“We’re just playing with your mind,” said Gideon. “But you can bet Caravale will have it on his list of possibilities. He’d be crazy not to.”
“Okay, as long as we’re covering all the bases, what about Lea?” Phil asked, bristling. “Anybody got any reasons for her to bump off Domenico?”
“Not me,” said Julie.
“Not me,” said Gideon.
“Huh. Okay, then. All right, then.”
They had finished the vegetable course of stewed fennel, begun on their salads, and ordered their espressos before Phil picked up the conversation again.
“And something else. You said whoever killed Domenico was probably behind Achille’s kidnapping too. Well, how the hell do you figure that? What would be the motive there?”
“How about five million euros?” Gideon said.
“What do any of them need money for? How could they spend it without everybody else noticing? Even if they moved off the island, it’d be obvious.”
“I don’t have any answers for that, Phil.”
“Well, all right then,” Phil said. “Huh.” He continued picking at his salad, his head down. “Listen, Gideon, I’ve been meaning to ask you something. About Lea. I’m kind of...well, interested in her.”
“Really?” said Gideon.
“Really?” said Julie.
“But I’m worried about ...well, she’s my cousin. I mean...you know, should I...well, what are the genetic implications? I’m not too good at that stuff.”
Gideon drank the last of his wine and set the glass down. “Let’s work it out. Let me make sure I have it straight. Lea is the daughter of Bella and Basilio, correct?”
“Correct.”
“And Bella is Vincenzo’s . . . what?”
“Half-sister, I think.”
“No, describe the relationship. Exactly how is she related?”
“Bella? She’s the daughter of Domenico’s wife from her first marriage. Vincenzo’s half-sister, right?”
“So they have the same mother? That’s their relationship?”
“Uh—no, actually. It was Domenico’s second marriage too. They were both widowed. Vincenzo was his
“Okay, then Bella is Vincenzo’s stepsister, not his half-sister.”
“There’s a difference?”
“A big difference. As far as you’re concerned, a huge difference. You want to know how close your relationship is to Lea, and whether there’d be any danger if the two of you had children together, right?”
Phil blushed, literally to the roots of his hair. “Well, I wouldn’t put it that way... I’m just exploring...I mean, we’re not even close to thinking about ...we don’t even...well, yes.”
“And the answer,” said Gideon, “is that there’s no genetic problem at all. She’s not related to Vincenzo, and you’re not related to her.”
Phil was amazed. “You’re right, of course! I guess I never thought it through.” He frowned. “But she’s always been my cousin. Everybody thinks of us as cousins.”
“Among the Arunta, maybe, but not here. Look, you can call her whatever you want to call her, but you don’t have any blood in common. None.” Gideon reached for his pen. “It’s not that hard. Here, I’ll draw it out for you.”
“No, that’s okay.” He grinned stupidly at them. “Not related. Son of a gun.”
“Not yet,” Julie said with a smile.
NINETEEN
ATthe Primavera, there was a message waiting from Caravale. “Please call.” The message listed his cell phone number.
Gideon made the call from their room while Julie settled down with a
“What’s up?” Julie asked distantly, not quite looking up from the magazine on her lap. “Anything new?”
“Not on the cases, no. But ...well, they’ve found Phil’s father.”
It took a couple of beats, but that got her attention. “They found Phil’s father?” she exclaimed, flipping the magazine shut. Then she knit her brows. “Wait a minute, what does that mean, they found Phil’s father?”
“Caravale has a couple of people poking around up in Gignese; that’s a few miles from here, the village that Dr. Luzzatto lived in—”
“The one that got killed in the motorcycle accident.”
