- 25 -
Ben awoke some time in the middle of the night. He didn’t know at first what had disturbed him. All he knew was that he was suddenly and sharply alert. He raised his head in the pitch blackness and tried to make out the objects around him without success. An ominous silence hung in the air. The darkness was almost tangible. It seemed so quiet that at first he had the feeling he had gone deaf. Then he heard something creak and his body froze.
What was it? It seemed to come from the direction of the door. He strained his eyes to try and detect anything that moved. Above the beating of his heart he fancied he heard the faintest click followed by a slight rustle. He felt as though the pattern of the darkness was changing. Then the realisation dawned upon him. The bedroom door was opening very slowly.
After a few moments the door inched closed again. A faint shadow moved away from the corner of the room and cautiously approached the bed. Ben could make it out more clearly now. He braced himself for the expected attack. Still there was no sound. The strange thought flitted through his mind that this fellow was a superb cat burglar.
He suddenly realised that the fellow was now only about three feet away. He fancied he could even hear the faint sound of the man’s breathing. At any moment now the attack would come. He tried to prepare himself for rapid movement. It was going to be difficult, hampered as he was by heavy bedclothes. He decided to try a bit of play-acting. With a big sigh he rolled over on to his left side so that he was facing the attacker. As he did so, he dragged the quilt with him. Luckily it wasn’t tucked in and it pulled clear behind him. With the covers held in front of him like a shield he suddenly leapt at the burglar.
The trick worked. The fellow wasn’t expecting the attack and he went down under a heap of bedding. Ben landed heavily on top of him. For a few minutes there was a furious struggle as he tried to get a grip on the wriggling body. The man was quite small but surprisingly agile. If it hadn’t been for the element of surprise and being swamped by the bedclothes, he would probably have got clean away. At last he gave in, lying gasping and half-asphyxiated under the quilt, and with Ben sitting astride him with his knees firmly gripping the panting body.
Ben looked round. Now he had a problem. He tried to measure the position of the bedside light in the darkness. To reach it he would have to give up his position of superiority. As far as he could tell the man didn’t have a weapon or else he had dropped it in the struggle. Ben decided he would have to try another surprise move and hope his luck held. He felt around in the quilt until he found the top of the man’s head. Then he suddenly grasped a handful of the fellow’s thick hair and leapt to his feet, pulling the poor chap with him towards the head of the bed. The next second his other hand reached the switch and light flooded the room.
There was squeal of anguish from his attacker and Ben let go the hair. Because in front of him knelt Francesca. She was dressed in nothing but a thin black sweater and trousers. There were lightweight slippers on her feet. Her face was scarlet from lack of oxygen and contorted with pain.
“Mama mia,” she gasped, rubbing her scalp.
“Good God! What on earth are you doing here?”
“Please - please turn out the light.” There were tears springing into her eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“Turn the light out.” Her voice had a new asperity. “You will give me away. I have sat up half the night waiting for a chance to slip away. It has taken me more than an hour to get here. I do not want you to raise the alarm.”
“I’m sorry.” Ben reached up and switched off the light. The room was again plunged into blackness.
“Thank you.” But she didn’t sound grateful.
Ben grinned to himself. “I’m sorry if I hurt you. You should have said something when you opened the door.”
“I didn’t know you were awake. You made no sound.”
“You didn’t make a lot yourself. I think it was that which wakened me.”
There was a pause while this was digested. Then Francesca spoke again. “Here, come and hold my hand so that I know where you are. We will sit on the bed while we talk. It is important that I speak to you, but we must be very quiet.”
Her hand was like ice. He could feel her body trembling, whether from cold or exertion he wasn’t sure. “Why have you come here?” he whispered.
“I will tell you. When I saw you this afternoon I knew you were the answer to my prayers. If you had not come, I would have been forced to go through with the betrothal to Dino. I did not know how to get out of it until you came. Within a year I should have been married to him.” Ben felt her shudder.
“I assumed that was what you wanted.”
“What – marriage to that snake?” He was shocked by the scorn in her voice. “I have never wanted to marry him. I hate him and his whole family.”
“Then why did you agree to the betrothal.”
She gripped his hand violently. “I did not agree. You do not understand what it is like in Italy. This betrothal was something that was arranged between the families many years ago. Dino is the last son of the Vitelli. All the other branches of their family have died out. They decided it was important that he should have the right wife. I was never consulted.”
“I didn’t know that sort of thing still happened.”
“It happens very much among the big families in Southern Italy.”
Ben shook his head. “But I don’t understand why it had to be you who was chosen to be Dino’s wife.”
“For that you need to know our family history. You see, for many years the Cimbroni and the Vitelli were sworn enemies. They had hated each other through many generations. Then our fathers came together and vowed friendship to each other – I do not know why. These marriages were arranged to cement the new friendship – first Alfredo and Sylvia, then Carlos and me.” He felt her shrug. “But you know what happened to Carlos, so I had to make do with Dino – the snake of the family.”
“Well,” said Ben doubtfully, “I suppose it’s no good going through with it if you don’t like each other. I should have thought that your family would have understood that.”
“It is not only that. This so-called friendship between the families has not been between equals. The Vitelli now have hold of everything. How do you say that?”
“Do you mean a take-over?”
“That is it. The Vitelli have taken over. They have decided everything. They have all the money. They have all the control. We can do nothing. Since my father’s illness we do not even usually live in this house.”
“Where do you live?”
“We stay in part of the Vitelli’s huge great town house in Naples. It is like a prison. We were only allowed to return here for Papa’s funeral and for the tradition of the betrothal, which should take place in the future bride’s home.” She sighed. “You see the state that the place is in. Usually there is nobody here except old Emilio and his wife who are both close to death and do very little cleaning or repairs.”
“Ah, so that explains it. I must say it seemed very different from when I was here two years ago.” Ben frowned. “But why do you allow this to happen?”
“It has happened very slowly - very cleverly. I think that perhaps my father had begun to see what was happening. But he had become ill and weak. And then -.“ Her voice broke. “Then he died before he could do anything about it.”
There was a silence. Ben searched for something to say but failed.
Francesca started again. “Alfredo is no good any more. Once he seemed more like a man. But now he is so weak that he is like clay in Sylvia’s hands. She decides everything for him. He just does as she says. I think that if it were not for Mama they would sell the Villa here and destroy the last of the symbols of the Cimbroni.”
“I noticed that the place seemed to have become very run down. Toni was so proud of it. I was surprised to find that he had let this happen to the place.” Ben suddenly realised that he had spoken of his friend in the past tense.
Fortunately Francesca didn’t seem to notice. “That is right. I hoped, when Papa died, that Toni would come back and take over. Toni is still strong. I want to tell you that you must let him come back here from London. We need him. He will fight them. Toni will not let them take over. Will you make him come back?”
Ben felt his heart turn to lead. Someone had to tell her very soon what had happened to her brother. However he knew it would destroy her when they did. She had placed all her hope and faith in Toni. Who would there be for her to turn to, now that both her father and her brother were dead?
The Mafia Emblem Page 25