The scarlet Lady

by Giada Trebeschi

  «We have some friends in Spain. They are trying to find them. And there is a plane already ready for us to go to Cartagena. We leave in an hour» said Giacoboni.

  That was an order and Vittorio could only obey. He hoped that de’ Risis and Letizia were not there anymore and he reassured himself that, in any case, they had at least a day’s advantage. Immediately after, the idea of flying made him sick. He went downstairs to order to prepare the car for the airport as if he was sentenced to death.

  He knew perfectly well that an airplane was an extraordinary way of travelling but the fear of it and the awareness of being suspended in the air at kilometres of altitude were stronger than any rational thoughts.

  A couple of hours later, the simple fact of finding himself closed up in that flying box with Giacoboni, threw him into a state of absolute desperation.

  Before leaving they received a message from Spain: the police of Granada filed a report of two Italians who had had their documents stolen. They declared themselves to be Lorenzo and Eleonora Ronchi and they said they had they arrived in Granada after arriving in Spain via Cartagena on a ship coming from Naples.

  Someone controlled the list of the passengers of the ship and their names were not on it. Probably it was the two fugitives they were looking for.

  Vittorio wondered why they had decided to go to Granada instead of going in the much calmer Portugal, where there was no civil war. Unless they had friends in Granada who could help them. Or maybe they were thinking of going on travelling south and crossing the Gibraltar strait. Yes, maybe that was the captain’s plan: reach Morocco.

  Because of this last information they redirected the flight to Granada. They were going to be there before dawn.

  Vittorio felt tired and, he wanted to rest at least for a few hours but, even if he calmed down a bit and was not shaking any more, sleep remained a Chimera.

  Vittorio was sure that they were not going to catch them. The captain would have fooled them again but he couldn’t say he was really sorry about it.

  9th December 1938

  Granada, Alhambra, 0.30 a.m.

  «We’ll wait another half an hour, then we’ll leave. After the Alhambra we have to leave Granada as soon as possible» said Giulio putting the few belongings they had in their only bag.

  Letizia would have liked to drop it. She was exhausted. Escapes, lies, subterfuges, she couldn’t take any more. At the other hand, she knew it was not going to be right for all the friends who had lost their lives to help her. Moreover she knew that Giulio was not going to let her do it.

  «Can you believe it? The Arab sultan who protects a Jewish treasure from the Christians! They couldn’t have thought of a better hiding place» commented Giulio to distract her from her black thoughts. He just needed a look to guess what she was thinking.

  Letizia got up and put her coat on.

  «They fooled the very Catholic kings of Spain who guarded the Jewish treasure for centuries. Hopefully we really find something where we think it is!»

  «To know it we just have to go there and check.»

  Giulio looked at his watch. It was nearly one a.m.

  They left the room without making a noise. There was nobody in the corridor. They could hear some voices coming from the bar but they were too far away to see them. The only problem was the concierge in the hall. Giulio was looking for a good excuse to justify their night departure but he didn’t need it. When they arrived downstairs, the entrance was empty.

  As soon as they were outside they were pierced by the cold night air. The streets were deserted and walking fast it didn’t take too long to reach the Alhambra.

  They only needed to climb over a locked gate that was the only protection at the monument’s entrance. Luckily there were no watchmen around.

  They stopped at the centre of the Patio de los Leones where the fountain stood. The moon looked as if it was diving into the water reflecting quivering silver lights. A wonderful view in the motionless silence of the night. But it wasn’t the beauty of the place that captured Giulio’s attention. It was a detail that he didn’t notice in the afternoon when they went to visit the place together with the others.

  «Look at that lion. It has a triangle on his forehead. And it is extraordinarily similar in shape and size to the one hidden on the metal door in Saint Peter in Chains.»

  Letizia moved her fingers over the marble engraving.

  «There should be another similar marking. It’s two lions that have the engraving on their foreheads. They represent the tribes of the elected ones: Judah and Levi.»

  «Here is the other one! Something tells me it is the key» exclaimed Giulio.

  «The key is again the medallion» echoed Letizia. She took the medallion and tried it on one of the statues. It fitted perfectly. But nothing happened.

  «Maybe we have to try with the other lion.»

  It fitted but again nothing happened.

  «The Seal’s treasure… – whispered Giulio thinking loud – The seal is David’s star that is composed of two equilateral triangles crossed with each other. In Saint Peter in Chains the ruby was protected by the symbol of the Christian Trinity but here it doesn’t make sense. Moreover, without the ruby the medallion couldn’t open and now it can.»

  He took the medallion from Letizia’s hands and opened it in the shape of the star of David. He looked at it thinking quickly. He tried to make it turn again and, instead becoming a triangle again, with the next click the medallion opened in two.

  «Here we are – he said giving one of the triangles to Letizia – Try this on that lion, I’ll do the same with the other one.»

  They simultaneously inserted the two triangles pushing a bit on the lions’ forehead. They heard the thud of a stone falling and they felt the fountain moving. The water rippled moved by a subterranean activity. Then a passage opened in between the two statues.

