Cinzia tried to leave through the door to the reception room but Franco stopped her. He positioned himself before the door and indicated for her to remain where she was. A look of fear passed over her dark features, an emotion that I remembered seeing only once before on Cinzia's face. It was when we were confronting Tomaso with his deceit in the restaurant that afternoon. When I had mentioned that the police were interested in Cinzia, she had shown the same fear.

  "I made him stop laughing at me. I made him stop calling me an idiot," Ovidio said proudly.

  "You hit him with the wooden log, didn't you? You took the log from the oil press and hit him with it," I prompted.

  "I hit him with the log to make him stop laughing at me and to make him listen to me! When he was on the ground, and didn't move, I had an idea. He could have an accident, and then he couldn't hurt anyone anymore. I thought about an accident with the press, the press he couldn't keep his hands off that morning. It could fall on his pretty face." Ovidio grinned with the memory of his envy-driven plan. "I'd thought about accidents before, but I'd never had the courage. This time I was strong."

  "You'd thought about accidents before?" I had not believed the attack was premeditated. Franco and I had agreed that the initial blow with the log was done in the anger of the moment. We seemed to have both been right about why the press was used. I thought the killer wanted to make Antonio's death look like an accident. Franco had insited that the killer had a deeper motive for the gruesome death. Ovidio's deeper motive was to destroy the pretty face that had been the object of his envy since his youth. Now, Ovidio made it sound as if he had been waiting for just such an opportunity. I asked, "What do you mean, you'd thought about accidents before?"

  "To stop him hurting her. At the factory, in his car, in the garden, a fall, maybe? Sometimes I'd see him walking in the garden after a fight with Giovanna, and I'd think how easy it would be to make him fall and hit his head on a rock or on the wall. I didn't have the courage then, but I did the other day." Ovidio looked at Giovanna and said, "I wanted to do it for you, but I was weak. He may have been the father of your children, but he deserved to die, Giovanna."

  "Oh, he doesn't know the difference between them! Marshal, you see that, don't you? He's not well!" Giovanna took Ovidio's hand in hers. "Ovidio, do you know what you did?"

  "Yes," he answered immediately. "I wanted to help to end your pain, but I hurt you more, instead. The marshal didn't believe it was an accident. He suspected Tomaso and even you suspected Tomaso! I didn't know there was a note. It was my fault you suffered. I didn't do it right. It didn't look like an accident. I'm sorry!"

  "You tried to give Tomaso an alibi," Giovanna said. "You told the marshal you'd seen Tomaso far from the shed."

  "I tried to fix my mistake."

  "Ovidio." I got his attention. "The evening I spoke to you in your cottage, Tomaso and Cinzia were in the garden. Do you remember?"

  "I remember. I heard him talking, planning, making promises he wouldn't keep. I heard that they'd been lovers for a long time. He"—Ovidio pointed at Tomaso—"said he'd marry the American so he could get the company from his mother, then he'd leave Laura and marry Cinzia. It was a lie. I knew that he was just like Egidio and wanted Cinzia for his lover, just like his father had wanted Anna to be his lover."

  Despite feeling anything but calm, I asked calmly, "Why did you attack Tomaso?"

  "To stop him! He wanted to hurt Cinzia and was lying to Giovanna! He was no better than his father or Antonio, but I failed there, too!" Ovidio began to lose some of his newfound confidence. He said to Giovanna, "I didn't think you'd be so upset. When I heard how upset you were, I wanted to die. But then I remembered that you didn't know what Tomaso was planning with Cinzia, so I understood."

  I cut in before Giovanna could react. I was afraid any anger on Giovanna's part might make Ovidio stop explaining what he had done. "Why were you at the factory, Ovidio?"

  "I'd taken Anna and Giovanna to lunch after the funeral, and then brought them to the factory. People were leaving the factory. I saw an open door, and when I looked in, I saw the offices right there in front of me, and I saw Tomaso in an office with Cinzia. I took a chance, and it didn't work out, but I promised myself I would try again!" He proudly explained his logic to me. "I thought about it and decided it would be better to try again after Tomaso's marriage. It could look like an accident, but I would be more careful and do it right. And if his cheating with Cinzia could be exposed before he died, Giovanna wouldn't suffer as much." He looked eager for me to agree with his altruistic plans for murder.

