Deep Midnight

Page 43

“He should let you get some sleep.”
“Don’t you dare say anything to him. I’ll go back up in a few minutes and take a long hot bath, and then a nap.”
“I’ll try not to say anything,” Jordan murmured.
“Doesn’t he see the bags under your eyes?” she demanded.
“Jordan, if you say anything, I’ll never forgive you. And watch it, please, he’s coming.” Jared, in jeans and a casual jacket, came walking over to them from the entry. So her cousin had been up and about. Well, it wasn’t that early anymore, she realized. It fact, it was well past noon.
He stopped by Jordan’s chair and kissed her on the forehead, then sat down by his wife. Jordan watched him. He seemed to be attentive enough, taking her hand, kissing her cheek. He didn’t seem to notice the circles under her eyes.
“Did you order me coffee?” he asked Cindy.
“I didn’t know you were coming. I hadn’t a clue as to where you were.”
“You two forget; I work while I’m here.”
“Just who do you work for, Jared?” Jordan asked.
“What?”
Cindy gave her such a frown that she amended her words. “Who were you working with?”
“Oh.” He gave a wave of his hand. “Some people involved with the ‘Save Venice’ committee. They donate money to restore buildings, things like that” He glanced at his watch. “In fact, I have another meeting in a few minutes. And you?” He suddenly pointed a finger at Jordan. “The contessa has asked that you join us all for dinner at her palazzo tomorrow night. She is very concerned and wants to make up for the way she scared you.”
“Jared, I don’t want to have dinner with the contessa.”
“Why not?”
“Several reasons. I don’t want to go back to her palazzo?ever. I can’t imagine enjoying a dinner with her. I really dislike the woman.”
He sighed deeply, stretching his hands out before him. “Jordan, I understand. But there are a lot of people I come across whom I find to be unpleasant You don’t realize what you’re doing to me when you act like this. The contessa is big money. She influences lots of people who have big money.”
“She’s not the only woman in the world with money.”
“Venice is my specialty?my love,” Jared said.
He glanced at his watch again and rose. “I don’t have time for coffee. Jordan, be a big kid for me, huh?
You are screwing me royally here?I need you to come to dinner.” He kissed Cindy on the head again, assuming that he’d get an affirmative from Jordan on the dinner.
“What are you up to today?” he asked Cindy.
“A nap.”
Jared shrugged, a proud-as-a-peacock, macho look in his eyes. “Good,” he whispered softly. “I’ll be back by dinner.”
“Love you,” Cindy murmured as he started to walk away. But he paused, looking back at Jordan. “And you?what are you up to?”
She shrugged. “Maybe I can spread some more nasty rumors about the contessa.”
“Jordan?”
“I’m going to return my costume. Maybe go shopping around the Rialto Bridge.” She rose, giving a wave to Cindy. “I’ll be in my room for a few minutes, if you need anything, Cindy.” As she walked by, Jared took her arm. “Jordan?”
“Lay off your wife!” she told him angrily and pulled free from his hold.
She was certain that he wanted to come after her; she was even certain that he wanted to haul off and strike her. But Cindy called him, and he turned back to her.
Jordan took advantage and ran up the stairs.
She didn’t stay in her room as long as she had intended. She was really worried about Cindy, but as long as she intended to take a long bath and sleep, that was probably the best thing for her. Jordan picked up her latest costume to return, then, on a whim, brought the cop’s book on vampires, and headed back down the stairs.
Neither Cindy nor Jared remained in the lobby.
Once again, she asked the concierge to call both Tiff and Roberto Capo for her. Tiff’s answering machine came on, and Roberto Capo had yet to report to duty.
She left the Danieli and headed straight for the Arte della Anna Maria shop. After the usual greetings, everyone kissing everyone’s cheeks, she lingered, admiring Lynn’s latest puppets, and asking if they had all recovered from the hectic pace of the pre-party days.
“Si! All goes well,” Anna Maria told her.
“We have time for coffee, a snack!” Raphael said with pleasure.
Anna Maria frowned. “All of us?”
“It’s slow, not many people ...” Raphael said hopefully. “Gina is upstairs; she can watch the shop.” He slipped an arm around Anna Maria. “We’ll take Jordan to the trattoria down at the corner; just for a quick break. They have spent a lot of money here, renting so many costumes!”