  They were still incredulous about what was happening when they heard voices and steps approaching. Someone was shouting at them in Spanish. Maybe it was the Alhambra watchmen, maybe the police. In any case there was no time to lose. Giulio pushed Letizia into the narrow passage and followed her underground. He switched on his father’s cigar lighter that he always had on him and saw a narrow culvert entrance guarded by a thirteenth lion with the star of David on his forehead.

  Following his intuition and hoping to be right, he took the triangle from Letizia’s hands put it together with the other one again creating Solomon’s seal and inserted it on the last lion’s forehead.

  The fountain closed above them.

  «How did you know?» asked Letizia.

  «I didn’t. I tried and luckily it worked. They were nearly here.»

  «I just hope we can open it again. I don’t want to die like the scarlet Lady.»

  Giulio lifted the lighter and Letizia moved towards him. He was attracted by a metallic glare. Those that hid the treasure didn’t leave anything to chance: just in front of the narrow culvert there were some oil lamps. He tried to switch one on and, after a few attempts, he succeeded. The flames were burning as if the lamps where been put there a few days before, not some centuries. He switched on a second one and gave it to Letizia.

  «Let’s go. Don’t be afraid. There are no monsters down here» he encouraged her quietly.

  The passage was gloomy and smelly. A claustrophobic place, no doubt. Giulio had to walk stooped so as not hit his head on the ceiling, Letizia followed him holding his coat and controlling her breathing. They walked like this until she felt something caressing her feet. She shouted in terror. Giulio looked back and saw two huge rats overtaking them.

  «It is only rats. They do nothing. Think positively: if they are here it means there is another way out. Let’s follow them.»

  She didn’t answer. She could feel her heart in her throat and she was paralyzed with fear. There was nothing in the world that she hated more than rats. It was a phobia and she couldn’t overcome it.

  They went on walking for another
ten minutes till the culvert ended in a huge humid cave covered with moss. Giulio lifted his lamp and looked around.

  They were never going to forget what they saw. An incredible sight that dazzled them and made them believe for a second they were in front of a mirage. They could have never imagined seeing such big quantity of gold, chests overflowing with precious stones, pearls and extraordinary artistic objects.

  They looked around as if they were in a giant kaleidoscope, constantly offering magical and shining shapes. In a corner there were two giant golden statues representing cherubs. They were at least two meters tall and their opened wings protected a wooden chest on which was the engraving of two other identical angels looking at each other.

  They didn’t need to speak. Giulio could quote by heart the bible passage that referred to it. That case had for Jews the same importance as the Holy Grail for Christians: it was the proof of the pact of God with his people.

  The Seal’s treasure wasn’t only about the incredible Sephardi fortunes abandoned when they had to flee from Spain. It was the most precious of all treasures guarded in the Salomon’s temple: what they were looking at was the Ark of the Covenant, exactly how it was described in the bible.

  In front of a discovery that overtook the imagination, they looked at each other and neared the Ark together. They lifted its cover and saw the stone tablets. They were written in ancient Hebrew. They knelt and started praying.

  «The tablets that God gave to Moses… now everything is clear. Every piece of the mosaic is at its place. It was already suggested by the Moses in Saint Peter in Chains, but we couldn’t guess it then. The stone tablets hidden and protected first by Islam and then by Christianity…» whispered Giulio moved.

  «Michelangelo sculptured Moses with the tablets in his hand, ready to get up in the direction of the Messiah, symbol of the new and eternal Covenant» went on Letizia still on her knees.

  «A Covenant that should finally happen in between Jews and Christians. The Ark would be its purest seal» he said stroking the huge wings of the cherubs.

  «The world is not ready for it yet. I wonder if it will ever be.»

  «To protect the Seal’s secret: is that what you are thinking?»

  «Don’t you remember what happened to Kornblum? And the theories of the Jewish inferiority spreading all over Europe like a plague? No, I don’t think it is the right moment to unveil the existence of this place and its secret.»

  «Maybe you are right.»

  «And don’t forget that here there are thousands of priceless art treasures. Who are they going to belong to? The Spanish government? The Sephardi living all over the world? Or to the Arabs who kept the treasure hidden for centuries under the Alhambra?»

  «Perpetuate and protect the secret – said Giulio repeating the scarlet Lady’s words – This is what she asked us to do. And this is what we are going to do. Maybe our children or our grandchildren will build a world able to stand this revelation.»

  The treasure didn’t belong them, nor the regime. It was hidden under the Alhambra for more than five hundred years, for more than five centuries it had been protected from a world that didn’t deserve it. And now it was up to them to decide what to do with it.

  They were going to leave it there, to perpetuate and protect the secret.

  Letizia smiled.

  «We have to get out of here. I am sure there is another way apart from the fountain.»

  «Do we have to follow the rats again?» she asked with disgust.

  «Yep. And in the end you’ll even have to thank them.»

  They started looking around but there didn’t seem to be another entrance apart from the one they had arrived through. But Giulio was right, the rats had to arrive from somewhere and certainly it wasn’t from the fountain.

