gazed into the old man’s eyes, willing him to agree.
‘Well,’ he replied, ‘all right… but don’t make a habit of it.’
She rushed down the five flights of stairs and opened the door. Cosimo staggered inside and leant against the wall, breathing deeply. He had obviously been running and appeared distraught.
‘Cosimo,’ she asked tenderly, ‘what on earth is the matter?’
On the floor above, a door opened. Livia held her fingers up to her mouth. They heard muffled voices on the landing. Cosimo held his breath, as tears streamed silently down his face. When they finally heard the door close above them, Livia led Cosimo upstairs. Once inside the apartment, he collapsed onto the floor.
Giacomo rushed out into the hall and helped him into the sitting room.
‘Dear boy, what on earth has happened?’
‘It’s Elena,’ he said tearfully, sitting on the sofa. Livia sat next to him and held his hand. ‘What’s happened to her?’
‘She’s been arrested – by Carità. We think she’s been taken to Villa Triste.’
Livia blanched. ‘Why? What on earth has she done?’
Cosimo began to sob uncontrollably.
‘Here, drink this,’ urged Giacomo, handing him a tumblerful of grappa.
Cosimo upended the glass, knocking back the liquid so fast he began to choke.
‘Take your time,’ Livia suggested gently, handing him a glass of water.
He sipped it, trying to slow his breathing. ‘She’s accused of being a member of the Resistance,’ he said eventually.
‘The Resistance! But she’s got nothing to do with the Resistance… has she?’ asked Livia.
‘She joined GAP with me,’ Cosimo explained. ‘She wanted to help.’
‘Why didn’t she tell me?’ asked Livia, aghast.
‘For the same reason you don’t tell her anything,’ said Cosimo pointedly. ‘We are all operating in secret, aren’t we?’ He put his glass down and picked up his stick. ‘I shouldn’t have come here. I’m sorry, I panicked and I couldn’t think where else to go. I’ll only bring you both into danger and that’s the last thing I want. I ought to leave; I need to go and help her… now.’ He struggled to get to his feet.
‘We will help her,’ said Giacomo, his hand on the boy’s shoulder. ‘And of course you were right to come to us. But first, you must tell us what happened.’
Cosimo sank gratefully back in the chair. ‘I hardly know where to begin.’
‘At the beginning,’ said Giacomo.
‘GAP had a plan… to blow up Mario Carità.’ He paused, looking between Livia and Giacomo, allowing the full force of this audacious idea to sink in.
‘Were they mad?’ asked Livia.
‘Maybe,’ said Cosimo. ‘But it seemed a good idea. Carità goes to Café Paskowski every day at lunchtime, regular as clockwork. It gave us the perfect opportunity. Elena and I volunteered for the job.’ He glanced up at Giacomo, who raised his eyebrows quizzically. ‘We were to go to the café, as often as possible, and behave as if we were a newly engaged couple, in love.’ He looked across at Livia and blushed. ‘We weren’t in love – you must believe that.’
‘It’s all right.’ Livia took his hand and squeezed it. ‘Go on.’
‘So the idea was that we should be recognised by everyone – you know, the young girl and the damaged, heroic soldier.’
‘My God,’ said Livia, astonished.
‘Today was the day we were going to act. We positioned ourselves at the corner table; Carità arrived and sat at the neighbouring table, his usual one. Today, he actually smiled at us. Our instructions were to put a bomb under our table, and when it went off he would be killed instantly.’
Giacomo caught Livia’s eye and shook his head in disbelief.
Cosimo began to get agitated. ‘I really must go and help Elena,’ he said.
‘We will, I promise,’ said Livia, ‘but first, tell us the whole story. What went wrong?’
‘There’s a waiter at the café who is in the Resistance. He had screwed a hook beneath our table. We were to finish our drinks, I was to light the fuse, Elena would fix the bomb on the hook, and we would leave. A few moments later – Boom! Carità would be dead.’
‘So, what happened?’ asked Livia.
‘We sat at our table and ordered a vermouth – to make it look like we were relaxed, celebrating. As always, we chatted, held hands, and so on.’ He glanced anxiously at Livia, who smiled.
‘It’s all right, I understand,’ she reassured him.
‘Elena had the bomb in her handbag, wrapped in tissue paper, like a little present. She put the bag onto her lap, and took the bomb out and laid it on the