At the End of a Dull Day (22 page)

A lightning hunch had led me to cut that information from the interview with Brianese's secretary, and I was glad I had done so, since the asshole in question was cruising my restaurant in search of victims.

All he had to do was snooker one of my customers and word would get out that you had to watch your step at La Nena. That wasn't going to happen, however. I'd clean the guy out and then send him to prison. Not because I had any problem with the idea of shooting him dead, but because there were too many people involved, and I couldn't hope to kill them all. I'd be very pleased to give credit for removing them from circulation to the Carabinieri. The plan was still a nebulous cloud of images and thoughts. Inspiration would certainly come with the information that I was gathering.

I caught the man's eye and raised my glass in his direction. Then I came out from behind the counter and walked toward him, with a great show of deference.

“There's nothing better than a flute of champagne to set things right at the end of a dull day,” I said as I extended a glass to him.

“Are you the proprietor?”

“Yes, La Nena is my private kingdom and I'm Giorgio Pellegrini.”

 

Massimo Carlotto is one of the best-known living crime writers in Europe. In addition to the many titles in his extremely popular “Alligator” series, and his stand-alone noir novels, he is also the author of
The Fugitive
, in which he tells the story of his arrest and trial for a crime he didn't commit, and his subsequent years on the run. Carlotto's novel
The Goodbye Kiss
was a finalist for the MWA's Edgar Award for Best Novel.