A Season for the Dead

by David Hewson

  Falcone nodded. This was progress. ‘You hired her? From an escort agency or something?’

  ‘Are you serious? Did I come in here to be insulted? I’m Arturo Valena. I don’t hire hookers. I don’t have to.’

  ‘I’m not hearing anything that helps me here,’ Falcone said icily. ‘Why don’t you just go home, Mr Valena? You’ve got a big house here. You’ve got money. Hire yourself a guard if you’re feeling scared.’

  The man’s face went white. ‘A guard? With that lunatic out there?’

  ‘I need more. How did you meet her? What happened?’

  Valena closed his eyes. ‘She was a gift. She was a reward. She was a prize. Call it anything you like. Someone wanted something. She was a few coins they left on the plate afterwards to try to tip my hand.’

  ‘Who? What?’

  ‘Huh?’ Valena grunted. ‘I’ve got one man out there wanting to kill me already. You honestly think I should make it two?’

  Falcone shrugged. ‘It only takes one though, doesn’t it? I mean, what does it matter? If you tell me, I can put a couple of cops by your side. If you don’t, you can walk out there right now on your own.’ He paused, watching the man, noticing that there was something dead in his eyes. ‘It’s nothing to me either way, Valena. I hate your fucking programme. It stinks. You stink. And you’re stupid enough to think you still carry some weight around here. The only weight’s that tyre around your belly. Don’t you get it?’

  ‘Bastard,’ Valena murmured. His head hung down once more. ‘Bastard.’

  ‘There,’ Falcone said, smiling. ‘Now that’s out of the way. May we get down to business? Please?’

  THIRTY-NINE

  The police car had delivered her to the house late in the afternoon, where she was greeted by Bea, who left almost immediately, saying little, unwilling to look her in the eye. Something had changed at the farm, something between Marco and Bea. It was not simply the story on the news and her own direct involvement in it. Bea seemed nervous, somehow, as if expecting the slow, ordered life of the place to change.

  Sara showered, slept for a while then changed into casual clothes to watch the television with the old man. When the latest bulletin came on he immediately switched channels. She insisted he go back to the newscast. He sat in his wheelchair, squirming, as the macabre details of Alicia Vaccarini’s death were disclosed alongside stock footage of the deputy, smiling, looking happy at some public function. When it was over, Marco Costa said nothing.

  She walked into the kitchen. Out back, close to where Gino Fosse had almost murdered Nic, a crow danced across the yellow scrub that led down to the Appian Way. Sara Farnese watched its black wings flapping over the dusty ground. There was a handful of police at the gate. Marco Costa joined her and they sat around the table, drinking coffee. The city and its terrors seemed to exist in another world.

  ‘Did you know her?’ she asked eventually, desperate to break the silence that had come upon them.

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Alicia Vaccarini.’

  ‘Ah.’ It was an act. His mind never roamed, even when he was tired. ‘We met once or twice. She seemed a pleasant woman. Vaccarini was after my time, you understand. One tries not to get personal in politics. I’d like to think I had friends across the spectrum, regardless of party. But the Northern Alliance … they never were my type. Those petty-minded bastards treated her very badly. So she liked the company of women? So what? Does anyone care these days?’

  It was a pointed remark, designed to make her feel comfortable. ‘You don’t need to say that for my sake, Marco. It was a stupid thing to do. I didn’t enjoy it. I never want to do it again.’

  His lined, grey face peered at her. ‘You mean that was all it was? Curiosity?’

  ‘Yes,’ she replied, knowing that he thought she was lying.

  He shook his head. ‘I never understood that idea. That you should try everything once. Where do you draw the line? Isn’t there always something else untried along the way?’

  ‘I said it was a mistake.’

  ‘I was making a general point, not a personal one. You should never assume everything pertains to you, Sara. That’s what children think. It’s always seemed to me that life is about focus and depth. Something like your academic world perhaps. You presumably think it’s better to know a lot about a little than the reverse?’

  The university felt as distant as the city. So did the work, which seemed a part of another person, someone she no longer understood or even, perhaps, liked.

