Storming Venice

by Anna E Bendewald

  “Ah, Petrosino and his smirking son, no doubt.”

  “You know them?” Mateo asked.

  “Sì. They’re here to kill me. They need to be eliminated.”

  Benjamin returned with a laptop. Salvio tried to access his online accounts, but they were closed.

  “All my money’s been stolen.”

  “Could it be your wife?” Benjamin asked. “She founded a women’s shelter and spends all of her time there.”

  “Not a chance. She doesn’t have two brain cells to rub together.”

  Carlos handed over his phone with a photo of Raphielli and Giselle Verona posing together in bright dresses. “If your wife has been taken in by the Veronas, we can perhaps assume that they’ve encouraged her to seize control of your family treasury.”

  Salvio curled his toes inside his shoes and mentally bashed his wife’s bovine face in, but fought to appear outwardly calm. “That is neither here nor there at the moment.”

  Rajim responded, “Padrone, we don’t need funds. Your followers don’t need money to kill the Veronas and topple the Vatican. Our doctor says Giselle and Vincenzo are expecting a baby. Our air traffic contact says Giselle flew to France, accompanied by a blonde skinhead bodyguard.”

  “Trying to keep the next Verona safe. I know where she went, and she’s brought that Russian.”

  Mateo said, “Also your wife recently chartered a plane to Aiglemont, France for a night, but she’s back in Venice.”

  Rajim leaned forward and said, “Will you tell us your plan?”

  Now, he had his own religion and he could reveal his secret pleasures as prophecy with no apology. When Nejla had told him how Pope Pius killed Marcion of Sinope, Salvio decided his enemies would die exactly the same way. His men watched him expectantly.

  “We’re going to suspend the traitors underwater from their left ankles by amber-colored ropes.”

  He saw the recognition in their eyes and was pleased when they didn’t blink.

  “Just like Marcion of Sinope,” Carlos breathed. “We all learned to make that knot when we were young.”

  Salvio snapped the computer shut. “Let’s go over my plan. First, we’ll find out what happened to my estate. Benjamin, go get my wife from her shelter so I can question her. Second, we’ll send some men to France to drop the Verona brood mare into the drink.”

  Raphielli woke to the sound of her cell phone chirping. Alphonso was already retrieving her phone from the bedside table. He rolled over and mouthed, “It’s Lampani” as he handed it to her. She looked at the caramel colored bodies on either side of her, Zelph opened his eyes and winked at her. She made a shooing motion with her hand for him to give her some space, and he rolled away from her onto his back.

  “Pronto.” She tried to sound alert.

  “Raphielli?”

  “Detective?”

  “Salvio’s been sighted in Pula.”

  “He’s in Croatia?” She was incredulous.

  “Several witnesses swear they saw him come ashore in a boat and get into a waiting car. INTERPOL is closing in on him. Looks like he slipped out of the country.”

  “Grazie Dio, he’s left Venice. Call me when they arrest him.”

  “Will do.”

  She put the phone aside and looked at the cousins, who had gotten out of bed and were ordering breakfast. They were wearing body-hugging underpants and nothing else. She felt desire coil down deep below her belly and looked away.

  “Salvio’s in Croatia? That’s only four hours by boat, less if he has a fast one,” Alphonso said.

  “Apparently INTERPOL is hoping to scoop him up.”

  “Go INTERPOL!” Alphonso raised a fist reminiscent of a rallying cry.

  “We got you eggs, fruit, orange juice, coffee, and a chocolate croissant,” Zelph said as he dropped a robe next to her.

  Alphonso helped her with the robe and then drew her to one of the sofas where he pulled her onto his lap. “I didn’t like sharing the bed with my cousin,” he said quietly.

  “Oh?” She felt her cheeks getting hot. “I didn’t think it was too crowded. I slept great.” She needed to change the subject. “I’m going to check out of the hotel. It was just as an emergency precaution, and now you and Zelph can come stay at my place if you’re worried about me.”

