Chapter 36

When Alessandro arrived at the station, Columbo, arms crossed over his chest, was watching Dino through the one-way window of the observation room.

“Tell me what I’m supposed to say to you,” Columbo asked Alessandro.

“I have no idea. I could say ‘I told you so,’ but the joke seems to be on me right now.”

“It certainly is strange timing.”

“Well, open the door, and let’s hear what he has to say for himself.”

Dino was all politeness when Alessandro entered the room. His lawyer sat next to him, slick and oily-looking. Alessandro guessed his morals were little better than those of the mobsters he defended.

“Good morning,” Dino said to Alessandro cheerfully. “I know something you’ve been waiting to hear for a long time.” He may have spent the night negotiating, but he looked rested, his regard as friendly as if they were old friends meeting over coffee.

“Tell me why I should believe you.”

“I can’t make you believe me,” Dino said good-naturedly. “I’ll tell you what I know, and it’s your choice to believe me or not.”

Dino told his story, factually and unemotionally, almost as if he were summarizing a movie he’d seen, as opposed to a violent course of events he was personally involved in. As he talked, Alessandro made a bulleted list in his notebook. Some of it was unnecessary, but it helped him stay focused.

• Zucaro family business in trouble as father runs up huge debts.
• Katarina making good glass but that isn’t enough to save them.
• Dino their boat driver before working for Silvio Milan.
• K stumbles across D’s real business—shipping heroin in Z’s glass. Drugs supplied by D’s Albanian family connections.
• D offers to let K in for a cut, K accepts, and for next two years K & D run a highly profitable drug-smuggling business. Z family business back in black.
• K marries and wants out, but then D’s cousin Benito realizes how rich Alessandro is—proposes kidnapping plan.
• K overhears and tries to call police, but D shoots into air, slams down phone.
• D doesn’t want kidnapping—too risky—heroin business brings in millions.
• D makes deal with K—stage her death or A will be killed. K agrees.

How was he supposed to deal with these revelations? He’d been married to Katarina and yet didn’t know her at all. First she was smuggling drugs, then she sacrificed everything to save him. No wonder she’d looked so stressed and worried all the time.

And no wonder he’d never solved the mystery of her disappearance. He’d been wrong about everything from the start.

He had to go to New Jersey and bring her home after what she’d done for him. He was just going to have to forget he was in love with Olivia and somehow fall back in love with his wife.

But how was he going to get there? He couldn’t take his own plane because of the fog, and both the Venice and Treviso airports were closed for the same reason. His only option was to drive to Milan and take the next flight to New York.