road and saw me, clutching the cornflakes. I thought, Christ, she's going to point me out, and I got ready to run, but she didn't. Do you know what she did? She winked at me. She did nothing at all except wink at me. Then turned her head away, allowed herself to be put in the car, and was driven off.”
She stopped, still remembering that faint smile, then shook her head and drummed on the marble-topped table with her fingers. Thick, short fingers, they were, Flavia noted. Almost like someone who worked with them for a living.
'The next morning it was all over the papers. Heiress killed in car crash. And rumors that she had been murdered by terrorists. I never discovered how they found us, but in some ways I was lucky that everyone else was killed. There was nothing to link me with the business at all. I went underground for a couple of years, and eventually was picked up and made peace, in my way, with the powers. It was all over by then; nothing anyone could do.
'And that, I thought, was the end of it. I was lucky to be alive, and lucky not to be connected with it in any way. When I heard from the magistrate, Balesto, that he was investigating the whole business and wanted to talk to me, I was terrified. I thought, Christ, my luck's run out. I would have made a run for it, but as I was still in jail I couldn't.
'It was Maurizio, of course, who'd put him on to me. He only guessed I had been involved, he had no proof; nobody could do anything much. The magistrate made that clear when he saw me. And he wasn't interested in me anyway. In effect, he offered me immunity from prosecution for anything that might turn up in the future in return for a full statement. So I gave it.”
'You trusted him? Might I ask why? It hardly fits in with everything else I know about you, at least then.”
'No. You're right. In theory I had no confidence that he'd keep his word. It was something even more disreputable and infantile.' She stopped and smiled quietly. 'I felt guilty. I'd liked Maria. I needed to make some effort to redress the balance. Even if I wasn't prepared to take many risks and even if I didn't think it would make any difference. I was expecting my first kid by then. Maybe that made the difference. You'll see for yourself, maybe.”
Flavia sniffed.
'In some ways, meeting Balesto changed my life, in a small way. He was a good man. Brave in his soul. Do you know what I mean?”
'I think so.”
'Unlike me, he believed in justice, and was determined to live up to it, however foolish it was. He took great risks, and they destroyed him for it. Even seeing me was brave; several magistrates had been killed already, and he knew, I think, that he would win no friends in high places by what he was doing.
'He was a very unheroic figure. Short and fat, but he had a sense of himself. A clarity about what he was doing. He was an honest man. I'd never met one before. Have you?”
Flavia nodded. 'Maybe one. I used to work for him. As you say, they are rare creatures.”
'Anyway, I told him everything, and he nodded and said that he knew most of it already.”
'How?”
'He didn't say. Just that it was in his report. Which was almost finished. A week or so later, he was arrested, disgraced, and his papers confiscated.”
'So you can't prove any of this.”
'Yes. I can. That's the whole point. After Balesto died, Maurizio got a package from him, and in it was a letter, posted by Balesto's lawyer. The letter said that he had done nothing since his arrest, as he was frightened for his family should he speak out. There had been clear threats, which he knew were serious. All his papers had been confiscated when he was arrested, but he had taken the precaution of making and hiding a copy of his investigation and the proof he would need.”
'What proof?”
'I don't know. The letter finished by saying that he didn't dare do anything with it himself but, since he knew he was about to die, there was nothing now to lose. If Maurizio wanted the report, he could have it.”
'What did it say?”
'I didn't see it. All I saw was the letter; Maurizio came and showed it to me.”
'Why?”
'Just to prepare me. He said he was going to have his revenge and he wanted me to have some sleepless nights.”
'All this was just to punish you?' Flavia asked incredulously.
'To punish everybody. I was just a minor detail. Anyway, then he vanished. I tried to contact him, but he never answered the phone or returned calls. He just went to earth, and the next I heard was that he was dead. I don't even know if he managed to get the proof.”
'It didn't come with the report from the lawyer?”
'No. Balesto said he'd left it long ago with a man called Bottando, who was the one person in the world he knew he could trust to look after it. What's the matter? Have you heard of him?”
Flavia nodded. There wasn't much point in being surprised at anything anymore.
'He's my boss. Was, anyway. Go on. What do you mean? That you were just a minor detail?”
Elena looked scornful. 'Don't you realize? Don't you know what this is about?”
'It seems not.”
'You don't realize that the man who ordered Maria shot was Antonio Sabauda? The man who is now the prime minister? That what Maurizio was going to do was bring down the government?”
Flavia sucked in her breath and stared at her. She had not, in fact, realized that this was what Elena was leading up to. 'But you don't know that. You didn't see the report,'
she protested. She was willing to believe many things of politicians. This was going too far.
'Oh, come on,' Elena said angrily. 'Sabauda got his big break being tough on terrorists and for his handling of the Di Lanna kidnapping case. He blamed the weak laws, the refusal of parliament to give him stronger powers, and he got everything he wanted. He got the patronage of the Di Lanna family in gratitude for his efforts, and that saw him through all the crises of the next couple of decades. He was also in charge of the security services at the time. Maria's death and the quiet, forceful way Sabauda handled it made his career. He was waiting for something like that to happen, and when it didn't, he made it happen. Dammit, she was taken away by the security services. And the next day she was found dead. Who else do you think killed her?”
'Is that what Maurizio thought?”
'Oh yes. And so did I. When I came out of prison, after Balesto was disgraced, I was visited by the security services. And was told that they had read his report, and knew full well of my role in the Di Lanna case. That I should consider myself lucky to be alive, but that I wouldn't be if ever I told anyone about it.”
'So why didn't they kill you? If everybody is as ruthless and murderous as you seem to think?”
She shrugged. 'Because you never know when my testimony would come in useful.
Sabauda was the friend of the security services, but what if times changed? What if they wanted to bring him down? Then I'd be useful.”
'You never thought of leaving the country?”
'Of course. But why bother? They'd find me. But now I am going. That report is out there somewhere, and the security services evidently know it. It's time to pack my bags.”
Flavia shook her head. 'So what about this picture that Maurizio stole? What was that all about?”
'If this Bottando is your boss, then I think it's fairly obvious. Maurizio wanted a bargaining chip to get this proof. Something to make Bottando give the proof up.
Threatening to burn the picture would have been what he had in mind. The report wasn't enough, however damning it might have been.”
She shook her head. 'No,' she said. 'That doesn't make sense. If he was going to hand the picture back in exchange for the proof, then what about this business he was planning for Friday?”
Elena shrugged. 'There I can't help. As I say, I couldn't get hold of him. I'm only guessing. You're on your own now. And so am I. Don't bother trying to find me. You won't.”
18
Argyll may have disliked mobile phones sufficiently to avoid having one himself, but he had fewer scruples
