Da Vinci's Cases

by Alfred Bekker

  Leonardo heard voices when approaching the door. He knocked and his father shouted, "Come in!"

  Leonardo entered.

  His father sat at his desk. Before him was a blank piece of paper, beside stood an inkwell from which a pen jutted out. Giulio, a farmer from the area had just risen from his chair.

  "The price that you demand for your services, Ser Piero, I cannot pay!" he explained. "Then I'll just have to get the services somewhere else."

  "I'm sorry," said Ser Piero. "But if I write your letter of complaint to the Florence City Council, I’ll have to charge you with the paper costs. And its price, after all, is dramatically increasing at the moment ..."

  "A few weeks ago, when it was about my father's will, you have demanded much less!"

  "That may be, but at that time, I had enough stocks of paper that I was able to purchase inexpensive. Even now when I charge you with the higher price, I almost earn nothing. And every work wants to be paid, you know!"

  "I understand," the farmer muttered dejectedly.

  "You wouldn’t give away the fruits of your field for free, would you? Or even have to pay for them being put away from you!", Ser Piero told him.

  Giulio's face turned dark red.

  "I understand that you must increase your prices – but I do not believe you that it has something to do with the cost of the paper that you demand more money from me."

  "Of course!"

  "Naturally, the Medici family pays more when you're working for them! That is the reason! So it's not worth for you to work for simple people like me! However, I wonder why you run your office here in the small spot Vinci and do not move to Florence, where you will probably find the majority of your clientele in the future!"

  Enraged, Giulio left the room. Leonardo had to step aside quickly to avoid being jostled. With a bang the farmer slammed the door behind him.

  Ser Piero took a deep breath. "He won’t probably come back soon to me when he has to write anything!" He sighed.

  "But I cannot do anything about it! The paper has become scarce and as long as that is the case, the price will not fall." Ser Piero's face was now a little softer. He smiled. "But all this should not be your problem, Leonardo. What brings you here?"

  "I need a list of all paper mills in the area and I also need to know what there is to know about these mills," Leonardo said in a tone showing Ser Piero at once how important this matter was to his son and that he meant it absolutely seriously.

  "What are you planning? Find an apprentice job at a paper miller’s?" asked Ser Piero. "In any case, this is a craft with future! A man named Gutenberg has printed books with lead forms in Mainz – and now someone wants to start a printing company using the same method here in Florence! I know this exactly because I have drafted a contract for the Medici Bank – because the bank issues the credit needed for the printing works to be found. What do you think, how this will increase the consumption of paper once again! After all, no book needs to be written off individually, but the pages come a hundred times from the printer and then have just to be tacked together!"

  From the emerging letterpress Leonardo had already heard.

  This method of producing books had spread quickly and the few printers could not work as fast as it would have met the demand.

  "It's about something else," admitted Leonardo.

  "Well, I'm pretty excited!"

  "Well, I myself need paper ... I had asked you before, but ..."

  "I am sorry! Right now I cannot submit you a single sheet, Leonardo! I myself am running short of paper. But I have heard that north of Florence now two other mills shall be transformed into paper mills – and when they start production, maybe the price will relax."

  "Only if suddenly all people throw away their clothes and buy new ones," said Leonardo. "Otherwise, there won’t be enough rags!"

  Ser Piero smiled gently. "Ah, I see you've been busy little closer with the matter."

  "As I said, I desperately need paper and have perhaps the opportunity to get some! Master Andrea di Marco has promised me ... But maybe I'll tell you everything from the beginning, if you have a moment."

  Ser Piero stood up, walked to the window and looked in the direction of the church clock of Vinci. You could see it from here. Finally he turned back and nodded. "Well, then, tell me what's going on! And then you'd better tell me what red marks you have on your arms ..."

  "Wasp stings. But first things first ..."

  When Leonardo had finished, Ser Piero's face was very serious. "What has happened to Master Andrea, may be bad ..."