  “All right. Let’s see what happens today before we make tonight’s sleeping plans.” He snuck the neckline of her robe open a bit and trailed kisses along her shoulder. “But he won’t be sleeping in bed with us again, no matter what.”

  There was a knock on the door and Zelph checked the peephole before opening it for room service.

  After eating only a fraction of what they’d ordered for her, Raphielli took a shower. The cousins claimed the other bathroom and took turns showering before they all left together. Raphielli checked out at the front desk while they stood guard over her and Zelph leaned over to whisper, “People seem to think you spent the night having sex with both of us. You’re getting some interesting looks.”

  Alphonso took one of her hands and as they walked across the lobby, Zelph took the other one just to be provocative. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed heads turning as they left. She felt quite safe and deliciously naughty.

  Kate was in the middle of typing a report when the intercom buzzed on the console next to her computer. Without looking, she tapped the button. “Ciao, Alexi, è Kate.”

  “Buongiorno, Kate. I’m here to apply for a job,” a strange voice replied.

  At the stranger’s voice, she swiveled to stare at the monitor. “Who are you? Where’s the guard?”

  “I haven’t seen any guard.” The man in black was turned away from her. “My name is Ben. I’ve worked at shelters before and I have my résumé.”

  Kate thought fast. “We can always use the help. You say you have your résumé with you?” She stabbed at the buzzer in Alexi’s guard cage but he didn’t respond.

  “Sì, I’ve got my bona fides with me,” Ben answered. “Can I go over them with you?”

  “Let me check my schedule. Just a moment.”

  Releasing the intercom button, she picked up her phone and dialed Detective Lampani’s personal number. When he picked up she said, “Detective, this is Kate at Porto delle Donne. Our security guard is missing, and I have a man named Ben trying to get in the front door.”

  “One of your resident’s boyfriends or husbands?”

  Kate studied what she could see of Ben. He was dressed in a neat black suit with a crisply pressed black shirt and shiny black shoes. “I can’t see his face, he’s in an awkward spot for my camera. But Alexi wouldn’t leave his post.”

  “Get him talking. I’m calling this in. An officer will be there in a minute. I’m close, I’ll be right there.”

  Kate hung up and clicked the intercom button. “We’re in such a desperate need for qualified help. I tell you what, I’m going to clear my schedule for the next half hour or so. We’ll go over your résumé and I can do a quick preliminary interview. You said your name was Ben? What position are you hoping to fill?”

  “I can show you my social work references.” He took a typed sheet of paper out of his folio and held it in the direction of the security camera, confirming her suspicion that he knew exactly where the tiny camera was positioned.

  “Did you say you’d sent us an application?”

  “It’s hard to hear you out here. Can I step inside to talk to you, Kate?”

  “Oh, certainly. Goodness knows what we really need is efficient office help. We’re so short-handed, as you can imagine, just opening and all…”

  She noticed how he moved his head, careful not to show his face directly to the camera above him. He didn’t appear to be armed, unless he had a weapon in the folio tucked under his arm. His gleaming black shoes disturbed her. It was the military efficiency and effort necessary to produce that shine that pricked her nerves.

  “Grazie, that’s great. Are you buzzing me in? The door doesn’t seem to be opening.�
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  She watched him tug on the locked door handle.

  “Can you flash your identification in front of the camera for me?”

  With that, Ben turned on his heel and hustled down the steps and over the little bridge. He turned left at the walkway and was gone. From the right, a police officer ran across the bridge and up the steps. Kate yelled into the speaker. “He’s a man in black carrying a leather folder! He just took off to the left. Run!”

  The officer leapt back down the steps two at a time and disappeared after the man. Kate wanted to run after the man herself, but she couldn’t risk opening the security door. She felt growing apprehension about Alexi. She was flooded with relief when Detective Lampani appeared.

  Kate pressed the intercom button. “He ran off, and I sent the officer after him. Do you see Alexi? He should be right there in the guard vestibule.”

