"Thank you, Marshal. You've been very professional and considerate."

  Franco came over to Laura and me. "I hope the rest of your stay in Italy is less exciting, Miss Fahey, and that you find it difficult to leave." He turned to Laura and said, "I don't expect to be bothering you anymore, Miss Walton."

  Laura said warmly, "You were never a bother, Marshal. Give my best to your daughter. You're both welcome at my place, anytime."

  Franco whispered, "Now, would be a good place and time to settle things." He glanced in Tomaso's direction, waited for Laura to nod her agreement, then left.

  As soon as the marshal had gone, Giovanna said, "Tomaso, you have to arrange the attorney for them right away. Go with him to the police and protect your brother and his wife. We have to see that their rights are protected, no matter what they may have done," she said with great sadness.

  "Yes, Mamma." Before he left, Tomaso tried to kiss Laura good-bye, but she turned at the last moment, and his lips connected with her ear. Disconcerted, he hurried from the room.

  "Laura, talk with me a moment." Giovanna's voice sounded strained. Her whole body seemed limp as Anna helped her back to the sofa. "It's so strange. I've always been worried about Tomaso and Antonio, and now it seems it was Ernesto who needed my attention."

  "You've no need to worry about Tomaso," Anna said. "He's found Laura and has become a fine young man. You can be proud of him."

  "That's the only thing I have to hold onto, right now!" Giovanna sighed. "Laura, what should I do about Ernesto and Graziella and their children? Please, I need your advice."

  My heart sank. How could Laura ever reveal to Giovanna that Tomaso had ruined their relationship with his lies and betrayal? Laura was being pulled back into the tangled affairs of the Bartolinis.

  *****

  "I envy your relationship with your daughter, Bert."

  Anna stood out in the tiny pizzeria. She was the only person with blond hair, and despite her age, I noticed that she attracted the admiring looks of many men.

  "You and Laura seem more like friends than mother and daughter."

  The charade of mother and daughter felt very old. Laura had insisted we go to lunch and leave she and Giovanna alone at the club to talk. I was enjoying Anna's company, and disliked deceiving her. I was saved from having to respond by the waiter who arrived with our pizzas.

  "This is how a pizza should be! They let the dough rise in front of the wood oven." Anna used her knife and fork to fold the pizza in three and then sliced off a piece.

  I copied her, took a bite, and was surprised by the delicate flavors. My hunger was awakened, and within less than a minute, I had finished my pizza. "I guess I was hungry!"

  "I'll order two more, and a special dessert pizza." After placing the order, Anna said, "Laura and Cinzia have very different characters. Cinzia has a very difficult character."

  "She must get that from her father." I regretted immediately my mention of Cinzia's absent father. "I just meant that you have a lovely character so she can't have inherited it from you." I decided to change the subject to something I had wanted to ask Anna since the party. "I'm curious why everyone was so against Antonio's engagement with Cinzia."

  "For you to understand that, you'd have to know more about the past."

  "All I know is what Laura and Ovidio have told me."

  "Ovidio?" Anna was surprised. "What did he say?"

  "Just that Giovanna had protected you and Cinzia years ago. He said Giovanna had wanted to protect Cinzia, now, from Antonio, who has a bad history with women."

  "Yes, maybe that's part of it, but I'd say the main reason we objected to their relationship was the secrecy. It was improper and disrespectful."

  "I know it's not nice to speak ill of the dead, but it seems to me, Ovidio was right, too. Even I've heard of Antonio's bad reputation with women, and I've been here less than a week!"

  "Yes, that was one of our reasons for objecting to their relationship," Anna agreed reluctantly. "I hate to say this, but Cinzia's reputation's not much better. I worry very much about the man she'll marry."

  "That's a mother's worry." Despite my best intentions not to deceive Anna, I found myself thinking of Laura as a mother would. "I've lived a reserved life. It's spared me much pain. That was my choice, but I saw that Laura wanted a much more engaged life. I'm proud of her for that, but it's worried me. She lives abroad, on her own, exposed, with so little protection. I worry about the man she'll marry."

  "She has Tomaso, and he's growing up to be a responsible young man!"