  "It's a disaster for him!" interrupted Leonardo. "But if I help him ..."

  "You'll better give up that plan because it's too dangerous, Leonardo!" commanded Ser Piero. "Apart from the fact that this gang is probably long gone."

  "I am sure that the watermark form has been brought to a water mill. Something else does not make sense!"

  Ser Piero nodded. "Yes, you're probably right."

  "You can fake notes and debentures of the Medici bank with the watermark. And I think that the masked men are planning exactly such a thing! Then they can go to one of the branches of the Medici bank and exchange these debentures for gold or silver money. If they are smart, they will not try this in the area, but look for an office in another city, where nobody may have heard about the raid."

  Ser Piero went up and down.

  Leonardo felt that his father was deeply distressed by the story he had told him.

  "The bandits will have to act quickly, because they can assume that it would have otherwise spread even in the farthest branches of the Medici Bank that someone is trying to exchange fake notes."

  "This speaks for a paper mill nearby!" Leonardo emphasized.

  "And they do not need to produce great amounts of paper with the Medici watermark, but only a few sheets, which have to become proper and fit to fake IOUs!"

  "And the seal? Do not think that Medici banknotes were easy to fake! A wax seal ensures that these papers can be seen clearly and also still the signatures of the right bank staff on the document must be seen."

  "Could the seal really not be faked either?" asked Leonardo. "And in more remote branches of the Medici Bank you will perhaps not know exactly who is actually allowed to sign, as, for example, in Florence!"

  "This, of course, is true," Ser Piero admitted. "It would take many days to send messengers from Milan or Venice back to Florence to check the authenticity of the document. Above all, this would not be worthwhile when it only deals with relatively small amounts. Apart from this, that would also hinder the trade and there would only be an advantage for the merchants of the Medici Bank if they used her services concerning large amounts of money ..."

  "Well, you know most paper mills in the neighborhood," said Leonardo. "After all, you've written down contracts for many of them!"

  "I know almost all," nodded Ser Piero.

  "Which one could be considered for cooperation with the bandits?"

  "I would say every paper miller who is not out of his mind will never do so!" said Ser Piero. "Think about it! The Medici Bank alone buys already a lot of paper – but even more is consumed by other business people who get borrowed money by the Medici Bank. So if it comes out that a certain paper mill cooperates with a counterfeiter gang, then that mill will be ruined, because no one would ever buy paper there! Even in case of paper is very scarce!"

  "But it is also clear also that you cannot do anything with the watermark form without a paper mill!" Leonardo emphasized. "Consequently, someone must take this risk nevertheless ... Maybe someone who would not get contracts of the Medici family anyway ..."

  "The paper mill of Flavio Amato," muttered Ser Piero, snapping his fingers. "Master Flavio’s contract was cancelled because he was not ready to prefer the Medici Bank in supply. That's not a long time ago ..."

  "This means that master Flavio would have nothing to lose."

  "That's the way it is."

  "Where is his paper mill
?"

  Ser Piero smiled gently. "I won’t certainly tell you, otherwise you will be making tracks there." Ser Piero took his pocket in which he used to keep important documents and slung it around his shoulders.

  "Want to leave?" asked Leonardo. "I thought you were here today and stand ready for your customers ..."

  "They will have to wait," said Ser Piero. "I have to go to Florence."

  Leonardo was indignant. "You do not want to talk to someone from the Medici Bank about what I told you! That would be the end for Master Andrea!"

  "Not necessarily. It may be that he was careless, but against an armed attack each man would have been powerless. I do not think that anyone will blame him for this."

  "Nevertheless ..."

  "Leonardo! There is no other possibility! The matter will get around anyway, because there are far too many witnesses! All the journeymen and apprentices in the paper mill, for example. They have wives, mothers, fathers, brothers ... Do you think they all will be silent?

  No, such a matter cannot be kept secretly. Furthermore, I am convinced that the gang has helpers in the Medici bank itself! If you want, you can come with me."

