The Alchemists pursuit

"He had quite a reputation, but I was thinking of family. Bernardo?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Good riddance, in his view. Why start the tongues wagging all over again? Why queer the Council of Ten? I know the Ten now are not the same men as eight years ago, but they're all part of the i

"Domenico?"

"Never!" he said, even more firmly. "He has the means, I agree. He comes and goes a lot, to and from the mainland. He has a lot of contacts there. Even the Ten may not be able to keep track of Domenico, not completely. And Dom sometimes took Zorzi's side in the quarrels, but that was years ago, when Gentile was alive. He's the last one to want him back now."

It's always helpful to have a witness who likes to gossip.

"Money?" I said.

"Definitely money," Jacopo agreed. "If Zorzi came back and was pardoned, he would own one third of the fraterna."

Which was a reminder that the two Michiel brothers had benefitted not only from their father's death but because their brother had been disqualified from sharing in the windfall. Jacopo, being illegitimate, would not be a partner.

"Their mother? Could she be hiding Zorzi?"

Jacopo frowned. "She couldn't help directly. She almost never goes out of the house-Communion at Christmas and Easter, that's about all. That's the way proper ladies live, in her view. She might provide money. She would do that. You think that's why she's hiring Nostradamus-because Zorzi wants to have his name cleared so he can come back?"

"Or has come back."

We reached the end of the salone and climbed a few steps to a corridor. The Michiel palace was a warren, assembled from more than one building, and in total it was considerably larger than Ca' Barbolano. My guide continued at the same ambling pace.

"Zorzi's not in this house, if that's what you're thinking," he said. "I'd know if anyone knew. I'm part family and part servant. There's nowhere and nobody could hide him from me." He sounded proud of that, but I'd marked him as a busybody within moments of first meeting him.

"And don't be surprised," he added, "if the lady has company. Bernardo is spitting musket balls about this Nostradamus idea of hers. He'll want to nip you in the bud."

Interesting! Suspicion stirred. "What bothers him most about it?" I asked. "Just renewed scandal? Or the fee?" Or was it that he feared whatever truth Nostradamus might uncover?

For a moment I thought that I was not going to receive an answer, then my companion said quietly, "The Council of Ten."

"They've been asking questions?" I knew from Sciara that the file had been receiving attention lately, but this confirmation of the Ten's renewed interest made the floor quake under my feet.

"They've asked Bernardo questions-unofficially so far. A fante dropped in not long after you left on Saturday. We had a family conference about it yesterday. They even let me sit in."

"Is that unusual?"

"The rule is that I'm not family when I want to be and vice versa."

"It's worrisome news. Do you know what sort of questions?"

Again there was a pause before he spoke. "He didn't ask about you, clarissimo. I know because Domenico asked Bernardo that. The Ten just wanted to know if we'd heard rumors that Zorzi had slipped back into the city, when we last heard from him, and so on."

"Did you all get your stories straight, then?"

Jacopo laughed. "We had a screaming, rip-roaring row, the best fight we've had since Gentile died and Zorzi left. Accusations of greed, duplicity, and senile dementia volleyed back and forth. Bernardo roared, Domenico sneered, Lucretzia sobbed, Fedele preached hellfire and Christian charity, sometimes in the same breath. Even Isabetta said a few sharp words. I just sat there like a cherub and enjoyed it all thoroughly. At the end, when they had all realized that they were going nowhere, I said that, as my conscience was quite clear and I had no guilty secrets to hide, I intended to answer all your questions fully and honestly. Then they all had to agree that they would do the same."

We had reached a door I knew. Jacopo halted.

"Do you suppose that one of them is a murderer and will lie to you?" he asked.

"That's for my master to decide," I said, although I knew that Jacopo himself had been lying to me like an Ottoman camel trader.

He reached for the handle. "Brace yourself for Venus In Splendor."

21

I could see no change in do

I bowed, was permitted to kiss her fingers, offered a chair. As before, she left her flunky standing. I admired her Paris Bordone portrait again; I still liked the bronze cherub better than the ebony desk.

Alina wasted no time on small talk. "So your master will do as I ask?"

"He is willing to try, mado

"How generous of him."

"He accepts no fees unless he succeeds, so he must be selective in the cases he accepts." I offered the contract.

She ignored it. "How much?"

"Two hundred ducats if he can prove that your son Zorzi did not stab your husband."

"And what else does it say?"

"He needs information, so he requires that all members of your household answer certain questions that he has instructed me to ask."

She hissed and then sucked in her hollow cheeks. "Absurd! You will write it all down and require everyone to sign what you have written. Then the blackmail will start."

"No blackmail, mado

"Impressive! Can you remember every word of a conversation also?"

"Most of them, mado

"Jacopo, read me that contract."

Jacopo took the paper from me-with his left hand-and read it out. Once he inserted a mistake to see if I would correct him, which I did. I had been waiting for him to try that old trick. When he had done, do

"I will not accept this nonsense about the bocca di leone," she said. "I am hiring your master, he should report to me alone."

"If his search is unavailing, then of course his regrets come to you alone, mado