A Noble Radiance by Donna Leon Read Free Book Online Page A

law he
wanted to study, less its current application than its history and the reasons
why it developed the way it had.
    Because there was no
faculty of law at Ca Foscari, it meant that Brunetti would have to study at
Padova, the cost of his commuting adding to the responsibility Sergio agreed to
assume. Sergio's marriage was delayed for three years, during which time
Brunetti quickly rose to the top of his class and began to earn some money by
tutoring students younger than himself.
    Had he not studied,
Brunetti would not have met Paola in the university library, and he would not
have become a policeman. He sometimes wondered if he would have become the
same man, if the things inside of him that he considered vital would have
developed in the same way, had he, perhaps, become an insurance salesman or a
city bureaucrat. Knowing idle speculation when he saw it, Brunetti reached for
the phone and pulled it towards him.
     
     
    6
     
     
     
    Just as Brunetti had
always thought it vulgar to ask Paola how many rooms there were in her family's palazzo and hence remained ignorant of that number, so too had he
no idea of the exact number of phone lines going into Palazzo Falier. He knew
three of the numbers: the more or less public one that was given out to all
friends and business associates; the one given only to members of the family;
and the Count's private number, which he had never found it necessary to use.
    He called the first,
as this was hardly, an emergency or a matter of great privacy.
    'Palazzo Falier,' a
male voice Brunetti had never heard responded on the third ring.
    'Good morning. This
is Guido Brunetti. I'd like to speak to ...' here he paused for an instant, uncertain whether to call the Count by his
title or to refer to him as his father-in-law.
    'He's on the other
line, Doctor Brunetti. May I have him call you in ...' It was the other man's turn to pause. 'The light's just
gone out. I’ll connect you.'
    There followed a soft
click, after which Brunetti heard the deep baritone of his father-in-law's
voice, 'Falier.' Nothing  more.
    'Good morning. It’s
Guido.'
    The voice, as it had
done of late, softened. 'Ah, Guido, how are you? And how are the children?'
    'We're all well. And
both of you?' He couldn't call her 'Donatella', and he wouldn't call her ‘The
Countess'.
    'Both well, thank
you. What is it I can do for you?' The Count knew there could be no other
reason for Brunetti's call.
    'I'd like to know
whatever you can tell me about the Lorenzoni family.'
    During the ensuing
silence, Brunetti could all but hear the Count sorting through the decades of
information, scandal, and rumour which he possessed about most of the notables
of the city. 'Why is it you're interested in them, Guido?' the Count asked, and
then added, 'If you're at liberty to tell me’
    'The body of a young
man's been dug up near Belluno. There was a ring in the grave with him. It has
the Lorenzoni crest’
    'It could be the
person who stole it from him’ the Count volunteered.
    It could pretty well
be anyone,' Brunetti agreed. 'But I've been looking through the file of the
original investigation of the kidnapping, and there are a few things I'd like
to clear up if I could.'
    'Such as?' the Count
asked.
    In the more than two
decades that Brunetti had known the Count, he had never known him to be
indiscreet; further, nothing Brunetti had to say could not be told to anyone
interested in the investigation. 'Two people said they thought it was a joke.
And the stone that was blocking the gate had to have been placed there from
inside.'
    'I don't have a very
clear memory of it, Guido. I think we were out of the country when it happened.
It happened at their villa, didn't it?'
    'Yes,' Brunetti
answered, and then from something in the Count's voice, asked, 'Have you been
there?'
    'Once or twice.' The
Count's tone was absolutely non-committal.
    'Then you know the
gates’ Brunetti said, not wanting to ask directly about the Count's familiarity
with