A Villa in Sicily: Capers and a Calamity

by Fiona Grace

  “Did you ask?”

  He spread his palms on his desk and stood up. “No. She hung up before I could. But listen, Signorina . . .”

  “So it was a she? A woman?”

  He pressed his lips together, as if just realizing he’d said too much. “You need to go—”

  “I’m just confused as to why you wouldn’t question where this anonymous tip came in from. The fact is that Loretta Mauro’s car was unlocked, in an unlocked garage. That means that anyone could have planted the vial there. You ever think of that? Or of the fact that her Mercedes rarely leaves the garage, and she hasn’t been spotted in town in months? She has someone to do her shopping for her, and—”

  “Get out!” the officer said, red-faced, banging his fists so hard on the desk that his coffee sloshed all over his papers. “Loretta Mauro has been arrested for this crime, and that’s all I’m going to say!”

  He’d already said enough. Now Audrey was surer than ever as she left the police station.

  Loretta Mauro had been framed. By a woman, the woman who’d made the phone call.

  But who?

  As Audrey wandered down the sidewalk toward the pier, she tried to think of who it could possibly be. Vittoria? No, it was likely she didn’t even have a phone. And Vittoria seemed to like Loretta, and think that she was innocent. Why would she say such a thing if she’d framed her? Besides, she’d been at a protest.

  Sabina? That was a possibility. As batty as the old woman was, she might have done such a thing. And she knew how to use pentobarbital, too. But she’d been with Vito while the murder was taking place, so unless he was lying—and Vito didn’t strike her as the type to lie about something like that—she probably couldn’t have done it either.

  A bicycle horn honked, stirring Audrey from her thoughts. She found herself meandering in the street by the pier, just as a ferry was arriving. The ship was full of tourists, all jockeying to be the first to leave the boat and enjoy their day in Lipari. Soon, the relatively bare streets, shops, and restaurants would be crowded with people.

  She walked a little farther up the street, toward the shelter, still lost in her thoughts. Who else had access to pentobarbital, knew how to use it, and had the motive and opportunity to commit the murder?

  A group of young tourists who looked like college students suddenly tore past Audrey on both sides, nearly knocking her over. They were conversing loudly in another language she couldn’t quite place. As they did, one of them tossed a balled up receipt on the ground.

  “Really?” Audrey shouted after them, calling to mind something her father used to say to her and Brina whenever they came in and dropped their book bags in the front foyer at the end of a day. If I have to stop and pick that up, I’m going to knock you into the beginning of next week. “You going to pick that up?”

  They ignored her and continued on as the piece of refuse rolled on the breeze, up the street.

  Audrey shook her head. “Slobs,” she muttered, looking around for Vittoria. If she were here, she’d give those kids a stern talking to. It’s people like them who give tourists a bad name, she thought, rushing after the paper as it skittered across the sidewalk, coming to rest beside a building.

  Just as she reached it, the wind picked up and blew it down the street.

  “Oh, fantastic,” she mumbled, straightening and running after it again. She’d nearly gotten a hold of it when it when flying once again, this time into a gutter that was full of stagnant brown water. There, it stayed, sinking into the muck. “Gross.”

  Audrey reached in and plucked it up with her thumb and forefinger. Now that she was close to it, she realized it was an old ferry receipt. But it was so heavy and brown with dirty water that much of it was illegible. Turning, she looked for the nearest public trash can, when a strange sense of déjà vu gripped her.

  The files. Mauro’s files. They’d fallen into a puddle, ruining them. Not that it mattered much. There was nothing in there that was very helpful.

  Except . . .

  Suddenly, the name came to her. Flora . . . something. The vet tech or receptionist who’d worked for Dr. Mauro. Her name had been all over the files. She’d prepared them for him. Audrey had meant to ask Vito or Sabina about her, but with all the chaos, it’d slipped her mind.

  Quickly, she reached into her purse and pulled out the file.

  Flora Abruzzo.

