temptation in florence 05 - seaside in death (27 page)

She knew she looked a treat with her red face, the straw hat crooked on her impossible hair, and her shirt crumpled and sweaty. Probably they thought she shouldn't be allowed anywhere in the vicinity of the club.

Above the guard, a black awning shadowed the short stretch from the street to the golden portals of the club. The distinctive logo of the club – five golden stars beneath the curlicued name – was etched into the glass doors, and the ground was covered with a red carpet.

Carlina discovered a bench on the other side of the street and decided to wait there for Garini's arrival. She didn't have long to wait – either he must have been close, or he'd broken every speed record. Well, driving a police car had its advantages. He parked right in front of the Club and got out without looking right or left.

His face looked intimidating, and Carlina remembered how serious he'd been when she'd first gotten to know him. Those clear eyes had seemed to scan her soul. Thank God she now knew how attractive that grim mouth could become when softened by a smile. She got up but a quick movement of his hand put her back in place. So he had seen her after all.

She sank back onto the bench, content to watch his next actions.

With several quick steps, he went up to the guard who had lost a bit of his nonchalance. Stefano showed him his papers and pointed to her, then to the car.

The guard nodded.

Garini turned on his heels, drove the car a bit further down the street and parked it there, then came back on foot.

“What was that all about?” Carlina asked as she got up from her bench.

“Try to look as official as you can. I introduced you as my staff to get you free entrance. I figured if we arrived as a couple, he wouldn't let us in, and I didn't want to risk that.”

“Cool. Do I get to arrest Annalisa?”

He slanted her a look. “Do you want to arrest her?”

“If she's there, definitely.”

The guard went to the side and opened the glass door wide. Cool air scented with a faint jasmine scent welcomed them in. Nut wood paneling and cubic modern furniture was combined with glossy chrome chairs, a glitzy chandelier up high, and a bar alighted in neon blue. A heavy bass thumbed through the air.

The club was quiet – it was too early for the fashionable crowds, but Stefano walked on as if he knew where to go. They left the building on the other side and came onto a wooden deck with several palm trees and a huge swimming pool. Further down, steps led to the beach and beyond, the blue sea beckoned to them.

Around the pool, expensive deck loungers were dotted at strategic intervals. Each had its own elegant little umbrella with a black canvas. The loungers had pristine white cushions, and each had a black towel rolled up at the foot. The towels had the distinctive logo stitched in gold, and they were arranged in such a way that the logo glinted in the sunlight.

Integrated in one side of the pool was another bar, so you didn't even have to get out of the water to get a refill. And that's where they found Annalisa. She was sitting on one of the seats at the bar, her long legs crossed, a cool long drink in her hand, her sunglasses firmly in place. She was flirting with the muscled bar keeper and as they watched, she threw back her head and laughed.

Carlina made a sound like an angry cat and rushed forward, but Stefano's hand held her back. “Police business,” he said. “Let me handle it.”

He walked up to the pool and stood at the edge, looking down at Annalisa. “Annalisa Santorini.” His voice was hard.

Her head snapped up.

“I'd like to invite you to accompany me back to the police station immediately.”

Annalisa's eyes widened. “What? Why should I?”

The barkeeper drew back visibly.

“I'd prefer to discuss this later,” Garini said. “Will you please get dressed and come with us now?”

Carlina tried to imitate the look of the blues brothers. No emotions. Impassive face. Good thing she was still wearing her sunglasses. The straw hat was a problem, though. She tried to make up for it by crossing her arms in front of her chest. That was the safest option anyway. Her hands were itching to close around Annalisa's neck. How dare she scare the family like that?

Annalisa looked from Carlina to Garini. “Carlina! What happened?”

Carlina looked into space and concentrated on not moving a muscle. It was more difficult than she'd thought.

“Come with us now,” Garini repeated. “We can't talk here.”

Annalisa shook her head, but she placed her drink back onto the bar and got up.

The barkeeper had averted his face and pretended that all his attention was focused on wiping the surface of the counter.