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Then that’s how I feel about most things,’ Marco continued. ‘I’d rather just make a good job of a few things and leave the rest to someone else. It makes sense, to me anyway.’

  She looked around the kitchen, wondering if she should fill the silence by preparing a meal. There was good olive oil and balsamic vinegar for the dressing. He pushed his wheelchair forward and put his hand on hers, bidding her to stop.

  ‘But that’s easy for me,’ he said. ‘I was brought up that way. It was natural. For you …’

  He put down the coffee cup, wondering whether it was correct to continue. ‘I’m sorry, Sara. It’s not my business. But I have to say it. I don’t understand. Nic doesn’t either. That doesn’t make it wrong. It just makes it hard. No one’s judging you. No one’s thinking the worse of you for what happened. They’re just … puzzled. That’s all.’

  ‘And you think you deserve an explanation?’ she said coldly.

  He retreated, feeling he had come too far. ‘Not at all. You don’t owe anybody anything. It’s your life. To do with as you wish.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘It’s just that I find it hard to believe this makes you happy. You’re so smart. You’re good to be around.’

  Her green eyes opened further. She was, he saw, surprised.

  ‘And you don’t know that, do you?’

  She went to the fridge and poured herself a glass of Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi from the Marches. The wine was young and fragrant. Marco watched her taste it, his face a picture of envy.

  ‘It’s easy for you,’ she said finally. ‘It comes naturally. I can’t just learn.’

  ‘And why not?’ he demanded. ‘Are you the only person who ever grew up an orphan? I couldn’t begin to understand how difficult that is. No one would wish it on another. But you should never think of yourself as some fixed, unchanging point in the universe. None of us is that. Not me. Not Nic. We’re always changing, sometimes for the worse, sometimes for the better. The person you were when these things happened is not the person you are now, surely?’

  ‘And you think that you know either of them?’ She said it too harshly. There was disappointment on the old man’s face and she was shocked to discover this made her feel guilty.

  ‘I think I know one of them better than she might give me credit for,’ he said.

  She poured a second glass of wine and offered it to him. Marco Costa laughed and pushed it away from him.

  ‘Now you’re playing games with me,’ he said. ‘I don’t want the wine, Sara. These drugs they give me they make everything seem the same. What I want is the old taste, the one I remember, and that’s impossible. That will never happen. I can’t get that back. So what would be the point?’

  She poured the Verdicchio back into the bottle and gave him some water instead.

  ‘Don’t wait until it’s too late,’ he said. ‘Regret’s a small sour thing but it can poison you for years. You saw Bea when you left? How was she?’

  ‘Confused, I thought.’

  ‘Not surprised. I asked her back here for dinner with us this evening. What you said last night made me think it was the right thing to do. It’s easy to take people for granted, all the more so when you’ve known them for a long time. We’re lazy creatures, looking for the soft option.’

  ‘So you asked Bea for her sake?’ she said, half scolding.

  Marco Costa smiled, accepting the rebuke. ‘No. I admit it. Mine too. S
he’s a beautiful woman. I can’t believe I stopped noticing. I can’t believe I forgot that life requires the occasional surprise. And this is a special occasion now I come to think of it.’

  There was the sound of cars outside. She could hear the voices of the distant cops on the gate. Then the doorbell rang. The old man looked at her expectantly. She went to open the door and was, for a moment, made giddy by the perfume of flowers, bouquet upon bouquet, in the arms of two pleasant-looking middle-aged women chattering wildly, looking ready to go to work.

  FORTY

  Rossi was three hours past the end of his shift when Falcone collared him. He could tell from the smile it wasn’t good news.

  ‘Overtime,’ Falcone said.

  ‘That’s voluntary, I imagine?’

  ‘You’re going to be in the company of a star. You should be paying me.’

  Rossi had seen Arturo Valena walk into Falcone’s office. He couldn’t stand the man. ‘Jesus …’ he groaned.

  ‘Piece of cake. The guy needs taking to the Brazilian Embassy in the Piazza Navona. There for half an hour, no more, then you see him home. I’ll send someone else to take over around eleven.’

