“I don’t want anything, Scacchi. If I comply, it’s because I wish to perform a service for you.”
At that, Laura screeched. “Daniel! If you put your name to this… this supposed miracle, you’ll be revealed as a liar and a cheat before the summer’s through. They’ll ask for more music. And you won’t have it.”
“I’ve thought of that,” he replied. “I shall say the concerto left me drained of ideas, and rather than pull some mediocre piece out of thin air, I intend to go back to my studies and wait for inspiration to strike again. It never will. In five years I’ll just be someone else who showed a little early promise and nothing more.”
“Now,” Paul said, suddenly animated, “that could work. Boy wonders rarely have more than a couple of pieces of genius in them anyway. It’s a shame more don’t realise it.”
Laura shook her head at the three of them. “You’re actually going to do this, aren’t you? I can’t believe it. Well, Scacchi, before he parades himself in front of the world as the prince of lies, would you care to tell Daniel here why, precisely, he’s performing this deception? For the life of me, I don’t know.”
The old man bristled. “And you assume it is your business?”
“I assume you are all my friends,” she retorted.
“He will do it because he wishes to,” Scacchi said carefully. “Those are the only circumstances under which I would countenance allowing it to happen. And everything will be at arm’s length. I’ve never had Massiter in this house to this day, nor shall I. Daniel can be our intermediary and deal with him elsewhere.”
“But why?” she demanded, furious. “Why do you need the money? We’ve managed to get by so far without some sudden catastrophe. Why now?”
Scacchi stared at her with a deliberate absence of feeling, as if preparing himself for something he wished not to say.
“Well?” she insisted.
He pushed his coffee cup across the table in her direction, then folded his arms.
“Laura,” he said slowly, “over the time you have been part of my household I have come to love you dearly, and hope you may feel a little of the same in return. You are the one fixed point in the diminishing lives which Paul and I lead. Without you we would be quite lost, and deprived of a dear friend too. For that I cannot thank you enough.”
She stared at him blankly as if she had never heard words like these before.
“Nevertheless,” Scacchi continued, “you are a servant in this house. I employ you to do our bidding. Not to tell us our business. There are matters here which in no way concern you, and it is impertinent that you should assume they do. When I wish your opinion, I shall, rest assured, ask for it, and hold what you say in the highest regard. But now I would like you to clear this table. The coffee cups are long cold and these plates are dirty. After which I should like you to go to the fish market and buy some fresh calamari. I’ve a fancy for squid for lunch, and no one cooks it better than you. On with it! Please. And no more of this nonsense!”
The sudden tears stained her cheeks, a strange contrast with the fury which blazed in her eyes. Laura stood, walked slowly round each of them, collecting the remains of breakfast, then, without a word, left the room.
Daniel listened to her descend the stairs. When he heard the kitchen door close, he turned to the old man, outraged. “Scacchi, I take back everything I said. I’ll not do your bidding or tolerate that kind of cruelty. It’s undeserved of her and unbecoming of you. How could you even…”
Paul rose and patted him on the shoulder. “He’s a mile ahead of you, Daniel. He doesn’t need you to tell him. I don’t know about anyone else here, but I could use a drink.”
Scacchi sat mute, desolate, tears in his eyes. Daniel hated himself suddenly for the rush of adrenaline this unexpectedly heated discussion had given him.
Paul went over to the sideboard, picked up a half-full bottle of Glenmorangie, and returned to the table with three glasses. Daniel put a hand over his. “I require an explanation.”
They tasted their whisky and listened as the outer door closed with a slam.
“And you’ll have one,” Scacchi said. “As much as I can.”
He gulped the fierce liquid too quickly and burst into a fit of coughing. Daniel watched as Paul patted him lightly on the back. The two men seemed terribly frail, as if a sudden movement could snap their bones.
“You must see a doctor. Both of you,” he said.
“This isn’t about doctors,” Scacchi replied. “Oh, I know you and Laura assume as much, and I’m happy you should think so. Understand me, Daniel, I hated myself for every word I spoke. Laura is as close to a daughter as an old fool like me might have. Without her, I doubt I’d still be alive. But there are matters she should not be involved with, and this is one of them. So swear to me. That you will never, never breathe a word of what I now tell you. Let her think this is all for some quack medicine to cure the bitter poison in our veins. Then when it’s done, we can all get back to enjoying what remains of our lives and she’s none the wiser.”
“That’s unfair,” Daniel said. “You ask me to bind myself to an oath without knowing the cost or the consequences.”
“There’s nothing in this that harms her in any way. To the contrary. I seek the best solution for us all. Please?”
Daniel said nothing. “Hell,” Paul grumbled. “Let’s tell him anyway. It’s simple, Daniel. We’re broke. In crapola profunda .”
“I understood that,” Daniel answered.
“No,” Scacchi said with an ironic smile. “You understood we were short of money. This is somewhat more serious. Five years ago, when both of us were diagnosed with this blasted disease, I never expected we’d live this long. All I thought of was making something of the time we had left. I went to the bank and tried to mortgage this place. Well, the sum they offered was an insult. So, like an idiot, I did what any gentleman did and spoke to a ‘man of a certain standing.’ You understand who I mean?”
There could, Daniel thought, be only one possible explanation. “ Mafiosi?”
“A catchall phrase of the newspapers. Not something I would use. But you get my drift. The terms were generous. The penalties for default, however…”
Paul poured himself another glass and, without looking at either of them, said, “Tell him.”
Scacchi groaned, as if in despair at his own folly. “In October, the payment becomes due. Since the time I negotiated this arrangement, the price of this kind of property, in this kind of area, has fallen, and Ca’ Scacchi is in greater need of repair than ever. With interest, the gap between my equity and the debt they seek repaid is some quarter of a million dollars. Not that either of us expected to have to face it. I believed the insurance and the sale of the house on our inevitable deaths would more than cover the debt and that Laura would enjoy the balance. None of this will happen. If I don’t give them the money, they will, of course, kill me, which will be no great loss, I think, except to my dear, gullible Paul here.”
“I believe Laura would have something to say about that,” Daniel said, astonished. “So might I, for that matter.”
“And I think you know none of us as well as you believe,” Scacchi declared. “Kindly hear me out. Before they kill me, they will, some weeks before, first kill her, on the assumption that Laura’s innocent death will be the most painful spur to my compliance. Should that fail, they will then murder Paul, who has at least the stain of being party to this original arrangement. These are businessmen at heart and murderers only by force of circumstance. Practical fellows. They seek the money they are owed, not revenge, but they will, I fear, have one or the other. I…”
Scacchi’s voice broke. He put a hand to his mouth. Paul took away his glass, went to the sideboard, and returned with a tumbler full of water and some pills. Scacchi snatched at them.