I drove over to Mauro’s place. He was coming out of his garage as I opened the boot. He watched me pulling out the sheet and must have heard the loud hum of the swarm inside.
‘That’s not what I think it is, is it?’ he said, walking towards me.
I nodded apologetically. ‘You’ve got room haven’t you?’
He shook his head, pretending to be dismayed, but I could see him smiling as I pulled on my veil and gloves. We walked to the far end of the garden where I had an old nucleus hive. I found a plank of plywood in the hedge and rested it up against the entrance. Mauro took a step back as I untied the knot. I upended the skep and beat the side of it hard against my hand so that most of the bees were thrown out onto the plywood. Before long there was a river of them, a living, furry river flowing uphill towards the tiny slit at the base of the hive. It looked so beautiful, their dark, shiny, dangerous bodies all communicating to each other through pitch and position and scent. It was a magnificent ensemble. Some of them stood by the entrance, fanning their pheromones to tell the others that this was now home.
‘That girl you asked me to keep an eye on …’ Mauro said.
‘Gaia?’
‘She’s quite a woman. She realised I was keeping an eye on her and stormed up to the car and started banging on the window, insulting me and saying she wouldn’t be intimidated by criminals.’ He laughed at the memory. ‘I told her you had asked me to look out for her, just check she was OK.’
‘And?’
‘She told me to give you a message.’
I motioned for him to go on.
‘To go round there some time. Go and see her.’
I nodded. ‘Thanks.’
He looked at me with curiosity. ‘Allora? Will you?’
‘Yeah, maybe. Once this thing blows over.’
He looked at me for a second, like he was about to say something, but then turned back to the bees. They were still crawling up the ramp and into the hive. We watched them, both of us hypnotised by their busy industry.
About the Author
Tobias Jones is the author of two travel books, The Dark Heart of Italy and Utopian Dreams. His novel, The Salati Case, was the first in a series featuring the Italian private detective Castagnetti. Jones has written and presented documentaries for the BBC and for RAI, and is a columnist for the Observer and Internazionale. He runs a small ‘woodland shelter’ in Somerset with his wife and three children.
By the Same Author
THE DARK HEART OF ITALY
UTOPIAN DREAMS: IN SEARCH OF A GOOD LIFE
In the same series
THE SALATI CASE
Copyright
First published in 2012
by Faber and Faber Ltd
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London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2011
All rights reserved
© Tobias Jones, 2011
The right of Tobias Jones to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–27590–8
White Death (2011) Page 22