Nostradamus pouted and I assumed that he was unable to challenge my logic. I should have known better.
"Maybe donna Alina was the agenda," he growled, "but that doesn't mean she killed her husband. They may have been trying to stop her from hiring me to prove Zorzi's innocence because-as you just told us-that means that another of them must be guilty. That other may not be donna Alina."
Violetta was frowning, too, equally unconvinced. "If the lady really killed her husband, then why has she hired Doctor Nostradamus to find the 'real' killer? It would be suicide. Is she as demented as that?"
"She may be," I said. "She may be weighed down by guilt and willing to risk anything to see her boy again. She may have put her own guilt completely out of her mind. Or she may have deluded herself into believing that she will never be suspected. People do things like that. She may be playing a huge game of bluff. But she did insist on changing the contract so that the Maestro will report his findings to her before he feeds the lion."
"You mean she believes he will do that even if he finds proof that she is the murderer?"
"Perhaps. She may expect him to try blackmailing her."
"Is Jacopo really Zorzi?" the Maestro asked.
Violetta gasped, but I had been expecting the question.
"He could be," I said. "The Council of Ten has been known to accept a massive fine in return for a secret pardon, even for major crimes. Even if it hasn't done so in this case, it's been eight years. He wears a thick beard and Zorzi was clean-shaven. All the servants who knew Zorzi have gone and the genuine Jacopo, if there ever was one, could have been disposed of with a bag of silver and a ticket to Rome or Milan. The family is very small, with no close relatives on either side. Jacopo obviously has more money than most young men can dream of. Also, according to Bernardo, he's a lecher like Zorzi."
Nostradamus was nodding impatiently. "But?"
"But," I admitted, sorry to topple such an elegant solution, especially when I'd worked it out for myself, "I'm more inclined to believe Jacopo is younger than me than older, porcupine beard or not. And if he is the reprobate returned, he is going around killing off the courtesans who knew him in his first life. I can't see either the Ten or the family standing for that."
My master grunted. "Neither can I."
"Then who is doing the killing?" Violetta asked.
That was the primary question, after all.
"A hired bravo," I said. "Nobles do not do their own strangling or stabbing. They pay other people to do that."
Medea's eyes flashed an angry green. "Who?" she demanded. "Who is paying the killers?"
I thought I knew the answer, but I had even less evidence to go on than I had for Alina being Gentile's murderer. "Motive's been the problem all along, hasn't it? And timing, too-why is this happening now? I think that Zorzi has tired of exile and wants to come back and clear his name. According to the family, he refused to give an alibi for the night of his father's murder because he was romancing a noble lady and would not betray her to her husband. Possibly the lady has died, leaving a signed confession. I don't believe that she even existed. I think Zorzi was with a courtesan as usual.
"As for the motive-Domenico and Bernardo do not want him back because they would have to relinquish his share of the fraterna. Alina shouldn't, because if he is acquitted she would become the obvious culprit and if he isn't he'll be beheaded. Someone in that family, possibly more than one person, thinks that Zorzi's chances of clearing his name can be undercut by killing whichever courtesan he was patronizing that night so that she cannot testify on his behalf. He probably had a few current favorites, and they don't know which one they need, so they have hired a professional assassin to hunt down and murder all the most likely."
The Maestro groaned. "A thousand angels hear my prayer! You think that after eight years the Council of Ten will reverse its own verdict on the unsupported word of a harlot? You can buy that sort of testimony for a ducat! I thought you said Zorzi Michiel left a confession before he ran away. He will now pass that off as a joke?"
"I'm not sure about the confession," I admitted. "Donna Alina did tell me that she was not questioned again after her son disappeared, and that sounds as if the Ten had very good evidence that he was guilty."
Nostradamus pulled a face that would have terrified gargoyles. "I doubt very much that anything less than a signed confession from someone else would persuade the Ten to change its conviction of Zorzi Michiel, probably not even that. I think, madonna, that you need not listen to any more of these myths and legends. You may go about your business. Indeed, you will have to hurry to complete it before vespers."
Violetta rose, so I did. She curtseyed to the old rogue and I followed her out. I followed her all the way out to the landing, pulling the door closed behind me.
"So where are you off to?"
She smiled as angels smile. "To see the Popess."
"Who?" I must have jumped like a frog, because she eyed me oddly.
"Sister Lucretzia. That's if I can get in to speak with her. You think you could? You want to try on this gown?"
"The tarot warned you that the Popess was a danger to be avoided!"
Violetta laughed lovingly and blessed me with Helen's dark-eyed smile. "But I think the Popess trump is more likely to be the abbess than the nun. If the old dragon as much as suspects what sort of woman I am, she will have me run out of town." Helen is the loveliest of Violetta's personas, not the smartest.
"Yes, I think the abbess is more likely, and it was the abbess reversed you drew. She could have you arrested, darling!"
"You can kiss me. I'm not painted at the moment."
I did so, of course, and finished quite breathless. I have a heart condition where she is concerned. "You free this evening?"
She shook her head. "Poor Alfeo! No, I told my patron I might be late as it is. Tomorrow at noon?"
"I'll try." I tried to kiss her again, but she declined. "Give all the girls my love." I watched her go down the first flight, then went back to the atelier. I headed for the chair I had used, intending to put it back where it belonged. The Maestro appeared to be deep in thought, but he spoke.
"Leave that. Use it. Now report properly."
"Properly" means every word, or as close as I can remember. I sat down and flexed my memory. First I had to empty it of a question.
"You think Sister Lucretzia can help us? She's probably spent her entire life in Santa Giustina."
"Won't know unless we ask and I can't send you."
"True. Did Violetta tell you that her tarot showed the Popess reversed as a snare to be avoided?"
He scowled. "No."
"And yet last night on my reading the Popess upright showed as the solution."
Nostradamus pretends that tarot is childish and overrated, but I suspect that's because it works better for me than it does for him. Despite his scoffing, he does not ignore my readings when he is stuck with a problem.
"Start your report with that, then."
It takes hours of reporting to cover hours of interviewing. We adjourned for supper and resumed. I was weary and hoarse by the time I got to the point where I was seen off by Jacopo. Then the questions started.
"It was Jacopo who shopped Zorzi? By reporting that the dagger was missing, I mean. Who put him up to that?"
"I didn't ask," I said. "I only know because he volunteered the story. I assumed it was just a spontaneous error. He was only a child."
"I've told you: never assume anything. Someone may have put him up to it. Someone may have put him up to telling you…"
A rap on the door knocker stopped him. I went out to see and was startled to find the sinister form of Antonio waiting on the landing. Surprise gave way to terror.