“Go call Gina!” Lynn told Raphael. “We’ll be out waiting.”
“You only want to light a cigarette. You just smoked.”
“Lynn, you should wait, and catch up with us,” Anna Maria said. She pointed out the window. “That lady is thinking about buying your latest harlequin. Talk to her?there is quite a price tag on the marionette, eh?”
As it happened, Lynn wound up talking to the woman interested in her art, Anna Maria went upstairs to talk to Gina, and Jordan and Raphael started walking to the trattoria. “How are you?” he asked her.
She looked at him. He seemed genuinely concerned.
“I’m not sure,” she told him. “You know your friend, the policeman, Roberto Capo.”
“Of course.”
“Well, I went to meet him in a bar. I believe that he thinks something is going on as well, but though I don’t understand the structure of the Venetian police, I think that Alfredo Manetti is his superior, and Manetti is convinced that I’m crazy.”
“You met Roberto?”
“No, I went to meet him, I was almost where we were supposed to meet?then he told me to run.”
“He told you to run?” Raphael was trying to make sure that he was understanding her English.
“I could see the place we were to meet, and I saw him ... I’m sure it was him ... and he suddenly told me to go, to run.”
“Maybe he had stumbled upon a robbery or something. We’re not like Rome, where the pickpockets are everywhere, but...”
“I don’t know. I called the police station a couple of times, but he isn’t in.”
“That’s strange. I’ll call for you again from the trattoria.” They went through the line at the trattoria. Jordan liked the place very much; she could see all the food.
No chance of winding up with seppia, or cuttlefish.
When they were seated, she showed Raphael the book she had carried with her. She sipped coffee, watching him. “I know that all of Venice is convinced I’m overreacting to everything because I was engaged to a cop who was killed. But this book ... well, it stresses the feet that there are cults, and there are sick people, and that bad things do happen.”
Before Raphael could reply, Anna Maria joined them, a plate of cold cuts and pasta on her tray.
“Ah, at last!” she said sitting, then she glanced at the book. “What is this?”
“A book about killers who are vampires,” Raphael said.
“Raphael!” Jordan protested. “It’s about criminal cases in which people thought they were vampires, or monsters of some sort.”
“You shouldn’t be reading it,” Anna Maria said, twirling her pasta. “You suffered enough with your fiancé.”
“I know that Jared used my past as an explanation for my behavior, but I swear to you, I am completely sane,” Jordan said. Was she? Hadn‘t she spent the morning buying garlic and collecting holy water
?
Raphael flipped through the book. “You know, it wouldn’t surprise me if the contessa was some horrid monster.”
“Just because we don’t like people doesn’t make them monsters,” Anna Maria said.
“But a severed head was found in a canal,” Jordan said.
“And there have been other things,” Raphael said. “Of course, in other places, they would not be so big.
But here, in Italy, to desecrate a Catholic church ...”
“What Catholic church?” Jordan demanded.
“It was no longer a Catholic church!” Anna Maria said. “The building had been deconsecrated because of the danger in the structure.”
“Still, it looked like a church, had been a church, and was still owned by the Church,” Raphael said.
“What happened to it?”
“All manner of strange graffiti, that is all,” Anna Maria said.
“Ancient strange graffiti,” Raphael said. “Babylonian ... Persian, something like that. The scholars never quite put it all together, or understood what was written. Much was in hieroglyphics.”
“Egyptian?” Jordan murmured.
Raphael shrugged. “Rome did conquer Egypt!”
“Everywhere in the world, there is graffiti,” Anna Maria said.
“Ciao!” Lynn cried, joining them at last with her tray. “I sold my marionette! Lunch is on me?oh, but you all have already paid, of course!”
“You can go buy us all some champagne,” Rafael suggested.
“Not for me?no more alcohol,” Jordan protested.
“And not for Raphael. He will be sending the clean costumes back to the cleaners, and attaching the wrong hats to the wrong costumes!” Anna Maria said.
But Raphael wasn’t paying attention. He leaned forward. “Today’s paper carried an interview with some poor young students bused in from a violent area in the former Yugoslavia. They had a wonderful time, but one of their friends did not get on the bus to go home. They seemed to think that she fell in love with Venice and intends to stay.”