Suffer the Little Children cgb-16 Read online

  Suffer the Little Children

  ( Comisario Guido Brunetti - 16 )

  Donna Leon

  A riveting new mystery from international bestseller Donna Leon Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti series has made Venice—a city that’s beautiful and sophisticated, but also secretive and corrupt—one of mystery fans’ most beloved locales. In this brilliant new book, Brunetti is summoned to the hospital bed of a respected pediatrician, where he is confronted with more questions than answers. Three men had burst into the doctor’s apartment, attacked him, and kidnapped his eighteen-month-old son. What could have motivated an assault so violent that it has left the doctor mute? And could this crime be related to the moneymaking scam run by pharmacists that Brunetti’s colleague has recently uncovered? As Brunetti delves deeper into the case, a story of infertility, desperation, and illegal dealings begins to unfold.

  SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN

  DONNA LEON

  Donna Leon has lived in Venice for many years and previously lived in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Iran and China, where she worked as a teacher. Her previous novels featuring Commissario Brunetti have all been highly acclaimed and include Friends in High Places, which won the CWA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction, Uniform Justice, Doctored Evidence, and Blood from a Stone.

  Praise for SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN

  'Suffer the Little Children is Donna Leon at her best, deftly mixing Commissario Guido Brunetti's detective work with perceptive awareness of social issues’ The Times

  "Leon tackles this difficult issue sensitively, without stinting on mouth-watering descriptions of Venice’ Daily Telegraph

  'Summarizing Leon's plot, like telling the story of an opera, cannot do justice to the subtlety, drama and narrative skill that keep us turning the pages, wondering until the end how she will manage to tie up so many loose ends . . . [and]

  Leon's fans who use Brunetti as an insider's guide to Venice will not be disappointed.' TLS

  'As ever, Leon writes with an insider's knowledge of Venice, expertly navigating its complex geography’ Sunday Times

  Wenn die Gotter tins bedenken, Unsrer Liebe Kinder schenken, So Hebe Heine Kinderlein!

  How happy we will be

  If the gods are gracious

  And bless our love with children.

  With darling little children!

  Die Zauberflote The Magic Flute Mozart

  I

  '... and then my daughter-in-law told me that I should come in and tell you about it. I didn't want to, and my husband told me I was an idiot to get involved with you because it would only lead to trouble, and he's got enough trouble at the moment. He said it would be like the time when his uncle's neighbour tapped into the ENEL line and started to steal his electricity, and he called to report it, and when they came, they told him he had to .. ‘

  'Excuse me, Signora, but could we go back to what happened last month?'

  'Of course, of course, but if s just that it ended up costing him three hundred thousand lire’

  'Signora’

  'My daughter-in-law said if I didn't do it, she'd call you herself, and since I'm the one who saw it, it’s probably better that I come and tell you, isn't it?' 'Certainly’

  'So when the radio said it was going to rain this morning, I put my umbrella and boots by the door, just in case, but then it didn't, did it?'

  'No, it didn't, Signora. But you said you wanted to tell me about something unusual that happened in the apartment opposite you?'

  'Yes, that girl’

  'Which girl, Signora?'

  'The young one, the pregnant one’

  'How young do you think she was, Signora?'

  'Oh, maybe seventeen, maybe older, but maybe younger. I have two boys, you know, so I could tell if she was a boy, but she was a girl’

  'And you said she was pregnant, Signora?'

  'Yes. And right at the end of it. In fact, that's why I told my daughter-in-law, and that's when she told me I had to come and tell you about it’

  "That she was pregnant?'

  That she had the baby’

  'Where did she have the baby, Signora?'

  'Right there, in the calle across from my place. Not out in the calle, you understand. In the apartment across the mile. Ifs a little way down from my place, opposite the house next door, really, but because the house sticks out a little bit, I can see into the windows, and that's where I saw her.'

  'Where is this exactly, Signora?'

