A Florentine Death by Michele Giuttari Read Free Book Online Page B

got engaged when they were very young . . . Neither of them had ever loved anyone else.'
    And nothing from the shopkeepers?'
    'Nothing at all. Nobody saw the killer, although the street's full of people even that early in the morning. We questioned the owner of the shop, a man named Antonio Salustri, but he couldn't tell us anything either. According to him, Alfredo Lupi was extremely loyal, totally professional, and he trusted him completely. But that's it. Nobody saw anything. Or nobody wants to talk.'
    'Come on, Sergi, we're not in Sicily or Calabria.'
    'If you say so, chief . . .'

He knew what Sergi was getting at. The police were perfectly well aware that some of those involved in the antiques racket had strong connections with the Calabrian Mafia. But it was dangerous to jump to conclusions.
    Sergi persisted. 'You know who that shop belonged to, before the current owner bought it?'
    'Not if you don't tell me.'
    'Ricciardi.'
    Gualtiero Ricciardi had been one of the most important art and antiques dealers in Florence from the late seventies to the mid-nineties, and had amassed a considerable fortune. He and his wife had died in a fire that had almost destroyed an entire floor of their villa. They had been asleep at the time. Arson had been suspected, but the arsonist had never been found. In fact, it had been the last, and worst, of a whole series of arson attacks in Florence between 1993 and 1995. The police had investigated the possibility of underworld involvement, given that Ricciardi had long been suspected of having connections with the Calabrians, though nothing had ever been proved.
    Even after his death.
    'I see. Anything else? Any results yet from the autopsy, or from the search of the shop?'
    'Chief Inspector Violante has everything. I left word for him to join us.'
    'Where has he gone?'
    'Er ... I think he went out for a coffee.'
    Ferrara smiled. The coffee break was a habit common to everyone, southerners and northerners alike: no point in getting worked up about it.
    'He'll tell you about the Nucci woman. She's the only witness who claims to have seen something. He questioned her, but I'm not sure what he found out . . .'
     
    Just then, Chief Inspector Violante knocked discreetly at the door.
    'Come in!' Ferrara called.
    Fabio Violante was a man of medium height, who always looked rather down at heel, and didn't exactly give the impression of efficiency Ferrara liked to see in his men. But he was close to retirement, so there was no way of getting rid of him.
    He was carrying a shabby-looking brown leather briefcase. 'Talk of the devil . . .' Ferrara said.
    Violante looked first at one, then at the other, uncomprehending. He was hard of hearing - another reason he and his colleagues weren't always on the same wavelength.
    'Sit down, inspector. Sergi was just telling me that you interviewed a woman named . . . what was it?'
    'Laura Nucci,' Serpico said.
    'Laura Nucci, born in Florence, forty-one years old, secretary in a clinic on the second floor of the building directly opposite the antique shop,' Violante recited almost mechanically. 'She told me she'd just arrived at work, about eight-thirty. As she was opening the shutter of one of the windows looking out on the street she happened to see a man entering the antique shop. She described him as about six feet tall, with an athletic build and short fair hair. That was all she could say, because she had only seen him from the back, and then only briefly. She did say, though, that she'd had the impression there were no lights on yet inside the antique shop, which means the assistant hadn't yet finished opening up.'
    Anything else?'
    'No, chief.'
    'Have they done the autopsy?'
    'They haven't finished, but I've brought you the first findings,' Violante said, opening the threadbare briefcase and taking out two files which he placed on the desk. 'And here's the forensics report.'
    'Thanks. You can both go now.'
     
    Ferrara took the first file, which contained