The Wedding Arrangement

CHAPTER TWO

THE young policeman looked up with admiration as Signora Minerva strode into the station.

‘Buona notte,’ he said. ‘It’s always a pleasure to see you here, signora.’

‘Be careful, Rico,’ she warned him. ‘That remark could be construed as harassment. You’re reminding me that my relatives are always in some sort of trouble.’

‘No, I was saying how pretty you always look,’ he replied, hurt.

Minnie laughed. She liked Rico, a naïve country boy, overwhelmed by his assignment to Rome, and wide-eyed about everything, including herself.

‘Always?’ she teased.

‘Every time your relatives are in trouble,’ he said irrepressibly. ‘How an important lawyer like yourself comes to be related to so many criminals-’

‘That’s enough!’ she told him sternly. ‘I grant you, they can be a little wayward, but there’s never anything violent.’

‘Signor Charlie has been in something violent tonight. His shirt is torn, he’s bleeding. Huge big fight. The fellow with him is even worse. He’s a big, bad man with a nasty face.’ Rico took a deep breath as he came to the real crime. ‘And he doesn’t have any papers.’

‘What, nothing?’

‘No identity card. No passport.’

‘Well, we don’t all carry our passports around with us.’

‘But this man speaks Italian with an accent. He is a foreigner.’ He added in a low, horrified voice, ‘I think he’s English.’

‘So was my mother,’ Minnie said sharply. ‘It’s not a hanging crime.’

‘But he has no papers,’ Rico said, returning to the heart of the matter. ‘And he won’t say where he’s living, so he’s probably sleeping in the streets. Very drunk.’

‘And he was fighting Charlie?’

‘No, they were on the same side-I think. It’s hard to be sure because Charlie’s drunk too.’

‘Where is he?’

‘In a cell, with this other fellow. I think he’s afraid of him. He won’t say a word against him.’

‘Does “this fellow” have a name?’

‘He won’t give his name, but Charlie calls him Lucio. I’ll take you to him.’

She knew the way to the cells by now, having come here so often to help her relatives, who were as light-fingered as they were light-hearted. Even so, she was aghast at the sight of her young brother-in-law, seated lolling against the wall, scruffy, bruised and definitely the worse for wear.

Rico vanished to find the key, which he’d forgotten to bring. Minnie stood watching Charlie, wishing he didn’t look so much like a down-and-out. But his companion was even worse, she realised, as though he’d fought ten men.

Tall, muscular, unshaven, he looked strong enough to deal with any number of opponents. Like Charlie he wore a badly torn shirt and his face was bruised, with a cut over one eye. But, unlike Charlie, he didn’t look as if it were all too much for him. In fact, he didn’t look as though anything would be too much for him.

So this was Lucio, a thoroughly ugly customer, brutal, with huge fists to power his way through the world-a man used to getting his own way by the use of force. She gave a shudder of distaste.

Then Charlie seemed to half wake up, rub his eyes, lean forward with his hands between his knees and his head bent in an attitude of dejection. ‘Lucio’ came to sit beside him and put a hand on his shoulder, shaking him slightly in a rallying manner.

Charlie said something that she couldn’t catch and Lucio replied. He, too, was inaudible, but she sensed that he spoke gently. Then he grinned, and the sight surprised her. It was ribald and full of derision, yet with a hint of kindness, and it seemed to hearten the boy.

Rico returned. ‘I’ll let him out and you can talk with him in an interview room,’ he said, ‘well away from that one.’

The sound of the key turning made both men look up. Rico opened the door and addressed Charlie in a portentous tone.

‘Signor Pepino, your sister is here. Also your lawyer.’ Trying to be witty, he added, ‘They came together.’

Out of the corner of her eye Minnie saw Lucio stiffen and throw a sharp look at Charlie, then at her. He stared as though thunderstruck. His eyes contained both a frown and a question as they looked her up and down in a considering way that was almost insulting.

In this she did him an injustice. Luke was beyond thinking anything except that this couldn’t possibly be happening.

Pepino? A lawyer?

She was Signora Pepino? This dainty fair-haired creature was the dragon? And he, who’d laid such plans for gaining the upper hand, found himself in a police cell-dishevelled, disorderly, hung-over and, worst of all, dependent on her.

