Murder On The Rue Cassette (A Serafina Florio Mystery) (34 page)

Chapter
45: From the Conservatory

From their conservatory where they
enjoyed an after-dinner café, Serafina gazed out over all of Paris, Loffredo by
her side. The street lamps had long ago been lit, and the city before them
seemed like a magical kingdom.

“Valois told me that Haussmann
had fifteen thousand gas lamps installed on the streets of Paris.”

“Tomorrow let’s go to the Louvre
if it rains. We have one more day to celebrate before I start to work,”
Loffredo said.

“And if the sun shines?”

“The Medici Pool in the
Luxembourg gardens. I have something to give you.”

Serafina smiled. “At the Medici
Pool?”

Loffredo kissed the top of her
head. “Was Valois surprised when you told him?”

“He tried to hide it, but yes,
he was. Not used to Sicilian women.”

“But Sophie is a Frenchwoman
now.”

“On paper, yes, and I’ve gotten
as close to the truth as I will ever be on this case.”

“You’ve not uncovered the whole
truth?”

Serafina shook her head.
“There’s no such thing as uncovering the whole truth, unless you’re the
Madonna
.”

“Does she tell her Son?”

Serafina arched a brow. “Most of
the time. But we poor mortals, we dig and dig and dig and never reach the
bottom.”

They embraced, and Paris
shimmered in their glow.

She heard Vicenzu yelling as he
clambered up the stairs. Way too early. Their bedroom door burst open and he
limped toward her.

“It’s Carlo,” he said. His eyes
were wild as he handed her the wire and he gulped air. “From Busacca.”

“Regret to inform you. Your
family home in Oltramari burned to ground. Body of your son Carlo Florio found
amid debris.”

The End

Characters

Serafina Florio
,
midwife and sleuth, a widow
with seven children

Loffredo
, Oltramari’s medical examiner,
Serafina’s lover

Elena
, his wife, estranged and living in Paris

Don Tigro
, Oltramari’s mafia capo

Carlo
, Serafina’s oldest son, a medical student

Carmela
, Serafina’s oldest daughter, a
single mother, Carlo’s twin

Nunzio
, Carmela’s son

Vicenzu
, Serafina’s middle son, a
pharmacist

Renata
, Serafina’s second daughter, a
pastry chef

Giulia
, Serafina’s third daughter, a
designer, living in Paris

Maria
, Serafina’s youngest daughter, a prodigy

Totò
, Serafina’s youngest son, an altar boy

Teo
, an orphan living with Serafina

Assunta
, Serafina’s domestic

Rosa
, Serafina’s best friend, a single mother and erstwhile
madam

Gesuzza
, her maid

Tessa
, Rosa’s adopted daughter, an art student

Arcangelo
, Rosa’s stableboy

The Commissioner
, Oltramari’s chief of police

Colonna
, venal inspector in Oltramari

Levi Busacca
, Elena’s father; commissions
Serafina to find his daughter’s killer

Léon Renault
, Prefect of Police, Paris,
1871-1876

Alphonse Valois
, inspector at
La Sûreté Nationale
assigned to investigate Elena’s
death

Françoise Valois
, his wife

Charlus Valois
, their son

Étienne Gaston
, one of Elena’s lovers

Jacques
, his butler

Sophie de Masson
,
Levi Busacca’s sister, Elena’s
aunt. Runs millinery shops in Paris

Beniamino de Masson
, Sophie’s oldest son

David de Masson
, Sophie’s middle son

Ricci de Masson
, Sophie’s youngest son

Madame Josephine Joyeuse
, designer at Busacca et Fils

Madame Gruenfeld
, Elena’s neighbor

Mimette
, her pregnant maid

Papillon
, Elena’s kitten

Shadows
, two men hired to follow
Serafina

Cameo appearances
by Auguste Renoir, Berthe
Morisot, Victorine Meurent, Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne, Stéphane Mallarmé,
Stéphane Tarnier

Places

Oltramari
, Serafina’s home town, a
fictional village on the northern coast of Sicily

Busacca et Fils
, millinery stores in Palermo
and Paris owned by Levi Busacca

House of Grinaldi
, fictional couturier in Paris
where Giulia is a designer

Café Procope
, rue l’Ancienne Comédie

Bofinger
, a brasserie in the seventh
arrondissement

Véfour
, Palais Royale [rewrite]

Maison Dorée
, boulevard des Italiens

Les Halles
, wholesale flower and vegetable
market in Paris, closed in 1971

Copyright © 2013 by Susan Russo
Anderson

Cover
by Avalon Graphics

All
rights reserved.

No
part of this book may be reproduced in any form

by
any electronic or mechanical means including

photocopying,
recording, or information

storage
and retrieval without permission

in
writing from the author.

Murder
On The Rue Cassette
is a work of fiction.

Names,
places, and incidents are either products of

the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Any
resemblance to persons living or dead

is
purely coincidental.

Author’s
Website

www.susanrussoanderson.com

[email protected]

About the Author

Susan Russo Anderson is a writer, a mother, a grandmother, a
widow, a member of Sisters In Crime, a graduate of Marquette University. She
has taught language arts and creative writing, worked for a publisher, an
airline, an opera company. Like Faulkner’s Dilsey, she’s seen the best and the
worst, the first and the last. Through it all, and to understand it somewhat,
she writes.