  Letizia agreed that those who had planned such a place couldn’t have neglected such an important detail as a way out. There had to be another entrance because the Ark with the cherubs and some of the other masterpieces there were too big to be transported through the culvert starting at the lions’ fountain.

  They started examining every part of the huge cave. Suddenly a blast of cold air hit Letizia, her lamp switched off and she shouted.

  «What happened?» asked Giulio reaching her immediately.

  «I don’t know. Suddenly I felt cold air and the lamp went out» she said still shivering.

  «Cold air? Where?»

  «Exactly here» said Letizia showing him the place.

  At that point there was an enormous bas-relief on a stone that nearly covered one of the sides of the cave. It looked as if it was leaning on the rock merging with it because of the similar colour.

  Giulio went nearer and observed it better. He followed with his fingers the edges of the big stone. On the right nothing seemed to be there but on the left there was an empty space.

  «Here is our exit. And it is not a narrow culvert!» he exclaimed disappearing behind the bas-relief.

  Letizia followed him and she discovered that the big stone was nothing but a huge trompe-l’oeil door perfectly blending with the wall of the cave. Nobody would have ever guessed it was hiding the large tunnel where they were now in.

  There the air was piercing and stank of mildew that wasn’t so stinking under the fountain passage.

  Giulio walked quickly keeping the light high to illuminate the way as much as possible. Letizia followed him holding his arm every time she saw a rat. And they met many along the way. They walked maybe two kilometres before hearing the sound of water.

  The tunnel ended in a kind of cave in which there was a river. There were various signs on the walls that showed that every now and then the cave was flooded but now the water level was low enough to walk through. Giulio rolled his trousers up and put his coat on his shoulder then he jumped in the water that wasn’t deeper than fifty centimetres.

  Letizia lifted her skirt up attaching it to the hips, took Giulio’s hand and followed him.

  The water was muddy and a lot of rats were swimming in it. Letizia collected all her strength to fight panic: they were nearly out, she couldn’t lose control now. They walked maybe three hundred meters and then, finally, they came out on the shore of the Rio Darro not too far away from Plaza de Santa Aña.

  The sunrise kissed them.

  Granada, Military airport, 5.30 a.m.

  When Vittorio and Giacoboni landed at the Granada military airport it was just dawn. They were welcomed by the police commissioner and a couple of his men, one of whom spoke perfect Italian and was there to translate for them.

  The Spanish police knew the hotel where the fugitives were lodged and they had already prepared a car to get there as soon as possible. During the journey to the hotel the Spanish commissioner and Giacoboni discussed, the difficult political situation in Spain in comparison with the great serenity that a regime like Mussolini’s gave to Italians. Vittorio saw how much the Spanish seemed to admire the Duce and realised it was not going to take long before they finally entrusted a charismatic strong man just like the Italians and the Germans.

  They arrived at the hotel at seven o’clock. The night consièrge got the passe-partout and immediately took them upstairs.

  He opened the door of the room where they thought Letizia and the captain were sleeping; Giacoboni with a gun in hand. The Spanish commissioner entered. They were really convinced they would find them there.

  «Don’t move or I’ll fire» said Giacoboni.

  In the room there were no noises. Vittorio switched the light on: as he imagined the captain and Letizia were not there anymore.

  The bed was untouched, showing clearly that nobody had slept there that night and so they had five or six hours advantage.

  The consièrge said he had seen them coming back with the others in the group after dinner. It was around midnight. But he didn’t notice when they left again.

  «Are there other entrances?» the commissioner asked the consièrge.

  «Sure, one in the kitchen and one
in the internal winter garden. But during the night they are always locked» he answered.

  The commissioner sent one of the agents to check. The doors were still both locked and they hadn’t been forced.

  «Commissioner, please, you have to help us to find them. We should probably start from the station. If they are still in Granada, we have to find them!» exclaimed Giacoboni.

  The Spanish commissioner, even though a bit irritated by that gentle request that sounded like an order, called the headquarters and mobilized his men. He then asked the consièrge to wake up everyone who had been with the two fugitives the evening before. He wanted to interrogate them; they might help the search. Then he ordered some very strong coffee.

  It was a very strong coffee that Letizia and Giulio drank at the station. Their shoes were still muddy and wet after their walk in the mud but their clothes were in good shape and nobody seemed to pay attention to their feet.

  It was nearly six o’clock when they got on the train to Madrid. They still had a bit of money and the documents Giulio stole from Novati: with them he hoped they could pass the border easily.

  In their compartment, second class this time, there were only two young students going to Madrid for the entrance exam to the school of fine arts. The two young men were quite sleepy and after greeting them politely and helping them with their bag, sat back at their places trying to sleep.

  Letizia did the same. She took off the wet shoes that made her shiver with cold, drew her legs up, put her head on Giulio’ shoulder and fell asleep in a few minutes. The captain looked at the beautiful face of the woman he loved, he embraced her and let himself rock with the train. They were really exhausted and woke up just before getting to Madrid where they were supposed to change train.