"I told him I'd be spending the next few days with you. He was busy with some internal company audits, so we didn't talk long. I didn't tell him, of course, what we were going to do this morning!"

  "Are you sure you'll be able to cancel the wedding ring?"

  "No, but it's worth a try."

  Laura slowed the car down as we entered the town of Arezzo, to the east of Florence. We parked the car in a lot not far from the center and walked the few blocks to the jewelers.

  "How did you pick this place to make your ring?" I moved away from the curb to avoid being hit by the cars speeding past.

  Laura switched places with me so she was walking on the curbside. "Italians, they're all racecar drivers! Giovanna recommended the jeweler. She even helped us design the ring. The order's under her name."

  We passed several jewelry shops before we crossed the street and reached the right one. When we entered the shop, a young woman came from behind the counter and spoke to us in Italian. Laura answered her, and I heard her mention the name Bartolini. Before Laura could say any more, a look of recognition came over the salesgirl's face. She directed us to a table and some seats, and then she went into the back of the shop.

  As we sat down, Laura whispered, "It looks like I'm too late. She's going to bring me the ring to try on!"

  "Do you know her?"

  "No, the jeweler helped us before. I think she just recognized the name."

  The young woman returned with several velvet pouches and a few leather jewelry boxes. She set them carefully on the table, and then opened one after the other to show each sparkling piece of jewelry to its best advantage against the blue velvet tabletop. She started with the least valuable piece, a ring set with sapphires, and ended with the most expensive piece: a thick, braided gold necklace, encrusted with tiny diamonds.

  Laura and I sat in stunned silence. Finally, Laura looked up, smiled at the salesgirl, and said in English, "They're all stunning!"

  The young woman smiled, then answered in English, "Yes, Papa is an artist. Take your time. Just call me if you need anything."

  Once alone, I whispered, "Quite a wedding chest, my dear. Earning well, are you, with your writing?"

  Laura laughed softly and said, "Not this well! Check the labels. She must have made a mistake."

  After reading a few of the labels on the velvet and leather packaging, we stopped and looked at each other questioningly. Laura said, "Graziella Bartolini?"

  "She has a thing for jewelry. I saw her on the Ponte Vecchio shopping for some very expensive items. The owner knew her by sight and by name. She was upset when I mentioned it. She told me not to tell anyone and made up a story about buying a nice wedding gift for you."

  "It's strange, but after yesterday, your investigating doesn't surprise me." Laura looked back at the jewelry. "But this stuff does! It's worth a fortune!"

  "How can they afford it?"

  "I have an idea but I don't want to believe it." Laura explained, "People can launder illegal earnings by turning them into precious metals abroad, then having them made into jewelry. They can move the jewelry around easily, and then sell it when they want to cash in."

  "Where do they buy the metals? Where would they sell the jewelry?" I had an idea, too.

  "Usually in places like Switzerland, Prague, Malta, Spain."

  "You've just named all the places Ernesto and Graziella go on vacation every year."

  "How do you know these things? No, don't tell me. Investigating. Well, I can do some investigating, too! Play along." Laura called the young salesgirl over to us. "They look perfect!" Laura smiled and said, "I'm Signora Bartolini's personal assistant, and this is my mother who's visiting from America." Laura blushed and sounded embarrassed when she said, "I'm mixing business with pleasure; I'm showing my mother around while I run errands for my boss."

  The young woman laughed conspiratorially. "I do that, too. When Papa sends me out of town, I take my boyfriend." She looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "Only if I have to stay the night," she added with a giggle.

  "Smart girl!" Laura shared in their conspiracy with a guilty laugh. "I only have to check one thing, and then we can go sightseeing."

  I smiled at this point, showing I was looking forward to the sightseeing. I wanted to play my part in the charade, but did not trust my acting skills to actually say anything. But watching Laura, I decided that she could easily be a more accomplished actor than Tomaso!

  "Signora wants me to check the purity certificates to make sure you used the metals she brought you." Laura kept smiling, but I knew it was a gamble.

