The Madman of Venice

by Sophie Masson

  on him, ‘he saw Mateo being abducted. ... I mean, he saw the kidnappers, and so I thought he’d be . . . Well, he and Henri were both there, but Henri rather later, so I don’t think he’s in as much danger, and—’

  ‘But why were they there?’ said Celia blankly.

  Dr Leone looked at her and gave a faint smile. ‘I believe they’d arranged a duel. By coincidence, it was at the same spot where Mateo went. Henri was late for it, which was why he didn’t see as much as Ned did.’

  ‘A duel?’

  Dr Leone’s smile grew broader. ‘I believe—well, Henri as much as implied to me—it was over you , signorina.’

  ‘Me?’ Colour rushed scarlet into Celia’s cheeks. ‘But. . .’ She swallowed. ‘But if they’d fought, Ned could have been hurt, or even killed!’

  ‘He could, yes,’ said Dr Leone. After a short pause, he added, watching Celia carefully, As could Henri, of course.’

  ‘I’m sure Henri can much better look after himself,’ said Celia lightly. ‘But Ned . . . Ned rushes into things. He would swing wildly. . . .’ She blushed again. Her eyes sparkled angrily. ‘Oh, I’m going to box his ears when I see him! I’m going to really let him know what I think, and—’

  ‘He is a brave young man, signorina,’ broke in Dr Leone gently. ‘He tried to fight off Mateo’s attackers and was knocked out for his pains.’

  -H- 192-K>

  From red, Celia went pale. ‘Is he ... is he all right?’

  ‘Oh, yes, he’s fine. He has a hard head, this young man of yours.’

  She didn’t say crossly, ‘He’s not mine' She merely said, ‘Did he want to be sent away?’

  Dr Leone smiled. ‘No. He was very angry about it. He most certainly did not want to go.’

  ‘I’m not surprised,’ said Celia warmly, ‘being packed off like unwanted luggage.’

  Mistress Quickly said tartly, ‘And if you think I’m going to be packed off as easily as Ned, Dr Leone, you are in for a surprise. I am not leaving here while my brother is missing.’

  ‘But, signora—’

  ‘No “but”s, sir. I am not moving. Or at least only to give whoever’s responsible for this outrage a good piece of my mind. I suppose it is that Countess person?’

  ‘We think so . . . ,’ said Dr Leone hesitantly. ‘Henri has gone to get his father’s help; I said that I would wait here for you and make sure you left safely.’

  ‘We’re not going,’ said Mistress Quickly. ‘At least, I’m not. My niece will want to go after her—-after Ned, perhaps, and bring him back. We need his help, Dr Leone.’

  ‘But I told you, it’s not safe for him here, now that the Countess has clapped eyes on him, and— Oh, sorry, I must tell you that too, I suppose.’ And he told them what had happened at Ca’ Montemoro.

  -M- 193-H-

  Celia and her aunt looked at each other. ‘We saw you,’ said Bess Quickly.

  Dr Leone stared. ‘What?’

  ‘On the canal,’ said Celia. ‘I just knew Ned and the rest of you had gone off investigating on your own!’

  ‘He didn’t want to go without you,’ said Dr Leone gently. ‘It was I who told him he must not involve you.’

  ‘Of all the cheek!’ said Celia crossly, but with a little glow in her heart all the same. So Ned had not tried to trick her, or leave her out of things. . . . ‘There is more, Dr Leone,’ she said, and filled him in on what had happened at the Tedeschis’.

  Dr Leone gave a gusty sigh. ‘Dear God, this is a tangled web and no mistake.’

  ‘Ned described the man in the alley, the supposed captain, as having the bearing of a soldier?’ said Celia.

  ‘Yes. Exactly. Either we have two lots of soldiers— some working for the Countess, some helping Sarah— or we have one. And in that case, either they’re working for the Countess, or for Sarah.’

  ‘If it’s Sarah’s friend, perhaps he only took Father because he was afraid he was asking too many questions and didn’t know why,’ said Celia excitedly.

  ‘Perhaps. That would be the best alternative, of course. But if he is working for the Countess—then he’s holding Sarah, as well as Mateo. And that means . . .’

  ‘It means,’ said Celia, ‘that he’s been holding Sarah

  -H- 194-H-

  for weeks. Why hasn’t the Countess done anything to her, in all that time?’

