Page 39 of Murder on an Italian Island
‘Virgilio went off and after a bit, Ignazio pulled himself to his feet and wandered over here.’ I saw her finger point at the ground right in front of her. ‘It was here, in this exact same spot, that I came face to face with him. He stopped when he saw me, and I just stood there in silence, unable to say a word. As I looked at him, it all came back to me: the pain, the disgust and the shame.’ She paused to take a few deep breaths. ‘He stared at me blankly and mumbled, “Who are you?” He didn’t recognise me. Can you imagine how that made me feel, Dan? Here he was, the man who had ruined my life, and he couldn’t even remember my name.’
She lapsed into silence, and I could see from the movement of her shoulders that she was sobbing. My instincts were telling me to go over and give her a hug, but I didn’t. I had to know what had happened.
Finally, after several minutes, I risked the all-important question.
‘And so you pushed him over the cliff?’
She didn’t look at me. She was staring down at her feet or maybe at Oscar, and I saw her shake her head slowly. ‘I could have done, you know. I felt such a burning hatred inside me that I’m sure I could have pushed him, but I didn’t. Instead, I just stood there in silence, staring at him in utter disgust.’
The detective in me told me that she would say this, wouldn’t she, but I found myself believing her. I sensed she was too emotionally shaken to dissimulate, and when she continued, I could hear how hard she was struggling to keep control of her voice and her emotions.
‘He was very drunk but he must have realised that I didn’t want anything to do with him and he took two steps back and turned away. As he did so, I saw his foot slip and then, in the blink of an eye, he disappeared over the cliff edge. I didn’t kill him. As it was, he did it all by himself. I’d like to think that he recognised me and did it deliberately as an act of contrition, but I know that isn’t true. Animals like that don’t go in for contrition.’
‘Did you tell this to the police?’ I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear what she thought.
She shook her head. ‘No, I knew how it would look so I said nothing, but I can’t keep it to myself. I’ve hardly slept a wink since last Saturday. You’re a good, fair man, and I’m sure you recognise the truth when you hear it. I needed to tell somebody, but not the police. I couldn’t bear the thought of having it all raked up again. I knew it would be like going through it all over again. I thought I’d lose my mind.’ She looked across at me and this time, her tone was almost matter-of-fact. ‘That’s why I decided to come out here now. It’s the only way.’
She took a sideways step towards the edge of the cliff and I braced myself to rush forward and grab her, but Oscar at her side blocked her way. Keeping my eyes firmly on her, in case she made another move towards the edge, I stood there in silence for a while before the obvious course of action presented itself to me. Moving very slowly and deliberately so as not to startle her, I stepped towards her and took her gently by the arm, easing her away from the clifftop, and setting off in the direction of the hotel with Oscar still at her side. As we walked, I glanced towards her and I knew as I said it that I was doing the right thing.
‘I’m not the police, Rita. Not now. As far as Ignazio’s death’s concerned, the case is closed. It’s been decided that it was accidental death – just like you’ve just described it to me – and I see no reason to complicate things any more. I’m not going to say anything to anybody, not even Virgilio. That chapter of your history is closed and you have your whole life before you now.’
‘Are you sure?’ She raised her eyes towards me and I sensed a wave of relief running through her. ‘I don’t know how to thank you, Dan.’
‘You don’t need to thank me. It’s over and he’s gone. You did nothing wrong. Now’s the time to make a fresh start and enjoy life to the full, but you don’t need to do that on your own. Only this evening, I was talking to somebody who told me he loved you dearly. Why not take a chance and let him into your life? You know who I mean, don’t you?’
She nodded in reply and a hint of a smile appeared on her face. ‘I know.’
EPILOGUE
FRIDAY
My windsurfing session on Friday was as exhausting as I had expected, but I did it for Anna. Yes, on balance, I had to admit that I had enjoyed quite a lot of my week of windsurfing, but somehow, I didn’t think I was going to go out and buy myself a board any time soon.
At the end of the afternoon, after splitting a bottle of Prosecco with Tatsuo, Ingrid and Stefano, I dragged Oscar away from this apparently limitless supply of tasty titbits, and Anna and I walked back along the coastal footpath towards the hotel. We let ourselves in through the gate in the fence and I led her to the top of the path above the private beach where we stopped to admire the view one last time. The beach itself was empty and the only sounds were a couple of noisy seagulls in the distance. The sea shimmered in the late-afternoon sun, a deep violet colour further out and the lightest of translucent blues by the shore. It was an idyllic spot – in spite of what had happened.
Feeling remarkably nervous, I set down my holdall and removed the little paper bag from the side pocket before turning towards Anna. I took her good hand in one of mine and leant forward to give her a gentle kiss.
She looked pleasantly surprised. ‘What have I done to deserve that?’
‘It would take me too long to tell you. Let’s just say that you are you, and I love you for it.’ I lowered myself onto one knee – ignoring the loud creak as I did so – opened the paper bag and pulled out the little box. I opened it and held it up towards her. ‘Anna Galardo, will you marry me?’
Seeing me down at his level, Oscar wandered over to sniff the ring with interest, but I made sure I kept a good hold on it. The last thing I needed was for him to mistake it for a snack. I had the feeling that it might lose some of its romantic charm if it had to pass through my dog’s alimentary canal before it could be retrieved.
Anna didn’t answer at once, so I looked up hopefully.
‘The lady in the shop said that if you didn’t like it, she’d be happy to exchange it, and if you said no, she’d give me my money back. You will say yes, won’t you?’
She still didn’t reply immediately, and an awful feeling of dread began to descend on me, but finally, she reached down and caught hold of my free hand, squeezing it tightly. At first, I was shocked to see tears glistening in her eyes, but she soon put my fears to rest, and an immense feeling of relief spread through me.
‘Of course I will. There’s nothing I’d like more. I thought you’d never ask.’
Sensing the emotion in the air, Oscar nudged me with his nose and set about licking my ear. I patted his nose and then stood back up again, stepping towards Anna.
‘You do realise that you won’t just be marrying me.’ I shot an affectionate glance down at Oscar, who was standing at my side, tail wagging slowly. ‘Love me, love my dog.’
She grinned at me. ‘I wouldn’t want it any other way.’
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