The scarlet Lady

by Giada Trebeschi

  «Right. In this case, the cave has been first dedicated to a female goddess of woods and waters called Vacuna. There is even a very ancient female carving on one of the stalactites of the cave. I’d really like to know why those two Blackshirts are so interested in the Ravine» said Alessandro.

  «Pure love for culture.»

  «Very funny. Doctor Tucci, you saw them! In any case, I won’t give them any other information about it» said Alessandro.

  «Yeah, till when they order you to take them to the cave.»

  «Come on Letizia, why should they ask me and not someone from the village? Moreover I have been there just a couple of times, I might even not find it again.»

  «We’ll see. But I don’t think they are interested in Vacuna, Sabina’s goddess. I am convinced they are hiding something.»

  «Mr. Romei, please, would you be so kind as to take me to the hotel in the village? There should be a room waiting for me. I travelled all night and I am really exhausted now. But I promise you, Miss Cantarini, I will check the skeleton again before they bring it to Rome. I might find something else.»

  «Thanks doctor Tucci.»

  «Will we have dinner together tonight?»

  «Certainly.»

  «Good. See you later then.»

  «See you tonight.»

  «Captain, why didn’t you tell Musone about the Ravine? We already gave you some information» Letizia asked carefully as soon as the doctor and Alessandro were gone.

  «I am a soldier, not an historian or a tourist guide» answered de’ Risis.

  Letizia smiled.

  «I am sorry captain, but now I definitely have to go back to my papers. But please…» she stopped looking at the door.

  «Don’t worry, Miss Cantarini, I will not let you alone. Isn’t it my duty anyway? Morelli ordered me never to let you out of my view.»

  Letizia started studying her notes with a pleasant sensation filling her heart. The captain sat near the door reading a little book that he took out from one of his jacket pockets.

  «What are you reading?» Letizia couldn’t help to asking him.

  «The picture of Dorian Gray» answered de’ Risis showing her the cover.

  «Don’t tell Boriello, he would consider it an immoral book.»

  «There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all.»

  Letizia, sat at her working table and started going through the last days notes but she was not able to concentrate. She kept thinking about the papers she found with the skeleton, the same papers that she now felt on her belly but that she couldn’t touch before being alone in her bedroom. She couldn’t focus on anything else and the thought of the papers mixed up with the thought of having de’ Risis so near.

  That feeling was the silliest of all. It couldn’t be that she was in love with someone that was there to monitor her, to spy on her work and tell his superiors everything he could discover. Moreover she couldn’t say she knew him, she had seen him just a couple of times!

  But the captain was gorgeous. Really gorgeous. And powerful. His strong chin was softened by well-designed lips and a little agreeable nose refined his square face showing aristocratic features. He was at least one meter eighty-five tall and his blond hair was combed back. No, no – Letizia tried to convince herself – it was only a crush. It had to be. Probably it was only that strange love-hate feeling that bonds victim and oppressor. Actually the captain didn’t behave badly; he really seemed inclined to protect her. His incredible blue eyes caressed her every time he looked in her direction… She would have adored him to embrace her right now. And his smell! The smell of his skin mixed with the eau de cologne that she so well knew could make her lose her reason.

  «Oh, stop it Letizia!» she told herself «stop it! Try to concentrate, read your notes. Enough with cheap sentimentality!»

  She tried to focus on the sonnet that she had picked from the prison-room in the morning. She started reading it and her mind finally lost herself in the mystery of those fourteen verses.

  If I were fire, the iron I would liquefy,

  If I were stone, from the marble I’d take it out;

  If I were water, surely I would open up,

  If I were God, I’d give him the Torrah.

  If I were Pope, I’d been my father

  Who the red Fire from my mother stole;

  If I were emperor, you know what I’d do?

  I’d give a truce to my Jewish ancestors.

  If I were death, I’d go to my enemy,

  If I were life, about him I’d laugh

  And I would do alike to the friendly foe.

  If I were of the Abrabanel, as in fact I am,

  The red Fire I’d deprive from his eyes

  And leave the living marble, to someone else.

  The sonnet was clearly re-written on the basis of the one of Cecco Angiolieri. The metric and the rhyming were terrible but the general structure was the same and it was easy to recognize the original model. Unfortunately it was apparently senseless. That sonnet or that sort of poetic exercise, in other circumstances, could have been considered a divertissement but it surely wasn’t in that case. How could a walled-in woman want to leave merely a joke to posterity?

  Letizia was reading it over and over «If I were death, I’d go to my enemy, / If I were life, about him I’d laugh / And alike I would do to the friendly foe.»

  It really seemed that the last act of the condemned was a cry of scorn against her persecutors.

  She read the paper again and she felt like the woman buried alive really wanted her to be the one to have it. Letizia felt that those verses, sooner or later, would have shown her the real face of a woman able to be free and untamed even in the prison where she had died. That voice from the past was shouting so loud that it was impossible not to listen to it. Maybe she would find some answer in the papers hidden on her stomach.

  She lifted her head and the captain’s look caressed her.