  But Leonardo shook his head.

  "No, I have Carlo already promised that we meet today," he replied. This was true, but the real reason that this time he did not want to accompany his father to Florence was the idea that he could follow the tracks of the masked men in a faster way ...

  Ser Piero pointed his forefinger in the direction of Leonardo.

  "But you won’t do anything on your own or play the knight fighting with these men, will you?"

  "No, no," promised Leonardo. In a way that was not even a lie because he really didn’t want to fight with the masked.

  "Against arquebuses and swords you have no chance, Leonardo," Ser Piero tried to explain to his son once again urgently. "And don’t forget: For this gang a lot is at stake! If anyone gets on to these guys, then they will make short work! You can be sure!"

  Chapter 6: On to Flavio’s mill!

  When Leonardo returned home, Grandfather was sitting in front of the house enjoying the beams of the morning sun.

  "Your friend Carlo has come here," he said, after he had noticed Leonardo. "He has already gone upwards in your room and is waiting for you there."

  "Good," Leonardo said. This saved him the way, even if it was not very far to the house where the Maldini lived. But if Leonardo had appeared there, that would have probably just made everything more complicated. Leonardo could in fact imagine that Carlo’s parents blamed him because their son had come home so late the day before.

  Grandfather looked at Leonardo in astonishment and knitted the bushy eyebrows.

  "What's more? Why don’t you go up to your friend? The dead animals, which you have used for your experiments, we have now all removed so that there is no longer a beastly odour and you can lead guests there again, without fearing that they cannot breathe."

  "I want to ask you a question, Grandfather," Leonardo said, unimpressed by this criticism.

  "Well, ask me!"

  "You know all the people in the area?"

  "For sure. I've not always lived only in Vinci, thus I also know many people in the villages in the neighborhood."

  "Even a certain Flavio Amato?"

  "Flavio ..." Grandfather sighed. On his forehead was a deep furrow. He scratched his head and finally said. "The son of the miller at the old creek had that name. But that's thirty years since I have seen him!"

  "Could it be that this miller's son owns the mill now himself?" asked Leonardo.

  "Yes sure! I do not think Flavio’s father is still alive. He would have to be over a hundred now ..."

  "Where’s the mill exactly located?" Leonardo asked.

  "As I assume that Master Flavio mill has now been transformed into a paper mill and this has anything to do with the things that you told me last night, I'll tell nothing more about it," replied Grandfather. "Otherwise you just get silly ideas and in the end, you want to go there and look around ..."

  "Master Flavio’s contract with the Medici family was cancelled," Leonardo said. "Father says – and he knows well! Thus Flavio would have nothing to lose and could cooperate with the bandits ..."

  Grandfather sighed.

  "Don’t let your friend wait. And please, don’t go away so far from the village today."

  "May we ride with Marcella?"

  Marcello was a mare that currently stand in grandfather's barn. Ser Piero had taken the horse as security for debts he had to recover and as long as not paid, the animal had its place in grandfather's barn. Maybe forever if the law deadline would have passed. Usually no one had any objection when the boys rode on horseback around in the area. But today grandfather had probably the fear that Leonardo would heel the “paper mill” gang.

  "Grandfather, I am convinced that the mill of this Flavio plays an important role in this matter! Maybe you could at least tell me if it’s – concerning the distance to master Andrea’s mill – far away."

  Grandfather sighed. "No, it's not far away – and for riders certainly not!"

  "I have already been at the old creek before, but I have no idea where it flows into the Arno ..."

  "Get that out of your head, Leonardo. That's much too dangerous. The soldiers of the City Guard of Florence will take care of this matter, but not you!"

  "Yes, yes ...," said Leonardo.

  "If you want to do something useful, then you could, for example, finally accomplish your roast turner. The fragments of your first experiment just lay around and you have done nothing at all with it in the last days!"

