She thought back and back to her school days. Classical mythology. They'd had to do it when they were about twelve. The more she thought, the more it receded toward the horizon. She sat there for five minutes, maybe longer, her brain refusing to hand over the memories she needed. Why had Sabbatini gone after that particular picture? This was the question she'd asked again and again. Why was he so precise? Eventually, she shook her head and got up. There was no point in delaying any further.
This time there was a secretary guarding the entrance. She told her that she wasn't expected, but that the deputy would see her. It was an urgent matter.
A few minutes later, he did. She went into the poky inner office, and Di Lanna rose from his chair to welcome her, waving her to the same wooden seat she had sat in not long before. He smiled; that same, slightly sad, unpolitical smile.
'Good morning, signora. I am glad to see you again. I hope you have some good news for me this time.”
Flavia opened her mouth to speak, then stopped as all the comments and all the questions suddenly came together in a great panoramic whole. Her brain was spinning, she felt dizzy from the realization of what it all meant. Of course it was true. Just as Argyll insisted that a flicker of instinct must sometimes overwhelm a vast mass of evidence in attributing a painting, so it was the same with crimes.
And there was suddenly no doubt whatsoever in her mind. Years of experience and training had fine-tuned her sensibilities, made her aware of contradictions and loose ends. She was very good at her job, she realized, and knew at the same moment that her instinct was all for nothing. What a waste, she thought absently, and noticed that she really didn't care very much.
'I don't think so,' she said, fighting to get her breath under control. 'But I don't suppose you will find it too bad.”
'Please continue.”
'I imagine you have just had your office swept of all those listening devices, is that correct?”
He nodded.
'In that case we can drop all the pretense and talk plainly. I've come to offer you a deal,' she said. 'I'd like to have you arrested, but practically speaking I don't think it's possible.”
He looked quizzical and amused. 'Arrested?' he said mockingly. 'Dear me. Whatever for?”
'For the murder of your wife and your brother-in-law,' she said quietly. 'Not that you killed them yourself, of course. Dossoni did that for you.”
His face had gone stony, immobile, and frightening. Had she made a mistake? She had just accused him of the worst possible crime. No one should get away with it. But he had, and he was going to. There was nothing Flavia could do about it. She would have to be very clever just to stay alive herself.
Di Lanna spoke again, all the easygoing, relaxed charm gone from his voice. 'This conclusion is based on what reasoning or evidence?”
And now it was time to lie. How could she say she had never seen the report composed by the magistrate, that she was guessing what it said by interpreting Sabbatini's crazy behavior? The symbol of the act; and she was reading and interpreting the symbols, using them to grasp something that was forever beyond her reach.
She could not possibly say that she had reached her conclusions because Sabbatini had so carefully chosen a particular picture by Claude to steal, that when he had read in the papers about the picture's arriving he had gone straight forward, his indecision overcome. Because the true story of Cephalus and Procris doesn't end happily; rather, Cephalus shoots the wife he had so recently married with the arrow she had given him, and no goddess brings her back to life again. Procris gives him power, and he uses it to kill her.
Maria had brought her husband power through her family's money, and Di Lanna had used it to kill her. That was what the bank statements would show: a transfer of funds to Dossoni for carrying out the murder. And after that, Di Lanna used his righteous grief to move against Maria's brother, to have him removed as a beneficiary of the father's trusts. He took most for himself, and became a power in the land. Who could do anything about him? All the politicians were in his debt, everyone knew what had happened to Balesto. Di Lanna was untouchable. If he fell, so did everyone else.
But she didn't say any of this. She guessed, and hoped instead. 'This is based on the Balesto report, and on the transcripts of banking transactions that he also discovered.”
Di Lanna smiled. 'I don't think so,' he said.
'Because Dossoni recovered them? True, he did. But he didn't give them to you, did he? He started working for himself.”
'What makes you think that?”
'He told me. But you needn't worry about him.”
'No? Why is that?”
'He's dead. That's what I came to tell you.”
'So you are now the only person who knows anything about this?”
'That's right. What happened?”
He considered for a moment, then shrugged. 'The picture disappeared, and I was sent a fax. A photocopy of a page from Ovid. Maurizio being certain that I got the message. Typical of him. It should have been obvious but, as usual, his mind was so tortuous that what he did couldn't be understood without an explanation. So I contacted Dossoni. To clean up. But he seems to have decided to take advantage of the situation.
I'd paid him off before, but once he killed Maurizio and got the report he became more demanding. When the ransom demand arrived I knew it came from Dossoni. Three million dollars. I paid it. You understand, no doubt, why I wanted this dropped?”
'Crystal clear.”
'How much do you want now?' he asked wearily.
'Nothing. You will never find the reports or the proof. And I will never use them unless I am provoked. I will leave you alone and, in return, you will leave me alone.”
'Why is that?”
'How long has the prime minister known about this?' she went on, ignoring his question.
'Since the moment it happened. Why do you think I'm his biggest supporter?' He looked at her sadly. 'I've had this hanging over my head for years now.”
'What do you want? Sympathy?”
'No. For the last six months, members of my party have been talking about pulling out of the government. This whole business, sending the report to Maurizio, was a warning from Sabauda. If I stepped out of line, he'd destroy me.”
'I thought the report was sent to him by the magistrate.”
Di Lanna looked scornful. 'Don't be ridiculous. This was one of Sabauda's dirty tricks.”
'He can't do without you, you daren't do without him.”
'That's about it.”
'I cannot think of a bigger punishment for either of you, then. You deserve each other. If I could put you behind bars, I would. But I doubt whether I could take on you and the government.' Di Lanna smiled in agreement.
'But you can't touch me either. Lift a finger, and the report gets published. It might not finish you off, but it would damage you. Embroil you in lawsuits with your trustees for the rest of your life. Bring your career as party leader to an end. That I could do, I think. With the report and the proof.”
Which I don't have, she thought.
He nodded. 'Yes,' he said reasonably, 'that you could do. If I lose control of the trusts, then I lose the party. That is true. But you say you are not going to. Why not?”
'Because I am sick of you all. Stick you in jail and you're replaced by someone just as bad. Why bother? All it would do is make my life miserable and in the end you'd survive anyway. You people always do. I want away from all this.”
He nodded.
'So, are we agreed?”
He nodded again.
'Good,' she went on; 'then you are also going to intervene with the ministry to give me the biggest payoff in the history of the police force. And then we will have a standoff. You leave me alone. I leave you alone. Both of us
