Kidnapped and a Daring Escape (52 page)

    
"If the police are at his house, then this is a fair conjecture. Start
driving slowly when you reach his street. I will pretend searching for a
particular house on the opposite side."

    
Two police vehicles are indeed parked outside Franco’s house and a
policeman
stands guard at the entrance.

    
"You are right. The police are searching his house."

    
"They nabbed him," she exclaims.

    
She doesn’t know whether to be exuberant that their frame-up worked
or feel bad about it. A queasy discomfort invades her stomach. She
knows it shows on her face.

    
"Bianca, do you regret what we did?"

    
She is startled that he senses her ambivalence. "I don’t know. It felt
right when we did it, but now I feel guilty."

    
"He deserves it. He plotted to have you killed. The evidence we have
is unlikely to convict him of that, but possession of two kilos of cocaine
will. Look, he could have refused to accept the package, or once he
discovered its content, he could have immediately contacted the police.
That would have gotten him off. But the fact that the police now search
his house means that he kept it. He saw this as the way out from his
financial troubles. So, don’t feel bad about it."

    
"Yes, André, you are right. It’s silly of me suddenly to feel guilty."

    
"No, it’s not silly. It’s natural and it shows that you have a conscience
in contrast to Franco. I’d not want you any different, love."

    
She briefly glances at him, grateful for his understanding and support,
filled again with love for him.

    
"We should though do something more now," he remarks after a short
silence. "We should call the press and tell them that the police have
swooped on Franco’s house, nothing more, just that."

    
"You think so?"

    
"Yes, it is then much more difficult for the
Questura
to suppress it."

    
"You think they might?"

    
"Look,
Commissario
Farnese may not be his only friend there. The
fact that she risked taking charge of the investigation against me may
well mean that there were others higher up who deliberately ignored it
and might be willing to lend a hand again."

    
"You really are the most suspicious person I’ve ever met, but you
could be right. You have the number for
Il Messaggero
?"

    
"No, and I don’t want to use our cell phones. I don’t want to leave any
traces leading back to us. I’ll use a public phone."

    
He makes two calls from a public phone booth at the Tiburtina
Railway station, the first to
Il Messaggero
, the second to a TV station. He
also warns her that reporters will soon be calling on them. They agree to
be doubly cautious in whatever they say. After parking the car in an
underground parking garage, they enjoy an aperitif in a café on Piazza
de’Fiori, before returning to the
pensione.
A short time later, the first
reporter from
Il Messaggero
knocks at their door. Both pretend not to
know anything about the arrest and the young man seems delighted to
giving them a rundown. He then asks Bianca whether she ever saw
Visconti sniff coke. She responds truthfully no, but that she once heard
him talk about it.

    
"Did you ever have any suspicions that he could be a drug dealer? I
mean, the amount found clearly points in that direction."

    
"No, never. This is as much of a shock to me as to my fellow students."

    
"And how do you now feel about your previous relationship with
Visconti?"

    
"It sickens me that I was taken in by him, but then we don’t really
know yet whether the drugs found are really his, do we?"

    
"Who else’s could they be? Two bricks of cocaine were apparently
found in a desk drawer in his study."

    
"He deceived me completely. I would never have allowed myself to
be involved with him if I had known. I feel as if I have been saved from
a disaster as big as the kidnapping itself."

    
"And you Mr. Villier? What are your comments on this?"

    
"No comment at this point. I will wait until the police reveal more
about this whole affair."

    
"May I infer from that that you knew something?"

    
André laughs. "Good try. No, it simply means that I don’t want to add
my own speculations to those of the press."

    
"So you have some speculations."

    
"Don’t we all? In the meantime, we should let the police get on with
their work, rather than sow possible misleading speculations."

    
"Since he was the one who made the
denuncia
against you, are you
willing to tell me how it feels seeing the tables turned on him?"

    
"I would be lying to deny that I feel a certain satisfaction that he will
experience first hand the process of being charged for a crime, finger-printed, and hopefully kept on remand for several days until a clever
lawyer gets him freed on bail. It will be a sobering lesson for the
professor. And now I have nothing more to add."

* * *

That evening they again watch the TV news bulletin. It shows a short clip
of police cars stationed in front of Franco’s house, introducing it as ‘The
continuing saga of the Pacelli kidnapping’, announcing that Professor
Visconti, the person who had made the frivolous
denuncia
against
Villier, was arrested for possession of 1858 grams of pure cocaine with
an estimated street value of over 200,000 euros.

    
Shortly after the broadcast, Gabriela calls, asking if they saw the news
and wanting to know their reaction. "Papà is thunderstruck. I have never
seen him like this. He is obviously afraid that he will never see a cent of
the 200,000 he lent the professor as a personal loan."

    
"Did he say anything about me?"

    
"Oh yes. You know him. He always finds somebody else to blame. He
accuses you of bringing Visconti into the family."

