A talk with Juliet
...
If I had the time over again, I might have chosen a different path in advising her of the possible connection to the Burkhardt's, but that cat was now out of the bag. I had to play that card when the police started asking difficult questions. It's a bit hard to give a plausible reason for people shooting at you.
"It's possible but unlikely, but it seems someone thinks you might be, hence the assassination attempt."
"Do you think my father was the Count, and my mother one of the servants?" There was a curious inflection in her tone like she was mentally calculating the billions she might be worth.
"What did your adoptive mother tell you about your father, other than he was important?
"Nothing."
"Then the description 'important person' could be the butler or the head gardener to a lowly servant girl, so I wouldn't be getting too many ideas. The count has never admitted to having any children outside of marriage, and, in fact, had only one surviving family member, the countess. Have you ever met her?"
"Seen her only in papers, and once from afar when I was watching the house in Sorrento. Head gardener or butler, you do know how to dash a girl's dreams."
"Better to understand the reality before the family lawyers shred you in court if you try to press any sort of a claim. And if they do know about you, and they believed you were an heir, then you could be in trouble."
"You seem to know a lot about the family. Are you working for them?"
An astute observation. "The answer to that question is no. My only interest in this was to escort the countess to the Opera as a favour to the man whom I used to work for, yes, I'm still retired, or getting there. So, I've met the countess, but she never mentioned anything about children, only the count dying on her, and now, from my boss, the fact she is missing. The truth of the matter, I'm only here to find the countess, then I'm back to Venice, or Paris, or anywhere other than here."
"But there's more to it than that. I know you, there's wheels within wheels."
There might be, but I wasn't going to humour her. "Well, if she's missing and doesn't sign the inheritance papers, the estate goes to the next brother, Alessandro. If he was aware there was a possibly more direct heir, if the count was your father, his situation would demand that you were eliminated from the list. If he was that way inclined."
"Then he's your man."
"He's not. I've spoken to him already. But I have another more viable candidate, your birth mother, who could tell us if the count was your father, though, as a servant girl, and later criminal, I doubt the courts would believe her."
"You know who my birth mother is then?" it was spoken with a little more curiosity than she should, which told me she already knew and was covering it. I wondered if Ceceila had any success. I would sneak away and send her a text soon. And ask her to drop in if she could.
"We think we do." After analysing everything Juliet said, and the physical evidence we had, like the photograph, it was possible that Vittoria was not. All the evidence we had was circumstantial.
The waiter chose to arrive at our table with the pizza, and I decided we had to eat first, leaving her with a look of annoyance. It could wait another few minutes, time taken to look at her and for any resemblance to Vittoria and the Count. It seemed to me there was none, but Cecilia would know. Time to send her a text to meet us at the restaurant, and what I wanted her to do. I excused myself and went to the restrooms.
Just before I went in the door I glanced back and saw she was on the phone. Who could she be calling?
When I came back, I decided to keep going down the direct route. "Do you know a woman by the name of Vittoria Romano?"
I watched her carefully as I asked the question. Everyone had a tell, and I think I knew hers.
"Should I?"
The curious thing about that reply was another of those inflections in her tone, one that told me she did.
That just added a whole new layer to the game. It also told me why she was not so shaken up by the turn of events. It might have been a surprise to see me, but not getting shot at.
"I have reason to believe she is your mother. She has been trying to get closer to Alessandro, but the countess had warned him of her intentions. We understand this Vittoria was getting a payment to look after you, whether by blackmail or otherwise, and when that stopped, she started making trouble. She is, by the way, in London at the moment though we don't know where."
"And you think I might?"
"If I accompanied you to your apartment, would she be there?"
"I said I didn't know her." She tried to put on an aggrieved tome that I would think that she was lying.
"You've said a lot of things in the past, especially to me, that are not true. We know each other fairly well, Juliet."
That tone was now accompanied by a pained expression that was mean to convey annoyance. "I should get up and walk out, but as you say, we know each other fairly well, and I'm guessing you'd construe that as guilt. I am disappointed."
I saw Cecilia arrive outside, and now that the restaurant was quite full, she was easily able to get to our table without Juliet seeing her, not until she dropped into the third seat, and sigh, "Do you have any idea what it's like getting across this city in the rush hour?"
The look on Juliet's face was priceless.
© Charles Heath 2023
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