Free In a Heartbeat by Sandrone Dazieri Page A

kind of a loner and a misanthrope.’
    ‘From what you’re saying it seems that you knew him well.’
    ‘He was a family friend, like a distant uncle. He always gave me dolls for my birthday when I was little. He got them at the airport duty-free shops on his travels around the world. I still have them; then he moved on to roses. When I heard that he was dead, I … ’
    She wiped her tears away.
    ‘He didn’t really love me, you know. When I was little I had thought he did, but when I got older I realised that he was only nice to me to stay on my father’s good side. It was a real disappointment. But to die that way … ’ she sniffed. ‘Towards the end the relationship between him and my father grew colder, but he’s still deeply shocked by what happened to Mariano. Poor man, Daddy seemed so old when I saw him this morning. Fragile … ’
    ‘Why had Roveda and your father argued?’
    ‘It was about the agency.’
    ‘Does your father have something to do with Beagle & Manetti?’
    ‘My father had his own agency that wasn’t doing so well, Giovanni Manetti came in as an investment partner.’
    I was shocked. ‘Is Beagle your last name?’
    ‘No, stupid, it’s Bonanno. Beagle was my father’s dog. His name was Spot, not very original I know, as he was a beagle. They used him in the company logo.’
    ‘I thought it was a pig.’
    ‘Spot was a bit fat, poor thing. He died while chasing a cat. A heart attack. Can you believe it? It almost never happens to dogs.’
    ‘They die when they have to die. My dog was fine the day before.’
    ‘What was his name?’
    ‘Spillo.’
    ‘Nice.’
    ‘Anyway, to use the dog as a logo reflected my father’s sense of humour. But he lost his sense of humour when Manetti named Mariano the CEO. Daddy didn’t agree, but he was in the minority and had relatively little say in the day-to-day business of the company.’ When Manetti died his heirs wanted to respect his wishes: his son became president, a purely symbolic role, and Mariano remained CEO.
    ‘If you’re the boss’s daughter, why are you my secretary?’
    ‘I’m your assistant, not your secretary. I’m your second-in- command. I may help you with your meetings, but I never bring you coffee. That’s what Rina does, your real secretary, actually our secretary. I only started recently. I was out of the country up until three years ago, and I didn’t know anything about advertising. You taught me everything I know.’
    ‘How wonderful!’
    I stretched and then stood up. ‘I’m starving. Let’s see if there’s something to eat in the house that isn’t spelt or barley.’
    ‘Rosario’s wife always cooks for you unless you tell her not to. Always vegetarian, sorry to say.’
    ‘We’re going to have to change that.’
    I put on my trousers. Monica didn’t move.
    ‘Saint … ’
    ‘You’re not hungry?’
    ‘Saint, what are we going to do now?’
    ‘Let’s stick to the programme. I have to go back to work and pretend I’m the person from before. At least until after the investigation or until I come up with something better.’
    ‘You don’t remember anything … ’
    ‘You’ll show me.’
    I looked at my watch. ‘What time do I usually show up for work? Do I have to punch in or something like that?’
    ‘No, you’re a director; you set your own hours. You usually get there around nine.’
    ‘So … we have a good seven hours.’

8
    We decided to start with the mobile phone, since everyone had one; I had to learn how to use it. Monica showed me how to switch it on and how to check the address book. There were a hundred and twenty names that I didn’t know besides Rosario, Office and Monica. She also showed me how to write a text message and send it, and how to take photos.
    I had heard about digital cameras before, but they had cost a lot and they were also enormous. Now, you had everything that you could possibly want, and it came in the size of a cigarette pack. You could send images