The grip eased, but the Carabiniere did not let go completely. Blume straightened up, turned around, and pushed down the Carabiniere’s extended arm.
“If you’ve been on duty in Rome for any length of time, you probably know my face,” said Blume. “So there should be no need for me to have to tell you to step back, now.”
The Carabiniere took a step backwards, and nodded.
From behind him came the whirring sound of a car window being lowered, and a blue cloud of cigar smoke swirled over Blume’s shoulder.
Blume turned around and looked into the car. The backseat was filled to capacity by a single man.
The voice was slightly throaty, soft, and calm, the face creased and brown like a hickory nut. “I imagine you are Commissioner Blume.”
Blume had seen people this large when traveling as a boy with his parents through towns in Iowa, Indiana, and Ohio, but everything they wore was elasticized; and he had seen obese Neapolitan criminals with Velcro straps on running shoes they couldn’t see, but he had never seen a man with so much bulk dressed in such a nicely cut silk suit.
“And you must be Colonel Farinelli,” said Blume.
Chapter 9
“You put the place off limits,” said the Colonel. “Good. I like a sealed environment.”
“I hope my Sovrintendente extended you every courtesy during your search,” said Blume.
“Oh, he did his best to stop us,” said Farinelli. He let out a cloud of smoke and nodded from inside it. “But what could he do? The magistrate tried to send him away, but he wouldn’t budge. He even insisted on watching us as we gathered evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“Why paintings, of course. That’s why I have been called in. Art fraud is my special area.”
“Murder is mine.”
“Yes. I’m sure you’ll have a murder to look into sometime soon. What’s the average in your district, two, three a month?”
“Are you saying Treacy was not murdered?” said Blume. “Do you have evidence for that?”
“Of course not. That’s up to you, Commissioner. It should be clear within a few hours, or tomorrow after the autopsy, no? Meanwhile, I’m looking after this.” The Colonel tossed his cigar butt out the door. His suit began to ripple as he began the process of heaving himself across the seat toward the door.
Blume walked away in the direction of Grattapaglia, leaving the task of pulling his boss out of the car to the Maresciallo.
“You did try to stop them, right?” said Blume as he reached Grattapaglia.
“Stop a team of Carabinieri, a colonel, and a magistrate with a search warrant? I did my best.”
“OK, OK. I should have answered when you called. Get back to the station now.”
Grattapaglia nodded over Blume’s shoulder. “Here they are again. And I can see Inspector Mattiola looking a bit lost at the end of the street.”
“Take her back with you.”
“So it’s all working out? She’s a big help?”
“Get lost. Write that report on this morning’s incident.”
Grattapaglia moved away, leaving Blume face-to-face with Colonel Farinelli who was holding two solid white boxes with “Franchi” written on them in blue cursive letters. He caught Blume’s glance and raised the boxes slightly. “A break for lunch, Commissioner. That’s where I was just now. Do you like Franchi’s take-out fare?”
Blume did-who didn’t? But he said nothing.
Blume pushed open the green door, which now sagged on its hinges, and stepped into the narrow passageway, imagining the Colonel trapped there like a hog in a rabbit hole.
“I did not enjoy squeezing in there last time,” said the Colonel. “If you’d be so kind…” He handed the boxes to Blume.
Blume handed them back, saying, “Get your Maresciallo to carry them.”
“Ah, but he’s staying here.”
“Then carry them yourself.”
By the time he reached the door to the greenhouse, the Colonel was breathing heavily and had difficulty ascending the two steps that led inside.
When he had finally made it up, he put down the boxes and placed his hands on the small of his back and pushed his stomach out even further, like he was considering buying the property.
After a while, with his breathing back to normal, the Colonel said, “Treacy has hardly changed this place.”
“Treacy?” said Blume. “You knew him?”
“Of course. I knew him well. Or used to. This house must have been the servants’ quarters for Villa Corsini.”
Blume went through the kitchen and into the next room. The walls were now almost bare, though several paintings had been left. The unframed sketches and paintings he had noticed earlier piled on the desk were gone, and the papers on the desk had been thoroughly searched and many of them lay scattered on the floor. Perhaps the utility bills and bank statements were not vital evidence, but they could be useful, and Blume had intended to take them in. Yet Farinelli and his men had thrown them on the floor. The only reason Blume could see for that was that they had been looking for something else, something specific.
Colonel Farinelli appeared from the kitchen. “What are you looking for? You’re not conducting an investigation, you know.”
“I’m curious,” said Blume.
“What we have here is a natural death. No need for your squadra mobile. The dead man was a forger, hence my involvement,” said the Colonel. “But I seem to remember, you don’t work well with the Carabinieri.”
“Usually I work fine with the Carabinieri,” said Blume. “Last time I didn’t, Buoncompagno was directing that investigation, too. I just want to see a few things for myself before I sign off.”
“Come into the kitchen, then,” said the Colonel.
Blume returned to the kitchen, where the Colonel had thrown open the fridge.
“You’re an Anglo-Saxon,” he declared. “So I suppose you’re more butter, beer, and milk than wine, oil, and water?”
Blume did not reply, but the Colonel was not waiting either. “Your northern diet is very high in cholesterol. You need to be careful.” He pushed the refrigerator door shut. “What did you see in there that might be interesting?”
“A lot of eggs,” said Blume.
“Ah, you noticed them, did you?” said the Colonel, clumping his hands together. He wore a large ruby ring on his middle finger.
“Yes,” said Blume. “And I thought maybe he was using the eggs for tempera painting, instead of just eating them.”
The Colonel tapped the side of his nose. “What made you think of that?”
“I’m investigating the suspicious death of a man who forged paintings for a living. Eggs are used for tempera painting, it’s an obvious connection.”
“It’s not obvious to everyone,” said the Colonel, pulling out a green folding wooden chair from below the marble table on which the two boxes now sat beside a honey pot, a bag of sugar, an open carton of milk, a pepper canister, and a bottle of Worcester sauce. “But I suppose you have the right background.”
The Colonel lifted the flimsy chair in one hand, looked at it scornfully, then put it down, and dragged a heavy oak stool with paint spots all over it. He brushed the surface with the back of his hand, sat down, stretched out his arm, and pulled the two white boxes across the table. “Your parents were art historians, Commissioner. I was
