The Medieval Murderers - The False Virgin

As I walked back to the quay to meet up with Katie, I pondered on Querini’s words. I was not surprised to find the Doge’s daughter lodged in a religious house. She was supposed to have been living in the monastery of St John the Theologian at Mongou as the terms of her exile. That she would actually be living with her husband, however, was taken as read, and the Querini mansion was close by the monastery. So I assumed she had taken herself off to Mongou in anticipation of my arrival, just for form’s sake. But what had Querini meant about her leaving him for a monk? I would have to do some digging to discover what had been going on here on Sifnos.

My task had all started with a letter. As soon as Giovanni Soranzo had become Doge, the letter had arrived from his daughter, begging to be allowed back to Venice. Soranzo was a canny enough bird to know that as Doge he had to act cautiously, and not show preference to family. Especially family who had plotted against the previous Doge. What he had done had been a surprise to me as much as to others around him.

I had been dining with Cat in Ca’ Dolfin, her family home, where I had been living since my own house had burned down. Both of us had finished the meal, and we were talking finance. It was my favourite subject.

‘I have put what money I have in the Florentine Bank of Peruzzi. They are financing the Venetian bullion trade, which is huge. Twice a year a bullion fleet of twenty to thirty ships, under heavy naval convoy, sail from Venice to the eastern Mediterranean coast or to Egypt, bearing primarily silver. And they sail back to Venice bearing mainly gold.’

‘What profit is there in that?’

I sighed. Cat had the old aristocracy’s lack of understanding of how trading worked.

‘Because it is a trade between regions that value gold and silver differently. Some merchants are making annual rates of profit of up to forty per cent on very large, short-term investments.’

Cat yawned and I knew to stop my monologue. Then I saw by the growing look in her eyes that she was thinking pretty much the same as me. It was still only a month or two since we had found each other again, and the forces of nature worked strongly in both of us. As soon as we could slip Katie’s attention, we would be dashing off to bed together. Old man I may be, but my lust was aroused by the still lithe and sensuous body of Caterina Dolfin. But we were destined never to get there. A scratching at the water door of Ca’ Dolfin had heralded the arrival of a mysterious emissary clad in a hooded cloak. It had turned out to be Bertuccio Galuppi with a strange commission. The Doge wanted to find out discreetly about his daughter’s situation, and have his man recommend what to do about fetching her back to Venice. It seemed I was the man for the job, due, according to Galuppi, to my legendary negotiating skills and discretion. I think he meant I was a slippery and underhand customer, who could be relied on to sneak in and out of Sifnos without anyone knowing. After Galuppi had delivered his message, Cat and I spoke about whether I should take the job. She was adamant I should.

‘You can’t refuse. It’s the Doge who is asking. That means it is a command.’

I snorted. ‘That’s what you members of the case vecchie think. We mere merchant classes need a good deal to be on offer.’

I often teased Cat about her family being of the old aristocracy, which excluded such as the Zulianis from power. It was one of the reasons I had left Venice. Her father had deemed me too common for his snooty daughter. Now I had my feet under her table, but it had taken me forty years, the death of her father, and a trip round the world to get there. Our argument would have raged on, but for the intervention of the one thing that united us both. It was Katie, who had been listening to our row, who finally resolved it.

‘Of course you must go, Grandpa. Then you will have the Doge in your pocket, and eternally grateful to you.’

I pointed at my granddaughter in triumph.

‘See. She is more of a Zuliani than a Valier or a Dolfin. She gets straight to the nub of the matter in the most businesslike way.’ I hit the table with my fist, causing my wine goblet to spill over. ‘I will go.’

Katie smiled, righting my goblet and wiping the spilled wine with her hand. She licked her fingers.

‘Good. And in return for my sound advice, you will take me with you.’

Eventually, after a bone-shaking ride over the hills of Sifnos, Katie, Galuppi and I managed to settle ourselves in Querini’s estate in Moussia. I had to admit the views were spectacular. Venice hunkers down low at sea level, whereas this mansion was perched high on a hill overlooking the bright blue sea. From the balcony of the main room, I could see a curious white chapel stuck out on the peninsula, and beyond it nothing but water. It was a good place to keep a lookout for marauding pirates and had escape routes by the beaches to the west and the east. I reckoned I had appropriated Querini’s own room, but I was not concerned about that. The fool could stay in the stables, for all I cared. If he ever got back from the other end of the island after sleeping off his binge. As for me, it was time to tie one on before embarking on my official business, and I had plenty of Querini’s best wine over dinner.

I awoke the next morning with a hangover, but knew it was nothing that a brisk walk in the fresh air wouldn’t cure. Time to acquaint myself with Speranza Soranzo’s hideaway. Standing on the balcony, I could feel that the morning was warm but the onshore wind was cool. So I pulled a sleeveless velvet robe over my tunic and leggings, and went to see to it that Katie would be entertained while I met the Doge’s daughter. Walking through the archway into the inner courtyard of the Querini mansion, I saw the back of a slim pageboy I had not noticed amongst the servants during last evening’s meal. I called out to him, intending to get him to fetch Katie. When the boy turned round, I saw it was Katie herself dressed in the way I had first seen her when she was stalking me in Venice.

‘What the hell are you doing in that garb?’ I exploded.

She grinned and spun around, showing me the full effect of the white tunic, red tabard, and grey leggings she wore.

‘Don’t you think I would pass as a pageboy? I fooled you at first, didn’t I?’

She had tucked her radiant hair under a red sugar-loaf hat, and I had to admit she was a passable youth. Albeit one that someone with a taste for downy-faced boys might prefer.

‘But why do you want to pass as a boy?’

She pouted in a way that was all female. ‘I knew Galuppi wouldn’t let me come with you on your investigations dressed as myself. He is so stuffy and old-fashioned, and thinks a woman should sit at home and spin and embroider.’ She grabbed my arm and pulled me to her. ‘But you will arouse no alarm being accompanied by your page, will you?’

I knew that pleading tone, and was aware I could not stop her once her mind was made up. I sighed deeply.

‘Very well. But don’t let Galuppi see you. And keep your mouth shut when I am with Querini or his wife. Pages are seldom seen and never ever heard.’

Katie grinned and put a finger to her lips, sealing her vow of silence. I wondered how long it would last.

‘Besides, I am not investigating anything, but merely ascertaining if the Doge’s daughter is suitably chastened by her banishment, and will not stir up feeling on her return.’

Katie shook her head vigorously, almost releasing her long locks. ‘Fat chance of that happening. Speranza was always too full of her own importance. Now she is the Doge’s daughter, she will lord it over everyone.’

She started to walk ahead of me, but I grabbed her arm and held her back.