She waved towards a side table where Diego and his son, both wearing leather trousers, aprons and floppy hats, were standing by with bottles and glasses. I was delighted to see that Alice’s desire for Renaissance authenticity hadn’t extended to the drinks – at least for tonight – and I headed across to grab a bottle of cold Beck’s beer. As I did so, I pulled my mask up onto the top of my head and gave Diego a wink.
‘So how come you two get to wear trousers, and I have to wear these damn tights?’
He glanced down at my legs and grinned. ‘Me, I’m only a servant. You’re a noble, and nobles wear tights. Uncomfortable?’
In response, I just grimaced. Before beginning to circulate among the other actors, I studied Alice’s face for a few moments. She had removed the golden mask again and she looked animated. I walked over and asked a question that had been playing on my mind.
‘I’m impressed by your murder mystery story, Alice… sorry, Donna Alicia. Are you going to give me the name of the murderer in advance, or am I expected to work it out for myself?’
‘Normally, in these circumstances, the person playing the part of the detective is given the answer in advance, but I’ve been wondering whether maybe, out of professional pride, you might like to pit your wits against me. It’s your call completely.’
I stood there and gave it some thought. The obvious, sensibleanswer was to ask her to furnish me with the name of the murderer in advance, but I was in two minds. Once a detective, always a detective – maybe I should take her on. In the end, I came up with a compromise. ‘I must admit that it would be fun to try to work it out for myself, but I’m conscious that your murder mystery evening needs an impressive ending, so why don’t we do this? You don’t tell me who did it, but you give me a sealed envelope with the killer’s name in it. That way, if you completely bamboozle me, I can open the envelope, and the evening can still go off with a bang.’
She gave an approving nod. ‘An excellent suggestion. I’ll give you the envelope at start of play tomorrow evening.’
10
SATURDAY MORNING
I was up early on Saturday to give Oscar a walk. I had checked with Diego the previous night and he had suggested taking Oscar across to the Lido where there was a lot more space. As I left my room, I spotted Diego in the garden and went over to get the key to the outboard motor of the little boat. He led me down the ramp to the jetty and showed me how to work the engine. It was reassuringly similar to one I had used before, so I felt reasonably confident – as long as I didn’t get run over by a ferry or a cruise liner. Diego told me where I could moor up but warned me to make sure I didn’t stray from the specific place he mentioned, for fear of getting a parking fine. Venice really was just like any other city, give or take a bit of water.
Oscar jumped willingly into the boat and would probably have carried on over the other side and into the water if I hadn’t been hanging onto his lead. I waved an admonitory finger at him and looped the end of his lead around my ankle when I sat down. I knew of old how difficult it was to drag fifty or sixty pounds of soggy canine bone and muscle out of the water and into a boat, and I wanted to avoid that at all costs.
The trip across to the Lido was remarkably straightforward and took less than ten minutes. Diego’s directions had been spot on, and I easily managed to find the parking area he had indicated. I manoeuvred the boat to a mooring by the shore, and Oscar and I set off to explore.
The first thing I discovered came as something of a shock to the system. Everywhere I looked, there were roads, and line upon line of parked cars. A quick look at a conveniently situated map of the Lido showed me that this wasn’t an island but a long, slim breakwater, barely a couple of hundred metres wide, dividing the lagoon from the open sea, and it was connected to the mainland at the northern end. As a result, almost every available space had been built on and along with the houses and the people had inevitably come the cars. I kept Oscar on the lead just to be on the safe side, although at seven in the morning, there wasn’t much traffic. It was remarkable how different the atmosphere was compared to the old city across the water. Here, I found myself among apartment blocks and hotels, by the look of them, most built in the twentieth century. The main roads themselves were pleasantly wide and lined with trees, but there wasn’t much in the way of open space for Oscar to run around. Still, I made sure we both did a decent circuit before I spotted a café already open where I sat down for a coffee and a brioche. As always, Oscar disposed of the tail end of my bun.
While I sat there, I thought back to the dress rehearsal the previous night. It had gone remarkably smoothly. Dinner had been served out on the terrace and had started with a combination of drinks and canapés, allowing the actors to wander around, mingling with the non-existent guests and chatting among themselves in readiness for the main event today. Although it hadn’t been easy, I had gradually managed to get the hang of eating and drinking with my mask on, in spite of my massive hooked nose.During the sit-down meal, after every course, we’d had to get up and change seats so as to allow us all to communicate with each other. I had a feeling there might be a certain amount of resistance from the guests at tonight’s main event, particularly some of the more elderly ones – and they made up the majority – but I hadn’t said anything.