  "You're not going to get a chance to try again, Ovidio. I know you wanted to help Giovanna and to protect her from pain, but you went too far. You were wrong to kill." I felt I was stating the obvious, but one look at Ovidio told me that he could do with a few statements of the obvious!

  Ovidio nodded his understanding. He took Giovanna's hand in his and said, "You're a wonderful woman, Giovanna. You took me in. You took in Anna and her daughter. You accepted an American daughter-in-law with open arms. I didn't want so fine a woman to suffer any more at the hands of Egidio's sons."

  "Egidio was a cruel man." Giovanna looked searchingly in Ovidio's eyes as she spoke, perhaps searching for signs of a conscience. "I understand only now how much he hurt you, Ovidio. I never thought about how you suffered to be living near him, to be witness to his cruelties. I'm very sorry."

  "No, don't be sorry! I've always loved you, but I didn't have the courage to tell you. I was afraid you'd reject me, and then I would have to leave here. It was enough to be near you every day. I only wish I'd had the courage to kill him earlier. So many regrets, but no more because I found the courage." Ovidio smiled, again confident in his strength and self-righteousness.

  "But why did you try to kill Bert?" Laura was distraught. Ovidio's revelations and his distance from moral reality had clearly upset her. "Did you think she'd found out about Cinzia's father and was going to tell Giovanna and the marshal?"

  Ovidio did not answer. He appeared lost in his own thoughts. I wondered if he was busy making up new excuses why his murdering Antonio should be considered an altruistic act. "Ovidio didn't try to kill me, Laura." I looked to Franco for a signal to proceed or to wait.

  Franco said, "Let's get everything out in the open."

  "I don't understand?" Anna, who had looked relieved after Ovidio's confession, sounded very concerned. "What happened to Bert? Did someone try to hurt her, too?"

  "Yes, someone tried to run me over with their car while Laura and I were in Arezzo. At first we suspected Graziella or Ernesto."

  Both those mentioned reacted with a mixture of surprise and fear.

  "But they were at the factory at the time. Then we thought it might have been Antonio's killer, who suspected I knew something that might incriminate him. Once we knew who had killed Antonio, we realized that at that point in time, Ovidio had no serious reason to see me as a threat to him or to Giovanna. The question of who tried to kill me can be answered by asking another question. Who would benefit from my death?"

  Tomaso, who had been sulking in an armchair with his back turned to Laura, suddenly sat forward and said with satisfaction, "Your daughter!"

  "Her daughter?" Laura turned quickly enough to catch Tomaso's malicious expression.

  Franco noticed it, too. He used his powerful voice to wipe the smirk from Tomaso's face. "Since Laura saved Bert's life, we removed her from the top of the list of suspects."

  Laura smiled at Franco's sarcasm.

  He continued with noticeable pleasure, "That moved her fiancé to the top of the list. He would marry a much wealthier woman if her wealthy mother, her only living relative, died."

  "Her fiancé?" Tomaso's face showed the panic enveloping his whole body. He was unable to handle the prospect of once again being a suspect. "I didn't do anything wrong! While they were in Arezzo, I was at the factory meeting with an auditor. Cinzia can tell you!"

  Cinzia said nothing in Tomaso's defense. She looked again at the door to the reception room, but Franco still blocked that escape route. Tomaso and his armchair blocked the only other door to the sitting room. The young woman then looked at her mother with such intense hatred that I felt frightened and decided to wait no longer.

  "Cinzia wasn't with you at the factory that day, Tomaso. She had the day off."

  "No, she wasn't there, but she made the appointment!" Tomaso sounded as if he had given up and was ready to be led off by the marshal. He sat back in the armchair and muttered, "I didn't do anything wrong."

  "No, you didn't, not in this case, anyway." I was loath to give Tomaso any leeway, but in this matter, I had to. "Cinzia had the opportunity to drive to Laura's property, to wait for us to leave that morning, and to follow us to Arezzo."

