Sea of Troubles by Donna Leon Read Free Book Online Page A

his son.'
    'I would guess those things could be said about most men.'
    'I doubt they're said about you, officer,' she said, leaning forward over the counter suggestively.
    Vianello chose this moment to interrupt. The pilot said we had to get back, sir,' he said in a quiet voice, though loud enough for her to hear.
    'Yes, of course, Sergeant,' Brunetti answered in his most official tone. Turning back to Signora Follini and giving her a brief smile, he said, 'I'm afraid that's all for now, Signora. If we have any further questions, someone will come out again.'
    'Not you?' she asked, attempting to sound disappointed.
    'Perhaps ’ Brunetti answered, 'if it's necessary.'
    He thanked her for her time and, Vianello preceding, they left the store. Vianello turned left and then right, already familiar with the few streets that made up the centre of Pellestrina.
    'And not a moment too soon, Sergeant ’ Brunetti said with a laugh.
    'I thought it best to try to get us out by means of cunning, sir.'
    'And if that hadn't worked?'
    ‘I had my gun ’ Vianello answered, patting his holster.
    Ahead of them loomed the sea wall, and on impulse Brunetti crossed the narrow road that led down to the end of the peninsula and started up the steps cut into the side of the wall. At the top, he moved aside to make room for Vianello on the narrow cement walkway that ran off in both directions.
    Beyond them stretched the quietly moving waters of the Adriatic; dotted in the middle distance were tankers and cargo ships. And beyond those lay the open wound of the former Yugoslavia.
    'It's strange, isn't it, sir, the way women like that seem absurd if they have "un lifting" but when they're richer or more famous, they don't?'
    Brunetti considered two friends of his wife's known for their frequent disappearances to Rome and for their subsequent transformations. Because they were wealthy, the work was better done than it had been on the face of Signora Follini, so the results were less obvious and thus more successful. To him, however, the desire that prompted them was the same and no less pathetic.
    He made a noncommittal noise and asked, 'What did the people you spoke to tell you? Anything about her?'
    'No, sir. You know how it is in places like this: no one is willing to say anything that might be repeated to the person they said it about.'
    'So much for police secrecy,' Brunetti said with a wry shake of his head.
    'But you can understand it, can't you, sir? If it ever gets to trial, we have to say how we got a name in the first place or why we began to investigate a particular person. The trial goes on and what happens, happens. But they still have to live here, among people who see them as informers.'
    Brunetti knew better than to give Vianello his standard lecture about civic duty and the responsibility of the citizen to help the authorities in their investigation of crime. The fact that this was a murder, a double murder, would make not the least bit of difference to anyone who lived here: the highest civic duty was to live in peace and not be harassed by the state. A person was much safer trusting family and neighbours. Beyond that ring of safety lay the dangers of bureaucracy and officialdom and the inevitable consequences of being embroiled with either.
    Leaving Vianello to his own reflections, Brunetti stood a while longer, looking out at the sea. The ships were a bit further along in their journeys towards their destinations. They were alone in that, it seemed to him.
    6
    Reflecting that his distaste for what Vianello had just told him in no way altered its truth, Brunetti decided there was little purpose in their remaining in Pellestrina any longer, so he suggested they start back to Venice. Vianello displayed no surprise at this and they turned back down the steps, across the road, and through the narrow village until they were once again on the side facing Venice, where the police boat awaited them. On the trip across the lagu na, Vianello