  ‘How kind. He’s another one on the list? Another one she never told us about?’

  ‘Seems so.’

  Rossi shook his head. ‘Such taste …’

  Falcone scanned the office, looking at the men on duty. ‘Shame Costa’s gone home. I could call him back.’

  Rossi knew what game he hoped to play, winding the kid up with another ex-lover she’d forgotten to mention. He was having none of it. ‘Are you serious? The kid’s half dead.’

  ‘True. But he needs to learn. You know that, don’t you?’

  ‘Learn what? All the old tricks we know and love so well? Maybe he thinks that’s not such a good idea. Maybe he’s right.’ Rossi was tired of Falcone. He couldn’t give a damn about the job any more.

  ‘You don’t fit in here, Rossi. Just three days and it’s so obvious.’

  ‘Now should I be offended by that? Sir?’

  Falcone looked out of the window of his office, thinking, calm, as always, in these situations. ‘It doesn’t make much of a pension at your age. You should have stuck it out longer.’

  ‘There’s more to life than money. Can I ask you one thing?’

  The silver beard nodded.

  ‘Just take the kid off this case. It’s beyond him and he doesn’t realize it.’

  ‘Seems to me,’ Falcone said, ‘he’s done pretty damn well. Found out more than you, to be frank.’

  ‘Yeah.’ Rossi wondered how far he could go. ‘Found out lots of things that just seemed to be sitting there waiting for him, huh? I just don’t want to see him damaged. Do what you like to me. I won’t have that. Understand?’

  ‘Get the hell out of here. Take Cattaneo instead.’

  Rossi groaned again. In three days he had already come to learn the dull little man from Bologna was the least popular detective in the division: slow-witted, boring and an incessant talker.

  ‘The sooner you’re gone, the sooner this all becomes someone else’s problem.’

  ‘And the kid?’

  ‘I’ll think on it.’

  ‘Sir,’ Rossi grunted and walked to Cattaneo’s desk to break the news.

  ‘Arturo Valena?’ Cattaneo was in his mid-thirties, single and without vices. He bought his suits, shirts and shoes in threes from Standa because he got a discount that way and it removed the needless task of deciding whether to choose something different each day. His shift had started one hour before, which meant he was just bursting with energy to expend in useless conversation. ‘You mean the Arturo Valena? The man on the box?’

  ‘Just don’t ask for an autograph,’ Rossi said. ‘I don’t think I could take it.’

  ‘Oh, come on,’ Cattaneo complained. ‘It wouldn’t be for me, you understand. My brother’s kid. He just loves the guy.’

  ‘Your brother’s kid is how old? Twelve?’

  ‘Eleven.’

  ‘And he watches Valena on TV?’

  ‘We all do.’

  ‘Sweet Jesus. The poor bastard’s marked for life. Can you walk and talk at the same time?’

  Cattaneo scowled, picked up his jacket and followed Rossi to the door, where they joined Valena and went downstairs to the car. The detective from Bologna talked every step of the way. Before they’d even left the building, Rossi could see from the TV man’s eyes that he loathed Cattaneo too.

  FORTY-ONE

  She was sleeping. It made Gino Fosse feel odd. She’d made love to him on and off for two hours, never asking what he wanted, always knowing somehow. Irena was now curled next to him on the cheap, hard bed. With her mouth half open she looked younger, almost a child. The red and blue neon signs outside the window flashed repeatedly and cast lurid beams across her head. He touched the marks they made. She had soft, clean hair. It was fragrant, enough to be noticeable amid the smells of sweat and sex that filled the room.

  He’d never slept with a woman before, not like this. They always came and went. He’d not known what it was like to close your eyes and find them still there when you woke up. It was unreal somehow, like a scene from some dream that would be shaken from his head in an instant. Then she stirred, her eyes opened, she saw him and smiled.

  Unasked, Irena leaned up to his face and kissed him softly on the lips.

  ‘You’re crazy,’ he said.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Acting like this. Like we’re … together or something.’