  ‘Perhaps she has,’ said Dr Leone grimly.

  ‘No, he can’t, because why then take Father too? It doesn’t make sense. If it’s the Countess who has arranged this, then she has simply been keeping Sarah out of circulation for some time. And there has to be a reason for that. We have to find that man and speak to him.’

  ‘He’ll have gone to ground,’ said Dr Leone. ‘Where do we start looking?’

  ‘We have to find his friend. The madman,’ said Celia. ‘I wish ... I wish Ned were here. He saw him first. He spoke to him. I only saw him passing by.’ She looked at the other two. ‘I will go and look for the madman. Will you please go back to Dr Tedeschi and tell him what has happened? He and his sister have a right to know everything.’

  ‘Of course,’ said Dr Leone, ‘but, my dear young lady, it is not safe for you to go hunting madmen in the streets by yourself, and—’

  ‘Pish!’ said Celia fiercely. ‘I’m not afraid! I’m going, and that’s that.’

  ‘Really, I must protest. Signora,’ began Dr Leone, turning to Mistress Quickly for support. ‘Surely you cannot allow—’

  ‘My niece is a determined and brave young woman,’ said Mistress Quickly tartly. ‘I should be wasting my breath if I attempted to dissuade her. She will be careful,

  she has promised me that, and I do not think she will break that promise. Her heart is set on helping her father

  and her young man. And frankly, I share her wish. No,

 

  don’t open your mouth and protest, Dr Leone. It is decided, and that is that.’

  ‘I had heard Englishwomen were headstrong,’ grumbled Dr Leone, ‘but this is really beyond—’

  ‘We have a queen with a heart of oak and sinews of steel,’ said Mistress Quickly proudly, ‘so it is perhaps not so surprising we do not consider ourselves weak and feeble creatures.’

  ‘Power is not generally good for a woman,’ said Dr Leone sententiously. ‘Think of that Countess. Now, there’s an example of how power goes to the head of a woman.’

  Mistress Quickly folded her arms and looked at him. ‘Women are people , Dr Leone. We’re not all good, all bad, or all indifferent. It takes all kinds to make any world. Now then, if you have stopped lecturing us on our own sex, Dr Leone, have you made up your mind: are you coming with me to the Ghetto, or must I go there on my own?’

  ‘My dear signora!’ he said in a scandalized tone. ‘I most certainly will accompany you. The very idea of your going alone! Besides, I have met the good doctor and know where he lives.’

  ‘I am sure I would find it, if Celia gave me directions,’ said Mistress Quickly primly. ‘But you may come with

  19 6 ->->■

  me if you wish.’ On her way to the door, sailing out like a stately galleon with Dr Leone as a lesser craft behind her, she stopped, turned, and said to Celia, ‘Good luck, my dear. And take great care. We must meet back here in an hour to report on what we have found.’

  ‘Yes, Aunt Bess,’ said Celia meekly, but with a big smile on her face. Clearly, Mistress Quickly had the bit between her teeth now and nothing was going to stop her! Or me, either ,; she thought defiantly. Me or Ned. Dear Ned . . . She could just imagine how angry he’d have been at being sent out of the action. And anger made him stubborn. She’d seen it often enough. So would he really have meekly done as the bossy Venetian alchemist wanted?

  19 7 -H*-

  Gamblers

  lhis is how it happened,’ said Master Ashby comfortably. ‘Captain Battaglia—that’s Claudio, here—sent a secret message to me at Orlando’s house. He’d heard I’d been to Dr Tedeschi’s house and was afraid I was
working for the Countess. So he had me seized.’

  Ned shook himself from his astonishment. ‘I know that, sir. Remember, I was there. Anyway, I saw Claudio, and—’

  Here Claudio interrupted. He was smiling faintly.

  ‘He said you’re not a bad fighter and he’s sorry if his

  friends hurt you,’ said Ashby, raising an eyebrow. ‘I must say you look all right, Ned.’

  ‘I am perfectly all right,’ said Ned, grinning. Though there’s a good bruise under all this hair, somewhere. Still, no hard feelings.’ He held out a hand to Claudio. The other took it and shook. Now his smile was broad. It quite transformed his hard face, so that he looked both a good deal younger and a good deal more handsome.

