Dave Duncan - The Alchemists pursuit

"I can explain that, but I won't. First, do you know what an accomplice is, Jacopo? Or what a conspiracy is?"

"I'm not a lawyer."

"Nor am I. But someone in that house is showering you with money so you can bull your way around the flophouses of Venice, hunting for certain women. Their names come out of this book. Once you have found them, they die. Once might be coincidence. Four times means you are as guilty as the killer. You are an accomplice both before and after the fact. Your head will roll on the Piazzetta. Where were you last Saturday night?"

"In a flophouse. With two girls and Zaneto, our chief boatman. The bed was quite crowded at times."

I assumed that the truth had just changed again, but keeping up with the recording was taking too much of my attention to leave me time for analyzing.

"The women are kitchen maids by day, I suppose," Nostradamus said acidly. "You arranged an alibi for each one of the murders, I am sure. Don't waste your breath denying it. Possibly everyone in the family does, because the actual murders are committed by a hired killer. Do you know his name?"

Jacopo stood up. "You are pigheaded stupid, old man."

"Are they all in it, or just one of them?"

Silence.

"You see, Jacopo," the Maestro said, "nobody wants Zorzi back. Domenico and Bernardo would have to share the fraterna; their mother would get beheaded for murder, and you would be out of a job. That's why the women are dying-because Zorzi was with one of them that night and she can give him an alibi. Without that he dare not return."

This was very much what I had suggested the previous day and been mocked for. Jacopo was not the only one spinning yarns.

"You asked why donna Alina hired me to expose the real killer. Because to clear Zorzi's name, I must find the woman who can give him an alibi. Remember that Alina insisted that my contract be changed-you yourself wrote in the change. She wants to be the first one I inform of that woman's identity. Then the witness will be exterminated before the Ten's sbirri can get to her. Understand?"

Jacopo folded his arms, but he towered over the Maestro and Violetta in their chairs, and I dropped my pen, bracing myself to leap to their defense if necessary.

"This is sewage, pure sewage!" he said. "You are crazy. How can you possibly find a particular whore, not just on the morning after but eight years after?"

"I have found her. The last companion named in this book," the Maestro continued, "is 'Tonina Q.' Zorzi spent the night before the murder with Tonina, but she is mentioned many times before that, and I have established that he did, in fact, visit her the following night also. That fact was not recorded in the book, doubtless because of the tragic event that occurred then. Tonina was married and not a courtesan, but her first name really was Tonina, Tonina Civran."

"It's not as glamorous as 'Violetta Vitale,' " Violetta said.

I realized my jaw had fallen open, and closed it. Fortunately she was looking down at her hands, not at me. "I was very young and very poor, so I was married off to a man very old and very rich. Then I met Zorzi, who showed me what I lacked. We were so in love… I simply cannot describe the difference he made to my life. It was spring after winter, it was daybreak. After his father's murder, he insisted I must not come forward to testify, but I was terrified that he might be accused of the killing. I went to my husband and told him what had happened. I said that I would have to report this to the Ten. He ordered me out of his house-but by then Zorzi had already fled to the mainland. After that I needed to earn a living, and I knew only one way I could do it." She gave Jacopo a wistful smile.

He made a skeptical noise, which I was hard put not to echo. "And just how did Doctor Nostradamus find you?"

"I found him. I live next door in Number Ninety-six. Alfeo and I are friends. When my friend Lucia was murdered, I asked the doctor to hunt down the killer for me, and that murder turned out to be related to Gentile Michiel's. Venice is not so enormous that such things cannot happen." Smile again, sadder than before.

I did not believe a word. She had never been Tonina Civran. The Maestro had put her up to this; it was worse than merely using her as bait. It was human sacrifice.

"So she will clear your brother's name," the Maestro said. "Alfeo, when will you have the report ready for the Ten?"

"Not long, master," I said, not knowing what answer he wanted.

"Good. Go and tell your mistress, Jacopo, that I shall send Alfeo over with my report this evening. If she wants to catch the next traghetto across to Mestre first, that is her privilege, but I shall claim my fee."

Jacopo took a step closer, young and big and angry. I gathered my feet under me, ready to leap if he made a hostile move.

"You're a wrinkled old fraud," he told the Maestro. "That Basilica was swarming with priests and nuns. I have two other siblings who could have taken that dagger, and at least one of them was in the Basilica that night." He turned and strode over to the door.

"Wait! Jacopo, do you know the meaning of the word 'entailed'?"

He turned, glowering. "Tell me."

"It refers to property that can only change hands by inheritance. Donna Alina inherited her wealth when her brothers died in the plague. No matter what she may have promised you, those lands and buildings must pass to her own children when she dies. Any documents she may have given you regarding them are worthless."

He did not change color, for anger had already made him pale, but the blow hurt. "What do you know of it? You're lying!"

"No, I am not the one who is lying. Ask your brothers if you don't believe me. Jacopo, you are very naive compared to them. They let your mother squander wealth on you, but they can put a stop to that whenever they want, and they can drop you like an anchor whenever they want. You still have time to go to the chiefs of the Ten and tell them what you have done. Alfeo will go with you and deliver the book as evidence. I am sure Their Excellencies will be merciful if you go now, before they send the sbirri for you."

Jacopo spun around and threw the door open. I sprang up and followed him out. The twins were still there, still hoping for a glimpse of Violetta when she left, and a long, lingering stare would be even nicer.

I told them, "Tell your father we need… Never mind." Giorgio was already hurrying along the hall. I bowed to our departing guest. He had been entertaining, if not enlightening. "Giorgio will see you home, lustrissimo. Hopefully we shall meet again this evening." I opened the front door.

"Don't count on being let in," he said.

"Signor Fauro?" Violetta called, emerging from the atelier. "You won't mind if the doctor's boatman drops me off at my door?" Awkward on her pillar shoes, she reached for his arm, and of course he offered it. She rewarded him with a smile that made the twins sigh audibly and almost made me choke.

I wanted to hurl him down the stairs rather than let her touch him. I wanted to scream at her to be careful, because she had been chained to the rock like Andromeda, fodder for the monster.

I went down one flight to the balcony and watched to be sure that Violetta disembarked safely at Number 96. Only then did I return to the atelier. The Maestro was making a painful progress back to his favorite chair and I was too furious to offer him a steadying arm.

"Was there any truth at all in any of that?" I demanded. "Violetta was never Tonina Civran. She cannot clear Zorzi's name. You scoffed when I suggested that the courtesans were being murdered to stop one of them giving him an alibi."

"Offhand"-he sighed, easing back into comfort-"no. I mean I cannot think of any significant facts being correctly included in our conversation, except Sister Lucretzia's participation in transporting the diary. You notice that Fauro did not correct his story about the dagger? Of course he was very young at the time and may not remember events correctly, so that falsehood may not have been deliberate."