  She touched his dark hair, let her fingers curl against his cheek. ‘What’s wrong with that?’

  ‘You’re just a hooker. And I’m just … nothing.’

  Her lips formed a pout and he was sure now: she could have been no more than seventeen or eighteen. ‘Doesn’t mean you can’t love someone, does it? Where’s it say that?’

  Somewhere, he thought. In the books they wrote. It didn’t come from God. Even the old God, the cruel, hard one, understood the imperfections in the clay he’d once shaped. They were part of the journey each individual had to take, one that was unavoidable though so many people tried to ignore it. She was right there: there was nothing to say either of them should be denied a thing.

  ‘How much money have you got?’ she asked.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘We could go. We could get out of this hole. We could go to the coast, Gino. Someone told me it was nice there. All clean and fresh and none of this crap to ruin us.’

  He found himself laughing. ‘You are crazy. And what do we do when we get there?’

  ‘Screw.’

  The neon painted its colours on her hair again. He couldn’t stop himself laughing again for a moment.

  ‘And then?’

  Her small, perfect shoulders shrugged. She grinned this time. He didn’t mind the bad teeth, he decided.

  ‘Whatever. We just roll, Gino. We just take it as it comes … and roll.’

  He thought about it. They gave her to him. She knew their faces. She would receive a visit from the police sometime. It wasn’t difficult to guess what their solution would be.

  ‘I never ran anywhere before. I never had that option.’

  Her face lit up with surprise. ‘You mean you just do as you told? They say this. They say that.’

  ‘These are big people, Irena. I’m just so small.’

  Her hand moved stealthily and took hold of his penis. It lay in her fingers, rising, hardening. ‘I wouldn’t say that.’ Her fingers moved. ‘Let’s do it, Gino. Let’s go. Anywhere.’

  He felt his breath begin to catch. He wondered how many times they had made love. His head felt fuzzy, unfocused.

  The phone rang. Gino Fosse pushed her away from him and turned to get it. She looked at the sheets sulkily as he spoke. It took a good three minutes. Someone was telling him what to do.

  ‘Got to go,’ he said when it was through. He started putting on his clothes. Then he looked in one of the bags he’d brought,
a big one. She’d taken a peek when he was in the bathroom, wondering if there was money there. It was just junk. Theatrical make-up. Stage props. Crazy stuff. And something at the bottom. Something grey and metallic she didn’t want to think about, didn’t want to see.

  Gino Fosse sat down on a thin wooden chair by the neon-lit window, thinking, not taking any notice of her. Then he got up, ordered her off the bed and snatched the crumpled, stained sheet off the mattress. She sat down on the bare divan and watched him.

  ‘We could catch a train,’ she said, half-pleading. ‘We could go anywhere. We could be in France or Spain.’

  He picked up a pair of scissors and began stabbing at the sheet. When he was done he bent down and touched her hair. ‘But we’d still be what we are now, Irena. You can’t run away from yourself.’

  ‘So you want me to go work some tricks while you’re out?’ she asked petulantly. ‘Or do I sit here like some stupid girlfriend waiting on her man?’

  He seemed shocked by her reaction. She wanted him to stay. Gino Fosse reached into his pocket and pulled out some money. ‘Go buy some champagne. Tomorrow, I promise, will be a special day.’

  Her face brightened. She was attractive, beautiful after a fashion. But she was stupid. This wasn’t about him. It was about her finding some rock she could cling to, something that could improve things a little.

  She kissed him on the cheek. He could smell her rotten teeth.

  Gino Fosse walked out into the stifling night with the bag on his arm. The air was acrid with traffic fumes. He strolled down one of the grimy back alleys that led from the station, thinking. There were drunks and hookers and dope dealers.

  And a small, dark van with a man by the side. He was in uniform. He looked as if he’d had a few drinks himself. Fosse walked towards the vehicle. He recognized what it was now. There was the sound of animals moving in the back. The dog catcher still had his pole, with the noose on the end, in one hand. He held a bottle of beer in the other and waved it unsteadily in Fosse’s direction.