temptation in florence 05 - seaside in death by Beate Boeker Read Free Book Online

to pray. “You won't let this . . . this pudding take over, will you? You will make sure that nothing happens to my lamb Ernesto, won't you?” She went up to him, took him by the arms and shook him. “Promise me that, Stefano! Promise me!”
    Garini looked at her upturned face with the red, trembling mouth. He covered her hands with his. “I'll do what I can, Benedetta, but I can't promise to take over this investigation. It's not my home turf.”
    “But Ernesto isn't guilty, and this guy wants him to be the culprit! It's preposterous! Ernesto hardly knew the man!”
    “I know that, Benedetta,” Garini tried to sound more relaxed than he was. Of course Benedetta was right, but if he'd ever seen a lazy policeman who was going to look for the quickest solution to a case, no matter if it was the truth, it was Commissario Pucci. He suppressed a sigh. He had his work cut out for him.
    At that instant, a woman burst into the room. She had a toddler on her hip. The child had a round face and a runny nose. The woman's hair was thin and broken from too much bleaching, and her eyes were circled with dark eyeliner that didn't distract from the fact that the eyes were bloodshot and small from lack of sleep. “Is it true?” she asked to the room at large. Her voice was rough like a chain smoker's “Is he dead?”
    When nobody made a move, Carlina got up and went to meet her. “I'm afraid I don't know you, but--”
    “My name is Maria Rosari.”
    Benedetta hissed in her breath. “Rosari,” she whispered. “Is that his wife?”
    Maria Rosari seemed to have extraordinary good hearing because she turned to Benedetta with a quick move that made the toddler weave backward. “Yes, I'm his wife. Is it true? He's dead?”
    Carlina cleared her throat. “I'm afraid so.”
    Signora Rosari turned around again, upsetting the toddler's balance even more than before, and rushed up to her. “Tell me everything. How did it happen? Where?”
    Carlina gulped. “He . . . he was shot last night. By the pool. I'm sorry.”
    The woman made an impatient move with her hand. “Who did it?”
    Stefano exchanged a quick glance with Carlina and stepped forward. “The police are still investigating,” he said.
    Signora Rosari looked at the wall for an instant, her tired face shuttered, then she caressed the head of the toddler with her free hand. “God takes care of his own.” She turned on her heels and left the breakfast room with the same speed she had entered it.
    Benedetta's mouth gaped open. “Well, I never! Have you ever heard of a wife who reacts like this to the death of her husband? And in the presence of his child, too!”
    “We don't know if it is his child,” Leopold said in his gentle voice.
    Ernesto, who had lifted his head at the moment of Signora Rosari's entrance, said in a stunned voice, “What did she mean, 'God takes care of his own'?”
    “There's just one interpretation,” Benedetta crossed her arms and lifted her chin. “She's glad that her husband is dead, and she thinks that God arranged the murder.”
    Carlina gasped. “That's a bit drastic, Aunt Benedetta. There's also another interpretation: She might have worried about the future without a husband and the baby's father, and that's why she told herself that God would take care of her and the child. She might have said it to comfort herself.”
    “You're way too soft-hearted, Carlina,” Benedetta said. “She wasn't exactly heartbroken, you know. Her eyes were all dry.”
    Carlina shook her head. “Grief can take people in different ways.”
    “Well, I say the police should investigate her whereabouts last night. She's the main suspect, if you ask me, not Ernesto. Stefano, will you tell them?”
    Stefano nodded. “Of course I will.”
    The door to the breakfast room flew open and the rest of the family poured in as if they had first assembled in front of the door. Aunt Violetta was in front, resplendent in a summery ensemble with broad red and white