Luigi groaned. “Religions trying to prevent children from being born, it’s so biblical. Am I still unconscious?”
“You’re not dreaming, and people do away with children who have special birthrights all the time. Especially in royal families.”
He had a terrible thought. “Benny, no one in your church knows about your baby, do they?”
“No, I don’t think so, but they made sure Salvio was on me at least once a day while he had the chance. I’m certain my church thinks I’m pregnant.”
“Ah, I recall hearing them say maybe you’d been stolen. By who? Catholics?”
“If I hadn’t run off, that’d be the other option they’d consider.”
Raphielli interrupted. “I had an Alitininían doctor for a minute, and he absolutely thought I was carrying Salvio’s baby.”
Luigi was grateful they’d added their missing pieces to his puzzle, but what a fucking picture! “I was so close to getting this, but there’s no way I’d have believed it. And I figured you for Alphonso’s girl. Does he know about Petrosino?”
She looked embarrassed. “Sì.”
Gladys opened the door. “The doctor’s coming.”
“So, I’m coming to your ball tomorrow night. I highly doubt anyone is audacious enough to try something with a palazzo full of witnesses, but if so, I need to see who’s trying to kill who.”
“We’ll all be masked. They won’t be able to see who’s who.”
“I’ll be there just in case.”
“I’ll put you on my private guest list if you’re up to it.”
“I feel great, and I’ve got a good mask I haven’t used all season.”
“We’ll have dressing areas where you can pick up a hat or morning coat, anything you need.”
“Benny, are you going?” he asked.
“Nope, sounds creepy. Uh…well…sexy, and Salvio put me off sex. Not my thing.”
Raphielli asked, “You’re not going to arrest Gio are you?”
“For locking up Salvio and then killing him while he was on a rampage? No. I’ll pretend I’m still in the dark on that one.”
Just then the doctor and a nurse came in and asked the girls to leave so as not to tire Luigi out.
“Doc, they just helped me more than you could ever know. I feel good.”
“Glad to hear it. But after your cerebral event, I’d still like them to leave.”
“What was it?”
“We have no idea. We’re just calling it an event.”
On her way out, Benny pointed to a big basket in the corner. “Luigi, that’s your Christmas present from me. It’s filled with every coffee candy imaginable.”
He was touched.
“It’s late because I had to special order most of it, and some of the packages didn’t arrive until yesterday. They don’t make Pocket Coffee anymore, but I found one called Espresso-Filled Dark Chocolate.”
So, while they checked his vitals, he had time to chew on the confessions and he got Gladys to give him an espresso-filled dark chocolate. It hit the spot. He felt reborn. The Scortini mystery had been a festering splinter in his brain. No wonder he’d had a cerebral event!
Tomorrow night was Raphielli’s ball and the biggest party as Carnevale ended. He wondered what would happen there. Did the Catholics know Benny was carrying Salvio’s child? If so, she was in danger. Was Raphielli in danger from them? He had a feeling that storm fronts were about to collide that could change the landscape of world religion.
CHAPTER
14
Raphielli was becoming frustrated with the logistics of safety. Getting around was becoming more of a hassle the longer this siege went on. Zelph and Alphonso were either at her side as transportation and protection, or she was stuck cowering somewhere “safe” while she called to summon them. Dio mio! She recalled Giselle once saying she’d met Markus in the Metro because she hadn’t wanted to call for her driver. Now Raphielli could relate. She just wanted an independent life.
When the doctors shooed her and Benny out of Luigi’s hospital room, Raphielli just wanted to go home, so she signaled for Benny to follow her. Obediently, Benny pulled the scarf up to her nose and pulled her long coat’s hood down over the whole disguise. Then she followed Raphielli wordlessly out of the hospital and to the public vaporetto pier where they jumped onto the water bus and were noticed by exactly nobody.
When Raphielli had her safely back at the palazzo, Dante took her coat saying, “Your friends from France have arrived.” Benny excused herself to take a nap saying she’d meet them later.
