“Signora, your brother phoned me at three today to ask me to come and see him. He wanted to tell me something he had kept from me. Do you know what it was about?”
Anna Sage shook her head. “He just said that he’d remembered some detail about his life that might be of interest and have some connection to how he came to be in his wife’s fashion house.”
“He said it just like that?”
“More or less. Edward had just finished talking to—that woman. She’d come to see him and he was upset—I’ve told you he loved her—so upset he didn’t know what he was saying. Several times he said the word ‘orchid’ and sneered.”
De Vincenzi’s eyes were gleaming. From the door of the showroom he looked at the people gathered in front of him. Anna Sage stood beside him and Cristiana was still sitting in a chair next to the wall.
“So he specifically wanted to discuss the orchid with me?”
“Oh, how can you think that? I’m telling you, he wasn’t making sense.”
“Signora, do you know what his wife had gone to tell him?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Oh, that woman is a clever actress! She came to tell him to prepare to leave Milan with her. She’d decided to go with him as long as he took her far away, and immediately. A trap, of course, to get him back into this house.”
“Wait!” De Vincenzi called the officer stationed in the lobby. “Go to the second floor and ask the maid, Verna Campbell, to come down here. Bring her here quickly.” He turned back to Anna Sage. “And your brother came to this building? Why? And why, after a meeting like that, would he phone to ask me to go and see him?”
“It was after the meeting that he remembered the detail I mentioned. It came to him like a revelation. He jumped up and started going crazy, mentioning the orchid… Then he phoned you. I left him to go back to my room and a little later he came in to tell me that he’d be coming here. He advised me to tell you if he wasn’t back in half an hour.”
Verna Campbell came in from the corridor. She got as far as the door where De Vincenzi was standing and stopped.
“Signorina Campbell, did you go to the Albergo Palazzo with Signora O’Brian?”
Verna stiffened. “I told you to ask her!”
“Yes, you did. But I’m asking you to answer me, and I warn you that things are too serious for you to waste my time with your silence. Your mistress stands accused as a murderer. I’m telling you to make you aware of the responsibility you’re under and the danger you yourself are facing.”
Verna paled slightly but appeared unintimidated. She replied sarcastically, “In any case, Valerio wasn’t worth the Signora’s getting herself into trouble.”
“Who told you it was she who killed Valerio?”
“Wasn’t it? What do you want to know, then? She had reasons to kill him.”
She shrugged. “Look, ask me something specific and I’ll answer you. Yes, I went to the Albergo Palazzo with my mistress. She was the one who wanted to go. So?”
Cristiana revived the moment Verna Campbell appeared. She stared at the girl, and it seemed to De Vincenzi that she was no longer indifferent.
“What did the lady do there?”
“She asked for Mr Bolton and spoke to him.”
“Were you with them?”
“I stayed in the next room.”
“Did you hear what they said?”
“I wasn’t authorized to do so.”
“But you did hear.”
She smirked. “It was short. As he walked her to the door he said, ‘We’ll leave together tomorrow. Thank you, Ileana.’”
“That’ll be all, Signorina Campbell. Go back to your room.”
Verna hesitated. The brusque dismissal surprised her. She gave another of her sarcastic smiles and walked into the corridor. De Vincenzi watched her for several seconds before returning to the showroom.
“I’d say that things are now perfectly clear. Just a few brushstrokes, one or two touch-ups, and we’ll have the complete picture.”
Cristiana stood up. “So you believe, Inspector, that I was the one who killed Russell?”
“That’s your sister-in-law’s accusation, Signora.”
“And I killed Evelina too?”
“We haven’t yet spoken about Signorina Evelina.”
“That’s a fact, and a sad one. Very sad.”
“Well it’s also a fact that Valerio was murdered. Are you accusing me of that murder as well?”
“We need to take things in sequence, Signora O’Brian. To reconstruct the crimes and then reach our conclusion. Yes, everything seems to point to you. And since I want to convince you that our legal system doesn’t act blindly, I’ll clarify the situation before declaring you under arrest.”
Prospero O’Lary interrupted. “But Inspector, you’re making a grave mistake! What motive would Cristiana have—Signora Cristiana—for committing the crimes? And what about the weapon?” His voice rose even higher. “Have you found the weapon?”
De Vincenzi smiled.
“I haven’t found it yet, Signor O’Lary, but are you really asking me what motive Signora O’Brian might have had for killing Valerio and Evelina? A short time ago you yourself—”
“But I—” the little man protested vigorously.
“I know. You told me so. You wanted to scare her into defending herself. That’s fine. A noble intention, but pointless. Getting to grips with reality, as you say, in order to destroy incriminating evidence is not enough to protect someone. Let’s mull over the facts, and you’ll see that they reveal the motives. Please take a seat.”
He pushed a few armchairs towards the people standing by the wall and repeated his invitation.
“Make yourselves comfortable.”
Cristiana was the first to sit. She must have been worn out. Marta, Madame Firmino and O’Lary sat down after her. The last to take a seat—reluctantly—was Anna Sage, and she left an empty chair between her and her sister-in-law.
De Vincenzi briefly studied the four faces focused on him.
“Now, let’s begin.”