A conversation with Francesca

…

The drive down to Sorrento was interesting, not only for the stilted conversation with Francesca but the fact we were being followed.  I found it hard to believe they didn’t trust her.

Or, it might be something, or someone, else.

I didn’t tell her.  I didn’t want to scare her.

Later, we could have branched off to go to Naples or Pompei, I would certainly want to go to the latter, but time was of the essence.  Instead, I drove directly to Sorrento, and it took about three and a half hours, with one small stop on the way for more coffee.  And to check out the person who was following us.

I would have liked to look at the scenery but couldn’t.

I had another go at small talk. “Where do you come from?”

She looked round at me with a frown.  Was I interrupting her sightseeing?  She blinked a lot, so I assumed she was nervous.  She didn’t have the red spots on her cheeks now, but I wondered it that was a sign she was angrier.

Then having decided, on what I didn’t know, she said, “Milan.  I wanted to be a model, but it didn’t work out.”

“What happened?”

“It’s a long story.”

“We’ve got time.”

“My mother thought it best I get married to a nice man and have children.  It seems women, to her, are meant only to be dutiful wives.  I had no such aspirations.”

“Then what stopped you?”

“The awful man I picked to be my agent.  Wanted me to sleep with him before he took me on.  I taught him a lesson he’ll never forget.”

“How did you get to be an art historian?”

“I liked going to art galleries and looking at paintings.  I wanted to know more, got into university, and it was fun.”

“And working as a private detective?”

“A friend of my father heard I knew something about old paintings and asked me to come and look at some that had been recovered from a robbery.  He thought they were fakes, which they were.  Offered me a job, gave me the training, just in case I wanted some variety, and here I am.”

“You just need to work on your surveillance skills and maintaining a low profile.”

“For such a so-called good agent, you were easy to pick up at the airport.”

“I wasn’t trying to hide.  There are two ways I could have arrived, the first is so that no one knew I was coming.  The second, make a splash, identify the surveillance, and then remove it.”

“And if two men come up to you in the street, throw you into a white van, and drive off…”

“Always be aware of your surroundings.”

“Is that a hint that I should have been looking for anything unusual while on this road trip.  If it is a subtle dig, then I would not be surprised if you have already picked up the man in the yellow Fiat three cars back.  He;’s been there for a while.”

“Not one of yours?”

“No.  Why would there be?”

“Your boss still thinks you’re not clever enough to outwit me.”

“Or I’m smarter than he thinks I am.  I’m with you, you’re not considering me a problem, I get to see and do everything you do, that’s pretty smart don’t you think?”

I had to admit if you were to put that spin on what she was doing, it was.  I hoped her boss wasn’t an ungrateful sod.

Conversation over, she went back to her phone and worked on a crossword.  She changed the radio station to classical music, and I didn’t change it back.  It was Ravel’s Bolero, and for some reason it made me think of Cecelia.

“Do you think we should play cat and mouse with our tail?”

“Why would you want to do that.”  She gave me a sideways glance that I interpreted as ‘Are you stupid?’

“Just say I have a strange sense of humour.”

With that, I slowed down and pulled off onto the side of the road, and being such a sudden move, my tail didn’t have time to do likewise, and if he did, he would have given himself away.

I watched him drive by, noting that he glanced in our direction as he passed.

I pulled out from the side onto the road after several cars passed, then settled in to follow him.  I expected him to pull over and stop, just to see what I would do, but he didn’t.

“What exactly did you achieve?” she said.

“Nothing yet, but the day is young.  Once we get to Sorrento, I will not be letting him know where we’re going.”

© Charles Heath 2023

An extra passenger

…

I was literally waiting for her to tell me she hadn’t anything to wear for our little trip, but instead said she would need to take a few things.  She added, in the same breath, that she would tell her bosses whatever they needed to hear.

I didn’t think that included that I’d take a shine to her.  I don’t think she quite knew what that meant.  At any rate, she had to go home, and I had to head to the car, and on the way, call Cecelia.

She wasn’t going to believe half of what I had to tell her.

I gave her the address of the parking garage and told her I would see her there in two hours.  I seriously doubted I would see her again.

Back on the train, I called Cecelia.  She answered straight away but with a noncommittal “Yes?”  Perhaps she was guarding against the phone falling into the wrong hands.  Hers and two others were the only numbers on speed dial.

“It’s me.”  I didn’t qualify ‘me’ she would know.

“Where are you?”

“Just leaving Rome after seeing the countess’s solicitor.”

“Did you get a voice recording from Rodby?”

“Yes.”

“Are you suitably surprised?”

“That we only get half, or in this case, a quarter of the story.  I didn’t see that coming, though I had an inkling that Martha wasn’t Martha, but then I wouldn’t recognise my mother some days.”

“Who’s that woman pretending to be the countess?”

“Anyone’s guess.  Did you get them into the hotel?”

“And left them to it.  I’ve been at the Sorrento mansion, waiting for the old lady.  The two boys are here, Alessandro and Fabio.”

“Given what we know about the fake Countess, you might want to stay away until I get there.  I’m not sure where Vittoria and Juliet fit into the puzzle yet, or whether the fake Countess is keeping them nearby for other reasons, but I’m sure the two of them can take care of themselves.”

