Model Under Cover--Dressed to Kill

by Carina Axelsson

  “So you’ve spoken to Ugo and Francesca and you’ve seen Kristine Abrams,” Ellie said.

  I nodded. “I also spoke to Alessandro Matteo briefly. And I have an appointment to see Ginevra Mucci tomorrow.”

  “I’ve met Alessandro a couple of times,” Ellie said. “But I’ve never worked with him or talked to him. He’s hot, though, isn’t he?”

  “He might be hot but there was something a bit odd about him. He was very curious and in fact a bit upset about the plans Elisabetta had made for tonight, whatever they were…” I explained.

  “Tonight? But she’s dead. Why would her plans for tonight still interest him?” Ellie asked.

  “That’s exactly what I’m asking myself.” I stopped for a moment, remembering the intense look in his eyes as we’d talked about her plans. “Kristine says that Alessandro is the ‘jealous type’, and that he’d become quite possessive of Elisabetta.”

  “So maybe Elisabetta had plans to meet someone else? Plans she wouldn’t tell him?” Ellie said.

  “Maybe,” I agreed.

  “Well it seems a bit extreme to stay jealous even after someone’s died…” Sebastian said.

  “The only gossip I’ve heard about him lately is that he has money trouble. Transitioning into acting hasn’t been easy for him,” Ellie said.

  “That’s funny, I heard that Elisabetta was having money trouble, too…Kristine mentioned it.”

  “Well, I can ask around about him,” Ellie volunteered.

  “That would be great.” I gave Ellie a thumbs up. “I’d really like to know more about his relationship with Elisabetta.”

  “And I know they’re not on your shortlist, but Coco Sommerino D’Alda and her mother, Lavinia, were at Ugo’s too, weren’t they?” Ellie said.

  “Yes, but they left before the food arrived,” I said.

  “I could help you meet them if you’d like. Maybe they could shed a bit more light on last night?”

  “Yes please, Ellie, that would be great. I need to hear as many details about the party as I can.”

  Ellie nodded. “No problem. I know Coco well; she’s always at the big shows – designers love her – and we’re often at the same parties. I can call her and set something up for you. In fact, why don’t I send her a message now?” Ellie said, taking out her phone.

  “Are you going to ask Ugo about his row with Elisabetta?” Sebastian said as he helped himself to the last slice of bruschetta.

  “Yes, I must. I’ll call him later tonight,” I said. “In the meantime did you find anything out about the cards or Marzia?”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” Sebastian smiled.

  I showed the cards to Ellie as Sebastian began. “First of all,” he said, “I told the girl on reception at Megastudio that I’d been in Studio Three last week and had lost a grey envelope. As far as she knew no one has said anything about missing any cards – or even just the envelope. Because the studios are kept empty, except for a few pieces of basic furniture – they don’t have a lost and found. Anything left behind is normally spotted straight away by the clean-up crews.”

  “And what about yesterday – Monday? Was the studio busy then?” Ellie asked.

  “Yup, there was a small group shooting,” Sebastian answered. “But no one has called them to ask about a missing envelope.”

  Sebastian pulled his notebook from the inside pocket of his leather jacket. “It was beauty products. No live models. The dressing room wasn’t used.”

  “So it seems likely the envelope was forgotten today.”

  Sebastian nodded. “And if no one has reported them missing, it seems even more likely that they belonged to Elisabetta.”

  “I agree. I mean, if they’re old and valuable they might be part of a collection, and surely, if that’s the case, someone would have come forward to claim them?”

  “I asked the receptionist to give me a call if anybody mentioned them,” Sebastian said. “I don’t know if she’ll do it, but like you say, it would be interesting to know if anyone does ask after them.”

  “But do you think the cards have some connection with Elisabetta’s death?” Ellie asked.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Who knows? At this point I have no way of linking the two. But it is odd that I found the cards in the studio just next to her. Maybe they were hers. Maybe she liked tarot?” I said as I pulled the black card with the dancing skeleton out from behind the other two and pushed it across the table towards Ellie and Sebastian. “And I know enough about tarot to understand that this card represents death.”

  Ellie looked at me wide-eyed. “Spooky,” she said.

  “It’s called coincidence, Holmes.” Typical Sebastian, I thought, ever cool and collected. “Besides, it’s just a card. It looks black and morbid because it was made to give people the creeps.”

  “True, Watson.” I shrugged my shoulders. “But as for it being a coincidence, hmm…” My grandfather’s words swirled through my mind.

  An incident that appears to be coincidence is often some kind of plan masquerading as chance.

  For a few moments we each sat lost in our own thoughts. The sight of the grinning skeleton seemed to cast a spine-tingling shadow over our table. Abruptly, I reached for one of the other cards and covered the figure of death with the blonde lady on her white horse. I took a quick breath and straightened up. “Whatever these cards were doing in the studio this morning, if they’re valuable someone might be looking for them. So…”

  It was time to start on some research. As our pasta arrived, I pulled my tablet out of my rucksack and typed “tarot cards” into the Google search window.