She gave him a last look, then, realizing that she couldn't count on help from that quarter, sighed and came out of the pool. She dried herself, put on her summer dress with extra slow movements, and slipped into her sandals. Then she dropped a glossy magazine and her sun lotion into a bag and straightened. “I'm ready,” she announced. She tried to look nonchalant, but her gaze was anxious.

As well it might be,
Carlina thought grimly.
Let her be anxious. She has no idea what her mother has gone through these last hours.

“Why don't you both get in back and have a talk,” Stefano said in a low voice while Annalisa was preceding them out of the club. “I'll call Benedetta and let her know that Annalisa is safe and on her way back to the hotel.”

“All right.” Carlina nodded.

As soon as they were seated in the police car, with the glass walls in front of them closed, Annalisa let go of her cool attitude and turned on her cousin with fury. “What on earth is this charade all about? Have you gone out of your mind?”

“That's what I'd like to ask you,” Carlina gave her a murderous look. “Is it true that you spent the whole day at the Club?”

“Yes.” Annalisa glared at her. “What about it? Don't I have the right to go to the club whenever I want?”

“You can go to any darn club whenever you want, Annalisa, but didn't it just cross your mind that we might get anxious about you? Why didn't you leave a note?”

Annalisa's full mouth started to pout. “We're not in Kindergarten. I have a right to go anywhere I want.”

“Of course you have the right, but it's not very considerate of you. Benedetta is worried out of her mind, and the whole family is combing the city, looking for you! There's a murderer out there, you know!”

“There's a murderer out there,” Annalisa mimicked her with a grimace. “I was safe at the club. No murderers at all.”

Carlina wanted to hit her. “Good that you at least knew you were safe. It would have been nice if the rest of us had known about it, too. That was super egotistical, Annalisa. Particularly as you didn't answer your phone and pretended to have disappeared off the face of the earth.”

Annalisa gave her a look that would have burned a potato into a crisp. “If I had told the others, I would never have heard the last of it! They would have insisted on coming with me, and it would have been awful.”

“I know that you sometimes need space from the family,” Carlina said, “but why didn't you at least leave a note, telling us not to worry? Why create such a ruckus? You knew that would happen, didn't you?”

Annalisa shrugged.

Carlina stared at her, and suddenly, she remembered Annalisa's immobile figure when Emma had announced her pregnancy beneath the olive trees. Emma had sat like a queen in the middle of the family circle, accepting congratulations from them as her due. Everyone but Annalisa had been overjoyed. Suddenly, Carlina realized why Annalisa had acted in this inconsiderate way. First, Ernesto had been at the center of their mother's attention, with the threat of being arrested like a Damocles sword above him, then Emma. Nobody had had eyes for spoiled, beautiful Annalisa. “I know why you did it,” she said. “You wanted to be at the center of our attention again.”

Annalisa lifted her chin. “Nonsense.”

Carlina had had enough. She looked out of the window. Thank God they were just arriving in front of the hotel. “We're here,” she said. “Have fun explaining to the assembled family why you thought disappearing would be a good idea. I'm going out for dinner with Stefano. Alone.”

She jumped out of the car and got into the front seat, slamming both doors behind her. Then she looked at Stefano. “Did you hear us?”

He nodded. “She's a spoiled little kid.”

Carlina gave an exasperated sigh. “By now, she should have grown out of it.”

Annalisa got out of the car and closed the door with a bang.

Carlina sighed again. “Have you told the family?”

“I called Benedetta.”

“What did she say?”

“At first, she was too relieved to say anything at all. Then she was upset. And I really mean upset. I've never heard her like that.”

“I can understand her. If Annalisa is murdered tonight, you've got a whole lot of Mantonis as suspects.”

“Yep.”

Carlina bent forward and massaged her feet. “I'm hungry and thirsty and really, really fed up with my family. Can we go as far away as possible?”

He smiled at her, then hit the gas. “I know the right place. Let's return the car to the police station.”

“But I can't walk anymore.”

He nodded. “I noticed. Don't worry.”

They returned the car; Garini briefly went inside to report the latest developments, and then he came back and took her arm. “It's just down the street.”

She stopped. “Won't we run into the family?”

“No. It's guaranteed Mantoni-free.”

