suggested we sit down at a table instead of standing at the bar. I said I didn’t have a lot of time, but I let him persuade me to sit down, and we started talking. He told me about his job, and I listened as if I were interested.
‘The only way I could think of to get him to talk about Fontana was to speak of one of the other ushers, Rizzotto, because I went to school with his daughter and I’ve met him in the building a few times. And then I mentioned Fontana, said I’d heard he was an excellent worker. And that started the stories about him, about how dedicated he was and how efficient, and how long he’s been there, and how such men are an example to us all, and just when I thought I was going to start screaming or hit him with the flowers, he looked up and said, “Why, there he is.”
‘So before I could stop him, he went over and brought Fontana back with him. He was wearing a suit and tie. Would you believe it? It’s 32 degrees, and he’s wearing a suit and tie.’ She shook her head at the memory.
To Brunetti it hardly sounded like a disaster.
‘So he joined us,’ she went on. ‘He’s a meek little man; he ordered a macchiato and a glass of water and said almost nothing, while Umberto kept talking and I tried to be invisible.’ Brunetti doubted that.
‘And then, as the three of us were sitting there all friendly, who walks in but my friend Giulia, with her sister Luisa?’
‘Coltellini?’ Brunetti asked, even though he knew he didn’t have to.
‘Yes.’
‘Giulia saw me and came over and said hello, and then her sister came over, and I thought poor Fontana was going to faint. He stood up so quickly, he knocked over his coffee and got it on his trousers. It was terrible: he didn’t know whether to shake Giulia’s hand or not, he was so happy to see them there, but all Giulia could do was hand him a napkin. He started to wipe at the coffee. It was grotesque. Poor little man. He couldn’t hide it. If he’d had a sign, we all could have read it: “I love you, I love you, I love you.” ’
‘And the judge?’
‘She said hello, and then she ignored him.’
‘It doesn’t sound like much of a disaster to me,’ Brunetti said.
‘That came when Umberto introduced us. When the judge heard my name, she couldn’t hide her surprise, and then she looked at Umberto, and at Fontana, and then she shook my hand and tried to smile.’
‘What did you do?’
‘I pretended I hadn’t noticed anything, and I don’t think she saw that I did.’
‘What happened?’
‘She sat down with us. Before that, she looked as if all she wanted to do was run from the place rather than have to be anywhere near Fontana, but she sat down with us and started to talk.’
‘About what?’
‘Oh, where I worked now that I didn’t work at the bank any more.’
‘What did you tell her?’
‘That I worked at the Commune, and when she asked more questions, I said it was all so boring I couldn’t stand to talk about it, and asked her about the blouse she was wearing.’
‘Did she say anything else?’ Brunetti asked.
‘After a while, when she realized she wasn’t going to get anything out of me, she asked Fontana what we had been talking about, though she made it all sound cute and friendly: “And what interesting things have you been talking about, Araldo?” ’ she said, sprinkling saccharine on her voice.
‘Poor man. His face got red when she used his first name, and I thought he was going to have a seizure.’
‘But he didn’t?’
‘No, he didn’t. And he didn’t answer, either, so Umberto told her we’d been talking about work at the courthouse.’ She paused, shaking her head. ‘Probably the worst thing he could have said.’ She looked at Brunetti. ‘You should have seen her face when he said that. It could have been made from ice.’
‘How long did she stay after that?’ Brunetti asked.
‘I don’t know. I picked up the flowers and said I had to get back to the office. Umberto said he’d walk me to the traghetto: he thinks I work in Cà Farsetti, so I had to take it across the canal and then go into the main entrance because Umberto was on the other side, waving at me.’