  “You said ‘so’, Holmes, but never finished your thought…” Sebastian said, as he speared a few penne onto his fork. Even in the harsh lighting of the restaurant he looked sun-kissed. I forced myself to ignore his tanned forearms and concentrate on our conversation.

  I smiled. “True, Watson. What I meant to say was, so, either the tarot cards and Elisabetta are two separate mysteries, or…”

  “Or?” Ellie asked.

  “Or they’re one and the same…”

  As we ate, Ellie and Sebastian discussed different theories about Elisabetta’s death, while I spent most of the time researching tarot cards. I clicked on “images” first. The cards came in all sorts of different designs, and, rather amazingly, the ones I’d found resembled some of the earliest cards still in existence, dating back to the fifteenth century.

  Could they really be as old as that? I wondered. The thought that I might have been carrying something so precious around in my rucksack all day, was quite shocking. I stopped searching on my tablet for a moment, and stared at the cards.

  “Earth to Axelle,” Sebastian said. “You look like you’re zoning out. What’s going on?”

  “Look,” I said, handing him my tablet.

  I watched as Sebastian and Ellie studied the images on the screen. “Wow. They’re a lot like your cards,” Ellie said.

  “And like on your cards, the imagery on these is also very medieval,” Sebastian said.

  “Precisely. Now scroll down and read what’s there.”

  Sebastian read out loud:

  “The Arcimboldo-Crivelli deck of tarot cards was commissioned by the rich Milanese banker, Galeazzo Arcimboldo to celebrate his marriage to the Venetian beauty and aristocrat, Nicolosia Crivelli, in 1445. The cards were painted by the famous Florentine painter, Piero Vasari. Today, thirty-seven of the original cards from this deck are part of the collection of fine art at the Pinacoteca di Brera, in Milan, Italy. Twenty more are at Yale University, USA, with the known remainder in private hands. The original deck probably consisted of up to seventy cards. Originally a card game for the nobility, tarot became popular as a tool for divination in the eighteenth century. The Arcimboldo-Crivelli dec
k, together with the Visconti-Sforza deck of 1443 (also Milanese), is considered to be the direct ancestor of today’s tarot cards.”

  Ellie and Sebastian both looked at me with wide eyes.

  “I know, right?” I said. “What if those cards,” I pointed to the middle of the table, “are that old? They even look as if they could be a part of that deck.” I quickly and carefully put the cards away – the last thing they needed was tomato sauce splashed on them.

  “And what a coincidence that that deck was made here, in Milan,” Ellie said.

  “Actually, according to the articles I’ve just been reading, the first known documented tarot cards were from Milan. I think we should start trying to find out more about these cards. I wonder if there’s a tarot expert somewhere in the city…”

  I picked my tablet back up and did a quick search, but the names I found were only for experts at tarot card readings.

  “Well it could be fun to give it a go,” Ellie laughed. “You could ask them if you’re going to solve this case!”

  “Ha ha,” I said, I rolling my eyes. “Seriously, though, I have to have the cards appraised by an expert.” I continued to search as I spoke. “If they are as valuable as I think they might be, then why hasn’t their owner stepped forward to claim them?”

  “Maybe because their owner is dead?”

  “For someone who believes in simple coincidence, it sounds to me as if you’re starting to see life in more complex patterns, Watson.”

  Sebastian smiled as he leaned back in his chair and watched me through half-closed eyes. He looked totally yummy – until a vision of him with Francesca came to mind, that is. I felt a fleeting pang of jealousy (yeah, I could sort of admit it – but only to myself).

  Ellie finished her plate of gluten-free linguine alle vongole and got ready to leave. “I won’t be back late tonight, Axelle. I’ve an early start tomorrow morning for the new Armani Exchange campaign. See you later, guys.” She dropped some money on the table, slipped her large slouchy bag over her shoulder and left the restaurant, oblivious to the admiring glances that followed her.

  Sebastian immediately brought the subject around to Elisabetta’s assistant, Marzia. “Okay, so after Megastudio I dropped into the Amare offices – they’re not that far from here. Marzia will definitely be in tomorrow.”

  “Great. So I’ll make sure I ‘bump’ into her while I’m there.”

  At that moment Sebastian’s phone rang.

  “It’s Francesca,” he said, looking at the screen with a smile. “I’d better take it quickly if you don’t mind.”

  “But we’re discussing the case,” I said, trying not to sound snappy.

  “Yeah, well she might have some more information,” Sebastian said as the phone continued buzzing in his hand.

  “What could she possibly say to you now that she couldn’t have said earlier?” Now I definitely sounded irritated. I kicked myself for it.

  “Pronto, Francesca,” Sebastian answered.

  What? Now he was even talking in Italian to her!

  “Yes, I’m alone,” he said into the phone as he smiled at me and headed towards the door of the restaurant. I heard the bell chime as the door shut behind him.

  Grrr!

  Sebastian came back a couple of minutes later. “Sorry about that but we had to make plans. We’re going to meet tomorrow at three. There’s more she’d like to discuss.”

  “Like what exactly?”

  Sebastian shrugged his shoulders. “If I don’t meet her I won’t know, will I?”