  "They're right here." The salesgirl reached into a flat velvet pouch that sat under the other packages and pulled out some papers. She handed them to Laura and pointed to the markings. "Papa never mixes the metals if the client doesn't want that. And the designs she chose are marked here." She showed us a page with a list of design numbers.

  At the bottom of the paper I noticed a note in Italian, which looked like it had been added later in different ink and by a different hand.

  "Perfect! I have to check them or she gets very angry. I'm her third personal assistant in six months! So I have to be careful!" The young woman laughed, and Laura continued her performance of the harried employee. "You can put them away, for now. She's out of the country at the moment. It's the only peace I've had since I started working for her! She told me she'd pick them up as soon as she gets back."

  "That's fine!" The young woman collected the pieces and brought them away. "Have fun sightseeing!" She called out and waved a goodbye as Laura and I left the shop.

  We waited at the curb for the road to clear before trying to cross to the other side. After a few seconds, Laura ran across. She called out to me, "Stay close!"

  I hesitated at the curb and did not manage to follow Laura. I waited for the next clear moment on the road and then started across. I saw that Laura had reached the other side of the street and was looking for me. Suddenly, she rushed back into the street and grabbed me by my clothes. She pulled me violently to the side of the road, both of us falling onto a parked car. Behind me, I felt air push against me, and I heard the screeching of car tires somewhere down the street.

  "Are you alright? Did I hurt you?" asked Laura, as she helped me off the parked car's hood and to the safety of the curb. "That was too close! They almost hit you and they didn't even stop!"

  I tried to answer but I could get no words to come out of my mouth.

  Laura put her arm around me. "Come on. We need a brandy!"

  Within minutes we were seated at a nearby café and had coffees and brandies before us. "Italian drivers are the worst in the world!" Laura whispered her anger so as not to attract any more attention than we were already getting from the elderly men seated at the bar. "I didn't even get a license number or a description of the car!"

  "It happened too fast, Laura. Don't be so hard on yourself! You saved my life." My hand shook as I set the brandy glass back on the table.

  "Do you think it was on purpose?" Laura's expression changed quickly. "The investigation! Who knows you were investigating?"

  "Everyone, really, by now."

  "This is so wrong! I wanted you here to celebrate my wedding, and now look at the mess. A murder, no wedding, no fiancé, and now someone tries to kill you!" Laura looked like she was about to cry.

  "We don't know if this was on purpose, Laura. Let's not get carried away. Italians are terrible drivers. You said so yourself." Eager to get Laura thinking of anything else, I decided to return to the subject of Graziella's jewels. "What did that note on the bottom of the paper mean?"

  "On the list? It was a note to hurry the order. They changed the delivery date to a few days from now."

  "Where do you think they got the money for the jewelry?"

  I could see this intrigued Laura, setting her logical mind in action. "Seeing that Ernesto is the company's financial director and Graziella is his assistant, I'd say they're stealing from the family firm."

  "Do you think Antonio could have found that out?"

  "You mean that was what he was blackmailing them with? It could be. He wasn't stupid. Antonio had a degree in finance." Laura's expression changed suddenly. "Tomaso said they were running some internal audits today. That would show up the embezzlement. You know what that means, don't you?" Laura asked in a mixture of excitement and worry.

  "That's Ernesto and Graziella's motive for attacking Tomaso!"

  *****

  "It's a private club. All the old families and new money belong." Laura led me through rooms that rivaled the Medici palace we had seen the day before. "I've interviewed people here, so I know my way around."

  Anna Sanvincenti waved us over to where they were seated with Marshal Franco Tadeucci.

  "I know you wanted to speak to me alone, Laura," said Giovanna, "but the marshal called just after you did with important information having to do with the company."

  I observed that the attacks on Giovanna's sons had taken much of her natural energy. The woman seemed years older since our first meeting only a few days before.

  "I told him I was having the others join us, as this has to do with the company, so you have until they arrive to speak to me privately."

  "Would you like to go first, Miss Walton?"

