As tears go by

// 20 Igne

Conte Negroni studied her with the careful patience of an old drunkard. His eyes were reddish, but except for the booze smell oozing from his mouth, he was a clean guy, with a clean shaved face with a "Cookie-duster" moustache. He wore a black hat and a black padded suit.

She read in his eyes that he took in her questions and mumbled them before answering.

He sagged back, and nursed the glass. "Do you like Negroni? It's the perfect cocktail of all times. It is elementary to make, as all perfect things it comes in three parts. Like Stooges and Musketeers, the best things really do join threes. Campari, gin, and sweet vermouth. It couldn't be easier to make. Don't forget to shake well with cracked ice and garnish with a twist of orange peel. Do you want one?" He called the bartender with a whistle before she could comply.

Svagna remembered well the house in the hamlet behind the dam. "We refitted the roof twice in thirty years, windows and doors. A nice work."

"Did you notice something strange?" She asked him.

"About what?"

"The owner. What guy was he or she?"

Svagna stared Anastasya in the eyes and winked. "We never saw the owner of the house. He briefed us calling by phone and sending us mail. He paid dispatching cold cash first time, and bank order with the last refit, three years ago. A real mystery."

Svagna laughed and gulped down the last drop of his Negroni.

Anastasya pushed her drink in front of him.

He took it and smiled."Sorry, I joked. It was an open secret, everybody knew that the owner of the Red Fir cottage was Nico Luvi, a guy who survived the Vajont disaster. All his family perished that night. He was in Longarone when the water jumped the lake and washed down everything on his way to the Adriatic sea. Luvi survived but was so shocked that he fled abroad and never returned. As soon as we started on his house, he called asking for photos to check the works and we sent them to Arabia, France, and South America. He travelled a lot." He sipped his second Negroni and clicked his tongue and kept speaking. "At the end of the work, Old Biz was so pissed off for all these stamps and letters he asked him for quite a few bob. Luvi paid on the barrelhead. Never complained or asked for discounts. We all thought had hit a gold mine."

"Who? Biz or Luvi?"

Svagna roared, cradled the glass, sipped it, mixing the cocktail in his mouth before washing it down. He blinked at her. "Good question. Let's say it was both way." He put back the glass on the table. "Biz was a thief, a scoundrel, and a fox. However, he never cheated on the quality. He asked the double, but all materials were the best quality around." He giggled. "Nico paid and was happy. Do you know what was the bizarre thing?"

Anastasya stood silent.

Svagna nodded and kept speaking. "Last refit, as I told, was three years ago. We received the settlement from a bank from California."

"You told me he always paid from abroad: Arabia, France, South America. Why was it strange this time?"

Svagna rubbed his cheek. "Yes, you right, but it ain't American California. The California, he sent us the payment from, is a fraction of Gosaldo, a town near here. Forty miles, tops."

"Any luck you remember the precise address?"

He gawked at her, mumbled over, and shook his head. "Aw, I don't remember the address. There was just the address of the bank... Go there and ask around. It is a tiny fraction. If he still lives there, they must know him but, I tell you, if he is still alive. He must be an old chap, now. All we are."

"Are you sure you don't remember the name of the bank?"

Svagna thought for a bit and then shook his head."Well, maybe it was the Poste Italiane, not a bank. Villages around here are too small for a bank. Poste Italiane do all the work."

"You didn't ask why am I looking for him."

Conte Negroni grinned and sat back. "You a relative?"

"Insurance broker. He's owned a sum from an insurance."

He nodded. "Oh. You don't already have his address?"

She bluffed. "As it happened to you, we had just the address of the house in Erto, and the name Red fir, I went there, but there was none. I found a letter under the door, and here you are the address of the carpenter's workshop..."

He laughed noisily. "I see, So Luvi was sneaky with everyone... not just with us."

"Glad you understand my position."

He raised his glass and winked. "If you look for a local guide to go to California, I am available."

She chuckled. "Thank you for the offer, I'll use Google Maps," she answered, wondering what the hell a Nico-Luvi nobody could fit in her quest for the truth, but cannot find a reasonable answer, because to her, it looked like a dead end like all good tradecraft, she thought, it had to look a dead end.