Page 6 of Murder at the Ponte Vecchio (Armstrong and Oscar Cozy Mystery #11)
Casper answered this time. ‘Thirty years ago, our father took up with an Italian woman and abandoned us without a backward glance. I’m sure you can imagine the effect that had on our mother and on the whole family.
He left Amsterdam for Italy, severed all links and I, for one, had no desire to see him again after the way he’d treated our mother – and us. ’
‘What about your mother? Does she still live in the Netherlands? ’
‘Our mother passed away four months ago and, yes, she’d been living in Amsterdam, like the rest of us.’
‘So the invitations to come here suddenly appeared out of the blue after thirty years?’ I echoed Marco’s amazement in my voice as I translated his words. ‘Did he give you a reason? After all, you answered the call, so presumably this was in response to something in his invitation.’
Emma nodded. ‘The reason we all answered his summons is money, plain and simple. He told us he wanted to discuss our inheritance.’
Her brother, Luuc, spoke for the first time, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a letter, which he unfolded.
He was a fit-looking man with close-cropped, dark hair, but his face was weary.
Mind you, if he’d driven here from Holland, he had every right to look tired.
He also looked displeased – whether at the death of his father or the intrusion of the police was hard to decipher.
‘Our father indicated that he’d become a very wealthy man and he instructed us to come and hear how he intended to divide his estate.
’ He added extra emphasis to the word instructed and I deduced that this might be the explanation for his apparent displeasure.
Presumably, he hadn’t wanted to come at all.
He continued, ‘All three invitations are identical and written in Dutch, but I can give you a translation into English if you like.’ He also spoke excellent English.
In response to Marco’s nod of the head, he gave us the translation and I relayed it to Marco in Italian.
The invitation was short, formal, and brief to the point of rudeness.
A couple of lines struck me as I listened to the translation.
These were, I am aware of my advancing years and I need to get my affairs in order, and, I have amassed a considerable fortune and I wish to inform you of how I intend to distribute it .
The invitation was simply signed, David Berg, your father . No terms of endearment. Icy cold.
Marco and I exchanged looks before he continued with his questions. ‘How were relations between you and your mother?’
Luuc answered. ‘We loved our mother dearly. She was treated terribly by our father, and we all stuck by her to the very end. Of course, there was no word from our father when she died.’ His expression visibly softened when he mentioned his mother, but when he spoke of his father, it darkened.
His brother and sister nodded in unison and Marco asked for more information.
‘Your father had a jewellery business here in Florence. What did he do when he lived in the Netherlands?’
Casper answered. ‘The same. He had three shops in the centre of Amsterdam. Luuc, Emma and I still work there now.’
‘So your mother was well provided for.’ Casper nodded reluctantly, and Marco tried another question. ‘What about the woman he divorced your mother for? Is she still around? Have you met her?’
Luuc answered first, almost spitting. ‘We haven’t seen her and we have no desire ever to see her.’
They all shook their heads and Emma made a suggestion. ‘Like Luuc says, we’ve never met her. If you want to know more about her, you probably need to ask Ines. She’s worked here for almost twenty years.’
‘Ines is the woman who showed us in?’
‘Yes, she’s the housekeeper.’
‘When did you all arrive here?’
Casper took over again. ‘We were given strict instructions to arrive yesterday at three o’clock – which we did.
Ines let us in, but only an hour or two later, we received the news of the death of our father the previous night.
Are you quite sure it was murder? He was eighty-six, after all.
’ He sounded more frustrated than saddened.
Even so, Marco offered his condolences. ‘I’m afraid there’s no doubt about it. He was definitely murdered. I’m very sorry he died before you could see him again.’
Luuc gave a dismissive shrug of the shoulders. ‘Speaking personally, I’m glad I didn’t see him. I would have had nothing to say to him – at least nothing polite – and, to be honest, I didn’t want to come here at all. I only came because Casper and Emma thought we should.’
Casper explained. ‘After receiving the invitations, the three of us got together to decide what to do and we finally agreed that it was probably to our advantage to come.’
‘Have you seen his will?’
They all shook their heads and Marco and I exchanged glances again.
What was going through my head once more was the very important question of who stood to benefit from the old man’s death.
Could it be that his original will had left everything to his Italian partner, and when she had heard that he was planning on distributing his wealth among his children, she had taken drastic action to do away with him before he could make any changes and cut her out?
Alternatively, was his killer sitting in front of me right now?
After a few more questions, Marco stood up.
‘Obviously, the important thing now is to get hold of your father’s will.
I’ll get my people to do this, unless you have any objections.
’ This was met with blank faces all round, so he closed his notebook.
‘I’d like you all to stay here for the next couple of days.
I’ll need to speak to you again, but I won’t keep you here any longer than I have to.
As soon as I have details of the will, I’ll be back in touch.
Now I’d like to go and speak to the housekeeper. ’