“Who made it?” Raphielli felt her mood lift.
“Carolette, Fauve, Henri, Laetitia, Robert, Auguste, Fabrice, Selma, and Solange.”
“Great, pretty much the whole gang.”
“I’ve settled them in rooms just here.” He indicated the nearest staircase leading to old family bedrooms. “Ava arrived with her team. I gave them three rooms for dress fittings, accessories, and alterations. That is in addition to the costume rooms adjacent to the ball space where guests will have costumes altered during the party if necessary. They arrived with an entire department store of clothing. The freight boat just left.”
“Grazie.”
“Marilynn Bergoni has been sending food for the Carnevale performers and crew, quite delicious, and she has provided overly generous portions for the household as well. I have never seen such bounty. Also, His Holiness is here meeting with Ghost and Mister Fox. He wants to borrow their services immediately after the ball.”
“What for?”
“To take them to Rome for his Ash Wednesday sermon.”
“Of course, anything he needs.”
“They’ll fly via helicopter with His Holiness and Vincenzo.”
“If he needs audio and visual assistance, he’s welcome to them.”
Just then, Carolette came gliding down the staircase looking like something on a naughty 1920s Berlin cabaret poster. She seemed naked except for cascades of pearls that swayed and shimmied as she moved. “Elli! Hell of a place you have. So dark. Anyway, guess who I am?”
“You’re not wearing a mask. I can see it’s you, Carolette.”
“I’m Poseidon’s consort Amphitrite!”
“And the lovely Hestia…” She beckoned the beauty with the jeweled mask and headpiece who was carefully descending behind her. “Poseidon’s sister is Paloma.”
Paloma was grinning, but her mouth was all Raphielli could see beneath the mask. Her costume provided more coverage and fell in shimmery folds.
“The boys are all wearing capes and baùtta masks with big hats, so you can’t tell one from another. The baùttas are a big hit because they can eat and kiss with them on.”
The doorbell shrilled and Dante answered it. Cardinal Negrali bellowed, “I must speak to Raphielli! I cannot be put off!”
“Let him in,” she said. The cardinal pounced around Dante like an angry cat, stopping next to her at the foot of the stairs.
“There you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere! We need to talk.” He lost his train of thought as he goggled Carolette’s peek-a-boo pearls. Recovering himself he said, “In private.”
“I don’t have time for this,” she said flatly. “I’m exhausted and have too much to do in preparation for my ball.”
“You need confession.” He stared at her hard.
“Nope, freshly confessed,” she stifled a yawn.
“I am your father confessor, and in this time of upheaval in the Church, I’m warning you, you need to align yourself with me. The current pope has been found out for the brutal despot he is, and you’ll regret distancing yourself from me.”
“Do you regret stealing my paintings?”
“I did no such thing!” His voice went up an octave.
“The Carivaggios you had your eye on are gone.”
“I’m not surprised. They were the most valuable items in that room and easily portable. Anyone could see that, even those long-haired fellows who are alwa
ys hanging around you.”
“I’m too tired for this little charade, I have a big charade to get ready for. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for my fitting.”
“You’re not going to just sprinkle on some pearls, are you?” he spat.
“If that’s my costume, I hope they’re bigger pearls.” She found herself chuckling but gave Carolette a worried look.
“No, you’re going as the golden sunrise,” Carolette said as she turned to help Paloma back up the stairs. “Other than a plunging neck and back, you’re fully covered.”
With that, Dante showed Negrali out. Looking on, Raphielli saw the almost imperceptible air of satisfaction with which her old butler gave the mighty cleric the heave-ho. She then turned and followed her friends up the stairs to where she could hear Fauve and the others laughing and singing to music. What a different place this was with lively people in it.
“Paloma, you are stunning,” she said, and her friend turned slowly so as not to dislodge the elaborate headpiece.
“Grazie.” Her smile got bigger, and up close Raphielli noticed a chipped tooth. Must be from one of Milos’ beatings. They’d make her a dental appointment to get that fixed.