  I could hear the curiosity in Franco's voice. The last he had heard, we were tourists and wanted nothing more to do with the Bartolinis or the case. We had planned to go see him right after we had spoken with Giovanna, but now I wished we had called Franco immediately after arranging the meeting with Giovanna.

  "I wouldn't want to interfere with your work, Marshal. Please, you go first," said Laura, as she exchanged a look of understanding with Franco.

  "Signora Bartolini, your son had a key on a chain around his neck when he died. Suspecting it had something to do with the motive for his murder, we kept this secret until we could identify what the key opened. This morning we used it to open a safety deposit box in a bank in Pisa. Inside that box were papers Antonio was using to blackmail his brother Ernesto and his sister-in-law Graziella. They've been embezzling funds from your company."

  I now understood something Franco had said when we were speaking in his office; the key was the lead he could not tell me about.

  The look on Giovanna's face told us that she had known nothing of the blackmail or embezzlement before that moment. "These papers you found prove the embezzlement?" she asked cautiously.

  "Yes. Antonio had managed to put together a paper trail that proves it."

  This news appeared to crush Giovanna. I was sure the woman's quick mind had already told her that Ernesto and Graziella were now the prime suspects in Antonio's murder and for the attack on Tomaso.

  Franco continued, "I believe it was Ernesto and Graziella who searched Antonio's room and his car after his death, before I arrived at your home. They were probably looking for the papers or for the key to the safety deposit box."

  "We didn't know they'd been searched, Marshal," Anna said.

  "I didn't want to alert anyone that I suspected something, and I didn't want them to know I had the key. I pursued the case as if there were no leads, hoping to find the box as quickly as possible."

  Laura indicated discretely to me two uniformed policemen standing not far away. The marshal had come to make an arrest.

  "You had something important to relate to Signora Bartolini about the company, Miss Walton. May I ask what that is?"

  For a split-second, Laura looked amused by Franco's formal manner in addressing her, but then she was all business. "It was by chance that Bert and I put the pieces together for the embezzlement just this morning, but we weren't sure. We wanted to talk to Giovanna first, to see if she could confirm our guesses."

  "I understand," said Franco.

  "Bert and I were at the jewelers in Arezzo this morning," Laura explained to Giovanna. She paused and I worried that Laura might say she was there to cancel the wedding ring, but she recovered quickly. "I wanted to check on the ring."

  "Oh, yes, I know the jewelers you mean," Giovanna said distractedly, probably unsure what it had to do with the embezzlement.

  "There was some confusion with names, and the clerk brought us an order for Graziella by mistake. It was jewelry made of precious metals and jewels worth thousands of dollars. That, together with some information Bert had happened upon, led us to believe that Ernesto and Graziella were stealing money from the company and laundering it by converting it to the metals and then into jewelry."

  "Bertha happened upon information?" Giovanna looked at me curiously. "Your mother is full of surprises," she said, as Franco cast me a look of approval.

  "But how are they stealing the money? I don't understand!" Anna looked to Franco for an explanation, but he turned to Laura.

  "Most likely, they've set up a fake company abroad," said Laura, as Franco nodded his agreement with her surmise. "Then through the company, they would invoice the factory for services never rendered. As financial director, Ernesto could authorize payment of the invoices. The money would then be collected from the foreign account in person and converted into metals, which would be made into jewelry, because it's easier to transport without suspicion. They could store the jewelry or sell it. The laundered money could be used to purchase property abroad, cleaning the money even further."

  "Here they are." Giovanna announced the arrival of her sons and Graziella. Graziella looked panicked, and Ernesto showed an atypical expression of defiance.

  "What's going on, Mamma?" Tomaso eyed Franco Tadeucci with suspicion. Then he noticed his fiancé. "Laura? I thought you were out of town today."

  Before Laura could answer, Giovanna said, "Laura was explaining something very interesting, Tomaso. Where's Cinzia?"

  "Cinzia's off today. But what's this about?" Tomaso sounded panicked.

  I realized, with satisfaction, that Tomaso feared his fiancé was telling his mother of his betrayal with another woman. I cast a glance in Franco's direction and saw that he too looked pleased by Tomaso's discomfort.

