‘Wine?’
‘Yes. And beef. And that’s all.’ Lolo took another sip, swirled the glass around, and then said, ‘I will never again in my life criticize the bureaucracy in this fair land.’
‘Here?’ Brunetti asked, unable to disguise his astonishment.
The waiter drifted over to their table, set a bowl of salted peanuts between them and then left.
‘Guido,’ Lolo said, digging up a handful of peanuts and leaning his head back to drop them into his mouth one by one, ‘compared to Argentina, we are living in Switzerland.’ He chewed, swallowed, dropped in more peanuts. ‘Sweden. Norway.’ More peanuts. ‘Finland.’ He grabbed another handful and tossed them after the others. ‘You have no idea.’
‘It’s hard to believe,’ Brunetti said in what he tried to make sound like a calm voice.
‘I know it is. But trust me.’ He set his glass down and pushed his chair back far enough to allow him to cross his legs without doing himself or the table an injury. ‘What do you want to know?’ he asked, reminding Brunetti that he was a man who hated to waste time.
‘I’d like information about Salva Serenissima: I saw your name on the board of directors. But mainly I wanted to see you again and see how you are,’ Brunetti said, knowing it was the truth.
Laughing, Lolo said, ‘Don’t tell me Demetriana’s got her hand in your pocket, too.’ He shook his head in mixed appreciation and exasperation. ‘She’s a wily thing, but I can’t help liking her.’
‘Do you know her well?’
‘I sort of inherited her from my parents,’ Lolo said, sipping his wine. ‘I can’t remember a time when my parents didn’t know them, her and her late husband; she’s almost an aunt by adoption to me.’
‘And Salva Serenissima?’ Brunetti asked.
Lolo leaned back in his chair, raising its front legs from the floor. He crossed his arms and gazed into the far distance as he considered Brunetti’s question. ‘I think it’s her baby.’
‘I beg your pardon.’
Lolo let his chair fall to the ground. ‘Maybe better to say it’s what gives her most satisfaction.’
‘She’s got a son, hasn’t she?’ Brunetti asked.
‘Yes. Clever fellow, Teo. He’s taken over half of the family businesses and is making his own fortune. Most of it’s out of the country now, and he’s away most of the time. Thailand, Indonesia, India.’ Before Brunetti could ask, he said, ‘He and Demetriana have never understood one another.’
‘Did you know his first wife?’ Brunetti asked.
‘Ah, yes,’ Lolo said, then picked up his glass and emptied it. ‘Barbara.’ He looked around for the waiter and, catching his attention, held up his glass, then glanced at Brunetti, who nodded. ‘Due,’ Lolo called to the waiter.
Lolo rested his elbows on the table and clapped his palms softly together a few times. ‘You know about their daughter?’ he asked.
‘Yes. That’s what I want to talk to you about,’ Brunetti answered.
Lolo’s expression changed, and he looked at Brunetti in long appraisal. ‘Aha, and I thought it was the charm of my personality that led you to call.’
‘That, above all,’ Brunetti answered in the same joking tone. Then, more seriously, ‘I’ve asked the Vice-Questore to open an investigation into what happened to her.’
‘Is that necessary?’
They were interrupted by the waiter, who set down two glasses of white wine and replaced the half-eaten peanuts with a fresh bowl.
Brunetti ignored his glass while telling his friend the few facts he knew, ending with the story of Manuela’s drunken saviour.
Lolo picked up his glass by the stem and turned it around repeatedly before setting it down untasted. ‘Well, he did and he didn’t,’ Lolo said at last, then added immediately, ‘Save her, that is.’ His eyes were on his glass, but Brunetti saw the bleakness that had taken over his face.
‘Have you seen her since then?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
‘What’s she like?’
Lolo drained half his glass. He set it down clumsily, making a loud clack, and said, ‘She’s a lovely woman with a vacant face and is often confused by things. She’s very sweet, but after a while you see that something’s wrong with her.’
With the seriousness that had entered his voice with this description of the woman, Lolo asked, ‘Why are you bothering with this? What’s done is done.’
‘Her grandmother asked me to. She doesn’t want to die without knowing what happened.’
‘What good will that do?’
Brunetti shrugged in answer.
‘But it won’t change anything,’ Lolo said fiercely.
‘It will change what she knows,’ was all that Brunetti could think of saying.