temptation in florence 04 - expected in death (22 page)

“You sure talk a lot.” Ugo lifted the knife again. “Now shut up.”

Chapter 12

I

“Oh,
Commissario
, I'm so glad you're here!” Elena ran out of Temptation to meet Garini before he could descend from his motorbike. “Carlina left in a tearing hurry and hasn't been back for ages! That's not like her at all, and I have no idea what to do.”

Something cold wrapped itself around Garini's heart.
Damn Gloria. Why had she refused to let Carlina in? What had Carlina tried to tell him so desperately?
“Did she tell you where she wanted to go?”

“No.” Elena shook her head. “She said something about Francesca and Ugo, but I didn't really understand, and she had no time to explain.”

Garini clenched his fists. This was worse than he'd thought. “Have you tried to call her?”

“Oh, yes, I called her just now. But she doesn't answer her phone. What should I do?”

“Nothing.” He was already turning the heavy machine into the other direction. “Close the store when it's time to go home and stay put.”

“Yes, but--”

Garini didn't hear her anymore. He raced down the street and arrived in record time at the Mantoni family home, where he bumped into Uncle Teo who was just leaving the house. Uncle Teo staggered back. Garini caught the frail man by the shoulders and set him back onto his feet, as gently as possible given the immense strain he felt. “I'm sorry. I hope you're all right? Where's Carlina? Is she at home?”

Uncle Teo looked at him with a worried frown. “No. But she called and asked for Ugo's address.”

A sick feeling pooled inside Garini's stomach.
Oh, no.
“When was that?”

“Not very long ago.” Uncle Teo scratched his head. “I think Santa Croce was just chiming the half hour. Though I might be mistaken. Maybe it wasn't the half hour. Maybe--”

Stefano turned on his heels and jumped back onto his motorbike. “Thanks!”

As he raced through the historical streets, his heart hammering inside his chest, he kept thinking one phrase, one phrase only, repeating it like a mantra, praying to a God he only half believed in. “Please let her be all right. Please let her be all right.”

He stopped right in front of Ugo's luxurious apartment building and ran inside, then showed his identity to the startled receptionist. “Police. Please accompany me upstairs to the apartment of
Signora
Ottima and her son.”

The receptionist recoiled. “I did nothing wrong. I swear I--”

“Yes, fine. I just need a witness.” Garini grabbed the arm of the puny receptionist and pulled him upstairs behind him. “Hurry.”

In front of Ugo's apartment, he rang the bell so hard that the button got stuck and the jangling inside never stopped. Then he started to beat at the door. “Police! Open up!”

The receptionist took a step back. “Maybe I'd better--”

“You're staying right here.” Garini continued to beat with his fist at the door while grabbing the receptionist's arm with the other hand. “Now help me to knock.”

“Knock?” The voice of the little man turned shrill. “That's not knocking. That's beating down the door. And you have no right to--”

“You're damn right I have no right.” Garini knew that he was risking his job, breaking into a civilian's apartment without the proper document. “But the woman I love is inside this apartment, and I have no idea what's happening to her.” His words were a snarl.

The receptionist looked at him askance. “The woman you love? You mean the one who fainted?”

Garini froze. “She fainted?”
Carlina only faints when she hears bad news.
“Are we talking about the same woman here? Dark Curls? Eyes like a cat?”

“I didn't see her eyes,” the receptionist shrugged. “She fell outside and hit her head. But yes, she had dark curls. And
Signor
Ugo very kindly picked her up and said he would call the doctor. But the doctor hasn't come yet, which is a bit unusual. In fact, I--”

Garini blanched. “Oh, Madonna. Stand back.” He pushed the man to the side and started to kick at the door with all his might.

“You can't do that!” The little man wrung his hands. “You're destroying property!”

“If I'm wrong, I'll pay for it.”

The lock finally burst from its frame, making the wood around the door splinter. Garini pulled his gun and stepped inside with caution. “Ugo! Come out. You're surrounded.”

The receptionist looked around. “Surrounded? By whom?” He retreated toward the escalator.