  «Dorian Gray – he said – hides from the world the picture that shows his real soul. Like the Ravine that is well hidden in the depth of the woods. I keep thinking about what they want to find there. What are they looking for? It’s not only the fascists looking for something here. I’ve been sent here on the order of the Royal family. I should monitor if something else is found and be sure that nothing is taken away. But why should that cave be so important? Which is the mystery hidden behind the skeleton?»

  «I have no idea captain. I can’t connect the two things. What is it that connects the Ravine with our walled-in woman? The only connection is that they are on the same territory.»

  «It can’t be only that. They wouldn’t have sent all of us here for only a skeleton. Think about it, Miss Cantarini, there must be something else.»

  «I have no idea.»

  «Astonishment. Astonishment is the key to the problem.»

  «What do you mean?»

  «I very often have been sent to take care of delicate questions for the army. Every time I had to investigate, the words of father Ignazio, one of my professors in school, came back to my mind.»

  «Were you in a catholic school?»

  «Yes. Are you surprised? Three of my sisters are abbesses in Brescia, Rodengo and Milan and… But let’s go back to what I was trying to tell you. Saint Thomas of Aquino used to say that astonishment is the wish of knowing. It grows in man because he sees the effect but doesn’t know the cause or because the cause of that effect surpasses the knowledge or the capacities of man. This is why to astonishment is united the hope of getting to know what we wish to understand.»

  «You astonish me, captain! I would have never believed that a soldier could quote Saint Thomas» said Letizia quite pleased.

  «Men are often not what they seem.»

  «Like mysteries. I think you are right. Let’s follow Saint Thomas and start from astonishment.»

  The captain closed his book and moved the chair to the table where Letizia was w
orking. They had to make a list of all the things that had astonished or puzzled them up to now. Having the questions very clear could help to find the right answers.

  They started discussing about all that had happened since Letizia’s team discovered the skeleton, and then they carried on analysing the legend connected to the Ravine of Poggio Catino. Clearly the Ravine, later Saint Michael’s cave was tied to the legend of the dragon that was defeated by Saint Sylvester, or in another story by the archangel Michael himself. The devil, as we can read in the Apocalypse, appeared in the form of a dragon who, when defeated in a fight, was expelled from paradise and flung into the depths of the earth. This was why the archangel Michael is venerated as the warrior angel of God, always wearing a shining golden armour and in a constant fight with Lucifer.

  But why could all of that be so interesting for those people? It was not very probable that the fascists were looking for the entrance to hell. What did they think they would find in a rocky sanctuary?

  «You don’t need to be a genius to understand that they are looking for something that has nothing to do with the dragon or Saint Michael. I believe their interest is much more mundane. A map, some important documents, or a treasure maybe…» commented de’ Risis.

  «But of course! A treasure! This is what they are looking for!» exclaimed Letizia thankfully.

  The captain looked at her with a puzzled expression on his face. She smiled at him and started speaking again.

  «Why didn’t I think of it before? It is so simple! Captain, your common sense delivered us the solution on a silver plate.»

  «Could you please explain it better?»

  «They are looking for a treasure! If I remember it clearly, in a document preserved in the Farfa Abbey archives a certain prelate from Salisano, I can’t remember his name now, affirmed that he knew about the existence of a hidden treasure and he referred to a map – Letizia began quietly, moving closer to the captain – The document mysteriously disappeared a few days before we started working here. This explains a lot of things. The treasure I am talking about seems to have been hidden somewhere near the fortress of Poggio Catino and maybe the Farfa document speaks about the Ravine. I have heard from Morelli’s own lips the words Ravine and Olgiati. He probably referred to the famous Olgiati treasure. The Olgiati was an important noble family that once owned this territory. It is clear that as soon as we found the room with the skeleton someone thought that maybe some new clues would emerge. This is why someone decided to change half of my team, call the Blackshirts and the soldiers…»

  Letizia stopped abruptly.

  She was telling all this to someone who was there to spy on her. He had to refer everything to his superiors. If they had the impression she knew too much they could easily find a way to close her mouth. She had been dangerously incautious and now she didn’t know what to do. Damned his perfume and his gorgeous face!

  The man in front of her was sent to trick her and discover as much as possible; this was his mission. Letizia felt fooled and betrayed even if she couldn’t completely believe that it was really the case. Her deepest intelligent side seemed to believe the opposite and these contrasting emotions made her unable to react.

  Giulio de’ Risis was sitting near her and observed her. Letizia looked back at the papers and didn’t move a muscle but her face was reddish and a lock of hair slipped carelessly onto her neck. He thought she was even more beautiful than the first time he met her and he came even closer. He knew she was upset, he could hear her thoughts shouting out their fear.

  «Letizia, it is not what you think» he whispered.

  It was the first time he had called her by name and he pronounced it so softly that she had difficulty in controlling her emotions.

  «I don’t know if this story of the Olgiati treasure is the answer to our questions. They didn’t tell me why I had to monitor an art historian during her researches. I just received the order and orders are not to be discussed.»

  «Are you telling me you don’t care about what is happening here? You don’t care what they would do to me if I discover something I shouldn’t? You don’t care about me?»