Half an hour later, all her friends were dressed as Poseidon’s court, and Raphielli was the sun. Her mask was magnificent with flame-colored feathers floating upward from her cheekbones around her eyes like rays of the sun. Her golden costume was glorious, but the amount of dress tape that held the plunging front and back to her body made her uncomfortable. She pictured sneezing and both of her boobs tumbling out, or her back fat causing the whole back to open up and show her bottom.
“Ava, I look like a fat goldfish. Why can’t I wear that one?” Raphielli pointed to a stunning costume that was all shimmering neon shades of greens and black with wings. “The dark flying fish. It looks so flowy and easy to move in.”
“The neon tetra was my second choice for you, but the sunrise is so perfect, I have to insist, Elli. You’re the glory of the heavens.”
I don’t want to look like a slutty goldfish. I’d rather be a fighting fish who can breathe without a boob popping out. But she didn’t want to be ungrateful for all Ava had done, so she nodded. “I’m just tired, I could use a nap,” she said while stepping behind a curtain to let Ava’s team help her out of her dress.
“Will your new roomie, Benny, be attending?”
“I invited her, but she said she didn’t want to see old people in drag getting their freak on and would prefer staying on this side of the palace.” She pulled on her clothes.
“But she’ll miss the fireworks and the big show out front.”
“I told her that, too, but apparently she’s already seen Poseidon’s head going up and down, and fireworks aren’t her thing. Now if you’ll excuse me, you all party on. I’m going to go nap beside her.”
“We’ll send some of this food to your suite,” Ava said.
Raphielli waved at her crazy friends through the open door of the sewing room and wished she had the energy to keep up with them.
They called, “Rest up! We’re going out to dinner tonight! We’ve taken over al Covo. Very cozy, we’ll have a blast!”
Casimir Vaskovsky aka Pope Leopold XIV was ready to make the speech of his life. Tomorrow at sunrise, he would step out onto his balcony high above Saint Peter’s Square and give his message for Lent. He had come to see the Vatican as a dysfunctional nest of vipers. He had prayed about the decision he had to make and had been led to spend his energy empowering the world’s youth. Now he had everything in place, but he needed to make sure tomorrow’s speech was heard even when they tried to silence him.
He left the underwater temple, and after getting dressed, he asked Raphielli’s maid to take him to her. When he entered the modern pristine feminine space of her suite, she and Benny were just waking from a nap.
“How is the detective?” he asked.
“We don’t know. He looked good.”
“Bene, bene. I have come to ask you to loan me some staff.”
“Dante told me. Anyone you need, you’re welcome to. But what could you possibly need with Ghost and Mister Fox?”
“Powerful people at the Vatican will want to silence my message, and I need a backup plan with people I trust.”
“You’re not in danger, are you? They won’t try to silence you, will they?”
“Being the pope is to have a target on one’s back. They have tried—and many would say, successfully—to ruin my reputation. Tomorrow, they may try to kill me. I have taken steps to prevent it, but I will not let fear stand in my way. After your ball, at sunrise, watch my speech on your phone, per favore.”
“Why on my phone?”
“Because I expect some interference with the television feed. My new team will stream me live.”
“I’ll watch on my phone. May God be with you, Sua Santità.”
“And also with you.”
He kissed both her and Benny on the forehead before leaving.
Gina sat with Ivar and Leonardo as Juliette and Vincenzo showed off their costumes.
“Those are not real jewels, are they?” Ivar asked.
“Goodness no! There is one thing for certain at a Carnevale ball, I will be kissed and petted. If a sapphire should come away in a stranger’s hand, better it be glass.”
Gina thought Vincenzo looked dashing in his dark blue morning coat and top hat. His full-faced mask of white material had intricately painted designs around the eyes and a glitter blue stripe down the center of the mask’s full lips as if someone with paint on a finger had tried to silence him.
“Guess you won’t be kissing anyone with your full mask,” Gina said.
