Free The Devil in Music by Kate Ross Page A

funeral
arrangements. He would also write to Marchesa Beatrice in Turin,
though it might take some time for the news to reach her, given the
political chaos there.

    Ruga
and Don Cristoforo returned to Solaggio. Soon after, Donati heard
the passing-bell toll solemnly for Lodovico's soul. An old woman
came from the village to wash and dress Lodovico's body. Since she
would see the bullet hole in his chest, she too had to be sworn to
secrecy.

    Raversi
made a thorough search of the villa, keeping Matteo with him to bear
witness that he neither removed nor disarranged any of Lodovico's or
Orfeo's possessions. If anything interesting came of the search,
Donati was not told about it. He was present, however, when Raversi
asked Matteo and Lucia where they had been between the hours of ten
and four last night. They both said they had spent the night at the
castle. Matteo had lodged with the gardener, while Lucia had shared
a bed with two maidservants, Maria and Bona. Maria had

    had
a toothache, and the other two had sat up with her all night. Donati
supposed this story would be easy enough to verify.

    "You
have an alibi," he told Lucia.

    "What's
that, Maestro?"

    "Someone
who can swear you were somewhere else when the crime was committed."

    "Oh,"
she said shrewdly.

    "What
are you thinking?"

    "I
was just wondering if Tonio has one of those."

    Tonio
did have an alibi but Tonio was missing. Marianna Frascani, the
landlady of the Nightingale, reported that he had come to her inn
yesterday evening in a sullen, angry mood, and had drunk himself into
a stupor in the public room. He had bespoken a bed, but no one
wanted to carry him upstairs to it. He was a big young man, and
neither plump enough in the pocket to make it worthwhile to do him
favours, nor agreeable enough to make people want to help him for his
own sake. Marianna had left him lying on the brick floor in the
public room. As she was not a trusting woman, she had tied a bell to
his ankle and made a waiter sleep close by him, in case he awoke and
took this opportunity to steal something. She and the waiter were
absolutely certain that he had remained there all night.

    In
the morning, said Marianna, Tonio woke up with an aching head,
sluiced his face at the pump, and wandered away from the inn. After
a short while, he came back, packed up his belongings in a bundle,
paid his reckoning, and ran off as if the devil were at his heels.

    "When
was that?" Raversi asked Ruga, who had brought this information
to the villa.

    "Marianna
said, between eight and half-past." Ruga's voice took on the
questioning lilt it always had when he spoke to men of rank, as if he
hesitated to make any definite statement without their approval. As
usual, he sounded a little breathless. Donati surmised that he was a
portly man, with muscles too slack to support his weight.

    "Did
he say where he was going?" Raversi asked.

    "No,
Your Excellency."

    "Did
he mention anything about Orfeo?"

    "Not
so as Marianna could recall."

    "Are
you sure about all this?"

    "Yes,
Excellency. I spoke to her myself."

    "He
can't have committed the murder," Raversi said slowly. "So
why did he run away?"

    "I
can't imagine," said Donati. "He knew I was going to do
something to help him. Perhaps he'll come back, or write to me."

    "Let
me know at once if he does. He may well be the person best able to
give a description of Orfeo. He fought with him he must have had to
take a good look at him. I wonder Ah, Madonna! Of course!"
Raversi began walking excitedly back and forth. "Orfeo
deliberately picked that quarrel with him! He wanted to drive him
away from the villa, so that there would be no one young and
able-bodied to protect Lodovico! Maestro, have you any idea where
Tonio might have gone?"

    "No,
Signor Conte. He had no family, and few friends."

    "Hm.
I'll ask Comandante Von Krauss to have his men look for him as well
as Orfeo. But now I must go to Castello Malvezzi and break the news
of Lodovico's death to his