"Dibdin, Michael - Aurelio Zen 02 - Vendetta UC - part 02" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dibdin Michael)

recovered, and one of them revealed traces of blood of a
group matching stains found at a point consistent with the
assassin's estimated position. A series of stains of the same
blood group -- which was also that of Oscar Burolo, Maria
Pia Vianello and Renato Favelloni -- were found leading to
the vault beneath the house where Oscar's collection of
video tapes and computer discs was housed. When the
villa was searched, this room was found to be in a state of
complete disorder: the new section of shelving Oscar had
recently installed had been thrown over, and video cas-
settes and floppy discs lay scattered everywhere. The
fingerprints found on the gun-rack were also present in
profusion here.
Zen stopped typing to stub out his cigarette. From
behind the hessian screen he could hear male voices raised
in dispute about the merits and demerits of the new Fiat
hatchback. He recognized the voices of Vincenzo Fabri and
another official, Bernardo Travaglini. Then a flicker of
movement nearby caught his eye and he looked round to
find Tania Biacis standing by his desk.
'Sorry?' he muttered.
'I didn't say anything.'
'Oh.'
He gazed at her helplessly, paralysed by his desire to
reach out and touch her. These exchanges, full of non
sequiturs and dead ends, were typical of their conversation.
Presumably Tania just assumed that Zen was a bit scatter-
brained and thought no more about it. He hoped so,
anyway.
'This is for you.'
She handed him an envelope from the batch of internal
mail she was delivering.
'So what was it last night?' Zen asked. 'The opera, the
new Fellini?'
'The Opera's on strike,' she said after a momentary
hesitation. 'As for Federico, we gave up on him after that
last one. Granted the man used to be a genius, but
enough's enough. No, we went out to eat at this little place
out in the country near Tivoli. Have you been there? It's all
the rage at the moment. Enrico Montesano was there, with
the most peculiar woman I've ever seen in my life, if she
was a woman. But you'd better hurry, if you want to go.
The food's going downhill already. In another week it'll be
ruined.'
?en sat looking at her, hardly heeding what she said.
Tall, large-boned and small-breasted, with brows that
arched high above her deep brown eyes, prominent
cheekbones, a strong neck and a light down on her pro-
truding upper lip, which was usually curved as if in sup-
pressed amusement, Tania Biacis resembled a Byzantine