  Anna closed her eyes, unable to bear her daughter's ceaseless, accusing stare, stirring a feeling of pity in me. I stood up and faced Cinzia, blocking her view of her mother. "Cinzia watched us go into the shop and watched us come out. When we crossed the road and I became separated from Laura, Cinzia decided that was her best opportunity to kill me. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Laura, my daughter, by accident."

  Laura sighed and said, "She wanted to kill my mother so I would inherit her wealth." She shook her head and said softly, near tears, "Two stupid lies that almost cost me someone so dear."

  Franco said sternly, "We know what car you were driving that morning, Signorina Sanvincenti. Perhaps you'd like to relieve your conscience of something?"

  We waited as Cinzia carefully weighed her options. I knew Franco was bluffing. We had no description of the car or a license plate number. The only chance to charge Cinzia with attempted murder would be if she confessed or incriminated herself. After a few seconds, however, I was certain there would be no confession.

  "I don't know what you're talking about, any of you." She looked from me to Franco, and then let her cold gaze rest on Laura.

  "But why would Cinzia try to kill you?" Giovanna asked.

  Laura indicated with a look to me that perhaps she would have better success explaining it to Giovanna. "Cinzia wants more than anything else to be financially independent. She sought the relationship with Tomaso with that goal in mind. Then she nurtured the relationship with Antonio when she thought Tomaso was slipping from her grasp. When Antonio died, she returned to her first choice, Tomaso, and received a promise from him of marriage after you gave him control of the family business. That would happen only after his marriage to me. Cinzia's very thorough. She wanted a backup option in case Tomaso didn't get control of the family business."

  Tomaso leaned forward and asked, "What do you mean, a backup option?"

  Laura ignored Tomaso and continued to speak to Giovanna. "If I were rich, having inherited Bert's money, and married to Tomaso, and then suddenly died, Tomaso would be rich. Divorce would not be enough to get my money because I was going to follow your advice and declare a separation of assets. Cinzia planned to kill not only Bert, but me, as well. So, even if Tomaso didn't have the family business, he could be financially independent of you and marry her."

  Giovanna said, "That's a very intricate plan. How can you be sure of any of that?"

  "Cinzia's a schemer." Laura met Cinzia's glare straight on. "She's already shown that in her dealings with Antonio and Tomaso."

  "Was Tomaso involved?"

  Tomaso answered Giovanna's question immediately. "No, I wasn't involved! I did nothing wrong!"

  "Oh, stop saying that, Tomaso!" Giovanna's atypical shout made Tomaso fall back into his chair with a pout on his handsome face. "As if lies and deceit were nothing wrong." She shook her head in disappointment.

  Anna said, "I believe it, all of it. I know my daughter and she's capable of everything you've said."

  Giovanna looked sadly on Cinzia and said, "I didn't know you wanted money so much, Cinzia. If I had, I would have sold the company and this house and divided the estate between all of Egidio's children."

  "You would not!" Cinzia spat out her words with the contempt she felt for Giovanna.

  "She already has that in her will, you ungrateful beast!" Anna finally lost her temper. Her pale face turned pink with rage. "She was going to do that when her husband died, but I convinced her to wait until you were more settled in life because I was afraid of what you would do with the money! You don't deserve the money!"

  "Deserve it? I deserve it for all the years I've had to live as a whore's daughter! And look at her!" Cinzia pointed at Laura, until Franco forcibly lowered her hand. He made Cinzia step back from the object of her hate and envy, but it did not stop her from telling them what she really thought of Laura. "She's had everything I deserved! She's always had money, position, and an easy life! She thinks she deserves everything because she's American, because she's rich, because she's pretty, because she has an education, and a career! Well, she doesn't deserve it! She's no better than me!"

  "Actually, she's a thousand times better than you." I took a step closer to the furious Cinzia. The cruel, hate-filled words had stung my heart. "Laura had none of those advantages! Her parents were alcoholics and provided a house filled with neglect, abuse, and indifference! She paid her own way through University and through life. No one gave her anything. Laura deserves everything she has because she's worked for it!"