    
"I see," she murmurs, feeling once more betrayed, and grabs André’s
hand for support.

    
"Oh sister, don’t take it that seriously. It will all blow over. He may
even give you back your credit card."

    
That triggers anger to surge up. "I will never accept it. Neither he nor
mamma will ever see me again until they apologize both to me and to
André for what they did to us."

    
"You may have to wait quite a while for that to happen, but I’m sure
you know that. Do you want me to pass that message on to him? I’ll
make sure there is a wide table between us when I do."

    
Bianca hesitates for a second and then decides against it. "If he asks,
tell him, but only if he asks."

    
"As you wish … Why don’t I join you shortly and help you celebrate
the professor’s downfall?"

    
"Thanks, but I don’t feel like celebrating. No, André and I will have
a quiet evening and an early night."

* * *

Banking on Monday’s archaeology lecture also to be cancelled, Bianca
and André take up the invitation to visit her maternal grandparents on
Elba. Leaving Saturday morning, they follow the coastal autostrada to
Piombino. While waiting for the noon sailing for Portoferràio, he
suggests that they purchase a puzzle. They find a 1000-piece puzzle
representing parts of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. They also pick up the
weekend issue of
Il Messaggero
. Its front page features a small photograph of André with a fat headline ‘Villier reveals all — pages C3-4’ and
underneath ‘Villier’s accuser arrested on drug charges — A2.’

    
Her grandfather awaits them on the wharf at Portoferràio and drives
them to the seaside village of Biòdola where the couple lives in a small
villa overlooking the waters. After also meeting her other grandmother,
André appreciates why they are Bianca’s favorite. The grandmother does
her best to reconcile Bianca with her mother’s difficult character and
points out that her loving relationship with André is now the most
important thing for her to cherish and nurture. That evening, the four of
them work on the puzzle. Her grandfather inserts the last two pieces at
ten thirty, after which they have a nightcap.

    
They are back in Rome Monday evening. Carlo reports that at least
half a dozen reporters and several paparazzi inquired after them. The
prospect of having to face these people following the publication of his
story was one of the factors that enticed him to get away from the city.

    
Tuesday, he takes Bianca on a long walk — his private tour of Rome:
the Spanish Steps, the four fountains, listening to a flute player in Piazza
Navona, across Ponte Sisto into Trastevere, several gems of small
churches and century-old buildings hidden in the maze of streets, the flee
market near Ponte Palatino, and then along the river back to Piazza
de’Fiori.

    
"I feel like a tourist, visiting a city I’ve never seen," exclaims Bianca
several times.

* * *

Later that day, André receives notice that the net fee so far for his story
amounts to over 150,000 euros, and more is expected from further sales
and translations into other languages, including Japanese. Bianca gets a
new credit card. They are suddenly flush with funds.

    
That night they join Gabriela at a disco, dancing well into the early
morning. They meet up with Gallizio and Chris. Gallizio tells them
gleefully the latest gossip from the
Questura
.
Commissario
Farnese has
been ordered to present herself forthwith to the
Questore
of Brindisi in
Puglia. After Visconti’s arrest on drug charges her continued presence
has become an embarrassment.

    
Wednesday, they receive their license to marry. André immediately
calls his mother and arranges for her to fly to Rome for their civil
wedding, scheduled for Friday early afternoon.

    
He picks up his mother in Bianca’s car late Thursday, while the latter
attends classes. They share an intimate dinner at another of André’s
favorite restaurants that evening.

    
Friday morning, Bianca and André’s mother go to a hair salon. Later
the three take a taxi to the Registry Office. Bianca wears her Timbio
outfit, which André’s mother praised lavishly, while Bianca admired the
woman’s simple but elegant dress that enhances her tall stature. They
meet up with Gabriela and Gallizio who serve as witnesses to their
exchange of wedding vows. They cannot avoid several reporters and a
TV crew that ambushes them. André wonders who informed them. His
suspicion falls on Gallizio, the only one not surprised by their presence,
but he does not resent it.

    
After the ceremony, they gather for a sumptuous luncheon at Crivelli’s. The man outdoes himself: air dried beef, imported from the Swiss
Alps, almost see-through so thinly sliced it is, with sweet melon cubes,
salmon ravioli in a delicate mushroom sauce, duck on a polenta base,
with snow peas, tiramisu for dessert, followed by a selection of cheeses
with grapes, coffee and liqueurs. It is evening by the time they part
company with Gabriela and Gallizio. The latter swears that he will take
his friends to this culinary discovery.

    
When Gabriela kisses them goodbye, she proclaims with a mischievous grin: "And tonight, my dear sister, you may legally consummate
your marriage to that gorgeous man of yours. I won’t deny that I’m
jealous."

   
Saturday, they take André’s mother on a drive into the Colli Albani.
She wants to see Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer residence. They
also drive by Bianca’s parents’ mansion and have a quick glimpse
through the iron gate. She flies back to Geneva Sunday afternoon.