Great!

Charlie tried to fling his arms about her, hailing her emotionally as his saviour.

‘Get off, you ruffian!’ she told him firmly. ‘You look as if you’ve been rolling in the gutter and you smell like a brewery. I suppose you’re relying on me to get you out of here?’

‘And my friend,’ Charlie said, indicating Luke.

‘Your friend will wish to make his own arrangements.’

‘No, I’ve told him you’ll look after him too. He saved my life, Minnie. You wouldn’t abandon him to his fate when he’s poor and alone and has nobody to help him?’ Charlie was in an ecstasy of tipsy emotion.

Minnie groaned. ‘If you don’t shut up I’ll abandon you,’ she told him in exasperation.

‘I’ll take you to an interview room,’ Rico said.

‘No, thank you, I’ll stay here and talk to both of them.’

‘Stay here?’ Rico asked, aghast. ‘With that one?’ He pointed to Luke.

‘I’m not afraid of him,’ she said crossly. ‘Perhaps he should be afraid of me. How dare you do this to my brother?’

Luke leaned against the wall, regarding her ironically through half-closed eyes.

‘Look,’ he said, sounding bored, ‘bail your brother out or do what you have to. Then go. I can manage for myself.’

‘Lucio, no!’ Charlie exclaimed. ‘Minnie, you must look after him. He’s my friend.’

‘He’s a lot older than you and should know better,’ she said firmly.

‘That’s right, it’s all my fault,’ Luke said. ‘Just leave.’

He promised himself that when they next met he would be washed, shaved and well-pressed. With any luck she might not even recognise him.

‘What did you mean about saving your life?’ she asked.

Charlie launched into an explanation which was more or less accurate considering the state he was in. The word ‘puppy’ occurred several times and by the end Minnie had a rough idea that the stranger had come between Charlie and superior odds, although perhaps not as melodramatically as he described it.

‘Is that what happened?’ she asked Luke in a gentler tone.

‘Something like that. Neither Charlie nor I like seeing a child bullied. Or a puppy,’ he added after a moment.

‘What happened to the child?’

‘Grabbed the puppy and ran. Then there was a bit more fighting, and someone must have called the police.’

‘Well, I’m glad you were there with Charlie, Signor-’

‘Lucio will do,’ he said hastily.

‘But I can’t represent you if I don’t know your name.’

‘I haven’t asked you to represent me.’ Inspiration made him add, ‘I can’t afford a lawyer.’

‘It’ll be my gift, to show my gratitude.’

Luke groaned, mentally imploring heaven to save him from a woman who had an answer to everything!

‘As Charlie says, I can’t just abandon you,’ Minnie went on. ‘But you must be quite frank with me. Where are you living?’

‘Nowhere,’ he said hastily, imagining her mirth if he gave the name of the hotel.

‘Sleeping in the streets?’

‘That’s right.’

‘But it makes my job harder. So does your lack of identity. How come you don’t have an ID card?’

‘I do.’

‘Where?’

‘I left it in the hotel,’ he said before he could stop himself.

‘But you just said you were sleeping in the streets.’

‘I’m not at my best,’ he said, inwardly cursing her alertness. ‘I don’t know what I’m saying.’

‘Signor-whatever your name is, I don’t think you’re as drunk as all that, and I don’t like clients who mess me around. Please tell me the name of your hotel.’

‘The Contini.’

Silence.

She looked him up and down, taking in every scruffy, dishevelled detail.

‘All right, you’re a comedian,’ she said. ‘Very funny. Now, will you please tell me where you’re staying?’

‘I just did. I can’t help it if you don’t believe me.’

‘The most expensive hotel in Rome? Would you believe you, looking the way you do?’

‘I didn’t come out looking like this. I left everything behind in case of pickpockets.’ He looked down at his disreputable self. ‘Now I don’t suppose any pickpocket would bother with me.’

‘If you are telling the truth, and I’m not sure I believe it, I still need your name.’

He sighed. There was no help for it.

‘Luke Cayman.’

For a moment Minnie didn’t move. She was frowning as though trying to understand something.

‘What did you say?’ she asked at last.

‘Luke Cayman.’

She drummed her fingers. ‘Is that a joke?’

‘Why would you think so?’ he fenced.

