The Venice Sketchbook(59)

“New bed,” she said to herself. Then she opened drawers and saw they were full of clothes, rumpled together in haphazard fashion. This in itself was strange, as her aunt had always struck her as meticulously neat. In addition to this, how strange that Aunt Lettie had not taken anything with her when she left. The whole place looked as if she expected to return. Then she stopped, surprised: amongst her aunt’s clothing, there were some items that appeared to belong to a child. A girl’s jumper and skirt. A pair of socks. Who on earth had stayed at the flat with her great-aunt? Maybe Luca Da Rossi’s grandmother would know more.

She looked up when she heard feet coming up the stairs and then a tap on her door. Luca came in, breathing heavily. “It is quite a climb,” he said. “You will be very fit if you live here.”

“I won’t be living here,” she said. “I have a life in England. But I should like to spend holidays here. Maybe I will rent it out during the summer.”

“I congratulate you,” he said. “I have talked with our lawyer and senior managers, and they are all as perplexed as I am that someone in the company granted a lease to part of our property. But the city has declared the deed to be valid. I can say no more.” He walked over to the window. “You have one of the best views in the city.”

“Yes, I know,” she said. “I’ve just started to look around, and it’s so strange. It’s as if she left everything, expecting to be back. Look—the cups beside the sink. There is even a caddy with tea still in it. And all her clothes in the drawers in the bedroom. And some clothing belonging to a child.”

“Your aunt had a child?”

“No!” Caroline had to laugh. “She was the ultimate spinster. Never married. Very prim and proper. And the clothing would fit a girl of maybe eleven or twelve. There was nobody in my family like that.”

“And the other strange thing,” Luca said. “The document was from 1939. England was already at war. Why did she not go home? Italy had signed a non-aggression pact with Germany and would join the war the next summer. She must have realized she’d be in danger if she stayed.”

“Perhaps that’s the explanation,” Caroline said. “She had to leave in a hurry when the authorities came after her. That would be when she fled to Switzerland. My grandmother told me my great-aunt sat out the war in Switzerland and helped refugee children.”

“Ah, then maybe that’s another mystery answered,” he replied. “This girl was a refugee child she was helping.”

“I’m hoping your grandmother will remember.”

“Ah yes. I came to tell you we can visit my grandmother today, but I cannot guarantee she will be clear-headed. Some days it is good, and some days she is off in another world.”

“We can try,” Caroline said. “If you have the time, that is.”

He shrugged. “Those lazy bums downstairs are taking longer than I would like to refinish the rooms, so my day is my own. You want to go now, or do you want to explore this place more first?”

“No, I’d like to go now,” she said. “I am planning to move in here, as soon as I get some new bedding. The mice seem to have enjoyed the warm bed.”

He was looking around. “It’s amazing there is not more damage, given the years between. How many? Sixty? Why are there not more spiderwebs? More dust? It’s almost as if she went away last week—apart from your mice.” And he laughed.

“Sleeping Beauty’s castle,” Caroline muttered.

“Your aunt—was she a great beauty?”

Caroline smiled. “I only knew her as an old woman. Like I said, always prim and proper. No fuss. No frills. But my grandmother said she was striking as a girl—lovely auburn hair.”

“Auburn?”

“You know—copper. Dark red.” I paused, looking at him. “Like yours.”

“Ah yes. I am afraid I inherited my mother’s red hair. I got teased for it at school. And I gather my father also had a little red in his before he went grey. A very attractive man, my father.”

So are you, Caroline thought but didn’t say. They set off down the stairs. The weather was clouding up fast. “Does your grandmother live far away?” she asked.

“She is in a nursing home, out on the Lido.”

“So we’ll have to catch a vaporetto?” Caroline glanced up nervously. It was threatening to rain again.

“No, not necessary.” He waved a hand. “I have my launch. Much faster.”

Luca led her to the quay and jumped down into a sleek teak craft with a cabin at the rear. He helped her to step in, then untied the rope. The motor roared to life, and the boat moved forward up the canal towards the open water. As soon as they were clear of the last buildings, Luca pulled back the throttle. Caroline was overcome with the sheer power, the speed. Luca glanced back, exhilaration on his face.

“Good, eh? My new toy.” Then he added, “Don’t be scared. I am a good driver.”

“I wasn’t scared,” Caroline replied defensively.

Luca grinned, gave her a wink, and went back to steering. Caroline stared at the back of his head. The smile, the wink had definitely been flirtatious. Watch out for Italian men, she told herself. They cut around freighters entering the harbour and arrived at the Lido in no time at all.