I’d seen that the actors had all been issued with cards containing clues for them to pass on to the guests. As far as I could see, they had obeyed Alice’s instructions not to discuss these with the others, although I’d seen our host take each of them aside for a one-to-one briefing in the course of the evening. I was most impressed at the time and effort Alice must have put into planning the event, and I had a feeling that her guests were going to be similarly impressed.
After my cup of coffee, I headed back to the island and when I got there, I found Mary waiting for me on the jetty.
‘Hi, Dan, Diego told me you’d gone over to the Lido in the dinghy, and I spotted you coming back. I thought I’d let you have the accommodation list, so you know who’s in which room.’ She handed me a sheet of paper and a little paper bag with one hand while fending off a warm greeting from Oscar with the other. ‘And here’s a bow to tie to Oscar’s collar tonight. Miss Graceland wants him to look good. I’m just waiting for Diego now. We’ve got a busy morning ahead of us. We’ve had arrival details from the guests and we’re going over to the airport now to collect Jack Sloane, Maggie McBride and her boyfriend, along with Alastair Groves and his wife.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘They’re arriving pretty soon from Rome and then, once we’ve dropped them off here, we’ll be going straight back to the airport again to pick up the two actors, Dirk Foster and Lucy O’Connell, along with Desmond Norman – they’re flying in on Norman’s private jet. If they’re on time, we should be able to drop them off here beforezooming back to the airport one more time to pick up Greg Gupta and Carlos Rodriguez, who’re coming in on the morning flight from Berlin.’
I did a bit of mental arithmetic. ‘What about Wilfred Baker and his companion?’
She shook her head. ‘No word yet how they’re getting to Venice, but he’s told Miss Graceland he’s going to make his own way out to the island – presumably by water taxi.’
While we were chatting, Diego came hurrying down the ramp and jumped into the launch. As he passed me, I gave him back the keys to the dinghy and left them to it.
When I got back to my room, first things first, I gave Oscar his breakfast and then I opened the paper bag and pulled out an intricate bow made of wide, red ribbon. A couple of strings hanging from it would be used to tie it to his collar. As long as he didn’t eat it – he has an inexhaustible and fairly indiscriminate appetite – I felt sure he would look suitably impressive. I put it with my magistrate’s costume and settled down to catch up on paperwork Lina had sent me from Florence.
At just before ten, there was a tap on my door, and I opened it to find Alice Graceland herself standing there. She was wearing shorts and a baggy T-shirt, but she still looked amazing.
‘Good morning, Alice.’ It still felt strange to be calling such a huge star by her first name.
‘Good morning, Dan. I’ve brought you some more information about what’s going to happen tonight. Feel like a walk?’
This resulted in an immediate reaction from Oscar, who slipped out through Alice’s legs into the garden. I followed – not through Alice’s legs – and the two of us walked slowly around for a couple of minutes, just chatting, until we came level with the greenhouse. I pointed towards the mass of vegetation in there and pulled out my phone.
‘I’m most impressed with what you’ve done to the gardens, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a greenhouse with so many plants in it. I don’t recognise half of them, and I wonder if you’d mind if I took a look inside some time. I’ve got an app on my phone that claims to be able to recognise virtually every plant on the planet, and I’d like to put it to the test.’
Her response was enthusiastic. ‘I would be fascinated. Like you, I haven’t been able to recognise many of the plants either and I hadn’t thought about getting an app. Before I bought the island, somebody was using the place as a market garden – illegally, as it belonged to the city and was off limits – growing fruit and vegetables. I’ve no idea what nationality they were, but I have a feeling they weren’t Italian. Apart from some familiar vegetables, there were also all sorts of exotic ones like mangoes and even papaya, and goodness only knows what’s inside the greenhouse.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘I wish I could spare the time to accompany you now, but I’m going to need to go back to change pretty soon, before the first of the guests arrive. If you do feel like taking a look around in the greenhouse, I’d be very grateful if you could let me know what you find.’
I agreed immediately, and we carried on walking until we reached one of the stone staircases leading to the ramparts and climbed it. We went across to one of the larger openings in the outside wall, from where we could look back across the lagoon towards the city to the left, and further over the islands of Murano and Burano to the right. As I looked on, there was a distant roar and I saw an aircraft coming in to land at Venice’s Marco Polo airport – maybe carrying some of tonight’s guests. Alice stood beside me and talked me through what would happen this evening, until I had a pretty good idea. She ended by shooting me a decidedly cheeky wink.
‘If all goes as I’ve planned it, there’s going to be a twist in thetail right at the end. Hopefully, it’ll surprise the guests and, who knows, maybe even bamboozle the experienced detective.’
