The Medieval Murderers - The Deadliest Sin

‘Won’t you have to stand for election?’

Nick smiled enigmatically. ‘Of course, but when I was a youth I worked out a way to circumvent the convoluted system to elect the Doge. I almost made it work, too. So getting on to the Ten will be simple in comparison.’ He pulled a face. ‘Though I’m not sure I want to do it.’

‘Why not? You’ve always complained that the case vecchie run everything. That the old order keeps the common citizens out of the positions of power. Now you can change all that.’

‘I know. And that’s why I was wondering why they asked me to stand for the Council. Maybe I will just be a token commoner. And it’s only for a year, anyway.’

‘But you would have a turn at being the head of the Council in that year.’

He burst out laughing. ‘It’s only for a month, and I would be one of three equal leaders. And the leaders have to stay out of society for the whole month to avoid the risk of being exposed to bribery.’

Katie grinned. ‘Oh dear, a month in Granny Cat’s company. What a burden.’

He punched her arm playfully. ‘You always win the argument with your impeccable logic. You’re right – I should do it. But I hope Baglioni’s ship returns before I’m the co-leader. I would hate to be in purdah and miss our triumph.’

As it turned out, the ship came back much sooner than Zuliani had expected, even before the election. News of its arrival brought members of the colleganza down to the quay, along with the idle onlookers who liked to see what wonders a trading vessel had brought with it. Everyone peered anxiously at the galley until the sly smile on the face of the captain, who stood at the stern, told the story. The trip had been a success, and had been made in record time, too. Zuliani missed the galley’s unexpected arrival because he was busy pressing palms at a gathering at the palace of the grandiose Tron family.

Unused to such exalted company, Zuliani had recruited Cat Dolfin into accompanying him. She was a member of that social élite formed by the case vecchie , and so was at ease with the Trons. And all the others who attended the gathering – the Tiepolos, the Dandolos and the Gradenigos. In the presence of such silken opulence, and expensively clad men and women, Zuliani nervously tweaked the collar of his stiff new jaqueta . Cat smiled at him indulgently at first, but slapped his hand away when he began to pull at the arse of his new hose.

‘Don’t go behaving like some common labourer just to prove a point,’ she warned him through her gritted teeth, ‘or you’ll never be elected.’

‘If I have to wear this gear all the time, I don’t think I want to be on the council,’ Zuliani growled. ‘Who’s that over there?’

Cat looked over to where Zuliani was pointing. A small group of young men, fashionably attired in silk brocade, were bunched around a much older man. The object of their admiration, not to say sycophancy, had a lined, long face and an imperious Roman nose. Cat thought he was probably over sixty, and his expensive clothes spoke of wealth and power.

‘I don’t know, but that’s Domenico Valier standing next to him. He’s my nephew, and as weak as his uncle – my husband – was. I can soon get out of him who the old man is.’

Zuliani almost restrained her, but she was across the room, smiling and touching sleeves courteously and at the same time intimately in a way he was incapable of. He didn’t like her talking to the Valiers. It reminded him of his failure to capture Cat for himself. They had been lovers forty years ago, but then Zuliani had fled Venice under a cloud, leaving Cat pregnant. She had been forced to marry Pasquale Valier, who had brought up Zuliani’s child – a son – as his own. Though it had all been his fault, Zuliani still resented Valier having taken his place, even though the man was now long dead. He deliberately turned away from Cat as she moved closer to her nephew, and began to press palms with others in the grand chamber. He decided that, if he pretended he was a trader selling a colleganza to gullible men with money, he could win the inbred case vecchie members over to his side. After rubbing shoulders with Kubilai Khan, getting on to the Council of Ten shouldn’t be all that hard. Just as he was tiring of his task, Cat Dolfin returned to his side. She bussed his cheek.

‘You have been doing well without me, I see.’

He shrugged his weary shoulders, but still grinned wolfishly.

‘It would seem I have what it takes to be a politician, after all.’ He paused. ‘So who was he?’

She looked at him archly. ‘Who?’

‘You know who. The old man with the big nose.’

She ran a finger down the front of his new silk doublet. ‘Are you jealous? You know what they say about the size of a man’s nose reflecting the dimensions of his other organ.’

Zuliani quickly looked around, hoping no one had heard Cat. He wondered if this was what the conversation was like all the time amongst the old aristocracy. Cat laughed at his discomfiture.

‘Never mind. Your… nose… is quite big enough for me.’

‘Caterina!’

She cast her eyes up to the ceiling high above their heads to signify her delight at his impatience.

‘Very well. To business, if you insist. The old man is Antonio Perruzzi himself.’

Zuliani’s eyes widened. ‘Of…?’

‘Of Perruzzi’s bank. In fact, you could say he is the bank, to which, they say, the English king is so indebted that if he paid off what he owes it would bankrupt his whole kingdom.’

Zuliani frowned.

‘What’s he doing in Venice?’

Cat took his arm and led him out of the chamber.

‘Doing what he always does, no doubt. Making more money.’

‘There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s what we Venetians do best. What do you think we expected of the money invested in Bagnioli’s colleganza ?’

Cat waved a deprecatory hand, as if the money she had loaned Zuliani was of no consequence. But despite her gesture, he knew the loan was important. The Dolfin family, of which Caterina was the last living representative bearing that name, was no longer wealthy. Of course she should have been a Valier after her marriage – and had been for a number of years – but on Pasquale’s death, she had returned to her own illustrious name. Zuliani had pondered asking her to marry him and take his name for herself and their granddaughter, but so far had been afraid to broach the subject. A Dolfin was always a Dolfin, even if this one was his lover too.

As the day was still warm and the sun bright, they began to walk along the quay from Ca’ Tron towards the Arsenale. It was then that Zuliani spotted the galley, which was unloading on the quayside.

‘It’s Baglioni’s vessel, and it looks as though he has returned with a hold full of goods.’

He rubbed his hands briskly, and gave Cat a pleading look. She sighed at being abandoned, but was resigned to Zuliani’s natural instincts.

‘Go on. Go and find out how much Baglioni has earned for us.’

Zuliani grinned his thanks and, leaving Cat stranded on the quay, he pushed through the crowd, which had gathered to gawp. He was soon at the gangplank of the galley, carefully noting the bundles of silk that were being offloaded. Making a mental calculation as to the return on his – on Cat’s – investment, he cast around for Baglioni. There was no sign of him, but he spotted Saluzzo, the ship’s captain, hanging from the rigging. Zuliani called out to him, and the man looked round. His face clouded over a little when he saw Zuliani on the dock. But then Saluzzo soon put a cheerful grin back on his face, and nimbly dropped on to the deck of the galley. He strode over to the gangplank, meeting Zuliani on the quay before he could set foot on the ship. He shook his hand vigorously.