‘Yes. I’m afraid Aze was not particularly proud of his origins. He rather played up the Italian academic. It was a game, really. We met at Ten Mile Bank – in 1982. I was 17.’ She laughed, forgetting herself again. ‘I’d met his brother at school in Cambridge. They were bright, the brothers, very bright.’
She looked wistful, and then her eyes began to fill again. ‘The family,’ said Dryden quickly. ‘The Valgimiglis – what did they do in Ten Mile Bank? It’s an odd place to end up.’
‘They’re still there. They changed their name, of course – after the war, such a mouthful. The father – Marco – wanted something more anglicized, I think, for the restaurant. So – Roma.’
Dryden’s head span. ‘Il Giardino?’ he said, trying to imagine the urbane Azeglio in the down-at-heel greasy spoon and recalling the fight the diggers had witnessed at California.
‘Indeed. Which is why Azeglio left, I think – not really his idea of a life, Mr Dryden. And he took the old name with him. He and Jerome had enjoyed a private education, you see – before the money ran out. Azeglio did history at Cambridge – we were undergraduates together.’
‘But the younger brother must be Pepe, surely?’
‘Three brothers, Mr Dryden. Pepe is the youngest – Jerome was in the middle.’
‘And Jerome is…?’
She closed her eyes, a hand rising to massage her forehead. ‘Family questions, Mr Dryden – perhaps another time?’ She looked suddenly exhausted, the low sunshine making her narrow her eyes, the heavy lids almost closing again.
‘I’m sorry.’ Dryden checked his watch. ‘I won’t be a second. Just a small point – I don’t believe in coincidences. How was it that your husband ended up directing an archaeological dig in Ely? I understood he has a chair at Lucca – surely not in Anglo-Saxon studies?’
She took a deep breath, the ever-present Liz now hovering by the kitchen door: ‘His thesis – at Cambridge – was on the Anglo-Saxon theory of kingship. He had been a digger in his student days on several similar sites, and particularly the chariot burial at Manea, not far to the east. At Lucca he heads the school of Etruscan studies, a much more popular subject, clearly. But sabbaticals are common and academics keep track of what’s going on. He had a friend here who alerted him to the prospect of the dig… and was able to recommend his work. His was an outstanding application, I think – they were lucky to get him.’
‘Can you remember the friend’s name?’
‘Mann,’ she said sharply. ‘Dr S. V. Mann. He taught Azeglio, both of us, actually.’
‘I see. But why did he want the job – your husband? It seems an odd ambition.’
She laughed. ‘It was not perhaps apparent, Mr Dryden, but my husband was an extraordinarily proud man. He left the family, as I have said, when he was twenty-one. It had cast a shadow over his life, I think. He wanted to come back, to perhaps make peace with his mother, with Pepe. This appointment gave him the professional cover he required. I think he took some pride from it as well. It rather proved his point, did it not? If he’d stayed he’d be the part-owner of a rundown roadside cafe.’
She stood, the cue for Dryden’s final question. ‘Have you any idea who could have done this? Had he been threatened?’
‘Not at all. No. But he was intrigued by what they’d found in the tunnel. I don’t think he was entirely honest with the police about what he knew – I’ve had to explain that today several times. You see, he knew all about it of course.’ She’d said too much, and a glance to her friend pleaded for help.
‘About what?’ asked Dryden, keeping to his seat.
‘The moon tunnel,’ she said, slumping back to the sofa.
Dryden’s pulse jumped. He thought quickly. ‘Could I have some sugar?’ he asked, diverting the brooding presence of Dr Haydon back to the kitchen.
‘The moon tunnel?’ asked Dryden, drinking as much of the coffee as he could before the sugar bowl arrived.
Her eyes switched to the fog beyond the window where a watery sun had just penetrated the canopy of grey. ‘There’s not much to tell. That’s what they called it. Marco was one of a group of prisoners who dug a tunnel. I suspect that at first they thought of escape, but then that seemed pointless. So they had a better idea. Serafino was a petty thief – at least that was Marco’s story. It was wartime, the police were stretched, these old houses had little security…’
The sugar bowl was set down on the table beside Dryden.
She went on. ‘They used the tunnel to get in and out of the camp at night, and provide themselves with the perfect alibi. Once they were billeted out on the farms they stopped: their alibi was gone, you see. And Amatista disappeared, of course, so perhaps they lost their nerve as well.’
‘The moon tunnel?’ asked Dryden again.
‘Romantic, isn’t it? Typical, really. The only danger was that they’d get caught outside the wire. So they always chose properties they knew – usually because they’d worked on them during the day. Most were country houses with home farms attached. They’d bide their time until the full moon, that way they could move across country without lights. They’d be out and back and no one ever suspected it could be them.’
‘And your husband told you all this?’
She hesitated, and Dryden knew she was about to lie. ‘Yes. All the family knew, and most of the Italian community, I think. Certainly by the time Marco died. Time had passed. At first they were worried that the police might make an effort to get the money back – I don’t know, repossess the restaurant or something. But now… they’re all dead.’
‘So when the war ended they were rich?’
‘I don’t think so – ask Pepe. Certainly not the Romas. But I think it paid the school fees at least.’
Dryden winced as the sweet liquid made one of his teeth hum. He set the cup down and stood. ‘I’m sorry – this
