Page 8 (1/2)

LA DOLCE MORTE

FROM THE PARLIAMENTARY REPORT, THE TIMES OF LONDON, JULY 30TH, 1959

the Honourable Hamer Radshaw (Lab) asked: &039;Have you received an invitation to the wedding of Vlad Dracula, former Prince Consort, and if such is the case, will you attend the nuptials of this disreputable character and his blood-spattered bride?&039; The Prime Minister, Lord Ruthven (Con) replied: &039;If such an invitation were received, representatives of Her Majesty&039;s Government and, indeed, Her Majesty&039;s Loyal Opposition, would of course give every consideration to an appropriate response&039; Mr Radshaw further asked: &039;Is Her Majesty also expected to traipse off to Italy to watch a fore make yet another dynastic match?&039;

The Prime Minister replied: &039;I have not had the opportunity to discuss this matter with Her Majesty, but I aratulations to her valued ally and sometime countryman, Count Dracula&039; A commotion on the floor of the House prevented further debate

8

JOURNALISM

Kate&039;s room at the pensione was a tiny cupboard at the top and back of the building A tall, thinlooked out into a narrow alley bridged by clothes lines Shirts and sheets flapped lazily in the ind This was the rooh wooden coffin lined with a folded blanket stood on trestles Less faded patches on the wallpaper shohere a crucifix and a mirror had been taken down If the Gideons had left any reading ined accommodations at the Hotel Hassler were of a different order

Having arrived in Trastevere just after dawn, the night talked aith Charles and Genevieve, she crawled into the coffin intent on blacking out for e She fit snugly into the box At the point of sleep, she thought back to the Piazza di Trevi She didn&039;t want to relive what she&039;d seen there, but soed her

Count Kernassy, Malenka, the Cri different? Kate would like to find and talk with her

Marcello, with a milk bottle

She smiled, and death-sleep crept over her

At first, she was told the telephone in the hallas for the exclusive use of the landlady&039;s family After she passed over five hundred lire to the landlady&039;s son, the situation was explained in encies she would be allowed toproof that this was indeed an eency under discussion was likely to last the length of her stay, and parted with a final banknote to convince hinorina,&039; the landlady&039;s son replied A fifty-year-old stay-at-hoh by chest hair Braces cut like cheesewire into his doughy middle A victi the cash

Using the telephone would be a challenge, given her rudimentary Italian In London she did most of her work on the phone She should be able to convert her skills to this new system

First, she tried Inspector Silvestri He was out, but she got through to Sergeant Ginko, who reathered there were no official develop from his careless talk, no unofficial ones either Silvestri was over at the Hotel Inghilterra, where there was soeant cut hihilterra She made a mental note of that Maybe there was an unofficial developirl wheedle, she told Ginko she&039;d arranged to ot mixed up and lost the details Did he have the number of the newspaper he worked for? Ginko knehom she ested she try the Cafe Strega It was in Via Veneto, of course She thanked hi up

Next, she called Genevieve Charles was still sleeping From Genevieve&039;s tone, Kate could tell he&039;d had a bad day A tiny barb of guilt hooked her Had her visit been too much of a strain? She was here to help, not pester Genevieve, intuiting Kate&039;s quals were unsaid between thes like this As va up on nuances of expression, breathing in feelings Falling back onforced to use se Penelope, but didn&039;t

Cafe Strega The Witch&039;s Coffee That conjured up an inora? She tried to remember which of the paveht to what to wear A dress was called for, and she&039;d only packed three: one white and elegant (Christian Dior, once re to the stall-holder in Portebello Market), and one dun and practical (Marks & Sparks) She should save the elegant for the Engagement Ball at Palazzo Otranto, which prompted her to favour the simple over the practical The trouble was that the siirl She was nearly a hundred; she didn&039;t want elderly o with the elegant It was good enough for Audrey Hepburn

For the ball, she&039;d buy so new Genevieve would knohere to shop She was an old hand at this haute-couture lark Kate liked the idea of so spectacular by Piero Gherardi

By the tihtfall She found a taxi on the Viale Glorioso, outside the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, but had to abandon it not long after they crossed the river As she&039;d already discovered, Ro with more than theels The best way to learn a city was on foot anyway She paid off the unconcerned cabbie, and set off on her own It was a short stroll to Via Veneto, but not uncomplicated

She wished momentarily that she had opted for the siant frock, she felt overdressed Soers in the Piazza Barberini histled at her She knew she was blushing Invitations which fortunately - or unfortunately - she did not understand were called out after the gentle Signorina, which she assumed meant her Actually, she decided, she didn&039;t mind overly ave the treatment to every woman who passed It wasn&039;t an especial compliment or insult No Italian had pinched her bottoht be afraid of her

A fe-borns were about early in the night Across the piazza froroup of beautiful vampire youths, sharp-faced and sharply dressed, pale-faced sheiks with dear little fangs They had the post-war look: white Nino Cerutti suits, those oht-fit Casa Leold tat pendants The vitelloni let Kate pass without coirl as happening by, flexing their coled But the approach probably worked The girl, a waifish Pier Angeli lookalike, stopped in her tracks One of the newbornsfingers, projecting &039;you are under s, she turned slowly to the vampire crowd, pretty face blank of expression The new-borns sprouted fanged sirl laughed at the-white Maserati and cuddled up to a warm man in his sixties He had a definite bald spot and a foot-long cigar The sports car cruised off

The hypnotist was crestfallen His fellows chided hi hiirl breezed into view, this one along the enerous lines of Elsa Martinelli The hypnotist recovered his ain to cast the &039;fluence

Kate walked on

Two nights on, the murder of Malenka didn&039;t seem to have affected theand the paparazzi still out after farowled so Papa that they&039;d ot old and drunk and faood writer

Marcello wasn&039;t at the Cafe Strega, but she found a table where three news over a bill They pretended not to understand her in Italian or English, so she paid the bill and bought their attention After exhaustive apologies, a button-nosed French reporter whose stiff forelock stood up like a wood shaving ad after and sent her off to yet another cafe, the Zeppa

A ure ambled down the middle of the road Kate had a start The broad shoulders and swelling chest reminded her of the Crimson Executioner This fellow had a curly beard He wore a peplum, the classical belted tunic of the ancient world, and sandals He ht be an actor, still costu papier-mache serpents and bosomy starlets at Cinecitta

&039;That&039;s Maciste,&039; a crone explained, in English &039;The great hero of Rome Whenever the city has need of hier of the Gods&039;

Kate thought that was Hermes

Maciste strolled on, heroically The hs bunched and relaxed as he rip at her neck The Crimson Executioner could have squeezed her head off

At the Zeppa, she did find Marcello He was at a table on the paveaunt-faced, austerely robed priest, whom he introduced as Father Lankester Merrin

&039;And, Father, this is I am sorry, I misremember&039;

&039;Kate Reed,&039; she said, cut to the heart

&039;Of course Signorina Reed&039;

Though an invitation was not forthco across a chair from another table

&039;I&039;ve read your book on African religion,&039; she lied to the priest &039;Very provocative&039;

The priest s eyes She wouldn&039;t risk another lie with hilass of chilled lizard blood

&039;You&039;re the other reporter as there at the destruction of the elders, Count Kernassy and Malenka?&039; asked Merrin