  Suddenly, something that Loretta Mauro had said came to Audrey’s mind, clear as day: I know very well of his affairs with other women. That pretty little tramp with the blonde hair that used to parade around his office in the short skirts and the tight tops. She thought she was something special, too.

  Of course. The vet tech. Was Dr. Mauro having an affair with the vet tech? If she had been jilted in some way, which caused her to leave her job . . .

  This was a definite lead.

  Hands shaking with her excitement, she picked up her phone and called the shelter. A male voice answered, nearly drowned out by the breeze and the sound of tourists walking about. “Lipari rifugio per animali. Vito.”

  “Vito?”

  “Audrey? Is that you? Where are you? Sounds like you’re in a wind tunnel. I thought you were coming back to the—”

  She squeezed her ear closed to block out the voices of the tourists who were scattering across the main street, peering in the shop windows and heading off to breakfast at the cafés. “No. I’m still by the pier.”

  “Did you go to the police? Did you find something?”

  “Yes. Well, maybe. I don’t know. But listen to me. I need your help. I have a question for you,” she said hurriedly, looking around. The streets were now crowded with the newcomers, moving along the sidewalks, viewing the different shop windows, but she was the only one standing still. She moved aside so they wouldn’t mow her down. “Do you know a Flora Abruzzo?”

  “Flora . . .” He paused. “Abruzzo? Yeah. Sure. She worked for . . .Wait—”

  “Do you know where she lives?”

  “Yeah. Uh—she lives in the apartments across from Mauro’s clinic. The ones with the blue shutters. I don’t know where exactly. But Audrey—”

  “And she worked as a vet tech for Dr. Mauro?”

  “A while ago, yeah. Maybe like six months ago. I don’t think she’s been with him for a while.”

  “Do you know what happened?”

  “No. I guess she moved on. But—”

  “I’ve got to go. I’ll talk more later,” she said quickly, ending the call.

  This was it. Of course. A woman, with a knowledge of how to use pentobarbital and the ability to get it. But did she have the motive—was she having an affair with the doctor? And had she had the opportunity?

  Audrey couldn’t wait another second. She had to find out.

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  Audrey hurried up the street, Nick scampering at her heels, until she found Dr. Mauro’s office. Sure enough, consistent with Vito’s directions, there was a small, attractive apartment complex across the way, a white stucco building with blue shutters and an arched corridor in the center behind a gate, where there were blue doors on either side.

  “Stay here, Nick,” she whispered to her fox as she tried the latch on the gate. It lifted.

  Audrey pushed the gate open and went inside. The first door was surrounded by terra cotta pots full of succulents and flowers. There was a doorbell, and underneath it, the name, written in black print: Abruzzo.

  First time’s a charm? That’s rare for me, Audrey thought with a smile as she knocked on the door. Every win of hers usually came with enormous effort. Maybe this is a sign of good things to come.

  It was the middle of the day, so she didn’t expect an answer. So she was surprised when the door opened to reveal a pretty girl with strawberry blonde hair and light eyes. Probably in her mid-twenties, she was wearing a bra top and bike shorts, her skin flushed as if she’d just gotten in from a run.

  “Si?” she said, tilting back a container of water
and gulping it.

  “Miss Abruzzo?” she asked.

  The woman nodded. “Ti conosco?” Do I know you?

  “No, you don’t know me. I’m sorry if I bothered you, but . . .” Audrey hesitated. Did you murder Dr. Mauro sounded a little abrupt. She’d have to find a different tack. Unfortunately, as she stood there, her mind went blank.

  She wiped the sweat from her forehead. “It’s all right. Are you American?”

  Suddenly, an idea popped into Audrey’s head. “Yes! I am an American, new to the island. I’m actually a veterinarian. Dr. Mauro’s replacement. I’m looking for a good vet tech who speaks Italian and can help me with my new practice. I understand you worked for him before?”

  “I did,” she said carefully. “But I quit four months ago.”

  “Did you? The person I spoke to didn’t know if you quit or were fired.”

