Drawing Conclusions Read Free Page B

door was open.’ Seeing his surprise, she quickly clarified this by saying, ‘Unlocked, that is. Closed, but unlocked.’
    ‘I see,’ Brunetti said. He was silent for some time and then asked, ‘Could you tell me how long you’ve been away, Signora?’
    ‘Five days. I went to Palermo on Wednesday, last week, and just got home tonight.’
    ‘Thank you,’ Brunetti said, then asked solicitously, ‘Were you with friends, Signora?’
    The look she shot him showed just how bright she was and how much the question offended her.
    ‘I want to exclude things, Signora,’ he said in his normal voice.
    Her own voice was a bit louder, her pronunciation clearer, when she said, ‘I stayed in a hotel, the Villa Igiea. You can check their records.’ She looked away from him in what Brunetti thought might be embarrassment. ‘Someone else paid the bill, but I was registered there.’
    Brunetti knew this could be easily checked and so asked only, ‘You went into Signora Altavilla’s apartment to …?’
    ‘To get my post.’ She turned and walked into the room behind her, a large open space with a peaked ceiling that indicated the room had – how many centuries before? – originally been an attic. Brunetti, following her in, glanced up at the twin skylights, hoping to see the stars beyond them, but all he saw was the light reflected from below.
    At a table she picked up a piece of paper. Brunetti took it from her outstretched hand: he recognized the beige receipt for a registered letter. ‘I had no idea what it could be and thought it might be something important,’ she said. ‘I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow to find out, so I went down to see if the letter was there.’
    In response to Brunetti’s inquisitive glance, she continued. ‘If I’m away, she gets my post, and then leaves it out when I come home, or I go down and get it from her.’
    ‘And if she’s not there when you get home?’ Brunetti asked.
    ‘She gave me the keys, and I go in to get it.’ She turned to face the windows, beyond which Brunetti saw the illuminated apse of the church. ‘So I went down and let myself in. And the letters were where she always put them: on a table in the entrance.’ She ran out of things to say, but Brunetti waited.
    ‘And then I went and looked in the front room. No reason, really – but there was a light on – she always turns them out when she leaves a room – and I thought maybe she hadn’theard me. Though that doesn’t make any sense, does it? And I saw her. And touched her hand. And saw the blood. And then I came back up here and called you.’
    ‘Would you like to sit down, Signora?’ Brunetti asked, indicating a wooden chair that stood against the nearest wall.
    She shook her head, but at the same time took a step towards it. She sat down heavily, then gave in to weakness and leaned against the back. ‘It’s terrible. How could anyone …’
    Before she could finish her question, the doorbell rang. He went to the speaker phone and heard Vianello announce himself, saying he was with Dottor Rizzardi. Brunetti pushed the button to release the downstairs door and replaced the phone. To the seated woman he said, ‘The others are here, Signora.’ Then, because he had to ask, he said, ‘Is the door locked?’
    She looked up at him, confusion spread across her face. ‘What?’
    ‘The door downstairs. To the apartment. Is it locked?’
    She shook her head two, three times and seemed so unconscious of the gesture that he was relieved when she stopped it. ‘I don’t know. I had the keys.’ She searched the pockets of her jacket but found no keys. She looked at him, confused. ‘I must have left them downstairs, on top of the post.’ She closed her eyes, then, after a moment, said, ‘But you can go in. The door doesn’t lock on its own.’ Then she raised a hand to catch his attention. ‘She was a good neighbour,’ she said.
    Brunetti thanked her and went downstairs to find the