That was all I caught. The rest was a tangle of syllables I didn’t understand. Zo understood though, and by watching him, I could gauge the level of worry I should feel. Daniel spoke enough Spanish to communicate with his constituency, and Italian wasn’t that far off, so his sharp breath worried me as well.
Antonio, however, was very calm up to a point. Then he changed completely. “Valentina?”
I couldn’t pretend to understand any of what he said after that. The words were just a sharp music, slicing me apart with their song. He was gentle with her, and he was upset, looking at the ceiling while he listened to her voice. I couldn’t hear a thing. He turned away from all of us slightly, the angle of his body courteous and inclusive but sending a message that the conversation was not for my ears.
His voice was reassuring, confident. I couldn’t help it—I leaned in and caught just enough of her voice to hear hysteria and tears.
He lowered the phone, tapped the glass a few times, and put it back against his ear. “Shh, Tina,tesoro. Shhh. Cinque secondi. Non dire nulla. Respira.”
He spoke to her as if she were a child. There was love in it, but not as a husband to his wife. If I’d ever doubted him, I stopped completely when he was gentle but not tender with her. She was silent but for a few sniffs, and he closed his eyes. What was he doing?
A female voice came over the phone and barked in Italian. Antonio put the phone down, and I saw on the screen that the line was dead. He tossed the phone back to Zo, who caught it.
“What did they want?” Zo asked.
“To prove they had her and she is upset. To pull my heart around so I do what they want.”
Daniel leaned on the arm of the couch to stand. “We have to get her.”
“I’ll get her, Brower. Just stay out of it.”
“She didn’t look good when they pulled her out. I know she was scared, and they had me by the balls.”
“Shocking.”
“She was white as a sheet. Sweating.”
“Do you know where she is?” Antonio asked. “Did they say anything?”
“No. Not that I understood.” He looked chastened, and I wanted to slap Antonio.
Antonio gestured to Zo, who gave up his phone as if reading his boss’s mind. Antonio laid down the phone.
“You set the recorder?” Zo asked.
“Yes.” Antonio tapped the screen. “First, we need to figure out where they have her. Then we discuss the rest.”
Antonio fiddled with the phone and came up with his call to Valentina. She was hysterical; I hadn’t heard that. I felt sorry for her. She was totally out of her element. I didn’t need to understand the language to understand that much.
“Shh, Tina, tesoro. Shhh. Cinque secondi. Non dire nulla. Respira.”
She did quiet down, and the background noise became audible. Indoors, yet the sound of a siren came through. And someone talking. Two people. Professionals. But I couldn’t hear the words. Then another siren with a different cadence.
And a beep.
An odd beep.
Then more hysterical Italian chatter from her, and my deep, heartbreaking pity for her.
Antonio played the five seconds of silence again. Siren. Talk. Siren. Beep.
“The hospital,” I said, leaping forward. “She’s in the hospital. The first siren is an ambulance. The second is police. The only time you’re getting those two so close is in the hospital. And the beep. It’s an ECG monitor. I remember it from my brother.”
Antonio pressed the phone to his forehead and closed his eyes, as if thinking hard. “She has an arrhythmia. This is why she looked pale to you. And why she has no business with wine.” He spoke to us but seemed deep in his own world. “Zo, get Otto and find out if his daughter still works for the medical supply company. See if she can make some calls. Find out which hospital.”
thirty-three.
antonio
didn’t tell Theresa what Donna Maria had said. The details were irrelevant.
She is safe. For now.
You, we will gut.