  He leaned back and smiled looking thoroughly pleased with himself. “Even you have to admit that the more I find out the better.”

  I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. “By the way, three is not great. We were thinking of checking out the Parco Sempione then, remember?”

  “Oh…right. Well, I’ll have to take a rain check on that, Holmes. I think it’s more important to concentrate on this case, don’t you?” His brow creased and he looked genuinely concerned. So he was still playing that game!

  It took all of my self-control to calmly say, “Fine, Watson. You meet Francesca at three and I’ll go to the park on my own and then carry on with my castings.”

  “Good.”

  “Fine.”

  After a moment of awkward silence, which was only broken by the group getting up from the table next to ours, Sebastian and I decided to go.

  “And by the way,” I said as we left the restaurant, “I’d like to ask Francesca a few more questions myself. Maybe tomorrow?”

  “You don’t seriously think you’re going to find out more than I will, do you?” snapped Sebastian.

  I stopped to look at him and then threw his own words right back at him. “If I don’t meet her I won’t know, will I?”

  Annoyance flashed in Sebastian’s eyes. He started to say something but then thought better of it. Finally he muttered, “Fine.”

  “Good.”

  Mrs B was waiting up for me. As Sebastian and I drove up to the door I could see the curtain twitch in her sitting-room window next to the street entrance of the building. In the darkness, I could just make out a blurry face peering from behind the curtain.

  The street was quiet and things were awkward again between Sebastian and me. I know Ellie is always telling me that my mysteries are complicated…but, seriously, if you ask me, it’s guys that are complicated.

  I pulled off my helmet and handed it to Sebastian for safekeeping until tomorrow. “She’s still watching, isn’t she?” I said with a nudge of my chin towards the window.

  Sebastian nodded as he slipped his helmet off, too. “I’ll walk you to the door.”

  I was still too cross to want to kiss Sebastian at this point – although, for all I knew, maybe he didn’t want to kiss me either. In any case, I never found out what his intentions were because as we walked towards the door his phone buzzed again.

  “It’s from the receptionist I saw at Megastudio.” He looked at me, his eyes wide.

  “And?”

  “She’s only just left – one of the studios was shooting late. She says she had a call from someone wanting to know if they’d found some tarot cards, possibly in a small packet, in Studio Three today…”

  I stared at Sebastian. “So someone really is after the cards. Any idea who?”

  Sebastian shook his head and handed me his phone. The message ended with a relatively friendly you asked me to let you know, so I am. Then there was a smiley emoji and that was it.

  I was about to ask Sebastian to call her back, but he was on it before the words were out of my mouth.

  “No name was given and the voice was unrecognizable,” reported Sebastian as soon as he came off the phone. “Daniela – that’s the receptionist – couldn’t even be sure whether it was a man or a woman who’d called. The whole thing lasted about ten seconds and the caller hung up as soon as Daniela said that nothing had been found.”

  “Well it was nice of her to let us know…”

  “She likes me,” Sebastian smiled.

  Yeah, and she’s not the only one, I thought, as a vision of Francesca’s sultry glances came to mind.

  “Anyway, Watson, knowing about that call really gives this case a whole new spin.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, if the person who called owned the cards then why didn’t they say so? Why not say, ‘Hi, I’m so and so and I lost some tarot cards this morning in Studio Three. If you see them please call me on this number so that I can pick them up.’ But the caller was anonymous and didn’t say anything like that. It was all cloak-and-dagger. Anonymous, mysterious, and, therefore, I can only think, suspicious.”

  “Good point, Holmes. I agree, anyone with any kind of legitimate claim to the cards would have given their name and number.”
/>
  “Exactly. So who is interested in the cards?”

  “And why?”

  “And how did they know that the cards were in the studio this morning if it was someone else who lost them?”

  My mind was racing. Someone knew about the cards and someone wanted them enough to risk raising suspicion by calling Megastudio on the same day that Elisabetta had died.

  “I’ve got to find out what’s so special about those cards.” I stood, silent for a moment, remembering what I’d read earlier while at the restaurant.

  “What are you thinking, Holmes?”

  “I’m thinking that I should start my day tomorrow by checking out the antique tarocchi cards at the Pinacoteca museum. I think I read that it opens at eight-thirty in the morning. Will you meet me there?”

  “Would you like me to?” His eyes held mine.

  “Yes, I would.”

  His eyes didn’t soften, but he did smile. “Good, then I’ll see you at the Pinacoteca at eight-thirty. Anything I should look into?”

  “Actually…yes. Kristine mentioned something about Elisabetta being mugged this spring – and her apartment was also burgled. And she said Elisabetta had some money trouble, but she didn’t know any details.”

  “So you want me to look into those three things?”

  “I’d appreciate it, yes.”

  A lock turned as I spoke and Mrs B’s face suddenly peered out at us from behind the door to my building – she didn’t look to be in a particularly friendly mood.

  Without another word, Sebastian and I went our separate ways. Our day was over as quickly as it had begun. Before going to bed, however, there were a couple of phone calls I had to make. I opened my list of contacts and found the New York number I needed. I hadn’t seen her in a while, but I was sure she’d spare me the time to answer a few questions.