“No,” he said from under the material. “The only person I care to kiss will be here keeping you and Ivar company.”
Leonardo smiled and waved a hand in embarrassment.
“Are you both wearing kohl makeup around your eyes?” Ivar asked.
“Of course. One cannot wear a mask with a naked eye,” Juliette said.
Juliette’s elaborate painted mask covered three-quarters of her face, and over her mouth was a fetching swath of blue lace, somewhere between a demure shield and a kinky gag that she was able to speak through. “I find a full mask too hot, and I intend to dance. Marilynn tells me the music will be captivating. What will you three be doing?”
Gina said, “We’ll have a relaxing evening. But His Holiness made me promise I’d watch his sunrise speech, so if I fall asleep, wake me up as you two return home.”
“Oh, we’ll be home before sunrise, “Vincenzo said firmly. “Balls tend to have their finales around two o’clock.”
“But this is Raphielli’s first ball,” Ivar said. “And rumor has it she is breaking all the rules.”
Giselle sat in the abbey’s reading room, trying to make herself cozy in one of the gothic stalls that must have been state of the art back when they were built. The bench seats were worn smooth by hundreds of years of bottoms sheathed in rough wool, and vents within each foot compartment piped warm air from the basement furnace. But her book couldn’t hold her attention. She wanted to be in Venice with all her friends at Raphielli’s masquerade ball.
Now that they had Spratman and two Catholic hit men safely in custody, Giselle was convinced the danger had passed and she’d lobbied hard to be able to leave Abbaye d’Orval. But everyone she’d tried to convince had given her the same firm reply. “Absolutely not! You’ve gotten a few hit men out of the way, but we’re more convinced than ever that the conspiracy which drove one or more people to hire them is still in motion. Stay put!”
She’d tried Vincenzo, Juliette, even Leonardo and Ivar but she felt they were all a bit jumpy since the unfortunate mishaps on their boats. Maybe they didn’t notice the frequency of boat mishaps in the Venetian islands, but in her opinion as an outsider, boats had frightening calamities all the time. Give me a horse any day, she thought as she flicked back a page and began the chapter for the third time
. She hadn’t retained a single word she’d read in the last half hour.
Her phone buzzed and she felt a wave of gratitude for the superior cell access as she looked at the photos coming through from Fauve.
There was Ava looking happier than Giselle had ever seen her, surrounded with glittery costumes and boxes of enormous feathers, and sipping from a glass of champagne. Next to her stood Carolette holding the bottle and wearing only what appeared to be silvery bubbles. Ooh! That daring darling is wearing nothing but pearls! The next photo was Fauve in shimmery blue swirls of chiffon and sprays of green and gold coming off her shoulders. Either she had lost all her inhibitions, or the swirls were adhered to some delicious body stocking because she was almost as naked as Carolette as she perched happily on Auguste and Robert’s shoulders. They looked like male models in their suits. They were grinning at something off camera and their three-quarter baùtta masks dangled from strings around their necks.
The next photo was of women in full face masks but two of them were immediately recognizable by their figures. Laetitia’s outrageously long limbs and torso were encased in reddish nylon with a cutaway dress in the shape of a shell, and her red squid mask swept upward in delicate tentacles. Next to her had to be Raphielli looking like a golden goddess that belonged on the top of a casino in Monte Carlo. Her gown left nothing to the imagination and her figure was sheer gilded decadence with a neckline that plunged far enough to make it clear that those youthful boobs of hers should be on the cover of every men’s magazine for the next hundred years. Move over Marilyn Monroe! Elli’s face was hidden beneath feathers in a gradient of flame colors, and the result was so brilliant that Giselle could see why Ava looked so happy. This was another level for her career.
Soon this’ll all be over. And the moment I get the all clear, Marcus, Yvania, and I will hop into The Tank, drive straight back to Gernelle, and throw the biggest party our château has ever seen. Then they can all whoop it up at our place!
Surviving Venice Page 31
