Valerio Manfredi - The Ancient Curse

‘Yes.’

‘And you moved into his house – that is, the Caretti-Riccardi palace.’

The woman nodded.

‘With… your son?’

‘Yes.’

‘For how long?’

‘About a year.’

‘After which Count Ghirardini suddenly disappeared. Strange, no?’

‘He was a strange man. He had spent most of his life in exotic places. He could be anywhere in the world now. He may never come back or he may suddenly reappear like he did back then.’

‘There are those who believe that the objects we found underground in your pub come from the count’s private collection and that you smuggled them out, perhaps as recompense for services you rendered and were never paid for.’

‘That’s not true.’

‘Then what is true? Careful of what you say, Ms Reiter.’ He tapped a finger against his forehead. ‘This is better than any recorder. I have the memory of an elephant.’

Ambra Reiter lowered her head and said nothing for a few moments, as if she were weighing her options, then spoke up again. ‘Back then Montanari was working for the count as well, doing odd jobs. One night we heard noises underground and we went to see what was down there.’

Fabrizio, on the other side of the wall, started. Reggiani instantly became more attentive.

‘What kind of noises?’

‘I don’t know… voices. It sounded like voices. Calling.’

‘And you weren’t worried about hearing voices in a place like that? What were these voices saying?’

‘I don’t know. You couldn’t understand.’

‘Could Montanari hear them as well?’

‘Actually, no, he couldn’t. But he couldn’t hear very well anyway.’

‘Continue.’

‘We went down into the cellar and I kept saying, “That way. It’s coming from over there,” until we found a passageway. Steps cut into the stone that went deeper underground. I couldn’t hear anything any more, but Montanari started saying there was an ancient cemetery there.’

‘Etruscan.’

‘That’s what Montanari said. I didn’t know anything about any Etruscans. But he said that the objects in the tombs were worth a lot of money.’

‘So?’

‘So he suggested we become partners since I had the keys to the palace and to the cellar. When the count was away, we could go underground and carry those things away, one at a time. That’s what we did. If they were little, I’d put them in my pockets. If they were bigger, we’d do it at night. We’d load them up in the van and take them to La Casaccia. As soon as we started earning some money, I bought Le Macine and opened my tavern there. After that, Montanari dug out a room underground and we used it to store our stuff.’

‘What about the inscription?’ prodded Reggiani.

‘Yeah, that too. It came from under there. Montanari found it under a layer of-’

‘Of what?’

‘Of bones. Bones of many different animals, big and small. Maybe even human bones… but I don’t remember.’

‘What did you do with them?’ insisted Reggiani.

‘Montanari threw them out. He said they weren’t worth anything.’

‘Why did you cut the slab into pieces?’

‘He said the pieces were easier to sell and that we could get a lot of money for them.’

Reggiani grimaced. ‘So then why did he contact the director of the National Antiquities Service?’

‘Montanari was stupid. He ended up arousing the suspicion of the Finanza and he felt they were on to us, so at that point he thought he’d better contact the NAS. He told me that Balestra had promised him half a million as a finder’s prize.’ She stopped abruptly. ‘I’ve told you everything I know. Can I leave now?’

Reggiani didn’t answer.

‘You promised me that if I answered all your questions you’d let me go.’

‘I have one last question to ask you… for now.’

She eyed him in silence with her grey and apparently absent look, as if she wasn’t even seeing him. Some time ago she must have been a woman of uncommon beauty, that aggressive, brazen beauty that can drive a man mad.

‘You’ll remember when I came looking for you that day at Le Macine with my friend Dr Castellani…’

The woman nodded.

‘Why did you lie? Why did you say you had never telephoned him?’

Fabrizio started and leaned closer to the speaker so he wouldn’t miss a syllable of that answer, if there was going to be one.

‘I was telling the pure truth. I’d never seen him before and I would never dream of telephoning him.’

Accustomed as he was to listening to every kind of cock-and-bull story from every kind of insolent delinquent son of a bitch on earth, Lieutenant Reggiani felt sure that he would catch a glimpse of uncertainty in her eyes, but they remained hard and smooth as a slab of ice.

He said, ‘You can go now, but I would advise you not to leave Le Macine. My men will be keeping an eye on you, so you’d best comply.’

‘But I’ve already told you everything you wanted to know.’

‘Not everything. There’s one more question.’

‘About what?’

‘About that boy who lives with you.’

Ambra Reiter lowered her gaze and asked, ‘Where is he?’

‘In a safe place. To be frank, I would have expected you to put in a call to the carabinieri before now to report that your son had gone missing. Now you can go.’

‘But-’

‘You can go now, Ms Reiter.’

The woman got up to leave and, for the first time in eleven months, Reggiani lit up his second cigarette of the day.

Fabrizio emerged from his hiding place and walked into Reggiani’s office.

‘Can you believe the nerve of that bitch! I would have liked to look into her eyes while she was telling such an outrageous lie.’

‘You’ve seen her do it before, haven’t you?’ replied Reggiani. ‘Completely deadpan, as if she were reciting a phone number. I can assure you that if I didn’t believe you I would have believed her.’

‘If you doubt what I’ve told you, I can-’

‘I didn’t say that. I’m saying that she seemed to be telling the honest truth. You heard her yourself, right? My gut feeling was that she was telling the truth about everything. I think she realized that I will not hesitate to incriminate her if she doesn’t cooperate.’

‘What about the boy?’

‘That’s an entirely different matter. And if you want to know what I think, that’s where the greatest mystery lies. I’m convinced I did well to make you come in here with me, even though you are so tired.’

‘Absolutely… A lot of things are falling into place. Listen, just for a moment, let’s examine the possibility that she’s telling the truth.’

‘About what?’

‘About the fact that she’s never seen me or called me.’

‘You can’t be serious.’

‘I’ve never been more serious. Couldn’t this be a case of split personality? It’s rare, I know, but it can happen.’

‘Just what are you saying?’

‘Simply put, the Ambra Reiter who was talking to you a few minutes ago is not the Ambra Reiter who was calling me and whom I talked to at the tavern.’

‘I don’t think I’m following you.’

‘Let’s suppose that when she was calling me in the middle of the night, she was in a state of altered consciousness; her actions were controlled by a second personality.’

‘Like when someone has taken some serious dope?’

‘Something like that.’

‘Can we analyse her?’

‘I don’t think you’d get anywhere.’

‘So what are you thinking?’

‘What if she were… a medium?’

Reggiani shrugged. ‘Yeah, right, like the kind that makes tables dance around and spirits speak. Fabrizio, get serious. You’ll remember that I brought up the idea of using a psychic to get to the bottom of this and you were the one who talked me out of it. I honestly think you’re barking up the wrong tree here. This one may read cards, coffee grounds, that kind of thing… I’ll bet she has Gypsy blood in her.’