“Then I'll like it, even if they have nothing but
spaghetti bolognese
on the menu.”

“They won't. It's operated by immigrants from Jamaica, and the food is quite spicy with lots of coconut milk and sea grass and stuff. Lampone told me all about it.”

“Yummy.”

He crossed the street and led her to a small place, where he knocked.

“But this is a private house.” Carlina frowned.

“Not really. It's the smallest restaurant in Forte dei Marmi, operated by one cook and her son. They have five tables in the backyard, and Lampone says her dishes are to die for.”

Lampone's recommendation was justified. Carlina could hardly tell what she enjoyed more – Stefano's presence all for herself, the quiet backyard, overgrown with vines and bougainvillea, the slight wind from a modern fan in a corner that cooled her hot feet, or the delicious spicy chicken that was cooked to perfection in a light lime sauce.

When they slowly walked back to the hotel, she snuggled close to Stefano. The air had cooled down enough to be pleasant; her feet didn't hurt quite as much anymore, and above them, the stars were shining in a cloudless sky. “What a day.” She sighed. “We've worked like crazy, but we didn't get anywhere.”

“I wouldn't say that.” He pulled at a curl that had escaped from her straw hat. “You've got a new look; Pucci is cleared, and we've found Annalisa. Could be worse.”

“Ha.” Carlina shook her head. “If you count that as progress, all right. But we still haven't found the murderer.”

“We will,” he said. “These things take time. It's like a puzzle. You have to take each bit and look at it, and sometimes you have to put one to the side again, only to take it up later, when it suddenly makes sense.”

“Well, I'm not going to take up anything tonight,” Carlina said. “I want to sleep for ten hours straight.”

But her wish wasn't fulfilled. They went to sleep at ten o'clock but an hour later, someone hammered against their door.

“Stefano! Carlina! Wake up!” Emma's voice was full of panic. “The murderer has come back!”

Chapter 18

Carlina jumped out of bed, pushed by a pure shot of adrenaline that ran through her veins, but getting her body to function was the most she could do. Questions shot through her brain without making it out her mouth, as if her tongue was paralyzed, and her hands and knees were shaking too hard for them to be of any use.

Stefano, however, was not only ahead of her, he also managed to stay in control of his mouth. He unlocked the door in one swift move, pulled Emma in and shut the door behind her again. “Is the murderer in the hotel?”

“No, no!” Emma sagged with her back against the door. She lifted a shaking hand, pointing toward the window. “He's out there, by the pool . . .”

“Did you hear him from your window?” Stefano slipped into a pair of shorts and sneakers without taking his gaze off her.

“Yes.” A shudder went through her. “Just like the last time. I know that voice, Stefano! It's him! It's the murderer!”

Stefano looked around, then grabbed the belt of his bathrobe and a racket they'd brought to play beach tennis.

Carlina had managed to fling on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. She now went and took Emma's trembling hands. “It's all right, Emma. Calm down.”

“Where's Lucio?” Stefano asked.

“I didn't take the time to wake him.” Emma replied. “He always takes ages until he finally wakes up enough to know his name again.”

“Good.” He turned and looked at Carlina. “Stay here, please.”

Emma frowned. “But--”

He didn't look at her, his gaze steady on Carlina, mesmerizing her. “Carlina. Please?”

Carlina swallowed. “All right.”

“Lock the door behind me.” He was gone without a sound.

Carlina turned the lock, then looked at Emma.

Emma pulled her lips into a weak pout that was a travesty of her usual pout. “How typically male! Tells us to stay in the background where nothing exciting will happen, while going out all by himself.”

Carlina shook her head. “It's not because we're women. It's because he's a professional, and we're amateurs. He didn't want Lucio at his side, either, remember?” She gave her cousin the once over. “I think you'd better sit down, girl. You're white as a sheet and trembling.”

Her cousin, who never accepted any advice she got, sank onto the edge of the unmade bed and took a deep breath, then placed her hand on her stomach. “Do you think this will harm the baby?”

Her meek behavior scared Carlina more than any protest would have done. With an effort, she summoned up an encouraging smile. “I'm sure it got a fright, just like the
Mamma
, that's why it's important that you calm down now.”