alone. I can’t think what business my friend might have here. This does not strike me as the behavior of the fearful woman I met a few days ago, driven to distraction after delivering a blackmail letter to Massimo.
The blackmail letter …
Waves of fear wash over me. I see Allegreza again in her cell. Her strange tone when I tell her who it was that delivered the letter.
Paulina? She is an odd choice for such a mission.
Did she too suspect? Has she always? She wouldn’t let Paulina go to Murano—why?
Paulina pauses to pull a threadbare shawl out of an embroidered bag at her wrist. She wraps the shawl tightly around her shoulders, transforming herself into a peasant woman. She looks over her shoulder, and I duck behind a crumbling wall just in time. I wait, pressing my body against the bricks, until I judge it’s safe to peer around the corner. She’s walking away again. I’ve no time to buy a simple shawl of my own. We move deeper into the slums of the city.
She arrives at a tall building with a series of arched windows. Several of the panes of glass are broken. The gates are rusty and hanging from their hinges, and there are chips in the fleur-de-lis that decorate the grids over some of the windows. This is a beautiful building, left to rot.
Paulina slips through the open doorway, stepping over discarded bundles of rags. I wait a moment, then follow. As soon as I step inside, the smell of damp and decay hits me. I hear the creak and groan of floorboards above my head, and, peering through the slits, I see a shadow pass overhead. Paulina must already be on the floor above. I climb the stairs after her, testing each one before placing my full weight on it. It’s still impossible to climb without making a noise, and I’m glad that, farther ahead, Paulina has disturbed a flock of pigeons that take to the air, screeching.
I walk down a corridor lined with hanging rags. Was this once a cloth-dyer’s? A larger rag hangs over a doorway to form a curtain, kept in place by a nail in each corner. Beyond it, I hear voices and can just make out the shadows of two people moving about a room. I creep closer until I can hear what they’re saying, pressing my body against the wall. A mouse scuttles over my slippers, but I keep my nerve.
“I’ve done everything you asked.” Paulina sounds frightened.
“Stop whimpering!” replies another voice. Carina. “You chose to follow this path with me. Allegreza is dead, thanks to you!” She laughs.
I can hear the quiet sound of Paulina’s desperate sobbing. Any anger I have quickly vanishes. She’s in over her head, fit to drown.
“I just want to go now,” she says. “Please let me go!”
There’s the sudden sound of their footsteps beyond the curtain, and I slip behind one of the rags hanging from a line near the ceiling. Fortunately, it’s so crumpled with age that I can hide in its folds. I watch their feet walk past me along the corridor. A stride or two to the left, and they would brush my skirts. I’m about to breathe out with relief when Paulina stops.
“What about him?” she asks.
“I haven’t decided yet. I may let the rats have him.”
Him? I wait until the creaks of the stairs have died away before coming out of my hiding place, brushing the cobwebs from my skirts. Him? Oh, God, how my heart is beating. I creep on light feet to the room they’ve left, parting the curtain.
It’s small and dark inside. Unlit candles are ranged across the fireplace, leaning in pools of melted wax. A single chair sits in the center of the room, and tied to it is Roberto.
He strains against the ropes, his eyes bulging as he sees me. Muffled sounds emerge from behind the filthy rag tied over his mouth. He is bare-chested, his skin slick with sweat. I throw myself towards him, grappling at the ropes, and all my doubts take flight.
41
I fall to my knees and cover his face with kisses.
“My darling,” I whisper. I don’t care if he’s streaked with dirt and sweat; he has never been dearer to me. I crane around the back of the chair and untie the knots in the rope. His wrists are bloody and the skin chafed from where he has strained to free himself. As the ropes fall into a pile around