  She shook her head, and her tone was slightly abrupt, bordering on offended. “No. I quit. I’m in between jobs now. You’re looking for another tech?”

  Audrey nodded. “Oh, then this might work out! You do speak Italian? I need someone who does, since—”

  “Of course.” She looked up and down the hallway. “But right now, I’m not ready for an—”

  “Oh, no, it’s fine. I thought we could have a formal interview later in the week, if you’re available,” Audrey said, looking past her into the apartment, unsure of what she was hoping to find. A bottle of pentobarbital there among her house plants? No, smoking guns like that only came that easily when the evidence was planted. “Does that work for you?”

  “I guess, but—”

  “Why did you quit your last job with Dr. Mauro, may I ask?”

  She sighed. “Well, I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, but Dr. Mauro had some problems. But I worked for him for six years. And then things changed. I didn’t like it. So I told him I was quitting.”

  Audrey nodded. “Ah. He must’ve been upset to lose you. What do you mean, things changed?”

  “The vet was going downhill. People were upset. The work environment was a hostile one. It wasn’t fun to go to work anymore. So I had enough. And I left him.”

  Left him. Not left the job. Suddenly, something occurred to Audrey. She said, “You two were close before that?”

  “Well, as close as an employee and an employer could be after six years together,” she said. “He was a very competent man. I thought he was very good at what he did.”

  “You must have been upset when you heard he died.”

  She nodded. “It was terrible. A shock.”

  “And with that pentobarbital? That must’ve really shaken you, huh?”

  The woman visibly shuddered, and her eyes narrowed. She grabbed the door and started to close it. “Yes. . . but look. I’m not really sure I want to take another job right now. So maybe we should—”

  “I understand,” Audrey said, trying to think quickly. “But maybe you could help me. I’m trying to look into licensing requirements in the area, and I’m having trouble, because it appears that Dr. Mauro’s license is expired.”

  She nodded. “Yes. It was expired before I left there. He was a smart man but never very good at keeping up with the paperwork. I must’ve reminded him a thousand times to sign it. But he didn’t.” She rolled her eyes. “We could’ve gotten into a lot of trouble. But he didn’t care. He was putting not only himself but me at risk. I told him that, but he didn’t care. So we fought, and finally he just told me if I didn’t like it, I should find another vet to work for. Stupid. There were no other vets on the island!”

  Audrey blinked. “Wait. So you were fired?”

  “No. Well . . . it was just a mutual separation, ah, agreement to part ways. But yes, I was a little bitter about the way we left things, if you must know. I was very good at what I did, and didn’t deserve that kind of treatment.”

  Mutual separation? Now that sounded even more like a romantic relationship than a business one. “If you were fired, or felt you were wrongly terminated, you could’ve reported him to the authorities. An expired license would’ve been enough to close his operations down.”

  She shrugged. “Yes. But I didn’t. I decided to let bygones be bygones. And—” She stopped and her brow wrinkled. “Who are you again? A vet? Why are you asking all these—”

  “You were in a relationship with him, weren’t you?” Audrey asked.

  The girl’s eyes went wide. “What? No!” She sighed. “All right, maybe we had a little something going on, but—”

  “But he wouldn’t leave his wife, right? And you were jealous? So you gave him an ultimatum, and he decided he wanted her. He fired you.”

  The woman’s face had been getting significantly redder, even more flushed than it was from the exertion of whatever exercise she’d been doing. “Look I don’t know what you’re talking about—”

  “That’s why you never reported the expired license. Because it went beyond that. It wasn’t enough to see him shamed for his business collapsing. You want him dead. And you wanted to frame his wife for it,” Audrey said, her voice steadily rising. “Admit it.”

  “Fine! I did it!” she shouted. “I killed him and I’m not sorry. Not the least bit!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

  Audrey stared at Flora Abruzzo in shock, not sure she’d heard the woman right. Had she just admitted to murder? So easily? Just like that? “You . . . did it?”