  'Calle dei Stagneri. You know it. It's near San Bortolo, the calle that goes down to Campo de la Fava. I live down on the right side, and she was on the left, on the same side as that pizzeria, only we're both down at the end, near the bridge. The apartment used to belong to an old woman - I never knew her name - but then she died and her son inherited it, and he started to rent it out, you know, the way people do, by the week, to foreigners, or by the month.

  'But when I saw the girl in there, and she was pregnant, I thought maybe he'd decided to rent it like a real apartment, you know, with a lease and all. And if she was pregnant, she'd be one of us and not a tourist, right? But I guess there's more money if you rent by the week, especially to foreigners. And then you don't have to pay the...

  'Oh, I'm sorry. I suppose that isn't important, is it? As I was saying, she was pregnant, so I thought maybe they were a young couple, but then I realized I never saw a husband in there with her.'

  'How long was she there, Signora?'

  'Oh, no more than a week, maybe even less. But long enough for me to get to know her habits, sort of’

  'And could you tell me what they were?'

  'Her habits?'

  'Yes.'

  'Well, I never saw too much of her. Only when she walked past the window and went into the kitchen. Not that she ever cooked anything, at least not that I saw. But I don't know anything about the rest of the apartment, so I don't know what she did, really, while she was there. I suppose she was just waiting’ 'Waiting?'

  'For the baby to be born. They come when they want’

  'I see. Did she ever notice you, Signora?'

  'No. I've got curtains, you see, and that place doesn't. And the calle's so dark that you can't really see into the windows on the other side, but about two years ago, whenever it was, they put one of those new street lamps just across from her place, so if s always light there at night. I don't know how people stand them. We sleep with our shutters closed, but if you didn't have them, I don't know how you'd get a decent nights sleep, do you?'

  'Not at all, Signora. You said you never saw her husband, but did you ever see any other people in there with her?'

  'Sometimes. But always at night. Well, in the evening, after dinner, not that I ever saw her cook anything. But she must have, mustn't she, or someone must have taken her food? You have to eat when you're pregnant. Why, I ate like a wolf when I was expecting my boys. So I'm sure she must have eaten, only I never saw her cook anything. But you can't just leave a pregnant woman in a place and not feed her, can you?'

  'Certainly not, Signora. And who was it you saw in the apartment with her?'

  'Sometimes men would come in and sit around the table in the kitchen and talk. They smoked, so they'd open the window’

  'How many men, Signora?'

  'Three. They sat in the kitchen, at the table, with the light on, and they talked’

  ‘In Italian, Signora?'

  'Let me think. Yes, they spoke Italian, but they weren't us. I mean they weren't Venetian. I didn't know the dialect, but it wasn't Veneziano’

  'And they just sat at the table and talked?'

  'Yes’

  'And the girl?'

  ‘I never saw her, not
while they were there. After they left, sometimes she would come out into the kitchen and maybe get a glass of water. At least, I'd see her at the window’

  'But you didn't speak to her?'

  'No, as I told you, I never had anything to do with her, or with those men. I just watched her and wished she'd eat something. I was so hungry when I was pregnant with Luca and Pietro. I ate all the time. But I was lucky that I never gained too much .. ‘

  'Did the men eat, Signora?'

  'Eat? Why, no, I don't think they ever did. That's strange, isn't it, now that you mention it? They didn't drink anything, either. They just sat there and talked, like they were waiting for a vaporetto or something. After they left, sometimes she'd go into the kitchen, but she never turned the light on. That was the funny thing: she never turned the lights on at night, not anywhere in the apartment, at least anywhere I could see. I could see the men sitting there, but I saw her only during the day or, sometimes, when she walked past a window at night’

  'And then what happened?’

  Then one night I heard her calling out, but I didn't know what she was saying. One of the words might have been "mamma," but I'm not really sure. And then I heard a baby. You know the noise they make when they're born? Nothing like it in the world. I remember when Luca was born...'