  For the second time, the waiter and pizzas saved me from having to lie. I did not want to praise Tomaso as Laura's lover and protector when I knew the truth, that he had betrayed and hurt her.

  Anna said softly, "I know what it is to need protection. My life might have been very different if I'd had an older brother to look out for me. Giovanna and I always hoped her boys would be like older brothers for Cinzia, taking care of her."

  It was as I had imagined! The two women had agreed to bring up their children as relations, so a romantic relationship between Antonio and Cinzia must have been difficult for them to accept. "You may not have had an older brother, Anna, but from what I've heard, you had Giovanna and Giusi, two very good friends who looked out for you."

  "Yes, they did." Anna smiled as she thought of her friends. "Giusi helped me deliver Cinzia." Anna looked embarrassed to have confided so much in me. She stopped talking and finished her pizza in silence.

  I felt responsible for Anna's pensive mood. "I don't want to pry, Anna, but if you wish to talk about anything, I don't mind listening. Besides, I'll be gone in a few weeks and will probably not return for years, if ever!"

  Anna smiled and said, "I'm sure you'll return often to see your daughter, but I know what you mean. I was just thinking about how we left Yugoslavia to escape the rejection of our neighbors, but when we arrived in Italy we found even more rejection! It was difficult, and then one day I finally felt accepted and loved by someone. I believed it with all my heart because I needed to believe it. I trusted him, which was foolish, and he left me with child and alone and more rejected than before."

  "People can be very cruel. Cecilio says those women who hurt you back then, today have daughters of their own in the same situation. He wonders what they think of their own behavior, now."

  "Those women only think in the present, and they rarely reflect on their own behavior. If they had, they would never have done or said the things they did back then. My looks made me their target, and a target for men who wanted to use me." Anna calmed her emotions before continuing, "I was sport for a man and paid the price determined at that time for that sin."

  Anna's honor moved me. I understood, now, why Anna had reacted badly to the compliment on her beauty. Anna saw her beauty as a curse, something that predestined her to pain and rejection. After all her suffering as a young woman, I felt sorry for Anna's terrible relationship with her own daughter. "Anna, I don't think you should feel any guilt for Cinzia's difficult character."

  "Laura's so sweet and respectful of you! I must have done something very wrong with Cinzia."

  "Nonsense!" I said. "I've dealt with children all my life and in my opinion, Cinzia's problem is that she wants too much in life, too easily. She doesn't want to work for it, and she wants to punish you, her mother, for not providing it for her."

  "You talk like you've known her for years!" Anna looked admiringly at me. "But I think it is my fault, because we were always near the Bartolinis who're rich. It fed Cinzia's envy. But I had no other opportunity for work, and I thought it would be a good life for my daughter."

  "It was a good life! It's not your fault! The sad truth is, some parents deserve better children than they get." Thinking of Laura, I added, "And some children deserve better parents than they get."

  "But you were a wonderful parent! Laura is a fine young woman." Anna had picked up my reference to Laura. "I wish Cinzia had become friends with her. Laura tried in the beginning but Cinzia was so cold. In the end, Laura has become a friend to Giovanna and I! We respect and care about her very much."

  I hoped it would be possible for Laura to remain friends with Giovanna and Anna after ending her relationship with Tomaso. "Laura's very fond of both of you, and I think she's very lucky to have you as friends."

  The waiter arrived with the dessert pizzas. The flaky crust was covered with cooked brown sugar, raisins, candied fruit, and cinnamon. I savored every bit of it and washed it down with a sweet, golden dessert wine that Anna called Vin'Santo.

  "Bert, you asked why I opposed the engagement. I have another reason that embarrasses me but I want to tell you. From what you said earlier, I suspect you may already know what I'm going to say." Anna pushed her empty dessert plate away, and then sighed heavily. "I knew Cinzia did not love Antonio. My daughter wants everything, but like you said, she's lazy. Cinzia wants to marry to get it. How could I let my own daughter use my best friend's son in that way?"

  I thought Anna was going to cry from the humiliation of the sad and mercurial truth about her daughter. "Are you sure Cinzia didn't love him?"

