‘A week ago his ship was off Portugal without lights and he was talking Spanish and not Italian.’
‘Is that a criminal offence?’
‘No, but running arms is. And that is what he was doing. He was waiting to pick up a consignment of American munitions that had been routed via Portugal.’
‘That is a very grave charge, Mr McCrae.’
‘I’m glad you realize the gravity of it,’ replied- Stuart coldly.
‘And it is a charge that I do not think you should make behind Perroni’s back. I will get him.’
‘Just a moment, Del Ricci. I do not think I want to listen to Perroni’s lies. I am much more interested in knowing how you stand in the matter. I have no proof that he is running arms — yet. I just know that he is, and he is running them in one of your ships. You want to buy the Trevedra. You have offered twice the market value and you are prepared to pay in sterling. A flat-bottomed landing craft would be a most serviceable ship for running arms. You would be able to run them ashore at any lonely beach — straight ashore in lorries as we ran our cargo this morning.’
‘You are levelling your accusations at me now, McCrae,’ Del Ricci’s voice was still steady but the tone was pitched a shade higher. ‘That is foolish. This country is no longer run by Britain and America. It is run by us and I am a man of some standing here.’
‘So are some of the Black Market profiteers.’
‘Are you suggesting — ‘
‘That you are a Black Market profiteer?’ Stuart shrugged his shoulders. ‘I know that you have a reputation as a clever business man, that your transport company controls all road transport in certain districts and that in those districts essential foodstuffs sold by another concern in which you are interested, The South Italy Produce Coy, are considerably more expensive than in other districts. Arms can be very useful to those who are exploiting the people to the point of desperation.’
‘I think you must be mad to make accusations like this.’ Del Ricci’s eyes were brightly watchful and a nerve at the side of his forehead pulsed tensely.
‘Mad!’ Stuart’s eyes blazed suddenly and the last vestige of liquor-warmth seeped out of me as I sensed the tension in the atmosphere. ‘I lost most of my best friends in this bloody country because a band of hooligans in black shirts marched on Rome some twenty-five years ago. Where did they get their arms? They took control of the country for men of standing who gave them the money to do it and who, in exchange, had exploitation legalized and made it the biggest national industry.
‘Go up the roads to Cassino and Pescara, by Pisa and Florence and through the hills to Rimini. Do you know what those rows and rows of white crosses mean? Every one of them represents the body of a boy killed in the prime of his life because it paid somebody to give a bunch of hooligans arms in 1922. Do you think I am mad to want to see that that does not happen again?’
‘If you are so sure of yourself, why don’t you go to the Questura?’ There was no mistaking the sneer in Del Ricci’s voice.
‘What — in your own territory? A hell of a lot of good that would do. You’ve already threatened me. You’ve already said, “I can make it difficult for you.” That threat was not made lightly. You know your own power.’
‘And you know yours apparently.’
‘What do you mean?’ Stuart’s body was tensed — the whole room was electric. I was very conscious of the fact that we were foreigners in a foreign land.
Del Ricci chuckled and the sound was false in that silent room. ‘When you had the Americans and the Poles and the Indians and the Greeks fighting for you, you didn’t worry about the rights of the Italians to run their own country. But now — ‘
Stuart crossed the room very slowly and Del Ricci’s words ceased as he saw him approach. He seemed fascinated. ‘Do you know how many British boys died or were wounded in Italy to free this country from Fascism? They died in their thousands — and all because they believed in the freedom of peoples to govern their own countries. They were just workers and farm labourers, bank clerks and shopkeepers — and they died that their own country, and all the other countries of the world, should be free.’ Stuart was towering above Del Ricci. Del Ricci slipped his hand inside his jacket. He was frightened. It was then that Stuart hit him. He hit him between the eyes. And Del Ricci was flung back against a bookcase, his head smashing in the glass, and then his body slowly crumpled, his head bleeding profusely from a cut.
Stuart bent down, slipped his hand inside Del Ricci’s jacket and removed a small revolver from an armpit holster. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Let’s get out of here.’ He opened the door and the silence of the room was invaded by the sound of the band playing Funiculi, Funicula amid the murmur of voices and the chink of glass.
Outside, the city was bright in moonlight. The facades of the villas and apartment houses climbing the hill to the Vomero district were white and full of light and beyond Capri the low-hung disc of the moon shone a path of silver across the dark mirror of the sea.
‘That wasn’t very wise, was it?’ I said.
He made no reply. He was taking long strides and I had difficulty in keeping up with him.
‘And what proof had you that he was running arms? You can’t just accuse — ‘
He stopped suddenly. ‘For Christ’s sake, shut up,’ he said. His eyes glared down at me. He was all tensed up. ‘If you’re prepared to deal with a dirty little Sicilian crook who is making a pile out of his country’s misfortunes, go ahead. But count me out.’
‘Don’t be absurd, Stuart,’ I said. ‘I wasn’t suggesting you deal with him. I was — ‘
‘I know what you were suggesting,’ he rapped out, and his teeth were clenched. He was fighting for control of himself. ‘You were suggesting that I should have been more polite, that I shouldn’t have hit him when he went for his gun. You people make me sick. You’d see the whole wretched business start all over again. You’d try to persuade yourself that all the crooks grafting their way to power are innocent until proved guilty. And in the end you’ll shrug your shoulders and say that war is inevitable as you watch another million British war graves planted on the Continent.’
‘That’s ridiculous,’ I said. ‘All I am — ‘
‘All right — I’m a fool. I should forget.’ He gripped my shoulders and the edge of his nail bit through the cloth of my jacket. ‘But I can’t forget,’ he said. ‘I can’t forget. Do you understand what that means? I can’t forget that I’ve seen boys who should have been taking girls out, shrieking hideously and holding their guts with their hands, that pieces of flesh have been spattered all over me, and that I’ve watched a company of brave men die one by one. And the bodies of the partigiani horribly mutilated up in the Chianti country. And I can’t forget that my wife and kid were burned to death. And it all started here in this country when a bunch of crooks got control and went berserk. God!’ He turned abruptly and started walking again.
Back on the Trevedra, Stuart made tea. He was quite calm again as we sat in the ward-room drinking and smoking, and he told me what he had found out about Del Ricci. ‘As soon as I talked to Perroni I knew what Del Ricci’s proposition was going to be. Perroni knew what it was, too. I fancy he was going to get command of the ship if we’d sold. Then I talked to a man who was a director on the board of Del Ricci’s transport company. He spoke a little English, and reading between the lines I got an impression of the whole set-up. It’s based on monopoly, of course. Individuals and small private concerns who attempt to compete don’t do so well. One big concern had tried to muscle in, but a series of unfortunate fires had cramped their style and they’d had to sell out. He told me that with a day/ling smile which made it difficult to realize that it was to be taken as a threat. Del Ricci has a finger in all sorts of pies — produce, tobacco, furniture, coal — anything that needs transporting. He is also a director of the new Banco Nazionale di Riconstruzione. And, most significant of all, he is one of the interests behind the Massa del Popolo Party which was started about three months ago with its headquarters here in Naples.