  Sarah said anxiously, ‘Friends now, yes?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Ned. He looked at her. How lovely she was! As lovely as a painting. He caught Claudio’s glance and knew at once that the young soldier was in love with her. But did she love him? Impossible to tell. He felt a sudden surge of fellow-feeling for him. ‘I don’t understand. Why is Claudio hiding you? I mean, how did you know him? What is this place?’

  She smiled. ‘This house—Claudio padre.'

  ‘It belongs to Claudio’s father? Where is he?’

  ‘His father’s dead,’ interrupted Master Ashby. ‘Claudio’s the only child. So the house is his now.’

  ‘Why did they have a secret room?’

  ‘Oh, lots of houses hereabouts have them. Bolt-holes, you know, if things get sticky.’

  ‘But how did Sarah meet him?’

  ‘She told me he owed her father a good deal—Dr Tedeschi treated his sick friend, whom no other doctor wanted to touch. Claudio is a man of great loyalty. Sarah asked him to help her, so he did.’

  ‘But. . . what have they been doing all this time?’

  Sarah flushed. Obviously she had understood. She said, low, hard, ‘Claudio help me.’

  ‘They’ve been trying to gather evidence against the Countess,’ said the merchant. ‘Evidence that will show she’s been targeting Sarah because she thinks she knows something.’

  ‘Knows what?’

  ‘That the Countess is guilty of a crime. A serious, even massive crime. She wants to silence Sarah but dares not move against her openly.’

  ‘Did they find anything out?’

  ‘A rather ugly story to do with a crooked trader from Verona, called Gamboretto.’

  ‘What!’ said Ned, astonished. ‘But that’s . . .’

  Master Ashby nodded grimly. ‘Exactly. The very same Gamboretto whose name Salerio’s son mentioned. Now, Sarah has uncovered some evidence that the Monte- moros may be involved with this crook Gamboretto and his friends, the pirates.’

  ‘Involved in piracy ? But they’re rich. Dr Leone said rich as Midas. So why—’

  ‘Greed, my boy. Greed and most likely a love of danger.’

  ‘But still!’ Ned was aghast. ‘These pirates don’t only steal cargoes and bankrupt merchants; they’ve murdered countless innocent men. How could a family like that be involved in such wicked, wicked things?’

  Ashby sighed. ‘My dear boy, you are very young. The wickedness of the world knows no bounds. Besides, the Montemoros must feel they’re above suspicion. They’ve got away with it for years, if they truly are involved. And you must understand, that is by no means certain. But there are suggestive links—’

  ‘God’s blood!’ burst out Ned. ‘And we raced right into the wolf’s den with our stories about pirates kidnapping you!’ Seeing the others’ bewilderment he quickly recounted to them what had happened at the Montemoro house. ‘She didn’t betray herself at all,’ he finished. ‘If she’s involved with these pirates, then she’s being very cool about it all.’

  ‘I don’t think she’s the sort of woman who is easily frightened,’ said Master Ashby. ‘She’s a high-stakes gambler, with an ice-cold hand. And heart. But Claudio has heard rumours that the Duke’s secret police may also be investigating Gamboretto and his links in Venice. If that’s so, then what I have to tell them of our own losses may also help to build a case. And confirmation of those links could be disastrous for the Montemoros.’

  ‘But what are those links?’

  ‘Circumstantial evidence, really. Nothing rock-solid as yet. The Montemoros travel to Verona on occasion, for they have a villa in the countryside—which is where their daughter Isabella lives, by the way, with her da Piero uncle’s family. They may have a connection with Gamboretto—a member of their household has been

  seen at the man’s house on at least one occasion. Add to that the fact they have extensive interests in shipping and that, though their ships ply the same shipping lanes as those haunted by the pirates, they have never lost a single ship, crewman, or piece of cargo. Mind you, that’s the case for other Venetian families, so that can’t really be held against them. But after pirate attacks have bankrupted other merchants, Gamboretto offers to buy up their remaining stock. There is evidence that some of that has ended up in Montemoro hands. And there’s a hint—though it’s not yet proven—that at least one of the pirates may once have been in the employ of Maf- fei, the head of the Montemoro guards. There’s a good deal more of the same sort. Nothing definite. But suggestive. Dangerously so.’

  Ned’s head whirled. ‘But why would the Countess think Sarah knew anything about all this? She didn’t, did she, before?’

  Ashby shook his head. ‘No. It’s only since then that Sarah has been ferreting around. But the Countess may fear the very worst: she may think the Count told Sarah about it on that fateful day.’