  "She's never loved anyone in her whole life. Not me, not any friend, not Giovanna. My child is perverse. We have that same word in Italian, perversa."

  Anna was relieving some long pent up emotions, I suspected, so I kept quiet and let her continue.

  "Cinzia sees all kindness as pity, and she sees all compassion as pity. She hates pity! She's too proud and too hard! She's always been like that. Cinzia hates anyone who's nice to her! She's happiest with people who treat her badly!" Anna put her hand over her mouth to stop the flood of words describing the painful truth about her daughter.

  "It's alright, Anna. There're all kinds of people in the world, and your Cinzia may not be the nicest, but there are worse."

  "Oh, I believe you, but it hurts especially to see her unkind to Giovanna who has been nothing but good to us! I can't say these things to Giovanna! I don't want to burden her with this, but I'm so embarrassed my daughter is like this!"

  "From what I've heard, I think Antonio liked to treat people badly, and from what you say, Cinzia likes to be treated badly. Maybe Cinzia and Antonio were well-suited to each other." The idea amused me.

  "I was thinking that when I followed her from the house the day of the party. I wanted to talk Cinzia out of her relationship with Antonio, but I lost her somewhere near the pool. I sat down there and thought about how they were well-suited."

  "Did you ever find Cinzia?" I found it hard to believe I was actually asking the question I had wanted to ask Anna since the beginning of the murder investigation!

  "I saw her but she didn't see me. She came down from the garage area and walked past the pool on her way to the main house. I knew in my heart she wouldn't listen to me. I hoped Giovanna would have better luck with Antonio. I wanted to check with her first."

  What a belated goldmine! Anna's story made it clear that Cinzia had gone directly to the garden shed to meet Tomaso. Anna had kept quiet earlier hoping to not destroy her daughter's concocted alibi. It also confirmed my belief that Anna had no influence over her daughter. Not even Anna believed she could have convinced Cinzia to leave Antonio!

  *****

  "The dress is beautiful, Giusi! May I wear it tonight?" I stood before a full-length mirror in my cottage as Giusi finished pinning the dress hem. "We're going to dinner at Michela's."

  "I can hem it here. Dress off! Robe on! I sew it. One, two, three, all ready!" Giusi set up her needle and thread so she was ready to sew the moment I handed her the dress.

  "I forgot to offer you anything, Giusi! I'll be right back." A search through the kitchen cupboards turned up some liquor-filled chocolates and a bottle of cognac, which I arranged with two snifter glasses on a silver-plated tray.

  "Oh, how lovely! Fantastico!" Giusi ate two chocolates and sipped her cognac.

  I was enjoying my time with Giusi. During the fittings in my cottage, I had related the events of that morning and afternoon. Giusi was an entertaining listener, adding comments and interested noises at each unfolding detail.

  "Franco was very good with Giovanna, and Laura stayed and talked with her a long time. It was Graziella and Ernesto who said such cruel things to her."

  Giusi's expression flashed with anger. "No one suspected him! I don't like it! Fratricide!" Giusi stopped sewing and ate two more chocolates and sipped down some more cognac, to push aside the thought of fratricide.

  "Ernesto denies killing Antonio. He could be telling the truth. I think it was Graziella who did it."

  "Yes, I believe that! Graziella could do such a thing, especially for money." She laughed loudly. "And we thought it was Cinzia!"

  I laughed and said, "I suspected just about everyone at one point or another!" I set down my cognac and decided I had drunk too much on an empty stomach. Lunch was already several hours digested. "Where was I? Oh, then the policemen took Ernesto and Graziella away!"

  "I love the uniforms the police have, now," Giusi said enthusiastically. "Much better than the last model. Italians love to look good, and the policemen know they attract more women when they wear a nice uniform. The last time they went on strike it was to get not money, but a nicer uniform!" Giusi laughed at her fellow countrymen's vanity.

  "Franco doesn't wear his uniform to attract women, does he?" I was suddenly worried about our attractive marshal.

  "Only one woman"—Giusi smiled knowingly—"but I think he's already caught her. Michela told me about Tomaso. Laura has to end the engagement and move on to a better man!" She said conspiratorially, "Cecilio told me how Laura and Franco were during Pina's piano lesson. What do you call this?" Giusi made funny noises and motions with her hands.