  She shot the words out like fire balls without really realizing all she was saying. She was panicking and she was angry for having been so easily cheated. Nevertheless she only wanted… The captain seemed to read her mind and embraced her. He held her tight as no one had ever done before and she finally burst into tears.

  «I won’t let them hurt you, I promise» he softly said.

  Letizia looked at him directly in the eyes. She was not afraid anymore and stopped crying. Simply, like a child.

  «Here – he said giving her his handkerchief – you don’t want the two Blackshirts to see you like this, do you?»

  Letizia shook her head and took the handkerchief. Maybe she shouldn’t have trusted the captain, she knew it was dangerous, but she couldn’t help it.

  Suddenly the door opened letting in a freezing wind and an enraged Alessandro who seemed to have just fought with the devil himself.

  «I don’t think I will stand them for long! They searched my room. And also your room, Letizia, is a mess. Don’t you need a warrant for that?» asked Alessandro putting a wicker basket on the table.

  «Who did it?» asked Letizia.

  «The two snakes with the Fez hat, who else?»

  «You mean…»

  «I am sorry Mr. Romei – interrupted the captain – you are saying that Musone and Boriello searched your rooms without a warrant?»

  «Exactly. I found them with their hands in my pants! As you know I accompanied doctor Tucci to the hotel, Mrs. Rosa prepared the room near mine. It was the room of Giulio Carlo Ragna, another student leaving for obscure reasons. Tucci went up to his room to rest and I stopped to chat a moment with Mrs. Rosa asking her to prepare for us the sandwiches in this basket. We were chatting and I followed her into the kitchen. I was there probably fifteen minutes and I was coming back here when I remembered a couple of notes I wanted to show Letizia. So I quickly went up to my room and I found them searching my wardrobe.»

  «I can’t believe it.»

  «You have to. When they saw me entering they looked as if what they were doing was nothing unusual. Then Musone said that they had the right to do it even without warrant. If Mrs. Rosa had not arrived to remind me to take the apple cake she had just baked, the defenestration of Prague would have been nothing in comparison!»

  Alessandro was really angry. Letizia had never seen him like that.

  The captain started walking up and down the room lost in his reasoning and maybe he would have told them what he was thinking if he hadn’t been interrupted by Musone and his colleague entering the kitchen.

  «Ah, you are here, Mr. Romei. You didn’t say goodbye before leaving. It is not very polite, is it? Remember that it is always convenient to be kind» said Musone falsely obsequious.

  «Mr. Musone, I don’t believe it is clever to insist in provoking Mr. Romei’s patience. He told me that you and Mr. Boriello dedicated yourselves to search this morning. You made a bad mistake. For this job you need first a warrant and then the experience. What you did is inacceptable and I will inform your superiors» said the captain.

  «We only brought forward the time. Mr. Morelli would have ordered it anyway.»

  «Mr. Morelli has got the power to do it. You don’t.»

  «In any case, we didn’t find anything interesting» said Boriello in a vitriolic tone.

  «I hope you didn’t take anything.»

  «Can you stop it now? It was just a simple search» said Musone irritated.

  «Please Mr. Musone, remind yourself what you just said: it is always convenient to be kind» firmly replied de’ Risis.

  The control and coldness that the captain showed dealing with those types, disclosed the strength of those used to give orders, but the self-control with which he was able to rebuke his interlocutors was simply amazing.

  Boriello seemed even shorter now hiding behind Muso
ne’s body his assertiveness and nearly didn’t move when Musone himself took his arm and pushed him out of there.

  «Let’s go to have lunch, Gennaro.»

  They left, slamming the door.

  For a moment nobody spoke then the captain checked behind the door. The two Blackshirts were gone and Letizia asked Alessandro if he knew something about the legendary Olgiati’s treasure.

  «They say it has been hidden near Poggio Catino but there was never real evidence. Why do you ask?»

  «You also heard Morelli saying Ravine and Olgiati, didn’t you?»

  «Yes, and?»

  «And I think that all this interest in our skeleton is because someone thinks it could have something to do with the treasure.»

  «In that case everything starts to make sense. But what about the Ravine?»

  «Maybe they found a connection between the two things.»

  «The dragon! They think that the jade dragon might be there!»

  «Sure, the jade dragon was the one thing missing in this story» said de’ Risis sarcastically.

  «It is an old legend.»

  «For a change.»

  «Captain please! Let Alessandro speak!»

  «Go on, go on. I didn’t want to interrupt you.»

  «It is an old legend that tells the story of the return of Marco Polo from Cathay. It seems he had with him a very precious gift the Great Khan himself gave him.»

  «A jade dragon» suggested the captain quite amused.

  «Exactly. A beautiful dragon sculptured in one of the most precious Hotan mine jades. The eyes were two valuable fire-red rubies. The gift was a talisman to accompany Marco Polo during his trip; he was supposed to keep it always on his person attached with a red silk ribbon and hidden in between skin and clothes. They say it was not longer than fifteen centimetres.»

  «All of this is very interesting but I am sorry, Mr. Romei, what does it have to do with our case here?»