Medusa - 9 (34 page)

There had been little talk between the two men during the drive from Brescia back to Milan, but as they neared their destination Passarini had finally broken the silence.

‘There’s something Leonardo said once that I’ve never understood.’

Zen knew that his companion wanted to be prompted, but he was too exhausted to bother. In the end they drove on for another two kilometres before Passarini continued of his own volition.

‘When we were told about Operation Medusa…’

Another breakdown, another kilometre.

‘I asked Leonardo why they had given it that name. He said that Colonel Comai had told him that it was based on the bronze statue by Cellini in Florence, a flattering justification of the autocratic rule of the Medici family, Cellini’s patrons. The snakes that were Medusa’s hair symbolized the squabbling factions of Guelphs and Ghibellines which had brought Florentine democracy to its knees, but had now been eradicated by the Medicis’ tyranny, symbolized in turn by Perseus’s single sharp sword blow severing the Gorgon’s head. I could see the parallel with the situation here in Italy in the seventies, but then…’

More silence, this time for two kilometres.

‘Then Leonardo said something very strange, something I’ve never forgotten but never understood. He said, “Every woman is Medusa. When you look into her eyes, you see the entire history of the human race. That’s enough to turn anyone to stone.”’

Halfway back to the house, Zen’s
telefonino
shrilled. It was probably Gemma, he thought, wondering aloud in her charm¬ ingly stroppy way how much longer she would have to wait for her breakfast. But he was wrong.

‘This is Brugnoli. You’ve seen
La Repubblica
?’

‘I glanced at it.’

And then the question Zen had been dreading.

‘Did you by any chance have anything to do with this?’

‘Well, to an extent. The wheels were already turning, but I gave them the odd push here and there. Let’s say that I acted as a “facilitator”. Like you, Dottor Brugnoli, if you’ll forgive the comparison.’

To Zen’s surprise and relief, his superior laughed quietly.

‘On the contrary! If there’s any comparison to be drawn, it’s I who should feel flattered by it. For obvious reasons, I’m not going to ask what you did or how you did it, Zen, but let me assure you that the powers that be here at the Ministry are well pleased with the outcome. Our neighbours up the street are going to be covered in shit of the deepest hue for the foreseeable future, and no matter what specious excuses, denials and cover stories they come up with, a lot of it is going to stick. In short, you’re a star. Take the rest of the month off, keep your head down and needless to say don’t breathe a word about this to anyone. Speaking of which, in response to your request, some of our technical people called in to do an electronic sweep of the apartment that you share with Signora Santini. She was away at the time and is unaware of the intrusion. The whole place had been bugged up one side and down the other. Anyway, that’s all taken care of now and you can resume your normal life until further notice. And once again, congratulations.’

Zen walked back along the deserted street. From a government building opposite the national flag was flying at half- mast in honour of a politician of former notoriety who had died the day before. Zen regarded it with an irony not unmixed with pride. I too have done my duty, he thought.

Gemma was prowling around the kitchen in a silk dressing- gown which Zen had bought her shortly after moving in.

‘God, that took long enough!’ she said with mild exasperation, opening the box of pastries. ‘Never mind. The milk’s still warm and I’ll make another pot of coffee. Oh, I forgot to tell you, that friend of yours came round.’

‘What friend?’

‘Some Sardinian name.’

‘Gilberto Nieddu?’

‘That’s him. He sent me an email saying that he was going to be in the area and could he drop by. I told him you were away, but he said he wanted to see me. It turns out that he’s importing generic copies of patented medicines manufactured illegally in India and the Far East, repackaging them here to resemble the original and then offering them to pharmacists at a large discount to pass off as the full-price brand- name product.’

‘And what did you say?’

‘No, basically. It was a bit awkward, what with him being your friend and all. But I’m doing all right as it is, and I just want to feel decent, you know?’

‘I certainly do.’

‘Anyway, tell me all about this case you’ve been working on up north. I didn’t ask last night. You were just too tired.’

Zen grimaced.

‘There’s really nothing much to say. Just a nasty little domestic drama of no significance. The wife had an affair, the husband found out and killed the lover, then the wife found out about that and killed the husband.’