  Ned stared. ‘But that’s absurd! Why on earth would he?’

  ‘You said yourself he looked jumpy. Haunted. Frightened. Maybe his conscience is troubling him.’

  ‘But if they are involved with piracy and murder on

  ■<*<- 202-H*-

  the high seas, it’s probably been going on for years, as you said. Why on earth should he get scared now?’

  ‘Maybe he’s heard the secret police are after him. Or maybe . . . who knows what goes on in men’s souls? Maybe he feels remorse about all those many deaths, all those poor sailors slaughtered on the high seas. Stranger things have happened.’ Ashby turned to the girl. ‘Sarah, tell him what the Count said to you.’

  Sarah’s eyes were very bright. ‘He ask if sick woman soon well. I say I hope so. He ask if I... if Papa—he my padre, yes, or my . . . my maritoV

  ‘If Dr Tedeschi was her father or her husband,’ explained Master Ashby.

  Ned raised his eyebrows.

  ‘It’s not what you think,’ said Ashby. ‘Tell him, Sarah.’

  ‘I say he my padre,' went on Sarah. ‘He say, ah. Then he ask where my mamma. I say she morte .’

  ‘Dead,’ said Ashby. ‘And then he asked one more question. And that’s when the guard came in. He must have overheard him. She never had time to reply. You understand, his wife has him watched by her guards. It appears, though, that he momentarily managed to give them the slip when he came into the sickroom.’

  ‘But what was that last question?’

  ‘Do I know Verona,’ said Sarah.

  ‘What?’

  ‘He asked if she knew Verona,’ said Master Ashby.

  «<-<- 2 03 ->->

  ‘You know, the city of Verona. It meant nothing to her then—she thought it was just idle small talk. He seemed preoccupied, you see, staring out of the window. She had no idea then about Gamboretto from Verona, of course, and the way that man’s been linked to the pirates. But now she wonders if the Count was indeed about to confide in her.’

  ‘But why?’

  ‘Look at her,’ said Ashby simply. ‘He came into that sickroom and saw her tending to his sick relative. Maybe she seemed like an angel of mercy to him. Who knows? Or maybe he just needed to unburden himself to someone. It seems that the man’s weak, unreliable at the best of times. And perhaps he is feeling the pressure too greatly now, if the Duke’s secret police really are on their track.’ He
turned to Claudio and Sarah. ‘I think it is time.’

  ‘Time for what?’ said Ned, but there was no answer, for the other three were talking in Italian amongst themselves. Ned said, ‘What’s going on? You must tell me.’

  ‘It’s this,’ said Ashby. ‘In light of everything, we’ve just decided to bring our plan forward.’

  ‘Plan? What plan?’

  ‘My dear boy, as the Countess now has a description of Claudio—and will connect him with my disappearance, and thence perhaps to Sarah—it’s best we surprise her before she surprises us.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ said Ned, very uneasy.

  -H-2 04-M-

  Sarah said, ‘We see Contessa. We tell her, now .’

  Ned stared at her. ‘Tell her what? That you think she’s a crook, hand in glove with murderous pirates? Are you crazy? She’ll have you arrested in two seconds. Or killed, more likely.’

  ‘No, no, you not know, you . . .’ Frustrated, the girl turned to the merchant and rattled away in Italian.

  Master Ashby turned to Ned. ‘She says it’s enough, she’s had enough of hiding. She is sure the Countess is guilty. The time has come to confront her. She was planning to do this later, but now events have forced her hand. She’s going to make the Countess confess.’

  Ned was aghast. ‘How? Does she plan to blackmail her? Master Ashby, please tell Sarah she’s mad.’

  He shook his head, smiling a little. ‘I don’t think she is, Ned. Not at all. Indeed, I think this plan of hers has merit.’

  ‘What! The Countess will make mincemeat of her. And if she doesn’t have a witness—someone who can prove that the Countess is in this up to her neck—then she doesn’t stand a chance.’

  ‘She does have a witness.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘The Count.’

  Ned stared at Sarah. ‘The Count? But he’s much too scared to help you. And Dr Leone thinks he’s going to be locked up now, prevented from talking to anybody. It’s madness!’ He turned to Claudio. ‘Please, you must

  «<-<- 2 05 ■>>*

  make her understand. . . . She cannot do this, alone or with you. The Countess will just kill you both!’