Garini ignored him and inched forward, throwing each door open, checking every room without offering a target, but he couldn't hear a sound, couldn't see anyone. Methodically, he continued until he got to the bedroom. It was empty.
Damn.
A sinking feeling replaced the adrenaline that had pumped through him. What if she wasn't here after all? What if this was a wild goose chase? He shuddered as he imagined explaining to his boss what he had done.

He was just turning away again, when he noticed a slim door toward the rear, covered with the same wallpaper as the rest of the room. What was this? A wardrobe? He kicked the door open and jumped to the side again, then he saw her.

Carlina was sitting on a chair in the middle of the narrow walk-in wardrobe, bound with twine all over. Her eyes were huge, and next to her neck was a sparkling knife, held by the massive Ugo who glowered at him.

“If you shoot, I'll cut her throat,” Ugo said.

Garini didn't reply. Quick thoughts were running through this mind, years of training kicking in.
It's possible that he'll harm her even while falling. I can't take the risk. Talk to him. Distract him!
“How did you kill your mother, Ugo?”

Ugo's face turned red. “But I keep telling you that I didn't kill my mother!”

“Then why did you bind up Carlina and why are you threatening her with a knife? What did she do to you?”

Now Ugo looked as if he was going to burst a blood vessel. “She turned Francesca against me. She told her about my mother. She--”

Carlina turned her head and stared at him. “I told her nothing but the truth! How long did you think you could keep your mother and her death a secret? Tell me that!”

Ugo's mouth worked. “I would have told her. Soon. I was waiting for the right moment.”

“The right moment to tell bad news will never come,” Carlina said. “Besides, that's no reason. You've kidnapped me, bound me, threatened me. That's completely out of proportion. It doesn't make sense. Garini is here; you've lost. Now let me go.”

Ugo stared at her with the whites showing all around his eyes. It was obvious that things had spiraled out of control, and that he didn't know how to get out of the mess his temper had created.

Garini inched closer. If only he could overpower Ugo, could somehow take the knife from him. He would have to use a moment of surprise to avoid endangering Carlina. His hands felt slick with sweat.

Ugo stopped talking and pressed the knife against Carlina's neck. “Stay right where you are, Stefano! If you come any closer, your precious girlfriend will suffer.”

“I've already told you that I'm allergic to nickel,” Carlina snapped. “So you'd better remove your knife. Now, be good enough to have some sense. Don't you see that you've maneuvered yourself into an impossible situation? The only thing you can do now is to hand over your stupid knife and to trust that people will judge you leniently, assuming you've gone crazy with grief because of the death of your mother.”

Garini looked at her with raised eyebrows. Nickel? What on earth was she talking about?

Ugo's hand shook. He opened his mouth, but never managed to say a word, because at that instant, a little whirlwind of fury burst into the room. “And one more thing,” Francesca screeched as if she were still in the middle of an argument with Ugo and had never left the building in a tearing hurry. “If you think you can insult my family like this and get away with it, I'll--”

Ugo stared at her, his jaw sagging.

Garini decided in a split-second that this was the chance he'd been praying for and took one tackling leap forward, smashing the barrel of his gun against Ugo's wrist. The knife fell to the ground with a clatter.

“What is this?” Only now, Francesca took in the general situation. “Ugo!
Oh, Madonna!
What have you done? Have you gone crazy? Why have you tied Carlina up like that?”

Ugo pushed his lower lip forward. “I wanted to punish her.”

“Punish her?” Francesca went right up to him, placed her hands onto her non-existent hips, stood on tiptoes and pushed her face into his. She looked like compressed fury – tiny but deadly. “Why do you have to punish my best friend? Why? Tell me!”

Seeing that Ugo was too transfixed by Francesca to notice anything else, Garini slapped a pair of handcuffs onto Ugo's wrists and said, “I'm arresting you for wrongful deprivation of personal liberty and attempted assault.”

Ugo stood there like a man who was hit by a wall. He blinked once, slowly, then stared at his manacled wrists as if he couldn't believe it.

“Now see what you've gotten yourself into!” Francesca scolded him like a five-year-old. “And why? Can you answer me, please?”

Ugo opened his mouth and closed it again. “She . . . she turned you against me.”