  'Was anyone else there?'

  'What? When?'

  'When she had the baby.'

  'I didn't see anyone, if that's what you mean, but there must have been someone. You can't just leave a girl to have a baby on her own, can you?'

  'At the time, Signora, did you wonder why she was living in the apartment alone?'

  'Oh, I don't know. Maybe I thought her husband was away or that she didn't have one, and then the baby came too fast for her to get to the hospital’

  'It's only a few minutes to the hospital from there, Signora, isn't it?'

  'I know, I know. But it can happen, you know, that it comes on you very fast. My two boys took a long time, but I've known women who had only a half-hour, or an hour, so I figured that’s what happened with hen I heard her, and then I heard the baby, and then I didn't hear anything.'

  'And then what happened, Signora?'

  "The next day, or maybe it was the day after that -I don't remember -I saw another woman, standing at the open window and talking on the telefonino.'

  'In Italian, Signora?'

  'In Italian? Wait a minute. Yes, yes, it was Italian.'

  'What did she say?'

  'Something like, ''Everything's fine, We'll see one another in Mestre tomorrow’"

  'Could you describe this woman, Signora?' 'You mean what she looked like?' 'Yes.'

  'Oh, let me think a minute. She was about the same age as my daughter-in-law. She's thirty-eight. Dark hair, cut short. Tall, like my daughter-in-law, but perhaps not as thin as she is. But, as I told you, I saw her only for a minute, when she was talking on the telefonino’

  'And then?'

  'And then they were gone. The next day, there was no one in the apartment, and I didn't see anyone there for a couple of weeks. They just vanished.'

  'Do you know if any of your neighbours noticed any of this, Signora?'

  'Only the spazzino. I saw him one day, and he said he knew there was someone in there because they left a garbage bag outside the door every morning, but he never saw anyone going in or out’

  'Did any of the neighbours ever say anything to you about it?'

  'No, not to me. But I imagine some of them must have noticed that someone was in there, or heard something’

  ‘Had you speak to anyone about this, Signora?'

  'No, not really. To my husband, but he told me not to have anything to do with it, that it wasn't any of our business. If he knew I was here now, I don't know what he'd do. We've never been involved with the police before, and it always leads to trouble... oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that, not really, but you know how it is, I mean, you know how people think’

  'Yes, Signora, I do. Can you remember anything else?' 'No, not really.'

  'Do you think you'd recognize the girl again if you saw her?'

  'Maybe. But we look so different when we're pregnant, especially at the end like she was. With Pietro, I looked like a .. ‘

  'Do you think you'd recognize any of the men, Signora?'

  'Maybe, maybe I would. But maybe I wouldn't’

  'And the woman?'

  'No, probably not. She was there, at the window, for only a minute and she was standing sort of sideways, like she was keeping her eye on something in the apartment. So no, not her’

  'Can you think of anything else that might be important?'

  'No, I don't think so’

  ‘I’d like to thank you for coming to see us, Signora’

  I wouldn't have if my daughter-in-law hadn't made me. You see, I told her about it while it was going on, how strange it all was, with the men and no lights and all. It was something to talk about, you see. And then when she had the baby and then they all disappeared, well, my daughter-in-law told me I had to come and tell you about it. She said I might get into trouble if anything happened and you found out I saw her there and hadn't come in to tell you. She's like that, you see, my daughter-in-law, always afraid she's going to do something wrong. Or that I will’

  ‘I understand. I think she told you to do the right thing’

  'Maybe. Yes, it's probably a good thing I told you. Who knows what it's all about, eh?'

  'Thank you again for your time, Signora. The Inspector will go downstairs with you and show you the way out’

  Thank you. Er ... ?'

  'Yes, Signora?'

  'My husband won't have to find out that I've been here, will he?'

  'Certainly not from us, Signora’

  'Thank you. I don't want you to think anything bad of him, but he just doesn't like us to.get mixed up in things.'

