The Mammoth Book of Historical Crime Fic - By Mike Ashley Page 0,101

nasty nature of the fire-crisped corpse. Now, he was fearful that the displeasure had been reserved for himself. Mocco had been wondering why the sought-after Tiepolo renegade had been in his house in the first place. Was he guilty of harbouring a criminal. He groaned, and Cat leaned forward, touching his arm.

“What’s wrong, Nick? Did I do the wrong thing?”

Zuliani waved aside her concern, and was about to keep his worries to himself. But then, looking from the older woman to the younger and back again, it dawned on him he had a family. And what else were families for if not to share your concerns with? He took a gulp of that good Dolfin wine, and explained his quandary.

*

In order to pull Zuliani’s irons out of the fire – almost literally, bearing in mind what had happened to his home – the three of them agreed to divide up their resources. Cat had suggested she would be in the best position to talk to other members of the case vecchie – the old aristocracy of Venice. After all, she was a Dolfin, and one of the case vecchie herself.

“I will see what the gossip says about Francesco, and if there are still perceived to be any links to you, Nick.”

Zuliani had agreed with this strategy, only briefly wondering what their lives would have been like if they had joined forces forty years ago. With Cat’s connections and his gift for underhand dealing, they would have been unstoppable. He only hoped they would be so now, or he would have to flee Venice for the second time.

“And Katie and I will revisit the scene of the crime, and see what we can dig up.”

Cat started to protest, concerned about her young granddaughter seeing the no doubt ugly corpse again. But Zuliani calmed her worries.

“Have no fears, the body will have gone by now. I sent a message to the family to come and collect it. I said that, if they didn’t, it would be dumped in the lagoon along with all my other burnt rubbish.”

Now, he stood outside the door of his shell of a house with Katie at his side. She prodded him.

“You didn’t send a message, did you? I was with you all the time from when Mocco left to when we got to granny’s house. There was no time for you to send a message.”

Zuliani grinned conspiratorially at his granddaughter.

“I won’t tell, if you won’t. Now, do you want to examine this body or not?”

Katie clapped her hands with delight.

“Yes, please.”

The interior of the house looked even gloomier as the day was drawing to a close. But Zuliani had anticipated this and provided them with a lantern from the Dolfin palace. The wind was getting up, and the candle had almost blown out as they crossed the Grand Canal. Even now, inside his empty house, the yellow flame flickered, casting strange shadows on the walls. They ascended the perilous staircase in order to examine Tiepolo’s body once again before the light gave out altogether. It still lay where Zuliani had left it, and he crouched down, holding the lamp close to the gruesome sight. Tiepolo was nothing more than a blackened shell, his knees drawn up to his chest. Any facial features had been destroyed by the fire. His clothes had largely burned away, though Zuliani could see a belt-buckle adhering to the remains, at the point that would have been Tiepolo’s stomach. What was left of his hands were clenched like the talons of a falcon about to grasp its prey. Zuliani glanced at Katie, who was crouched at his side, holding her skirt in a bunch to keep it from the worst of the mess on the floor.

“What do you think?”

The girl grimaced.

“I think he died a bad death.”

“Whoever he was.”

Katie frowned at this statement from Zuliani.

“What do you mean? It’s Francesco Tiepolo – we saw him at the window.”

“Look at the body again. Then bring to mind what you know of Tiepolo, and what you saw when he was standing at the window waving his arms around.”

Katie pouted, but did as she was told. For a while she didn’t understand, then she smiled broadly.

“Move the lantern over here.” She pointed at the claw-shaped hands. “Closer.”

Zuliani held the lantern so that the candlelight shone where Katie had commanded. She clapped her hands again.

“There are no rings on this man’s hands, and yet when I saw Tiepolo waving his arms out of the window, there were