“She turned me against you?” Francesca's voice could easily have been heard seven floors down. “
She
turned me against you? No, my dear, you did that all by yourself! Why weren't you honest with me? Why didn't you tell me about your mother? And about the murder? Why?”

Ugo's face was white as he stared at the tiny woman in front of him. “I wanted to protect you.”

“Protect
me
?” Francesca shrieked loud enough to make the flimsy door rattle. “Of all the stupid notions! You are a coward! You didn't want to face any unpleasantness. Admit it!”

He looked at the floor. “I thought it would be easier . . .” his remaining words were lost in a mumble.

“Yes, of course! Easier! It's always easier not to tell the difficult truth, isn't it?” Her tone was scathing, the contempt unmistakable.

Ugo lifted his head. “You don't have to despise me! I really did it to protect you. You have to believe me! Even when you could have given me an alibi, I told nobody.”

Carlina gasped. “What alibi?”

Ugo lifted his manacled hands. “I didn't kill my mother! I don't know how often I have to say so! I was with Francesca all Monday afternoon.”

Francesca blinked, then she turned to Garini and said, in a stunned voice. “That's right. I was with him all the time.”

Carlina stared at Ugo. “You mean you . . . you bound me . . . and threatened me . . . all in a freakish moment of bad temper, and not because you had anything to hide?”

Ugo swallowed convulsively. “My mother always said I have a bit of a temper.”

Garini picked up Ugo's knife, slid behind Carlina and started to cut through the myriad of threads that held her to the chair.

Francesca looked at her friend. “Did that big brute kidnap you?” She turned back to Ugo and hissed at him like an angry cat.

Suddenly, Carlina smiled. “I hit my head when I stumbled over a pavement stone while racing after you. Ugo used the moment while I was unconscious to pick me up and bring me here. I think he hardly knew himself what he was doing.”

Garini saw the smile from the corner of his eyes as he bent forward to free her legs and shook his head.
Trust Carlina to find something amusing in every situation
. This time, though, he couldn't see the joke.

“But where?” Francesca looked bewildered. “Where did this happen?”

“Right in front of this building – I think.” Carlina looked at Garini. “Are we at Ugo's apartment?”

“Yes, we are.” He smiled up at her, relieved to see that she was back to her old self.

Carlina nodded. “That's what I thought. This must be Olga's wardrobe. It smells of her perfume.”

“But why were you down at the entrance of this building at all?” Francesca frowned.

Carlina shrugged. “When you ran away from Temptation to talk to Ugo, I was so worried that I couldn't stay at the store. I was not sure if you knew his temper, and I wanted to make sure that you were all right. So I drove to your home, and when you weren't there, I called Uncle Teo and asked for Ugo's address. That's how I found you, but you ran from the building without seeing me, and when I tried to chase after you, I slipped and hit my head.”

Garini shook his head.

Carlina saw it and said, “I really tried not to get myself into danger, Stefano. I promise. But I was so worried about Francesca.”

He looked up and smiled at her. For the moment, he couldn't be angry. He was too glad that she was fine after all she'd been through – and after all he had imagined.

She smiled back, and for an instant, everything else faded. They were together; they were not in danger; and they were meant for each other. The inner conviction about them belonging together was there, clearer than ever before, and suddenly, he knew without doubt that he would never leave Carlina, no matter what her crazy family would do next.

Francesca cleared her throat. “Em, do you think we can continue to talk now?”

II

Carlina snuggled against Garini as they went up to the door of the Mantoni family house on Via delle Pinzochere. It was dark already, but the heat of the day still stayed trapped between the old stone buildings. Carlina inhaled deeply, relishing Stefano's scent. How nice it felt to have his arm around her shoulders. She had never felt so close to him, so safe.

He had called in colleagues to escort Ugo to prison and had said that he first wanted to bring her home safely before returning to work and finishing the paperwork. Truth was, he couldn't bring himself to separate from her just yet, and he'd told her so as soon as they were alone.

“Do you really think that Ugo would have hurt me?” Carlina asked. “In the beginning, I was truly afraid, but after some time talking to him, I had the impression that he had acted in the heat of the moment, with nothing but a wild idea in his head that I was at the root of all his troubles with Francesca. However, when he ran out of steam, he suddenly had no idea anymore what to do with me.”