  Lampani ducked inside the open guard post and then came back to the door. “No. And there’s no sign of struggle. Buzz me in.”

  Lampani came to her office, and within moments the officer returned alone and they buzzed him in. He hadn’t found Ben. He stood next to Lampani as Kate opened the security monitoring program and ran the footage back on her computer screen. She rewound to a bit she hadn’t seen. Clear as day, the camera caught someone in police uniform run up the front steps, approach the guard vestibule, and say something to Alexi. Within seconds, Alexi had left the cage and raced with the officer down the steps, then turned right. Ben appeared from the left, keeping his head down to avoid the camera.

  “Shit! I missed that!” Kate was furious with herself.

  “Don’t be angry. No one watches their cameras all day.”

  “The guy who lured your guard wasn’t police,” the officer said.

  “How do you know?” Lampani asked.

  “His uniform was fake. Or at least it’s out of date. The shirt’s not regulation, the epaulets are wrong, his shoes look like dress shoes, and he has the old uniform band on his hat. We changed to a new band on September first.”

  “It doesn’t look fake to me, I bet Alexi couldn’t tell either.” Kate shook her head. “I can’t imagine what he told Alexi to make him rush off like that. It must have been terrible, or he’d have followed procedure, stayed at his post, and buzzed me.”

  Lampani said, “All right, we know Ben had a partner. Fast-forward to him.”

  When she scrolled through the images she had of Ben, she stopped at a frame where he’d pivoted toward the door, and a little more than half his face was caught by the camera. It was the best she had.

  Lampani said, “Print that image. Let’s show it to your residents, see if it’s someone they know.”

  “I don’t want to upset them with police coming into their safe place. They’re in group therapy right now.” She snatched the paper off her printer. “I’ll do it.”

  “We’ll wait here.”

  She hurried down the hall to the dayroom and showed it to everyone, but they all shook their heads. Kate returned to the office. “No one recognized him.”

  Lampani didn’t seem surprised.

  “I’ve got an idea,” Kate said. “Raphielli isn’t coming in today. I’m gonna call her on video chat and show her this photo.” She was already dialing.

  Raphielli appeared on the screen with Alphonso beside her. “Kate, why are, oh…Detective…what is it?”

  Kate held up the image. “Do you recognize this man?”

  “I’ve seen a man who looks sort of like that in front of my palazzo for a while now. I’ve never gotten a good look at him, but he’s dressed the same.”

  Kate dropped the photo and stared at Raphielli. “You’ve seen a man for weeks? But Salvio just got back to Venice yesterday. Maybe the two aren’t connected.”

  “I knew I wasn’t nuts.” Raphielli looked vindicated. “Someone has been watching me.”

  Lampani spoke up. “Salvio has hired help. I’m on it now.”

  “I’ll call you later,” Kate said before disconnecting. She turned in her swivel chair and looked up at Lampani. He looked angry. Perhaps because Raphielli hadn’t told him about being followed. He bent over Kate’s desk and wrote out his email address. “Email me your whole surveillance file for today.”

  “Right away,” Kate said.

  “Get someone to cover the guard shift, and we’ll search for Alexi,” he said as he headed for the door. “I have a terrible feeling about this,” was the last thing he said before leaving with the junior officer at his heels. Kate watched him go and then dialed Kambiz, the night guard.

  Giselle was thrilled when their art supplies arrived from Venice, and she’d spent the morning and early afternoon in a state of artistic flow in the greenhouse until Markus’ voice was near her ear. “We should take some food now.”

  “Not hungry.”

  “The baby needs food.”

  She set down her welding torch and stretched her back. Outside, the countryside looked like winter, while inside it felt like spring. Although they’d turned off the water vapor system that dispensed humidity into the big glass rooms, the air was still moist. She stood the cage up. “Would you hold this for me?”

  He did. Then she picked up the little metal mannequin and swung it slightly so its legs, arms, and head flopped around. “I want the body to spin in a disjointed, reckless sort of way, almost like it’s going to slam into the cage, but stop just short of making contact.”

