On Friday evening, Scott noticed Luigi in the piano bar Helen and her friends used to frequent and sidled up to chat.
‘How’s business?’ he asked.
Luigi shrugged. ‘The usual. Did you want something?’
‘Maybe,’ Scott replied. ‘What’s on offer this fine evening?’
‘Everything. I can get anything you want.’
‘Can I buy you a drink?’
Luigi accepted a shot of whisky, requesting Johnny Walker, the most expensive brand they stocked. Scott had a beer. He wanted to work round to asking about Helen but without being too obvious.
‘Your job must make you very popular,’ he said. ‘Does it help when you are sweet-talking the ladies?’
Luigi was heavy-set, and the open buttons at the neck of his shirt displayed a carpet of curly dark chest hair. There was dark stubble on the backs of his hands where he obviously shaved them. The man resembled a gorilla and Scott couldn’t believe he would have much success with women based on his physical merits.
‘Who needs it?’ Luigi bragged. ‘The ladies come to me. They all want something so I get what I want in return.’ There was an ugly glint in his eye and Scott noticed a cloying aftershave scent hung in the air around him.
‘I could do with some of that. I’m not having much luck with the chicks here in Rome.’ Scott found self-deprecation worked to his advantage, especially when dealing with arrogant types. It underpinned their sense of superiority.
‘You want me to introduce you to some?’
Scott couldn’t think of anything he wanted less. ‘I’m pretty picky. Some of the girls in the Cleopatra crowd are cute but they can be full of themselves.’
‘I know some of them, for sure. There are none in tonight though.’ They both gazed round the bar, which was quiet for a Friday evening.
‘Say, didn’t you know that makeup artist girl who drowned? I was reading about it in the paper.’
‘Not really.’ Luigi wouldn’t meet his eye. ‘I saw her around.’
‘I gave her a ride home once and I got the impression she was an addict. She always looked like she was blitzed.’
‘Did she put out for you?’ Luigi asked, with interest.
‘Nah. We kissed a little but she seemed uptight.’ It felt awful to be talking about Helen in this way but he wanted to lure Luigi into confessing. There was a knowing smirk on his face and Scott could tell he was dying to boast. ‘Did you ever get anywhere with her?’
‘Sure I did. She would do anything when she wanted a fix. Well, not quite anything – she was a virgin – but a few times she gave me a hand job or a bocchino.’ He made an obscene gesture, thrusting his thumb in and out between his lips.
Scott felt like smacking him on the nose. His fists clenched, but he managed to control his temper. ‘Gee, I wish I’d known about that. When did you see her last?’
There was a flicker of suspicion, then Luigi relaxed again. ‘Last week. Usual thing: no money, desperate for a fix, so I took her out the back of the café for a quick one. Probably the last sex she ever had.’ He grinned, hideously.
‘What do you reckon happened to her? That story about the researcher doesn’t add up somehow.’
Luigi’s face took on a guarded look. ‘I don’t know, and I don’t care. One less slut in the world doesn’t bother me.’ A muscle twitched in his cheek and Scott felt sure he was hiding something.
‘Don’t you think it’s a bit weird that she travelled all the way down to the coast? I wondered if she knew another dealer down there and went to buy drugs from him, perhaps if she couldn’t find you.’
Luigi was definitely rattled. ‘How the hell should I know? Listen, do you want something or not? I’m not going to do any business with you standing here yakking.’
‘I’ll have some coke. Meet you in the gents’?’
As Scott handed over the money by the urinals, Luigi revived their little joke: ‘So is this for Elizabeth Taylor?’ He grinned broadly, and Scott saw he had a gold filling in one of his molars.
Scott tapped the side of his nose. ‘That would be telling.’ He accepted the paperfold that was slid into his palm, then said, ‘Thanks, buddy. See you around.’
When he got outside, he turned the corner into a service alleyway and leaned against a wall, utterly sickened by what he had heard. Was Luigi just boasting or had Helen really been forced to offer sexual favours to feed her drug dependence? That pretty, innocent girl touching such revolting flesh … If it were true, that might explain why she was so distraught the last time he saw her: she couldn’t afford any more vitamin injections but felt so bad when she stopped them that the only thing she could think of was going back to that vile man.
She was caught between a rock and a hard place. If only he had been able to rescue her. He should have done more. Now his drugs exposé had another purpose apart from revenge on the Ghianciaminas: he owed it to Helen to get Luigi put behind bars.