  "Yes, quite possible," Leonardo admitted. But since the attack on Master Andrea’s mill had happened, other things just had precedence.

  Also Leonardo doubted that grandfather was really interested in the roast turner or believed it could really work. He just wants me to be busy!, thought Leonardo. An attemption to turn me away from occupying myself more with the backgrounds of the attack!

  But so easily Leonardo could not be turned away from his plan! Somehow he would find out where the mill of Master Flavio was, even if at the moment no one wanted to tell him.

  "Your uncle Eduardo slaughters a pig today and promised me to give me a nice roast," added grandfather. "It would not be bad if the roast turner was ready for use soon!"

  "I'll do what I can," promised Leonardo.

  "Good," nodded grandfather satisfied.

  Leonardo went upstairs to his room, where Carlo was waiting for him.

  "Tell me why it smells no longer so strange in the room," Carlo emphasized. "What happened?"

  "This is a long story," said Leonardo. "Briefly said, grandfather cleaned my room and unfortunately destroyed a number of my precious samples. Not even the blood of the dead rat we have recently found I was allowed to keep!"

  "That is obviously a hard blow," Carlo said sympathetically. "You finally had indeed collected all these dead animals for such a long time ..."

  "Yes, and I have taken a lot of effort in making them durable! The rat I had specially inserted in salt, so that it does not decay, but somehow that did not seem to work properly! The worst part was probably the egg ..."

  "What an egg?" asked Carlo.

  "The egg I had since spring. I wanted to see how an egg would change if you kept it long. When I opened it, a very pungent odor spread throughout the house and grandfather said that was the end now. He had not been prepared to smother at night, he said, because I kept any putrid stuff in the room!"

  "Perhaps he is not quite wrong," said Carlo.

  "What does that mean?"

  "Well, it smelled sometimes very strange in your room, Leonardo. You have to admit that."

  "But that doesn’t concern us now, Carlo. We must go to the paper mill of Master Flavio at the old creek."

  "The old creek is quite long!" said Carlo. "But I have been there and know roughly where the mill could be!"

  Leonardo looked at his friend in surprise
. "You know where Master Flavio's mill is?"

  "Yes. My father purchased flour at his mill. That was last year or the year before."

  "Meanwhile, it has been converted into a paper mill. We must leave immediately."

  "Can we take Marcella? Then we run us no blisters."

  "No, unfortunately that is not possible."

  "And what do we want there at all, Leonardo?"

  "I'll explain on the way."

  As Leonardo and Carlo left the house, Leonardo promised his grandfather that they would stay close and wouldn’t go too far away from the village.

  "We visit Uncle Eduardo and ask if we can look at the slaughter," said Leonardo.

  "All right," nodded grandfather. "But don’t bother Eduardo at work, do you?"

  "Don’t worry!" promised Leonardo. They walked across the village square and then took the road passing the inn and leading to the house of Ser Piero. Uncle Eduardo's farm was just outside and, therefore, was well suited as an excuse.

  "Are you crazy?" whispered Carlo, as he believed that grandfather was out of earshot. "How can you tell your grandfather such a nonsense? What will you do when your uncle Eduardo comes riding through the village and tells him that he hasn’t met us at all!"

  "Then I'll got an idea to explain the matter afterwards adequately," promised Leonardo. "Trust me! Besides, it’s not you who will be in trouble, but me. So you really don’t have to care about!"

  "If you like I don’t mind."

  "The main thing is that you do remember where at the old creek Flavio Amato’s mill is situated!"

  "You don’t have to worry about that!" Carlo said with a tone that sounded a trace too secure for Leonardo's taste. I hope he does not intend too much, Leonardo thought. After all, it was quite a while ago that Carlo had visited the mill with his father.

  They left the village Vinci behind. As they stood on a ridge, Carlo turned again and looked back.

  "I don’t like that we are doing something forbidden," he admitted.

  "However, it is just necessary now," said Leonardo. "Or do you want that gang continues doing mischief?"