‘How sordid.’

‘Exactly. But who cares? It’s got nothing to do with us.’

He kissed her on the lips.

‘I love you madly.’

‘
Carissimo!
And I love you sanely. A winning combination, don’t you think?’

Zen kissed her again as the coffee started to gurgle up into the pot. He smiled for what felt like the first time in days.

‘It could be worse,’ he said. ‘It could be a lot worse.’

The Zen Series from Michael Dibdin

Ratking

Zen is unexpectedly transferred to Perugia to take over an explosive kidnapping case involving one of Italy’s most powerful families.

Vendetta

An impossible murder in a top-security Sardinian fortress leads Zen to a menacing and violent world where his own life is soon at risk.

Cabal

When a man falls to his death in a chapel in St Peter’s, Zen must crack the secret of the Vatican to solve the crime.

Dead Lagoon

Zen returns to his native Venice to investigate the disappearance of a rich American resident, while confronting disturbing revelations about his own life.

Così Fan Tutti

Zen finds himself in Naples, a city trying to clean up its act – perhaps too literally, as politicians, businessmen and mafiosi begin to disappear off the streets.

A Long Finish

Back in Rome, Zen is given an unorthodox assignment: to release the jailed scion of an important wine-growing family who is accused of a brutal murder.

Blood Rain

The gruesome discovery of an unidentified corpse in a railway carriage in Sicily marks the beginning of Zen’s most difficult and dangerous case.

And Then You Die

After months in hospital recovering from a bomb attack on his car, Zen is trying to lie low at a beach resort on the Tuscan coast, but an alarming number of people are dropping dead around him.

Medusa

When human remains are found in abandoned military tunnels, the case leads Zen back into the murky history of post-war Italy.

Back to Bologna

Zen is called to Bologna to investigate the murder of the shady industrialist who owns the local football team.

End Games

After a brutal murder in the heart of a tight-knit traditional community in Calabria, Zen is determined to find a way to penetrate the code of silence and uncover the truth. 

About the Author

Michael John Dibdin was born in Wolverhampton in 1947. His mother was a nurse and his father a Cambridge-educated physicist with a passionate enthusiasm for folk music. The family travelled extensively around Britain until Michael turned seven, when they settled in Northern Ireland.

After graduating with an English degree from Sussex University he took a Master’s Degree at the University of Alberta, Canada. Dibdin’s first published novel,
The Last Sherlock Holmes Story,
his self-proclaimed ‘pastiche’, appeared in 1978. Shortly afterwards he moved to Italy to teach for a number of years at the University of Perugia where he was inspired to write a second novel,
A Rich Full Death,
set in Victorian Florence. In 1988 he wrote
Ratking,
the first of the famous crime series featuring the Italian detective Aurelio Zen. The novel won the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger award. Other books in this series include three of his best received titles,
Cabal
(1992), which was awarded the French Grand Prix du Roman Policier,
Dead Lagoon
(1994), and finally
End Games,
published posthumously in 2007. Amongst his best-received non-Zen novels were
The Dying of the Light,
an Agatha Christie pastiche, and the darkly comic
Dirty Tricks
.

While Dibdin travelled frequently to Italy, he lived in Seattle with his wife the novelist Kathrine Beck, from where he wrote all but the first three Zen novels. The city also provided a new location for his other detective novels including
Dark Spectre
(1995) and
Thanksgiving
(2000), the story of a British journalist’s obsession with his recently dead American wife.

Michael Dibdin died in 2007 at the age of 60.

By the Same Author

THE LAST SHERLOCK HOLMES STORY
A RICH FULL DEATH
THE TRYST
DIRTY TRICKS
THE DYING OF THE LIGHT
DARK SPECTRE
THANKSGIVING

Aurelio Zen series

RATKING
VENDETTA
CABAL
DEAD LAGOON
COSI FAN TUTTI
A LONG FINISH
BLOOD RAIN
AND THEN YOU DIE

Copyright

First published in 2003
by Faber and Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2011
All rights reserved
© Michael Dibdin, 2003
The right of Michael Dibdin to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–24602–1