As for the information the solicitor gave me, I would save that until I saw her.

“Just one other wrinkle, I picked up some surveillance, and now I have one of their team with me.  She’ll be coming to Sorrento.  I believe she’s working for a PI who’s working for the Burkehardt’s who want to know where the countess is.  They would want to know before the sealing of the inheritance, so extra eyes and ears might be useful.”

“She could be trouble.”

“Which I’m sure you’ll deal with like I will.  I’ll be there in three to four hours.  Have we got another hotel?  I don’t fancy staying with the others?”

“Yes.  I text you the name.  Take care.”

I waited in the café near the parking garage, and three minutes before the two hours were up I saw her getting out of a taxi, and leaning in to talk to someone who had accompanied her.

A husband, or a boss?

The taxi drove off and she looked around, then saw me sitting at the table on the street.  Not the safest place to be, but needs must.

I waited until she sat down and called the waiter over to order her coffee.

“Your supervisor in the car?”

“He insisted on coming with me.  I told him the truth, rather than what you said, and he wasn’t pleased.  However, at that moment, he said, our interests are aligned, so I would be better off staying with you.  At least then if you find the countess, so will we.

“Did you bring a gun?”

“What.  Wait.  Why would I?  A gun?”

She didn’t answer the question, so it was likely the boss just gave her one.  I wasn’t going to search her handbag right then, but maybe later.  It also raised a small red flag in my head, what if she was more than just a ‘pretty face’?

I shrugged.  “If you have, remember don’t point it at me.  I tend to get a little annoyed at people who do stupid things like that, with very bad consequences.  For them.  I hope you like 80s rock.  if you don’t then you only have to endure it for about three hours.”

She smiled wanly.  “I’d rather not be going, but we don’t always get what we want.”

© Charles Heath 2023

Under very close surveillance

…

The girl was still waiting.  To me, it was risky to do so, but it depended on her peers, and if she had been told not to lose me, then I could understand.  Myself though, I would have kept an eye from the foyer or outside the building depending on where the exits were.

I sat next to her, which I could see was a little unsettling.

“Not finished yet?” She asked, trying to move a little bit further away from me.

“Yes, I am.  But I was wondering, Francesca, why have you taken an interest in me?”  I gave her a curious look and tried not to look threatening.

She seemed disconcerted that I knew her name, and was going to respond but instead said, “I think you have mistaken me for someone else.”

She stood.

“Perhaps I have, but if the names of Antonia and Giuseppe mean anything to you, I suggest we go have a cup of coffee, my treat, and talk about it.”

I saw the fear in her eyes, and I knew she knew I had leverage.  It was, for a field agent, which I didn’t think she was, the worst-case scenario.  The fact she wasn’t was underlined by the amount of information found.  Field agents, like myself, were ghosts.

She nodded.

Once we were seated, and coffee delivered, I said, “Whatever you might be thinking right now, I am not interested in causing anyone harm.  If what I suspect is the case, then you have nothing to worry about unless your employer expects you not to tell me or anyone anything, but we’re past that.  You are not a proper field agent, are you?”

“No.”

“Why then?”

“They were short two people and I had done the training, and they asked if I could fill in.”

“To do?”

“Surveillance.”

“You do realize surveillance is carried out from afar.”

“In London or New York maybe but here it is a little more difficult.”

“Did they ask you to get close?”

“Only if an opportunity presented itself.  I was to find out what you were doing, with whom, and why.”

“Are your employers looking for the countess?”

She looked at me sideways, summing up what she could and couldn’t get away with.  “Yes.  She has gone missing.  The team in London lost her at the hotel.  You were there, and with her at the opera, that’s how you became a person of interest.”

That told me she was not working with the kidnappers.  And quite possibly her employers were working for the Burkhardt’s.

“You usually work in the stolen art department, well, not so much stolen art as identifying fakes.  I noticed one case where the owners of several very expensive pieces had them copied, sold the originals to private collectors, and then tried to claim insurance when the copies were ‘stolen’.  Why would you want to go out into the murky world?”

“There aren’t any cases at the moment and a change was good.”

“You do realise that if I was not retired and only doing a favour for a friend, you’d be dead, or at the very least in hospital.  The world I lived in was very, very dangerous.  And information on you and your family is too easily accessible.  I suggest you address that when you go back to the office.  As it stands that might not be for a while.  You will tell your bosses I have taken a shine to you, and you will be coming with me to Sorrento.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Do you know what collateral damage is?”

She nodded.

“That can still happen.  I don’t need you running around in the shadows where I’ll trip over you.  I believe the countess had been kidnapped, and the fact we haven’t got a ransom means that we are dealing with some very nasty people.  At least that way you can keep your people updated.  It’ll be easy for you to say you overheard me reporting in.  It’s that or a dark hole somewhere for several days.  Your choice.”

I didn’t want to take her with me, but she was going to stay on my tail.  Better to know where she is rather than have her blunder her way into a possible tense situation.

Actually, she had no choice.

© Charles Heath 2023