  The woman shrugged nonchalantly. “So what? You have absolutely no way of proving it. If you ask me to tell the police, I’ll deny it.”

  Audrey looked up and down the hallway. Sure enough, there was no one there. No witnesses to corroborate her confession. It was just her word against Flora’s. “But . . . how . . .?”

  She sighed and once again looked up and down the hallway. “Why don’t you come inside? If you must know, I’ll tell you everything.”

  That’s probably not a wise idea, Audrey thought, but the woman walked back inside, leaving her there, as if she didn’t care what Audrey did.

  Audrey hesitated for a moment. She could go and get the police, but then what? Flora would simply stonewall her and deny everything. But if she went in, maybe she could convince Flora to confess. She was just a young girl, after all, in her mid-twenties. She’d likely been wracked with guilt over the whole thing, and was happy to have everything out in the open.

  Taking a deep breath, Audrey followed her into the apartment. Despite the rustic look of the outdoors, the apartment was modern, with dark wood laminate floors, white walls, and minimalist furniture. It was clear the girl had money.

  Flora motioned her to an uncomfortable-looking, straight-backed sofa with chrome accents. Audrey lowered herself onto the cushion; it was just as stiff as it looked.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” Flora asked. “Espresso?”

  Audrey shook her head. This is bizarre. I accuse her of murder, and she offers me an espresso. But this is good. If I play the “friend” angle, maybe I can convince her to confess.

  The girl sat down on a wicker chair across a thick, furry white area rug from Audrey. “All right. It’s like this. How do these things ever start? I worked for Dr. Mauro right after getting my training in Rome. He was everything to me. A family friend, and a mentor. I was young and naïve and really looked up to him. A few years after we started working together, I realized he was spending time in the apartment over his clinic. I found out that he and his wife were having a hard time. Fighting a lot. She was accusing him of cheating on her, with me, I guess. She was acting all crazy toward him, making his life a living hell.

  “So, we would talk about it. Yes, he’s twenty-five years my senior, but when we spoke, we realized we had so much in common. I’ve always been an old soul, and he was so sad when he talked about Loretta. She didn’t love him. He tried and tried to get her to show him love, but she was so cold,” Flora said, her voice hollow. “Just a real bitch. I felt sorry for him. And eventually, it became physical. We fell in love. H
e told me that he loved me, that he wanted to leave Loretta and marry me. She found out about it and went even crazier, tossing him out of the house. But even though he ran to me, and we were in love, he told me he still loved Loretta and couldn’t leave her. Stupid man. His loyalty was his downfall. He would do anything for her.”

  The girl’s hands shook as she spoke. Audrey’s breath shivered as she let it out. For the first time, she wished she’d brought Nick inside with her. He’d gotten her out of some scrapes before. “So then what happened?” she asked carefully, her eyes darting to the exit.

  “I gave him an ultimatum. I told him it was either her or me. And he chose her. Probably because the bitch had a handle on his purse strings. He made the money, but she controlled it. She controlled everything. He fired me and told me that he would give me money to leave town, to go away from here. He just could not bring himself to leave his heartless bitch of a wife,” she snarled, her face reddening.

  Audrey swallowed. This wasn’t good. The woman was getting riled. She needed to calm her down. Agree with her. “She sounds terrible. I’m so sorry that you were put in such an awful position.”

  Flora nodded. “Right? At first, I thought that I could get rid of her. Just sneak into her place and end her. Then he and I could be together. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that both of them had taken everything away from me. I was going places. I was going to go for my doctorate, too, to become a veterinarian. But then he came along, and all I could think about was him. For what? It was worthless. A waste of my time. My life. The two of them took everything from me. They ruined me. So why shouldn’t they both pay?”

  “And then?”

  She shrugged. “I called and told him I wanted to talk to him. I went to his office and met him there after hours. And I had the needle waiting. He didn’t even know what hit him. If you use enough of it, that pentobarbital will kill before the patient realizes what is happening. And he paid. Just like I told him he would.”