CHAPTER FIVE
In the morning I told myself I was a fool to be driven out of Naples by Maxwell. Why should I go up to a hot, dusty villa on the slopes of Vesuvius when I could stay down in Naples and lounge by the sea? Better to go over to Capri or Ischia or down the coast to Amalfi and Positano. The fact that Maxwell seemed to think I was in some way connected with Tucek’s disappearance didn’t seem so important as I sat on the balcony having breakfast in the sunshine.
It was a very close day. The sky overhead was blue, but cotton-wool banks of cumulus were piled up over Sorrento. Vesuvius looked remote and misty as though the air round it were curtained with dust. The red flashes of fire I’d seen the night before were no longer visible. The mountain looked serene and entirely dormant.
A thing that puzzled me was why Zina should want to go up to a villa on the slopes of Vesuvius. She seemed so much a creature of the popular bathing beaches. Not that it mattered. She would be exciting wherever we went. Lying back in my chair with a cigarette between my lips and the warmth of the sun seeping through the silk of my dressing-gown my mind conjured a picture of her body that was so clear I felt I could stretch out my hand and caress it.
The sound of a taxi stopping in the street below broke the spell and I leaned curiously over the balcony. It had stopped at the entrance to the hotel and a girl got out. Her titian hair glinted in the sunlight as she paid off the driver. It was Hilda Tucek. I turned quickly back into my room and grabbed the telephone. But by the time I got through to the hall porter it was too late — she was on her way up to my room.
As I put down the receiver there was a knock at the door.’ Signer Farrell.’
‘Yes?’
‘C’e una signorina che la cerca, signore.’
I tightened the belt of my dressing-gown and went to the door. When I opened it I was shocked to find how tired she looked. She seemed to have got no benefit from the sunshine of the past few days. Her skin was pale, almost transparent, and the freckles were more noticeable. ‘May I come in, please?’ Her voice was low and hesitant.
‘Of course.’ I held the door open. ‘Come through on to the balcony. Would you like something to drink?’