Suffer the Little Children by Donna Leon Read Free Book Online Page A

and the air had been washed clean, presenting them with one of those pellucid days that early autumn gives the city, perhaps as consolation for having stolen the summer. Brunetti was tempted to walk down to the end of the canal to see if the mountains were visible beyond the
laguna
, but he knew that would most likely provoke Marvilli, so he abandoned the idea. If he waited until the afternoon, smog and gathering humidity would have obscured the mountains again, but perhaps tomorrow they would be visible.
    As they crossed the
campo
, Brunetti noticed that the statue of Colleoni was finally free of the scaffolding that had covered it for years: it was wonderful to see the old villain again. Hecut right beyond Rosa Salva, still not open, and started down Calle Bressana. At the top of the bridge he waited for Vianello and Marvilli to join him, but Vianello opted to remain at the bottom of the steps, leaning back against the low wall, establishing a distance between Brunetti and himself. Brunetti turned and leaned against the low wall of the bridge. Marvilli, standing beside him but looking in the other direction, started to speak. ‘About two years ago, we were informed that a Polish woman, in the country legally, employed as a domestic, unmarried, was about to give birth in a hospital in Vicenza. Some days later, a married couple from Milano, in their late thirties, childless, came out of the same hospital with the baby and a birth certificate with the man’s name on it. He claimed that the Polish woman was his lover and that the child was his, and the Polish woman testified that this was true.’
    Marvilli rested his forearms on the flat surface of the bridge, gazing off at the buildings at the end of the canal. As if there had been no break in the conversation, he continued, ‘What made no sense was that the man, the supposed father, had been working in England at the time the child would have been conceived. She must have been pregnant when she arrived in Italy: her work permit says she entered the country six months before the baby was born. The man claiming to be the father has never been to Poland, and she never left there before she camehere.’ Before Brunetti could ask, Marvilli said, ‘We’re sure. Believe me.’ He paused and studied Brunetti’s face. ‘He’s not the father.’
    â€˜How did you find out about all of this?’ Brunetti asked.
    His eyes still on the water, Marvilli replied, his voice suddenly grown nervous, as if he were divulging information he was not authorized to provide. ‘One of the women in the room with the Polish woman. She had a baby at the same time. She said that all the Polish woman could talk about was her boyfriend and how much she wanted to make him happy. It seemed that the way she was going to make him happy was by taking a lot of money back to Poland, which is what she told him every time she phoned him.’
    â€˜I see,’ said Brunetti. ‘And this other woman in the room with her called you?’
    â€˜No, she told her husband, who works for the social services, and he called the command in Vicenza.’
    Brunetti turned and started off in the same direction as Marvilli, his attention drawn by an approaching taxi, and said, ‘How wonderfully convenient, Captain. How very lucky indeed are the forces of order to be graced by such fortunate coincidences. The other woman just happened to speak enough Polish to understand what she told her boyfriend.’ Brunetti glanced sideways at the Captain. ‘Not to mention the convenient fact that her husband just happened to work for the social services and that he was conscientious enough to think of alerting theCarabinieri.’ His look was long, and he made no attempt to disguise his anger.
    Marvilli hesitated for a long time before he said, ‘All right, Commissario.’ He raised his hands in surrender. ‘We knew about it before, from another source, and she