Page 12 of Portrait of an Unknown Woman

6

San Polo

Five minutes later, while climbing the staircase toward the door of the apartment, Gabriel encountered the tantalizing fragrance of veal simmering in wine and aromatics. He entered the passcode into the keypad and turned the latch, performing both tasks with his left hand. His right was concealed in the pocket of his jacket. It remained there as he entered the sitting room, where he found Irene stretched upon the carpet, a pencil in her fist, her tiny porcelain brow furrowed.

Gabriel addressed her in Italian. “There’s a lovely desk in your room, you know.”

“I prefer to work on the floor. It helps me concentrate.”

“What sort of work are you doing?”

“Math, silly.” She looked up at Gabriel with the eyes of his mother. “Where have you been?”

“I had an appointment.”

“With whom?”

“An old friend.”

“Does he work for the Office?”

“Wherever did you get an idea like that?”

“Because it seems like all your oldfriendsdo.”

“Not all of them,” said Gabriel, and looked at Raphael. The boy was sprawled on the couch, his long-lashed, jade-colored eyes focused with unnerving intensity on the screen of his handheld video console. “What’s he playing?”

“Mario.”

“Who?”

“It’s a computer game.”

“Why isn’t he doing his schoolwork?”

“He’s finished.” With the tip of her pencil, Irene pointed toward her brother’s notebook. “See for yourself.”

Gabriel craned his head to one side and reviewed Raphael’s work. Twenty rudimentary equations involving addition and subtraction, all answered correctly on the first attempt.

“Were you good at math when you were little?” asked Irene.

“It didn’t interest me much.”

“What about Mama?”

“She studied Roman history.”

“In Padua?”

“Yes.”

“Is that where Raphael and I will go to university?”

“You’re rather young to be thinking about that, aren’t you?”

Sighing, she licked the tip of her forefinger and turned to a fresh page in her workbook. In the warmth of the kitchen, Gabriel found Chiara removing the cork from a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino. Andrea Bocelli flowed from the Bluetooth speaker on the counter.

“I’ve always loved that song,” said Gabriel.