  Giovanna said, "Please continue, Laura, if there is any more to tell?"

  Laura ignored Tomaso and spoke directly to Giovanna. "Their yearly trips to places like Switzerland, Prague, Malta and Spain were probably covers for retrieving the money from the foreign account, buying the metals, ordering jewelry, and moving it around to different centers to sell it."

  "You're talking about Ernesto and Graziella, aren't you?" Tomaso asked with relief.

  "They've been stealing from the company," Anna answered. "Thousands of dollars, for who knows how long! Antonio knew about it."

  "I thought Antonio was stealing the money!" Tomaso looked to his mother for her approval. "That's why I ordered the audits. I'd offered Antonio money to break off his engagement to Cinzia, but he told me he had enough money. I told Ernesto I wanted to do the audits to see if Antonio was stealing from the company."

  "Dio mio!" Giovanna looked like she was going to be ill. "Tomaso!" She could not believe her son was really so stupid as to unwittingly hand his own brother over to the police.

  Tomaso looked at Ernesto in amazement. "Ernesto could never hurt me!" Then he glared at his sister-in-law and said, "But she could."

  To our surprise it was not Graziella who spoke first, it was Ernesto. The expression I had taken to be defiance became an expression of hate.

  "My brothers! You're both an insult to Papa's memory!"

  Tomaso could manage only a shocked, "What?"

  "Neither of you could ever live up to the responsibilities of the company and the family!" No one dared interrupt such hate-filled speech. Everyone listened in awe as Ernesto said for the first time what he really thought of his brothers. "You dressed like gigolos, lived like whores, spent the family money like it would never end!"

  Tomaso asked in disbelief, "You killed Antonio? You tried to kill me?"

  "I didn't kill anyone, you idiot, or try to kill anyone!" Ernesto looked at his brother in disgust.

  Everyone looked at Graziella expecting her to admit her crimes, but she responded with disbelief. "I didn't kill anyone! Neither of us killed anyone,"—she glared at Tomaso—"or attacked anyone!" When she saw that no one believed her, Graziella shouted, "We didn't have to! We were leaving! We have enough money. We were selling everything, even the house! The sale goes through in two days! Tell them, Ernesto!"

  "It's true! We gave up on the company and the family, years ago!"

  Giovanna, with tears threatening, said, "I can't believe this. Ernesto, what are you saying? This isn't like you."

  "Oh, shut up, Mamma!" The words came from Ernesto with such venom that I felt pity for Giovanna. "We gave up because of you! You've done nothing but stand in our way since Papa died. You took the company! He left it to us. It's ours! If you'd let us take it, I'd be running it right now and living the life I deserve, the life Papa wanted me to live!"

  Anna started to speak in Giovanna's defense but Giovanna beat her to it. "My fault? You ungrateful, disloyal child! You act with loyalty to a father who never loved you, any of you? You betray a mother who's always tried to love you, and who saved your inheritance for you?"

  Graziella turned on Giovanna in anger. "You took the company for yourself! We only took the money that was due Ernesto for all his hard work! If he'd waited for you to give the company back, your spoiled boys would have ruined it by then!"

  "I'm afraid I can't deal with this, Marshal." Giovanna stood. "Please, take them. Do what you have to do." She walked to the window and looked out over the rooftops, her eyes blinded by tears.

  Franco signaled the officers and spoke to Ernesto and Graziella. "You'll have to come with us. We have questions for you concerning fraud, embezzlement, the attack on Tomaso Bartolini, and the murder of Antonio Bartolini."

  The officers left with their suddenly very silent suspects.

  Franco waited for them to leave the room before he addressed Giovanna, "Signora Bartolini, I'm very sorry things have worked out this way. I suggest you have your son,"—he glanced at Tomaso—"arrange an avvocato, an attorney, for them. I'd also like to suggest that you continue with the audits of the company accounts to determine just how much money has been stolen. I'll send over an agent from the Finanza to oversee the final report. It will be of interest to the tax authorities."