  "Sparks?" I guessed.

  "Yes, electric sparks! It makes me so happy!" Giusi toasted her happiness with more cognac and chocolates. "Laura, Franco, and Pina were so sweet together! Like a family! I told Laura and Franco you or I could watch Pina when they want to be alone. That's okay?"

  "That's fine!"

  I thought Cecilio and Giusi were unlikely but determined matchmakers. And I suspected my chatty seamstress was even chattier than usual due to the candies, cognac, and her empty stomach.

  "They're very compatible. Is that the same in Italian?"

  "Compatibile." Giusi said, "I can teach you Italiano. It is from here, Toscana, so it's the best Italian in the whole country. But not Fiorentino!" Giusi warned.

  "Why not in Florence?"

  "They think they have perfect Italiano in Florence, but they have no 'c.' 'Happucino' they say!" Giusi threw up her hands in despair and ate two more chocolates to forget the terrible Florentine pronunciation of that wonderful drink, cappuccino.

  I decided not to fight Giusi on my remaining in Italy and learning Italian. I had something else I wanted to discuss with her. "I had lunch with Anna while Laura stayed and talked with Giovanna. During lunch Anna said that on the day Antonio died, she'd given up on trying to convince Cinzia not to see him. She said she knew she couldn't convince her daughter of anything."

  "She said that?" Giusi looked up from her work in surprise. "Well, she must have wanted to leave it up to Giovanna."

  "She said something like that, but I don't understand why she would leave it to Giovanna. I thought Anna would want to save Giovanna that trouble."

  Giusi shrugged. "They're very close. Anna's always been devoted to Giovanna. Always protecting each other. Anna was such a sweet girl," Giusi recalled.

  "She must have been very beautiful as a girl."

  "Anna still is beautiful!" There was not a touch of envy in Giusi, only pride in her friend's attractiveness. "It didn't help make her friends, though. Beauty can be a curse. But Giovanna was never unkind." Giusi shook her head. "She was kind to everyone, always. We were friends but we became closer because of Anna."

  "How did she end up marrying that man who was so mean?"

  "Egidio? He was the catch of the town! All the girls wanted to marry him! His family was rich, and he was beautiful! People wanted to be near the danger in him. It excited them. It excited Giovanna."

  "It excited Giovanna?"

  "The young Giovanna, yes. The grown up Giovanna, no! The grown up Giovanna saw the evil in the man. She saw it in Antonio, too. When Paola was in hospital, Giovanna said to me, 'This is something Egidio would've done. Antonio is just like his father!' Egidio always made Giovanna take on his responsibilities. She had to clear up all his mistakes!"

  "You mean, like the factory?"

  "Oh, that and lots of things." Giusi handed me the finished dress. "Egidio had a gang of friends. They still have eyes for the ladies, but they don't know that they're old men now! Ovidio is the only decent one."

  "Ovidio? Was he a friend of Egidio's? I thought he hated the man."

  "He did but Ovidio liked being part of an important group. Giovanna took him in when the group finally rejected him." Giusi whispered, "Can I tell you a secret? I don't like his art. Always women who don't look like women!" Then she added with an approving nod, "But he was good to Anna, in his own way." Giusi said excitedly, "I almost forgot! I have some ideas for your costume for the Ballo di Maschera for Capodanno!"

  "What are you talking about?"

  "Capodanno, the New Year's party at Giovanna's club! I know she'll invite you and Laura no matter what happens with Tomaso. It's a Ballo di Maschera, a costume ball. Maybe Giovanna will find you a date—some rich, handsome widower!"

  I left Giusi to plan my New Years in Italy and asked what was really of interest to me. "Do you think Giovanna will stay friends with Laura?"

  "Of course! She's still my friend after Paola's accident! What happened with Paola was Antonio's fault. What's happened to Laura is Tomaso's fault. When Giovanna understands that, it will be all right!" Giusi jumped up. "I must make dinner for Cecilio." She swayed. "And for me! Too much Cognac and candies, too much gossip!"