‘I thought maybe I’d heard the name before, but perhaps I was mistaken.’

‘No, I don’t think you were,’ he said deliberately.

They regarded each other, each with roughly the same mixture of exasperation and incredulity. Charlie looked blank, understanding nothing.

Suddenly his expression changed and he took a deep breath. In a flash Minnie was at the door, calling for Rico, who came running.

‘You’d better get him out quickly,’ she said.

Rico did so, guiding Charlie down the corridor to where he could be ill in peace.

‘Let’s get this settled,’ Minnie said. ‘I do not believe that you’re Luke Cayman.’

‘Why? Because I don’t fit your preconceived notion? You don’t fit mine, but I’m willing to be tolerant.’

‘You think this is very funny-’

‘Well, no, this isn’t how I’d have chosen to meet you. With a bit of conniving I dare say you could get me locked up for years. Look me in the eye and say you aren’t tempted.’

‘Well, I’m not,’ she snapped. ‘It’s the last thing I want.’

‘Very virtuous of you.’

‘Virtuous, nothing!’ she said, goaded into candour. ‘With you locked up, the Residenza would be in limbo, with no hope of getting anything done. You may be sure I’ll do my best to make you a free man.’

‘I see. If anyone’s going to give me grief, you’d prefer it to be you.’

‘Exactly.’

Charlie returned, looking pale but slightly better, and glanced back and forth between them, sensing strain in the air.

‘We were discussing strategy,’ Minnie said.

‘I’ve decided not to hire you,’ Luke told her. ‘I’d feel safer if you just leave me to my fate.’

‘No,’ Charlie burst out. ‘Minnie’s a good lawyer; she’ll get you out of trouble.’

‘Only because she’s got far more trouble planned for me,’ Luke said with a derisive grin.

‘Please, let’s not be melodramatic,’ Minnie said coolly. ‘I shall treat you exactly as I would any other client.’

‘You see?’ Charlie urged. ‘Honestly, Lucio, she’s the best. They call her the “giant slayer” because she’ll take on anyone and win. You should see the battle she’s preparing for the monster who owns our building.’

‘I can imagine,’ Luke murmured. ‘A monster, eh?’

‘Yes, but she’s says he’s going to die a horrible death,’ Charlie said with relish.

‘Literally, or only legally?’ Luke asked with interest.

‘Whichever seems necessary,’ Minnie said, meeting his eyes.

‘I gather you’ll make that decision at a later date.’

‘I like to keep my options open.’

‘When she’s finished he’ll wish he’d never been born,’ Charlie added.

‘Does this monster have a name?’ Luke asked with interest.

‘No, Minnie just calls him the “devil incarnate”.’

‘Stop talking nonsense, both of you,’ she said severely. ‘I’ve got to work out what we’re going to do. You’ll be in court in a few hours and you can’t go looking like that. Charlie, I’ll send someone down with clean clothes for you. Signor Cayman, you’ll need fresh clothes, too, and your ID card. How do I get them?’

‘I could call the hotel and ask them to arrange it,’ he said reluctantly. ‘But I don’t want them to know I’m here.’

‘You’re right. Can I get into your room?’

‘Yes, I brought the card with me.’ From his back pocket he drew the sliver of plastic that acted like a key at the Contini and handed it to her, giving her the code. ‘It’s on the third floor.’

‘I don’t believe I’m doing this,’ she said, half to him, half to herself.

‘Try to forget that I’m the devil incarnate,’ he said. ‘That should make it easier.’

Charlie looked from one to the other, baffled.

‘You can explain it when I’m gone,’ she told Luke.

Rico opened the door for her. At the last moment she turned to look back at Luke and said, ‘By the way, I didn’t call you the devil incarnate.’

‘Thank you.’

‘I called you “the creature from the black lagoon”. I’ll see you later.’

Heading north, she swung her car on to the Ponte Sisto, the bridge that would take her over the Tiber in the direction of the Contini Hotel. As she drove, she seethed.

She had been furiously angry for years. The man who’d owned the Residenza had been a reprobate who had resisted her attempts to make him spend money on the property. When she’d moved the law against him he’d always found a way to wriggle out.

And then, just when she’d thought she had him cornered, he’d pulled a final rabbit out of the hat, signing over the building to Luke Cayman, so that she had to start again. It was a moot point whether she were angrier with him or Luke Cayman.

