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Authors: Peter Lovesey
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our full cooperation."
This Undertaking lowered the temperature a little. Dordoni and his assistant got down to facts—the names of the two security men, the times of shifts, the number of employees and so on, all of which David supplied. They also demanded a list of the staff, with addresses, but he couldn't supply one, not before Saturday's meeting.
"If he'd describe these two men, we can make some inquiries and find out if anyone recognizes them," he told Pia.
Dordoni gave a sinister laugh when this was translated, and made a rubbing motion with his finger and thumb while speaking his reply.
Pia impassively translated, "The men were incinerated beyond recognition. It's possible that the forensic pathologists will give some information, but that is likely to take weeks or months."
"What about the car?"
Dordoni revealed that the registration plates had been removed from the Alfa Romeo. Very little that would be useful was left.
David turned to Pia. "Would you ask him a question from me? If these men haven't been identified, is there any evidence at all that connects them with our company?"
She conferred with Dordoni. "He says no."
"It's circumstantial, then."
"Is that a question?"
"Don't trouble," he told her. He wasn't scoring points. "Ask him how this crash happened."
Pia sounded reluctant to put the question. "He already told us. The car was going too fast It turned over."
"Yes, but why? Was it being chased?"
She turned back to Dordoni and succeeded in getting the unhelpful answer, "Nobody knows."
Dordoni nodded to his assistant, preparing to leave. He wasn't waiting for any more idiot questions.
"Was another vehicle involved?" David pressed him.
Pia translated quickly.
Dordoni shrugged. At the door, he appeared to decide, after all, that he would volunteer something else. He turned and delivered a couple of sentences.
Now Pia gave a shrug. "The car was traveling on a perfectly straight stretch of road. It went out of control, but they don't understand why. They can see from the tire marks that it didn't have a blowout It's an extraordinary thing to happen. They are calling it—I think you have the expression in English—an act of God."
Later in the afternoon there was an opportunity to get Rico Villa's views on the mysterious car crash. He was dismissive, scornful of the suggestion that arsonists had started the fire. "Why won't they admit mat coincidences happen? Typical of the police, always looking for the first solution that suggests itself. Two serious incidents on one evening and they have to connect them."
"Only a couple of miles from each other," commented David, slipping into Dordoni's role.
"A couple of drunks turn their car over. What's so sinister about that?"
"How do you know they were drunk?"
"You're in Lombardy now, my friend. Have you tried the Oltrepo Pavese ?
"They did have those empty petrol cans in their trunk."
"They were probably farmers. If you have farm vehicles to keep on the move, you collect extra petrol to take back with you."
"But he said the registration plates were missing."
"Kids. Souvenir hunters. They'll help themselves to anything." David wasn't overly impressed, and said so.
"Okay," Rico lobbed one back, "in a couple of days we can take a roll call. Then we'll know if anyone from Manflex Italia is missing. Want a bet?"
"The guys in the car don't have to be Manflex employees," David said. "Like Dordoni said, they could have been sacked. Or they could simply be troublemakers from outside."
"Let it go, Dave," Rico advised, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We have more important things to do right now. The police are going to take months over this. Years, probably. And then it's quite likely they'll file it as unsolved."
For the first time in their friendship, David Flexner had a stirring of unease about Rico.
CHAPTER NINE
"What exactly do you do in that school?" Stephanie asked one evening as they waited to eat A chicken casserole in the oven was
This Undertaking lowered the temperature a little. Dordoni and his assistant got down to facts—the names of the two security men, the times of shifts, the number of employees and so on, all of which David supplied. They also demanded a list of the staff, with addresses, but he couldn't supply one, not before Saturday's meeting.
"If he'd describe these two men, we can make some inquiries and find out if anyone recognizes them," he told Pia.
Dordoni gave a sinister laugh when this was translated, and made a rubbing motion with his finger and thumb while speaking his reply.
Pia impassively translated, "The men were incinerated beyond recognition. It's possible that the forensic pathologists will give some information, but that is likely to take weeks or months."
"What about the car?"
Dordoni revealed that the registration plates had been removed from the Alfa Romeo. Very little that would be useful was left.
David turned to Pia. "Would you ask him a question from me? If these men haven't been identified, is there any evidence at all that connects them with our company?"
She conferred with Dordoni. "He says no."
"It's circumstantial, then."
"Is that a question?"
"Don't trouble," he told her. He wasn't scoring points. "Ask him how this crash happened."
Pia sounded reluctant to put the question. "He already told us. The car was going too fast It turned over."
"Yes, but why? Was it being chased?"
She turned back to Dordoni and succeeded in getting the unhelpful answer, "Nobody knows."
Dordoni nodded to his assistant, preparing to leave. He wasn't waiting for any more idiot questions.
"Was another vehicle involved?" David pressed him.
Pia translated quickly.
Dordoni shrugged. At the door, he appeared to decide, after all, that he would volunteer something else. He turned and delivered a couple of sentences.
Now Pia gave a shrug. "The car was traveling on a perfectly straight stretch of road. It went out of control, but they don't understand why. They can see from the tire marks that it didn't have a blowout It's an extraordinary thing to happen. They are calling it—I think you have the expression in English—an act of God."
Later in the afternoon there was an opportunity to get Rico Villa's views on the mysterious car crash. He was dismissive, scornful of the suggestion that arsonists had started the fire. "Why won't they admit mat coincidences happen? Typical of the police, always looking for the first solution that suggests itself. Two serious incidents on one evening and they have to connect them."
"Only a couple of miles from each other," commented David, slipping into Dordoni's role.
"A couple of drunks turn their car over. What's so sinister about that?"
"How do you know they were drunk?"
"You're in Lombardy now, my friend. Have you tried the Oltrepo Pavese ?
"They did have those empty petrol cans in their trunk."
"They were probably farmers. If you have farm vehicles to keep on the move, you collect extra petrol to take back with you."
"But he said the registration plates were missing."
"Kids. Souvenir hunters. They'll help themselves to anything." David wasn't overly impressed, and said so.
"Okay," Rico lobbed one back, "in a couple of days we can take a roll call. Then we'll know if anyone from Manflex Italia is missing. Want a bet?"
"The guys in the car don't have to be Manflex employees," David said. "Like Dordoni said, they could have been sacked. Or they could simply be troublemakers from outside."
"Let it go, Dave," Rico advised, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We have more important things to do right now. The police are going to take months over this. Years, probably. And then it's quite likely they'll file it as unsolved."
For the first time in their friendship, David Flexner had a stirring of unease about Rico.
CHAPTER NINE
"What exactly do you do in that school?" Stephanie asked one evening as they waited to eat A chicken casserole in the oven was
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