  Franco, Giusi, and Cecilio, who knew that I was not Laura's mother, listened carefully and seemed surprised and impressed to hear of the hardships Laura had overcome. The others looked incredulous and confused.

  Laura sought to explain the one thing I had forgotten to say. "Bert's not my mother. She was my high school librarian. She became my friend back then and has helped me ever since with her love, encouragement, and good example in life."

  Tomaso said snidely, "Now who's full of lies and deceit?"

  "Shut up, Tomaso!" Giovanna's patience with her eldest son was all used up. "Laura, why did you feel you had to pretend?" When Giovanna said the word "pretend," she glanced meaningfully at Tomaso, perhaps pointing out the difference between hurtful lies and innocent pretense.

  "I never lied about myself, my education, or my situation in life, but I did feel you would accept me more easily if I had a mother I was proud to present to you before the wedding. I made up the part about her being wealthy so you wouldn't think I wanted to marry Tomaso for money. Later, I realized you understood who I was and it wasn't an issue anymore, but the lie was told. I saw no harm it letting it remain, but I was wrong. I'm truly sorry I lied to you, Giovanna." Laura said from the heart, "I'm sorry most that I underestimated your open-mindedness. I know, now, that you would have accepted me no matter what my family was like, and no matter how little or how much money they had. I want to thank you for accepting me."

  Cinzia stopped any response from Giovanna. She said mockingly, in a poor imitation of Laura's American accent, "Thank you, Giovanna, for accepting me." In her own voice she yelled at Laura, "I should have aimed the car at you and ended this once and for all!"

  "Don't you mock her!" I bumped into Franco as I tried to approach Cinzia. I had no idea what I was going to do if I had reached Cinzia, but in that moment it was where I wanted to be to tell the petulant woman off. I sufficed to hide behind Franco to do that. "Laura made something of herself with hard work, self-discipline, sacrifice, and raw talent! You want everything by doing nothing but hurting others!

  "For all we know, those are lies, too!" Cinzia sneered at me from her position of safety. "All I ever wanted," Cinzia's voice took on a tone that begged for pity, "was to be independent so I wouldn't end up a servant, like my mother."

  "A servant?" Anna stood up and crossed the room. She brushed aside Franco and I to face down her daughter. "Giovanna offered me friendship, something you'll never enjoy! You're too selfish to ever have real friends!"

  Cinzia stepped back to get away from her mother, but Anna moved closer and continued, "Giovanna offered me a chance to be independent, to bring up my daughter with money I earned through hard work. I didn't marry from necessity, or to make a profit," she said with disgust, directed at her daughter. "I made myself respectable. Whether you want to believe it or not, respectability comes not from an important name, and not from a big house or bank account, but from the person you are inside!"

  Cinzia backed away from her mother only to find herself pinned in shocked silence in the corner of the sitting room. Anna continued, "You'll never be respectable, Cinzia, and do you know why? You have no conscience, just like your father. You're lazy and cruel and refuse to accept that a decent life is earned by decent labor!"

  Franco let Giovanna approach the two women now standing face to face in the corner of the room. She put her arm around Anna and whispered something in her ear. The two women left the sitting room together, Giovanna saying as they went out the door, "We'll go with you, Marshal. You may need some help with Ovidio, and I'll need Anna's help, as usual. Come along, Ovidio." She called out to the artist who stood hesitantly by the sofa. After a second's thought, Ovidio chose to follow Giovanna and Anna quietly out of the room.

  Cinzia tried to leave the room, but was stopped by Franco. He said, "I'll make sure you get safely where you're going, Signorina Sanvincenti."

  She did not protest. Instead, Cinzia looked intent on some scheme she was hatching at that moment in her head. She was probably busy scheming how to get out of the situation in which she found herself. I suspected her mother's reproach was already out the other ear. Franco stopped at in the doorway to look with concern at Laura.

  I said to him, "Don't worry. I'll take care of her. You do what you have to do and call us later."

  Franco nodded his thanks, and then left with his prisoners.

  Sunday: New Friends

  Domenica: nuovi amici

  "Bert, you look fresh and cool!" Giovanna kissed me hello.