Snowfall in Venice

Gayle

GAYLE GUNDERSON

Gayle cried quietly to herself for most of the lonely train trip to the airport. She had no idea what the future might hold for her and Mark. If only we hadn't found that damned confession, everything would have been okay.

With her newly purchased economy class Delta flight ticket and her passport in hand, she waited in line to go through the passport control exit formalities.

The young man behind the counter scanned her passport, hesitated a moment, then said, "Signora, please to stand to one side. There is a message waiting for you." Gayle immediately assumed I was trying to reach her.

An armed man rapidly approached from a small office to the left of the control desk. "Please to follow me, signora."

Gayle had little choice because the police officer had grabbed her upper arm and pulled her along. He escorted her into a small office and told her to wait for his superior. Gayle sat on the hard-backed chair, wondering why they didn't just give her the message. After a lengthy wait, a well-dressed senior officer entered the room.

He came right to the point. "Signora Gunderson, your passport is being held pending your hearing before a local judge."

Confused and frightened, she said, "I haven't done anything. Why would I have to appear before a judge?"

"You are being held on suspicion of being an accomplice, after the fact, to a robbery from the villa of Don Lorenzo Benedetti." Gayle went numb when she heard the name. The officer continued, "A car will arrive shortly to take you to the station." Gayle said she wanted to contact the American Embassy, but the officer just smiled and shook his head again.

The police vehicle drove rapidly away from the airport with Gayle securely belted in the backseat. The two policemen in the front seat were conversing in rapid Italian. It was obvious they didn't realize Gayle was fluent in the language because they made several obscene remarks about her shapely figure.

She was straining to catch the drift of their conversation when she heard the words Benedetti and reward repeated several times. When the police car stopped at the boat dock for the water taxi to Murano instead of the police station, Gayle was not surprised. She had a pretty good idea of where they were taking her.