  'I understand completely, Signora. You can be perfectly sure that he won't find out.'

  'Thank you. And good morning.'

  'Good morning, Signora. Inspector Vianello, will you take the Signora to the front door?'

  2

  Gustavo Pedrolli lay on the edge of the sleep of the just, curled round the back of his wife. He was in that cloudy space between waking and sleeping, reluctant to trade his happiness for there sleep. The day had brought him an emotion different from any he had ever known, and he refused to let himself drift away from the radiance of memory. He tried to remember when he had ever been this happy. Perhaps when Bianca had said she would marry him, or on the actual day of their wedding, the Miracoli filled with white flowers and Bianca stepping up to the landing from the gondola, as he hurried down the steps to take her hand and her into his care for ever.

  He had known happiness, certainly – on completing his medical studies and finally becoming un dottore, on being appointed assistant chief of paediatrics - but those happinesses were far removed from the flooding joy he had felt just before dinner, when he finished giving Alfredo his bath. He had fastened both sides of the diaper with practised hands and pulled on the flannel bottoms of his son's pyjamas. Then he slipped the duck-covered pyjama top over his head, and when it emerged, had played their usual game of hunting for the child's hands before pulling them one at a time through the sleeves. Alfredo squealed with delight, as surprised as his father at the sight of his tiny fingers as they peeped through the open ends of the sleeves.

  Gustavo picked him up by the waist, hefting him up and down as Alfredo waved his arms in the same rhythm. 'And who's a beautiful boy? And who's his father's darling?' Gustavo asked. As always, Alfredo raised one of those clenched marvels, unfurled a finger, and placed it on his own nose. Dark eyes intent on his father's, he pressed his broad nose flat to his face, then lifted his finger away, only to point to himself repeatedly, throwing his arms around and squealing all the while with delight.

  "That's right, Alfredo is his papa's darling, papa's darling, papa's darling.' There followed more dangling, mor
e lifting up, more waving. He did not toss the boy into the air: Bianca said the baby became too excited if they played like that before bedtime, so Gustavo merely raised him up and down repeatedly, occasionally drawing him close to kiss the end of his nose.

  He took the boy into his bedroom and carried him over to the cot. Above it hung a galaxy of floating, turning shapes and animals; the top of the dresser was a zoo. He hugged the boy to his chest, careful to exert only the gentlest of pressure, well aware of the fragility of those ribs. Alfredo squirmed, and Gustavo buried his face in the soft folds of his son's neck.

  He moved his hands down and held the boy at arm's length. 'And who is Papa's darling?' he asked again in a singsong voice; he could not stop himself. Again Alfredo touched his own nose, and Gustavo felt his heart turn. The tiny fingers moved through the air until one of them rested on the tip of Gustavo's nose, and the boy said something that sounded like 'Papa', waved his arms and gave a goofy, toothless smile.

  It was the first time Gustavo had heard the boy say the word, and he was so moved that one of his hands flew to his own heart. Alfredo fell against his shoulder; luckily, Gustavo had the presence of mind, and enough experience with frightened children, to make a joke of it and ask, 'And who is trying to climb into his papa's sweater?' Holding Alfredo against his chest, he pulled at one side of his cardigan and wrapped it around the boy's back, laughing out loud to show what a wonderful new game this was.

  'Oh, no, you can't try to hide in there. Not at all. It's time to go to sleep.' He lifted the boy and placed him on his back in the cot. He pulled up the woollen blanket, making sure his son's chest was covered.

  'Sweet dreams, my little prince,' he said, as he had said every night since Alfredo had begun to sleep in the cot. At the door he lingered, but only for a moment, so that the boy would not develop the habit of trying to delay his father's exit from the room. He looked back at the tiny lump and found tears in his eyes. Embarrassed at the thought that Bianca would see them, he wiped them away as he turned from the open door.