  She spun it from the hook and eye on its head, and it flailed nicely. “See?”

  “It is disturbing.” Markus rubbed his nose for a moment in thought. “You need it to swing, spin, and shake like a person on fire?”

  “Oui, but my vision was of a person drowning.”

  “All three distinct movements may be difficult to engineer.”

  “That’s the way I want it to behave.”

  “The motor you need must not glide the person around smoothly. It must jolt and make it jangle around like you are doing now.”

  “I’ll consult with a friend who helped with my gyroscope project. I bet he’ll know how.” She motioned for him to set the cage down and she put the mannequin aside. “What are you making?” She walked over to his workspace and studied an orb made of little glass panes held together with tiny soldered copper frames.

  “Unlike you, I do not name my objects.”

  “What do you plan to put in the little circles? Or will you just leave them open?” She leaned down and looked through little openings all over the completed section.

  “Colored crystals.” He took her by the waist and turned her toward him. “You told me your favorite color is cobalt blue.”

  She moved against him and felt his lips on hers just as she closed her eyes to receive the kiss. The heady alchemy of his soft kiss and hard body, the smell of his skin mingled with the solvents and oils they’d been working with, was everything that aroused Giselle. She pulled at the edge of his shirt, tugging it out from his pants. She felt his breathing hitch as she stroked the smooth skin of his stomach, feeling his muscles contract, and she traced the fine line of hair that disappeared below his waistband. Moving him back a few steps, she pushed him down into a cane-backed chair and began stripping her clothes off as he watched. Then she straddled him for more kisses before she unfastened his pants and they lost themselves in pleasuring each other.

  After they dressed, Markus went to the house and brought back a little picnic while Giselle snapped photos of her schematic and sent them to her gyroscope expert. Once that was done, she ate and watched Markus work. His movements were exact, and she let her mind wander back to their first days together in Paris.

  CHAPTER

  19

  Gabrieli had prayed throughout the night, and in the early morning God had revealed his plan. Gabrieli got up and started his day feeling serene. He bid everyone at the breakfast table a good morning and looked at his wife with new eyes. “I love you so much, darling, and looking at you is a pleasure I can never get enough of...”<
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  She gave him a startled look and then self-consciously reached up to smooth her hair. “Why…thank you, dear. I love you, too.”

  “I am more in love, and more attracted to you than when we first met at that party in Sanremo,” he continued, as Casimir, Vincenzo, and the Czerneys looked on with interest. “Remember that night?”

  “Of course.” Her eyes widened and she blushed. “Goodness mercy, these vitamins must be working.”

  Vincenzo raised his brows and smiled for the first time in days. “Mercy is right. Maybe you two should find someplace more private.” He laughed lightly.

  “Today’s commitments conspire to keep me out of the house for the day, but I’m planning to visit your mother’s room tonight,” Gabrieli said, hoping to give Juliette something to look forward to. Perhaps a bit of anticipation would help her get back to her usual self.

  Juliette looked pleased, and silence fell as they ate, until Ivar said, “Yvania and I are considering moving to the artist’s studio. We could...”

  Juliette looked startled. “No, please, I will not hear of you leaving.”

  Gabrieli hoped he could convince them. “You two have become so dear to us. We’ve been through a lot together, and you’re Markus’ family. You must know that Giselle is still part of ours, and so you belong here until you decide to return to Paris or move in with them. Agreed?”

  They both nodded. Then he turned to his son. “I want to apologize to you, Vincenzo.”

  “What for?”

  “I gave you the impression that I loved the Catholic Church more than you, and that has never been the case. I love you, and I don’t tell you that enough. I should tell you every time I see you.”

  Vincenzo’s shoulders sagged with relief. “I love you too, father.”

  “After hearing your news, I was guilty of rescinding my approval based upon the tenants of the Church, and it has made us all miserable. Now I know that you’ve suffered shame all your life, and I want to tell you that I choose you.”

  “What about our bloodline father? I’ve let you down.”