“It is an instrument. In a cockpit. It shows you if you are upside down. When I look at the Balzana, I know I am right side up.” He put his hand on top of mine, ignoring Janice. “And when I look at you, I know-”
I quickly pulled my hand away, not wanting Janice to see our intimacy and then harass me afterwards. “What kind of pilot,” I snapped, “wouldn’t know if he was upside down?”
Alessandro stared at me, not understanding the sudden rejection. “Why,” he asked, quietly, “do you always want to fight? Why are you so afraid”-he reached out for my hand again-“of being happy?”
That was it. Janice could take no more, and she exploded in laughter behind her German guidebook. Even though she tried to mask it by coughing, it was obvious even to Alessandro that she had been listening to every word we said, and he shot her a glare that endeared him to me even more. “I’m sorry,” he sighed, reaching for his wallet, “I have to get back.”
“I’ll take care of this,” I assured him, staying where I was. “I might have another coffee. Are you free later? You still owe me a story.”
“Don’t worry,” he said, touching my cheek before he got up, “you’ll get your story.”
As soon as he was out of hearing range, I turned to Janice, beyond furious. “Did you really have to come and ruin everything?” I hissed, keeping an eye on Alessandro’s disappearing figure. “He was just about to tell me something. Something about Luciano Salimbeni!”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Janice with saccharine insincerity, “to interrupt your little tête-à-tête with the guy who trashed your room. Honestly, Jules, have you lost your friggin’ mind?”
“I’m not so sure-”
“Oh, yes you are! I saw him, remember?” Seeing that I was still reluctant to believe her, Janice snorted and threw down the guidebook. “Yes, he is cute as a skunk, and yes, I’d like to lick his stamp collection, but come on! How can you let him play you like this? It would be one thing if he was just after your tail, but you know what it is he really wants.”
“Actually,” I quipped, “I’m not sure I do. But you clearly have ample experience with shysters, so pray enlighten me.”
“Puh-leez!” Janice couldn’t believe my naïveté. “It’s obvious that he’s hanging around to see when you go tomb raiding. Let me guess, he’s never explicitly asked you about the grave and the statue?”
“Wrong!” I said. “When we were at the police station, he asked me whether I knew anything about a statue with golden eyes. Golden eyes! He obviously had no idea-”
“He obviously had every idea!” snapped Janice. “Oldest trick in the book: Pretend you are clueless. Don’t you see he is playing you like a glockenspiel?”
“So, what are you suggesting? That he is going to wait until we’ve found the stones, and then… steal them?” Even as I spoke the words, I could hear they made perfect sense.
Janice threw up her hands. “Welcome to reality, bonehead. I say you dump this guy pronto, and move to my hotel. We’ll make it look as if you’re going to the airport-”
“And then what? Hide in your room? This is a very small place, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“Just let me do the legwork.” Janice was visualizing the whole thing. “I’ll get this spettacolo on the road in no time.”
“You are so hilarioso,” I said. “We’re in this together…”
“Now we are.”
“… and for your information I’d rather be screwed by him than by you.”
“Well,” said Janice, miffed, “then why don’t you run after him right now? I’m sure he would be more than happy to deliver. Meanwhile, I am going to see how cousin Peppo is doing, and no, you’re not invited.”
I WALKED BACK to the hotel alone, deep in thought. No matter how I twisted and turned it, Janice was right; I should not be trusting Alessandro. The problem was, I was not just trusting him, I was falling for him. And in my infatuation I could almost make myself believe that Janice’s blurry photos were of someone else, and that, later on, he had only had me followed out of some mistaken idea of chivalry.
Furthermore, he had promised to tell me how it all hung together, and it was not his fault that we had been interrupted several times. Or was it? If he had really wanted me to know, why had he waited for me to initiate the conversation? And just now, when Janice interrupted us, why had he not simply asked me to walk back to Monte dei Paschi with him, and told me the highlights of the story on the way?
As I approached Hotel Chiusarelli, a black limo with tinted windows rolled up beside me, and a rear window went down halfway to reveal Eva Maria’s smiling face. “Giulietta!” she exclaimed. “What a coincidence! Come and have a piece of Turkish Delight!”
Climbing into the creamy leather seat facing Eva Maria, I caught myself wondering if it was some sort of trap. But then, if Eva Maria wanted me kidnapped, why not just have Alessandro do it? Undoubtedly, he had already told her that he had me eating-or at least drinking-out of his hand.
“I am so happy you are still here!” Eva Maria gushed, offering me a piece of candy from a satin box. “I called, you know. Did you not get my messages? I was afraid my godson had scared you away. I must apologize for him. He is not usually like that.”
“No worries,” I said, licking confectioner’s sugar from my fingers and wondering what exactly she knew about my interactions with Alessandro. “He’s been very nice lately.”
“Has he?” She looked at me with raised eyebrows, at the same time happy to hear the news and annoyed at being kept out of the loop. “That is good.”
“Sorry to walk away from your birthday dinner like that-” I went on, feeling a little sheepish for not having called her back once since that awful night. “And about the clothes you lent me-”
“Keep them!” She waved dismissively. “I have too many as it is. Tell me, are you here this weekend? I am having a party, and there will be some people you should meet… people who know much more about your Tolomei ancestors than I do. The party is tomorrow night, but I would like you to stay for the whole weekend.” She smiled like a fairy godmother conjuring a pumpkin carriage. “You will love Val d’Orcia, I know it! Alessandro will drive you. He is coming, too.”
“Uh-” I said. How could I possibly refuse? Then again, if I didn’t, Janice would strangle me. “I’d love to come, but-”
“Wonderful!” Eva Maria leaned over to open my door so I could get out. “Until tomorrow, then. Don’t bring anything, just yourself!”
V.V
How oft when men are at the point of death
Have they been merry! Which their keepers call
A lightning before death. O how may I
Call this a lightning?
Siena , A.D. 1340
ROCCA DI TENTENNANO was a formidable structure. It sat like a vulture on a hill in Val d’Orcia, perfectly perched to scavenge far and wide. Its massive walls were built to withstand innumerable hostile sieges and attacks, and considering the manners and morals of its owners, those walls were not an inch too thick.
Throughout her journey there, Giulietta had wondered why Salimbeni had been so kind as to send her to the country, far away from him. When he had seen her off the day before, standing in the courtyard outside Palazzo Salimbeni and looking at her with an air of benevolence, she had wondered whether he now-thanks to the curse on his manliness-felt remorse for what he had done, and whether his sending her away had been a way of compensating her for all the pain he had caused her.
In her hopeful state, she had observed him as he took leave of his son Nino-who was to accompany her to Val d’Orcia-and had thought she saw genuine affection in Salimbeni’s eyes as he gave his last instructions for the road. “May God bless you,” he had said, as Nino mounted the horse he had ridden in the Palio, “on your journey and beyond.”