And now, to find herself defending the enemy, was enough to make her explode.

A cool head would dictate placating him, saving him from the gallows-figuratively speaking-then turning on the charm. But she was too incensed to consider it.

By now dawn was breaking, covering the sleeping city with a soft white mist. In the distance she could see the Contini, a huge, luxurious building created from an ancient palazzo. She could hardly believe that the ruffian she had left in the cells was actually staying here.

Luckily the night receptionist was dozing and it was easy to slip past. On the third floor she found Luke’s room without trouble. It was large and lavishly appointed, with a balcony.

She went out and stood regarding the view as the light grew brighter. To her right lay the lush green lawns of the Borghese Gardens. To her left she could see the Vatican, the early sun just touching the dome of St Peter’s. Between them glided the River Tiber.

It was a marvellous scene, full of peace and beauty.

A rich man’s scene, she thought crossly. For only a rich man could afford to stand in this exact spot and see such wonders spread before him. And one particular rich man had thought it amusing to leave his wealth briefly behind and go out slumming it for fun.

He’d got more than he’d bargained for, but in the end he had only to send someone to his expensive hotel, to go through his expensive clothes and put everything expensively right for him. And all the while his tenants lived in a building that was falling apart.

For a moment she was so livid that she almost stormed out, leaving everything behind. Let him take his chances! See how funny he found that!

But her professionalism took over. She would do her job.

She surveyed the suits in his wardrobe until she found one of a dark charcoal colour. To go with it she chose a white shirt and a dark blue silk tie. Then she rummaged in the drawers for clean socks and underpants. As she had more than half expected, he wore boxer shorts.

Well, it wouldn’t be a satin thong, she mused with a faint smile. Not him.

She packed everything into a bag she found in the wardrobe, then opened the wall safe using the plastic card that had opened the door. Inside she found his wallet and checked it for the ID card. It was there, and so was something else-a photograph of one of the loveliest young women Minnie had ever seen.

She was wearing trousers and standing, leaning against a wall, her thumbs hooked into her belt, one foot up against the wall in a pose that emphasised her height and slender grace.

Like many beautiful women Minnie was fascinated by beauty of a different kind in others. Where she herself was fair, this was a brunette with marvellous dark hair streaming down to her waist, giving her an exotic, mysterious look.

She was also wonderfully tall. As a child Minnie had dreamed of growing to five foot ten and becoming a model. In the end she’d had to settle for five foot four, or ‘nothing very much’ as she’d crossly put it.

But this was how she’d always longed to be, with legs that went up to her ears and a neck that came from a swan.

‘Grr!’ she said to the picture. ‘Who are you? His wife? His fiancée? Girlfriend? Whoever you are, you’ve got no right to look like that.’

She replaced the picture carefully in the wallet, which she then put in her own bag, to take to him.

From a distance she heard the bell of St Peter’s, chiming seven o’clock, and realised that the light was growing fast, the city was waking and she still had much to do.

She should call Netta, but a quick rummage in her bag revealed that she’d left her cellphone behind. Using the bedside phone might be indiscreet. That left Luke Cayman’s own cellphone. After a brief hesitation, she took it and dialled. When Netta answered she kept her tone light.

‘Netta? That silly boy has been up to his tricks. He drank too much last night, got into a brawl and he’s at the police station.’

She heard Netta give a little shriek and hastened to add, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll sort it. It’s not the first time.’

‘Oh, Minnie, you will get him out, promise me.’

‘Don’t I always? But I need you to get down there with some clean clothes so that he can look good in court. It’ll just be a fine and when you get him home you can make him sorry he was born.’

After a few more reassurances she hung up. Before putting the phone away, she studied it a little, tempted by its state-of-the-art appearance, and making a mental note to replace her own with one exactly like this beauty.

Nothing but the best for him, she mused.

She was about to switch it off when it rang and, before she could stop herself, she answered it.

‘Pronto!’

The action was completely automatic, and only when the word was out did she realise what she’d done.

The caller was a woman, sounding a little surprised at hearing Minnie.

‘Scusi?’ she said. ‘Is this Luke Cayman’s phone or do I have a wrong number?’

