rather better, if I were you. And if the Germans do come here, and they do find me, then I’ll have to stay silent anyway for Father Vittorio’s sake, and now for yours. I know who I’m talking to, Mr X. You observed it yourself.’
‘Quite so,’ he said. ‘But it’s a matter of scale. Father Vittorio and I signed up for this work – we can take our chances. If you join us, you’ll pick up all kinds of sensitive details about other people, innocent people who depend on our discretion. You won’t be able to avoid it.’
‘And I’ll do all I can to protect them, just as I’m prepared to protect the two of you. That’s not in question. But if we are to work together, then you don’t just need to know that I’m trustworthy. I also need to know that I can trust you.’
I thought he might be offended, or dismiss me, but he merely nodded. ‘Of course. You must ask me anything you want to know.’
There were so many questions. What was this organisation of his, and how many people did he command? How did he come to have contacts within Nazi prisons? How far did his network reach, and how many people was he helping? I knew, though, that I mustn’t ask. Flouting Teglio’s need-to-know rule would be the quickest way to lose his confidence.
But there was one thing I could ask, one that had been nagging at me since I first saw him. ‘Italo Balbo,’ I said. ‘You flew with him. Why?’
‘Ah.’ He nodded again, almost as if he were expecting the question. ‘Yes. I rather had the privilege of being apolitical in those days. Though I expect your father wouldn’t describe it in those terms.’
‘My mother had even more to say.’ I knew that I was being rude to him, but I was unable to stop. ‘If I may speak frankly, she thought you stupid, frivolous, and a very bad influence on Filippo. If she didn’t suspect you of active Fascism, it was only because she thought you lacked application.’
Teglio snorted. ‘A strong-minded woman.’
‘She was,’ I said. ‘She is.’
‘And you, signora Ricci? What do you think? I have a feeling you’re about to tell me.’
‘What I think depends on the facts.’ My mouth was dry, and I dreaded what I had to ask next. ‘Was my mother wrong? Were you an active Fascist?’
‘Never,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t interested in joining any party. I didn’t much care which party those around me were in, either, so long as they treated me well – which was a tremendous luxury, of course. I like to think I’m not stupid, but your mother wasn’t wrong about my being frivolous. All I wanted to do back then was fly planes, and damn everything else. But I had a few socialist and antifascist friends even in those days. In fact, you and I have a number of people in common.’
‘That’s how you checked me out,’ I said.
‘Yes. As I say, it didn’t take long.’
‘And Balbo? Was he a friend of yours?’
‘I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a friendship.’ Teglio’s voice was cool and steady. ‘But we certainly got on well. We flew together a number of times – he was a seaplane pilot, too. He spoke his mind around me, as did I around him. When the Racial Laws were passed, he did what he could in my favour, and I often wonder how my life would have gone if his plane hadn’t been shot down. So, yes, before 1938, he was my good acquaintance. After 1938, he was something like an ally to me and my family. And now he’s something far more powerful. He’s an asset.’
‘How can he be an asset?’ I said, rather stupidly. ‘He’s dead.’
‘Precisely. He’s dead, and so we’ll never know whether he’d have recanted his opposition to the Racial Laws, or to the alliance with Germany. There are men in our city’s administration, influential men who have made their entire careers in the Fascist system, who cherish Balbo’s memory as something like a lost hope. Now, I may be rather more cynical, and I’m certain that you are. But the fact remains that these people are sympathetic to me because they know that I was, in some small way, once valued by him. They are even willing to help me, although I am not a Fascist – although I am a Jew, and their German masters dictate that I should be rounded up and deported. But if I were a communist, or even a member of some social democratic party, then I don’t think I’d find much goodwill in those particular quarters.’
‘But—’
‘We all compromise, signora Ricci,’ he cut across me. ‘We all deal with people we would rather avoid, especially when it means helping ourselves and others. You ought to understand that – you, of all people.’
The reproach landed like a blow. I lifted my chin, determined not to show him that he’d got to me. ‘And how, exactly, do these powerful men help you? Can you tell me something about that?’
‘Better yet, I can show you. Perhaps you’d be so good as to fetch me your identity card? I mean to say, the one you’ve been carrying?’
