Page 5 of Murder in Verona

She looked pleased. ‘This week would be wonderful. Now, let me try and answer your initial questions. Please repeat them for me.’

‘Can you think of anybody who might have wanted your son dead?’

She replied without hesitation. ‘His wife, of course.’

This came as a surprise. From what Anna and Lina – and, indeed, his mother – had said about him, I had had him pegged as a single man with a taste for the ladies. What, I wondered, had his wife thought about that?

‘I thought you said he had an array of different women in his life?’

‘Yes, but he finally took the plunge and got married to Alessia last year.’

‘When exactly?’

‘Last September. But the fact is that she spent hardly any of the three months before his death with Rodolfo. I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t have another beau.’

‘When you sayanother, are you implying that she might have had a number of lovers?’

There was steel in her voice when she replied. ‘I’m notimplyinganything, I’mtellingyou. There’s just something about her. She’s far too good-looking for her own good. I’m sure she must have had other men.’

Considering her son’s reputation, and what she had just said about the stream of women in his life, this seemed a bit malicious, but I didn’t press Violetta any more for now. My Internet research this morning had also included a quick look into her son’s background and this had confirmed his reputation as an inveterate womaniser. If my thirty years at Scotland Yard had taught me anything, it was that rejection, jealousy and bitterness can be powerful motivators for murder. I pressed on with my questions.

‘What about life insurance? Did his wife stand to do well out of his death?’

To my surprise, I spotted an expression of what could havebeen contrition on Violetta’s face. ‘He had none. That’s my fault. I handled all his business affairs and I was in the process of hunting around for a better life insurance deal when his old policy came up for renewal. If I’d been a bit quicker, things might be different, although there’s no lack of money in this family.’

I had already worked that out, but I made no comment. ‘If he had been insured, you would have insurance investigators crawling all over the place. So in this case, there would have been no benefit to his wife to see him dead. Maybe that simplifies things. Going back to your son, do I assume that there were lots of unhappy partners strewing his past?’

She nodded. ‘I’m afraid so.’ She paused and I saw her take a deep breath. ‘I’d better tell you myself, before you hear this from anybody else – and you will. Rodolfo was a brilliant singer and a wonderful son, but he had an awful reputation with women. He could be generous and loving but he was pathologically incapable of keeping his hands off other women and, because of his looks and his fame, there were any number of them only too happy to be handled.’ A frustrated note entered her voice. ‘I spoke to him numerous times about this, but he never changed his ways.’

‘So might one of these women have harboured such resentment against him that she decided to murder him?’

‘Anything’s possible, although why now? After all, he’d been with Alessia for well over a year and married for almost ten months before his death. Why should a resentful woman wait so long? No, I have no doubt that the murderer was Alessia – either directly or by proxy.’

‘But ifshewas the one having the affairs, why washemurdered?’

She gave me the sort of expression that Oscar gives me when I ask him if he wants a biscuit. ‘Money, of course. What else?’

‘That was going to be my next question. Did he leave a will and what were its provisions? Did she inherit everything?’

She shook her head. ‘If I hadn’t stepped in, she probably would have done. Rodolfo had a pathetic trust in people even though time and time again, this trust was betrayed. When he told me he was getting married, I insisted he prepare a new will. Unfortunately, there was no way to alter the fact that in the event of his death, Alessia would inherit half his estate – that’s the law in this country, more’s the pity.’ There was a tougher note in her voice now and my conviction that she was a very determined woman was reinforced. I wondered how this interference had gone down with her son. After all, according to what I had read on the Internet, he had been almost forty, so I would have expected him to look after his own personal finances rather than leaving these to his mother. What sort of relationship had they had? But, for now, I didn’t ask.

‘So how was his estate divided? If his wife got half his estate, who got the rest of his money? For that matter, I’m assuming he was a wealthy man, but I could be wrong. Did he leave a lot?’

‘He was indeed a rich man. We are fortunate to be a wealthy family, but, in the course of his amazingly successful singing career, he built up a considerable fortune of his own.’ She gave me a wry smile. ‘Which is just as well, considering how much he spent on his women and his hobbies. As far as the conditions of the will are concerned, Alessia, as I said, received a very healthy sum. His agent received a million euros – although that struck me as a ridiculously generous amount – while the remainder of his estate came to me.’ From the way she used the word ‘million’, I had the impression she considered this to be a trifling amount. In that case, his widow must have received an eye-watering sum, and I knew all too well that the attraction of even a million euros wouldbe more than enough to create a compelling motive for murder for many people.

‘You mentioned a business. Could you give me some detail of that?’

‘The Argento family business is a large company involved with the import and export of agricultural products and machinery. It was founded by my great-grandfather in the nineteenth century and it’s gradually grown to its current size and importance. Although Rodolfo had a one-third share, the business is run by my brother’s children.’ She paused and gave me a decidedly smug look. ‘But I take an interest in all major decisions.’

I couldn’t help thinking that having to run everything past an eighty-one-year-old for approval couldn’t have made for easy running of the company for her brother’s children. There was something odd here.

‘How is it that you have an interest even though they run the business?’

‘Because I represent Rodolfo. When our father died, he left two thirds of the shares in the company to my brother for his children and a third to Rodolfo. It never occurred to my father to include me, even though I’d been working there, effectively helping him run things, for twenty years. When my brother died seven years ago, his children inherited one-third share each. This of course has ensured that my brother’s two children have jobs for life.’ A sour note entered her voice. ‘Unfortunately, Alfredo, his firstborn, is far more suited to a life of luxury and idleness than to running a company, so for Rodolfo’s sake I’ve always kept an eye on things ever since.’

‘Rodolfo himself took no interest in the business?’

She shook her head. ‘He wasn’t interested in commerce. He was following a far more noble vocation.’