‘No, this is his phone. If I could explain-’

The other voice became warm and charming. ‘My dear, there’s no need for you to explain. I understand perfectly. I should apologise for calling so early, but I overlooked the time. Please ask Luke to call his mother when he can spare a moment.’

‘Yes-yes, I’ll do that,’ Minnie stammered, for once not in control. ‘Er-it won’t be in the next few minutes, I’m afraid-’

‘That’s all right. I was once young myself. I’m sure you’re extremely beautiful.’

‘But-’

‘Ciao!’ The line went dead.

Well, that was that, she thought crossly.

Luke’s mother thought she was his girlfriend, rising from the sheets after a night of passion, and about to dive back in for another riotous round of pleasure.

She could have screamed with vexation.

For precisely one minute she sat there, taking deep breaths. Then she finished packing, taking care to switch off the phone before it could ring again, and hurried out of the room, just managing not to slam the door behind her.

At the police station she showed Luke’s ID card at the desk before going to the cell.

‘There’s just the “drunk and disorderly” to deal with, and I assume you have no previous convictions?’

‘None,’ he assured her.

‘You’ll go before a Justice of the Peace in a couple of hours. He’ll fine you and that’ll be the end of it.’

He was looking in the bag she’d brought. ‘You’ve done a great job. These will make me look like a pillar of the community.’

‘Hmm!’

‘I won’t ask what that means. I’m sure you’re longing to tell me.’

‘But you’re not going to give me the satisfaction. Very wise.’

He declined to answer this, but his harsh face softened and there was briefly a devil in his eyes. Suddenly Minnie remembered his mother’s mistaken assumption, and she had a horrid feeling that she might be about to blush.

‘I’ll see you in court,’ she said, and departed with dignity.

Netta returned home with Minnie to cook her some breakfast while she showered, ready for court later that morning.

‘Bless you,’ she said, emerging in a towelling dressing gown to sit down before muesli and fruit juice. ‘Don’t worry. Charlie’s going to be all right.’

‘I know. You’ll take care of him like you’ve done before. And also of that nice young man.’

‘Nice-you mean that brute with him? You know nothing about him.’

‘Rico let me into the cell to see Charlie, and we all had a talk. I’m glad you are helping him, too.’

‘Don’t be fooled, Netta. I can see that he’s been to work on you, but you needn’t feel sorry for him.’

‘But of course I must be concerned for the man who saved Charlie’s life,’ Netta said, scandalised.

‘Saved his life, my left foot!’ Minnie said with frank derision. ‘I don’t believe he did any such thing.’

‘But Charlie says so,’ Netta persisted.

‘After what Charlie’s taken on board I wouldn’t rely on him for the time of day. And I wouldn’t rely on this other character for anything. He’s our new landlord. The enemy.’

‘But he’s not our enemy, cara. He explained to me how it happened, how he did not want the Residenza-’

‘That isn’t going to make him a better landlord,’ Minnie pointed out.

‘He told me that he thought he had offended you, and how he feels most desolate-’

‘Did he, indeed?’ Minnie said with grim appreciation of these tactics.

‘And I said I was eternally grateful to him for saving my Charlie, and he was welcome in our home at any time.’

‘You might well say that, since he happens to own it.’

‘Then everything is all right.’ Netta beamed. ‘We are all friends, and he will make the repairs-’

‘And double the rent.’

‘You will talk to him, be nice, make him nice.’

‘Netta, listen, this is one very clever man. He’s been to work on you, and achieved exactly what he wanted. You’re putty in his hands.’

‘Twenty years ago, I would have been,’ Netta said with a sigh.

Minnie refused to allow her lips to twitch. ‘Don’t think like that,’ she said with an attempt at severity. ‘It’s just giving in to him.’

‘OK, you give in to him. Such a man was made for a woman to give in to. Or many women.’

‘Then they’d be very foolish. He knows what to say and do, but it’s all meaningless. I’d love to know what really happened in this fight.’

‘He was defending Charlie and the little puppy-’

‘I think he was probably just fighting the puppy,’ Minnie said cynically. ‘I expect it bit him. Good for the puppy!’

‘Why are you so unkind to the poor man?’

It would have taken too long to explain, so Minnie just said, ‘I’ll get dressed and we’ll go.’