Rick told LoGuercio what he had asked, and Gina began to speak. Rick stopped her every few sentences, and after a while the routine achieved a certain rhythm. As she spoke she became more calm, and during the interpretation breaks she sometimes closed her eyes, either composing her next sentences or simply meditating. Rick wasn’t sure.
“My mother lived in Arizona. Scottsdale, to be exact. Many people would consider her fortunate, if wealth is the most important factor for happiness, but in fact her life was anything but easy. She managed to find three husbands, one of whom was my father, and when the marriages ended in divorce she was left each time with favorable alimony. Very favorable. After the third divorce I think she realized that she wasn’t meant for marriage, so she put all her energy and time into her pottery, something she’d gone back to after her first marriage ended. She had learned the craft when she studied here, but you probably know that.”
Rick stopped her and quickly interpreted for LoGuercio before turning back to Gina. “No, this is news to the inspector. She was here in Italy?”
“Here in Orvieto. Some kind of exchange program when she was in college. She had taken Italian courses so she already spoke the language. I hadn’t heard her speak it until this trip, and it sounded quite fluent.”
LoGuercio said something to Rick after hearing the Italian, and Rick nodded.
“She had friends here, Gina? Was she going to meet people she knew back then?”
“If she was, she didn’t tell me, but that wouldn’t be surprising, given our relationship. We haven’t talked much in years, and as you know I live in a different state. I was surprised when she invited me along on this trip, since it was clearly some kind of nostalgia thing for her. But given her health issues, I couldn’t refuse.”
“Health issues?”
“Of course, you wouldn’t know about that either. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer recently. That’s why she wanted to return, while there was still time. She hadn’t been back to Italy since she was here in college.”
Rick remembered what he’d seen in the square in front of the cathedral. “Your mother never told you she was going to look up anyone here, but do you think she did?”
“Absolutely. She saw someone in front of the church just after we got into town yesterday, though we couldn’t see who it was. And then she disappeared just before dinner at the restaurant.”
“Tell us about yesterday,” Rick said, at the request of the policeman.
“We were finally getting over our jet lag, after two nights of falling asleep in the afternoon and then waking up in the middle of the night. So we had enough energy to venture out further than the trattoria five minutes from here. Mom insisted we take the bus into town instead of driving the rental car. She said it was the best way to get a feel for the people, and we would have trouble finding a place to park legally anyway. The bus line ended at the little square where we got on the funicular. On the ride up is when we saw you.”
Rick nodded, but said nothing.
“The bus dropped us at the cathedral, which is where we started our sightseeing. That’s where Mom saw someone, but since she didn’t tell us, maybe it wasn’t who she thought it was. She wouldn’t tell us. We walked around the town for the rest of the afternoon, and had early dinner at a restaurant there. I don’t remember the name, but Francine should. She has a better memory than me.”
“You said your mother disappeared before dinner.”
“Right. That’s when I met you. Mom said she had something to do, and we didn’t press her on what it was, knowing she would have told us if she’d wanted to. She eventually showed up at the restaurant. She tried not to show it, but she was a bit agitated.”
“How long was she gone?”
“About a half hour. Maybe forty-five minutes.”
“Then what happened?”
“After our meal, Mom told us she was going to meet someone, an old friend she’d run into earlier. Francine and I assumed it was the person she saw in front of the church, but it could have been who she saw before dinner, if indeed she’d met with someone.”
“So you and Francine came back here?”
“Yes, Francine had it all worked out. We got on the bus where it had dropped us off, at the bottom of the funicular, and our stop is close to the driveway up to the villa.”
“We passed it on the way here.” He didn’t mention the crime-scene tape. “The rest of the evening…?”
“Francine and I had a drink out here and I went to bed. It was about ten.”
“You didn’t hear your mother come in?”
She shook her head. “She took the best of the bedrooms, of course, which is the one here on the ground floor. Our rooms are upstairs. If she came in I didn’t hear her.” Her eyes narrowed in thought. “But she wouldn’t have come back and then gone out again, would she?”
“We don’t know, Gina.”
After Rick finished interpreting he asked LoGuercio what other questions he had.
The policeman shrugged. “At this point we usually ask if they have any idea who could have killed the victim, but I’m not sure she can offer anything.”
Rick turned back to the woman, who had been trying to understand a word or two, but without success. “Gina, do you have anything else you can offer that could be of help to the inspector? Does something come to mind?”
Her lips quivered and Rick wondered if she was going to break down. “I wish I could, Rick. If only I could. I can’t believe that someone she knew could have done this, she must have just found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, and…” She pulled out the tissue.
Rick
