'What do you think you're doing?' yelled Dario, scooping the sachet up off the floor. 'That's pure coke!'
The silence from the front seats merely intensified.
'What the hell's the matter with you two?' Dario demanded.
The only reply was a massive sigh from Gesualdo.
'What's up?' asked Dario.
'Nothing!'
'What's wrong?'
'Just drop it, will you?' snapped Gesualdo.
Dario leant forward again, scanning the street ahead.
He was really worried now. If the car had been going slowly enough, he would have opened the door and made a run for it. But there was no chance of that, the way this maniac was driving.
'Gesua! Sabari! For God's sake, what's happened?'
'It's personal,' muttered Sabatino.
The Jaguar squealed round a corner, right into the path of an oncoming bus. With a flick of his wrist, Gesualdo cut into an alley on the other side of the street.
'Our girls have left Naples,' he said.
Dario stared at him, then burst into relieved laughter.
'Is that all? They'll be back.'
'Maybe.'
'Where have they gone?'
'To study in London.'
'Lucky them! They'll come back with all kinds of certificates and qualifications and land some great job.'
'Not here, though/ Sabatino replied gloomily. 'Somewhere up North, where all the classy jobs are.'
'Or maybe they'll meet someone in London and not come back at all,' said Gesualdo.
Dario laughed again.
'In that case, lucky you!'
Sabatino turned around.
'What's that supposed to mean, you idiot?'
Dario shrugged broadly and winked.
'There are plenty of other women around.'
'Not like Orestina and Filomena.'
'What have they got that the others haven't?' demanded Dario. 'One's as good as another, since none of them is any good except for one thing. Anyway, that's beside the point. They'll be back all right, and before you know it you'll be knee-deep in mortgage payments and credit-card bills, not to mention a pack of brats. This may be the last chance you ever get to kick off the traces. So instead of making life hell for yourselves and everyone around you, why not get out there and enjoy yourselves?'
'Enjoy ourselves?' repeated Sabatino incredulously.
'Right! Get out there and play the field for all you're worth. Just like your precious females will be doing in London.'
Gesualdo brought the car to a screeching halt and swung round to face Dario.
'Don't you dare insult two of the purest, most faithful women who have ever lived! You have no idea what they've had to go through from their family for taking up with the likes of us.'
'That's probably your main attraction,' commented Dario cynically. 'If you'd been a couple of guagliune per bene, they wouldn't have given you a second look. In short, you're the most interesting men they've ever come across here. But in London? Do you think they're going to waste their time there weeping and worrying about you two? Give me a break! Women need to be the centre of attention. If you aren't around to give it to them, they'll find someone who is. It only makes sense for you to play by the same rules.'
But Gesualdo had already climbed out of the car, followed closely by Sabatino. The front doors slammed with percussive finality.
'Wait for me, lads!' called Dario.
'We've got private business here,' Gesualdo told him coldly. 'Either wait or make your own way home.'
He and Sabatino disappeared down a set of stone steps running steeply downhill between walls overhung with foliage. Dario looked after them for a moment, then shrugged and lit a cigarette. As he did so, he noticed a taxi standing opposite, apparently just paying off its fare.
Dario walked over and started to negotiate with the driver, a no-nonsense babe somewhere in her fifties.
'Oh!'
Dario looked round. The speaker was the passenger who had just got out of the taxi.
'Eh?' retorted Dario.
The man came closer, staring at Dario insistently.
'Maybe I could use you,' he said.
He was tall and spare, with a pale face, grey eyes and a thin wedge-shaped nose. Dario laughed dismissively.
'Sorry, you're too old.'
'I'd make it worth your while.'
'I don't do it for money.'
They exchanged a look.
'Oh!' shouted the driver. 'You want a ride or what?'
Dario regarded her haughtily.
'Not with you,' he said.
There followed a brief but colourful exchange of views on single-gender sexual practices and the personal charms of older women, after which the taxi roared away. Dario looked at the stranger.
'What do you want?' he said.
'Someone I can trust.'
Dario laughed shortly.
'Is that all?'
The man produced a number of large denomination banknotes, as well as an engraved card in the name of Alfonso Zembla. He handed both to Dario.
'I live just down the hill. Your friends Gesualdo and no Sabatino are on their way to my house now.'
'Who said they were my friends?' 'I watched you drive up together in that red saloon.
Nice car. They didn't seem to be too pleased with you, to be perfectly honest, and yet they left you there with about fifty million lire's worth of automobile to steal or trash.
Who but friends would do that?'
Dario shrugged.
'So?' he demanded.
Zen paused a moment.
'Would the reason why they weren't pleased have less to do with you than the fact that their girlfriends left town today?'
Dario made a wry face.
'God!', he said.
'They're making a fuss about it?'
'You'd think it was the end of the world. I mean we all know breeders get hung up on relationships, but I've never seen anything like these two. When I suggested that maybe a little flexibility was in order, they accused me of dragging their darling fishes into disrepute and left me to walk home!'
Zen nodded. Taking Dario's arm, he led him across the street towards the flight of steps.
'It sounds as if it's high time they were taught a lesson, and I think you're the man to do it. After the way they've treated you, it would be satisfying as well as lucrative.'
'What do you have in mind?'
'I'm a friend of the Squillace family. They're horrified at the idea of their girls getting mixed up with a couple
