an exaggeration - with Signorina Elettra in the office. 'You're going to let her go out to Pellestrina and play detective? Alone? Unarmed? With a killer running around? Are you out of your mind, Guido?'
They were still sitting at the table, the children gone off to do whatever it is dutiful and obedient children do after dinner in order to avoid their share of the housework. She set her glass, still half full of Calvados, back on the table and stared across at him. 'I repeat: are you out of your mind?'
"There was no way I could stop her ’ Brunetti insisted, conscious of how weak the admission made him sound. In his recounting of the incident, he had omitted to mention that the original idea had come from him and had given Paola a modified version in which Signorina Elettra insisted on her own initiative that she take a more active part in the investigation. Brunetti heard himself emerging from his telling of the tale as the hapless boss, outwitted by his secretary and too indulgent to endanger her career by imposing upon her the necessary discipline.
Long experience with the prevarications of men in positions of power led Paola to suspect that what she heard was at some variance with the truth. She saw no profit, however, in questioning his account of the incident when it was only the results that interested her.
'So you're going to let her go?' she repeated.
‘I told you, Paola,' he said, thinking it would be better to wait until this was over before he poured himself another Calvados, 'it's not at all a case of letting her; it's a case of not being able to stop her. If I hadn't given in, she would have taken a week of vacation and gone out there on her own anyway to start asking questions.'
'Then is she the one who's out of her mind?' Paola demanded.
Though there were many questions Brunetti would have liked answered about Signorina Elettra, this was not among them. Rather than say that, he gave in to his baser nature and poured himself another drop of Calvados.
'What does she think she's going to be able to do?' Paola asked.
He set his glass down untouched. "The way she explained it to me, she hopes to employ the same tactics and techniques she does with her computer: ask questions, listen to the answers, then ask more questions.'
'And what if, while she's asking one of these questions, someone decides to stick a knife into her stomach the way they did with that fisherman's son?' Paola demanded.
'That's exactly what I asked her,' Brunetti said, which was certainly true in intention if not in fact.
'And?'
'She's convinced that the fact that she's been going out there every summer for years is enough.'
'To what - shroud her in a cloak of invisibility?'Paola rolled her eyes and shook her head in astonishment.
'She's not a fool, Paola,' Brunetti said in Signorina Elettra's defence.
‘I know that, but she's only a woman.'
He had been leaning forward to pick up his glass when she spoke, but her remark stopped him cold. "This from the Rosa Luxemburg of feminism?' he asked. 'She's only a woman?'
'Oh, fight fair, Guido,' Paola said with real anger. 'You know what I mean. She'll be out there with a telefonino and her wits, but someone else is out there with a knife, and this someone has already murdered two people. Those aren't odds I'd want to give to anyone I cared about.'
He registered her last remark and let it pass for the moment. 'Perhaps you should have talked to her, instead of me.'
'No,' Paola said, ignoring his sarcasm. 'I doubt that would have done any good.' Paola had met Signorina Elettra only twice, both times at official dinners given by Patta for members of the Questura staff. Each time, though they had been introduced to one another and had managed to speak for a few moments, they had been seated at different tables, something Brunetti had always viewed as a conscious decision on Patta's part to keep the two women from talking about him.
Ever practical, Paola leaped over theory and
They were still sitting at the table, the children gone off to do whatever it is dutiful and obedient children do after dinner in order to avoid their share of the housework. She set her glass, still half full of Calvados, back on the table and stared across at him. 'I repeat: are you out of your mind?'
"There was no way I could stop her ’ Brunetti insisted, conscious of how weak the admission made him sound. In his recounting of the incident, he had omitted to mention that the original idea had come from him and had given Paola a modified version in which Signorina Elettra insisted on her own initiative that she take a more active part in the investigation. Brunetti heard himself emerging from his telling of the tale as the hapless boss, outwitted by his secretary and too indulgent to endanger her career by imposing upon her the necessary discipline.
Long experience with the prevarications of men in positions of power led Paola to suspect that what she heard was at some variance with the truth. She saw no profit, however, in questioning his account of the incident when it was only the results that interested her.
'So you're going to let her go?' she repeated.
‘I told you, Paola,' he said, thinking it would be better to wait until this was over before he poured himself another Calvados, 'it's not at all a case of letting her; it's a case of not being able to stop her. If I hadn't given in, she would have taken a week of vacation and gone out there on her own anyway to start asking questions.'
'Then is she the one who's out of her mind?' Paola demanded.
Though there were many questions Brunetti would have liked answered about Signorina Elettra, this was not among them. Rather than say that, he gave in to his baser nature and poured himself another drop of Calvados.
'What does she think she's going to be able to do?' Paola asked.
He set his glass down untouched. "The way she explained it to me, she hopes to employ the same tactics and techniques she does with her computer: ask questions, listen to the answers, then ask more questions.'
'And what if, while she's asking one of these questions, someone decides to stick a knife into her stomach the way they did with that fisherman's son?' Paola demanded.
'That's exactly what I asked her,' Brunetti said, which was certainly true in intention if not in fact.
'And?'
'She's convinced that the fact that she's been going out there every summer for years is enough.'
'To what - shroud her in a cloak of invisibility?'Paola rolled her eyes and shook her head in astonishment.
'She's not a fool, Paola,' Brunetti said in Signorina Elettra's defence.
‘I know that, but she's only a woman.'
He had been leaning forward to pick up his glass when she spoke, but her remark stopped him cold. "This from the Rosa Luxemburg of feminism?' he asked. 'She's only a woman?'
'Oh, fight fair, Guido,' Paola said with real anger. 'You know what I mean. She'll be out there with a telefonino and her wits, but someone else is out there with a knife, and this someone has already murdered two people. Those aren't odds I'd want to give to anyone I cared about.'
He registered her last remark and let it pass for the moment. 'Perhaps you should have talked to her, instead of me.'
'No,' Paola said, ignoring his sarcasm. 'I doubt that would have done any good.' Paola had met Signorina Elettra only twice, both times at official dinners given by Patta for members of the Questura staff. Each time, though they had been introduced to one another and had managed to speak for a few moments, they had been seated at different tables, something Brunetti had always viewed as a conscious decision on Patta's part to keep the two women from talking about him.
Ever practical, Paola leaped over theory and
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