I am not a runner, so I don’t know how I even make it without hyperventilating, but I do. I keep going because I know that since Luca runs this route, it is possible. I keep going because I have to. I race along the beaches, trails and roads until I reach the front doors of Chessarae. I ring the bell, then double over, trying to catch my breath.
Christoph answers and he studies me curiously as I struggle to breathe.
“Luca,” I manage to get out. “Can I see Luca?”
Christoph smiles apologetically.
“I’m so sorry, miss,” he tells me. “Luca has left for a trip. Can I help you with something?”
It is several more minutes before I am able to breathe well enough to partially explain who I am, who I am to Luca, and why I am here right now. By the time I am finished, Christoph’s tanned face has leached of color and he is as pale as paper.
“Come in,” he tells me, ushering me through the house to Luca’s study. He settles me into a chair, hands me a bottle of water and then leaves.
“I’ll be right back,” he tells me over his shoulder. He returns scant moments later with Damien, his older brother.
Damien looks so much like Luca that it takes my breath away when he walks through the door. He introduces himself and I re-tell everything that I’ve just explained to Christoph. When I am finished, Damien is the same pale shade of white.
“This can’t be,” he mumbles. He shakes his head and pours himself a Scotch, then one for Christoph and me.
“Why would he do it?” I ask as I gulp at it. I can hear Christoph on his phone. I don’t know who he is talking to, but he’s requesting boats. Fast ones.
A search expedition.
“We can’t call the police,” I tell Damien. “We can’t.”
Because we can’t have them investigating Luca’s involvement in the girls’ murders.
Even though I don’t want to think that way, I have to protect Luca. He wasn’t himself when he blacked out, but I’m not sure that a court would believe that. I’m not familiar with Maltese law at all. I don’t know if they have a temporary insanity plea and I don’t want to chance it right now.
“Don’t worry,” Damien tells me. “We have extensive resources. We’ll handle it ourselves. We’ll find him.”
“Why would Adrian do this?” I ask, my heart still numb.
“I don’t know,” Damien admits. “I just don’t know.”
“Luca told me that the Leopoldos have always worked for your family,” I say. “How far back?”
Damien thinks on that and Christoph pipes up from behind him.
“Generations,” he says. “Generations ago, our great-great-great grandfathers started our shipping business together. It was known as Leopoldo-Minaldi Shipping back then. But apparently, Enzo Leopoldo had a really bad gambling problem. He lost everything he had and Lucien Minaldi- which incidentally, is who Luca is named for, bought out his shares. That’s the story, anyway. Apparently, they had a deal that the Minaldis would always employ the Leopoldos. As the years passed, they began to work for us here at Chessarae rather than at the business.”
“But if you’ve always taken care of them, why would Adrian turn on you?” I ask, still confused. “But more importantly, the curse didn’t begin with Luca. Luca told me that it has gone on for generations.”
“Yes,” Damien said. “It began with Lucien.”
Christoph looks at Damien and I. “Did it begin before or after we bought out the Leopoldos?”
Damien is quiet. “I believe it was after, if the stories are correct. When Lucien was younger, it never happened to him. That’s why it was such a mystery. The doctors could not figure it out.”
We all suck in our breath.
Can it be a coincidence? Or has this been an elaborate, horrible act of revenge that has spanned generations?
“If that’s the reason, the Leopoldos have some issues of their own,” I point out unnecessarily. “Perhaps bi-polarism runs in their family or schizophrenia. Either way, this is almost too elaborate to be real.”
Damien looks at me.
“This isn’t America, Dr. Talbot. Here in Malta, our pride is very valuable. It’s completely plausible that Enzo Leopoldo was so humiliated by the whole affair that he plotted out ways to lash out at us because he blamed us for his shame. I can see it happening, actually. There have been a few times over the years, when I’ve heard Adrian and even his father, slip and say something derogatory about our family. And as you’ve said, we’ve never done anything but take care of them. Enzo Leopoldo’s gambling problem was his own. Did Lucien take advantage of the situation by buying them out? Perhaps, but if he hadn’t, someone outside of the family would have and that was not an option for us.”
“Adrian has always seemed so happy to me,” I say absently. “I certainly misjudged him.” And that doesn’t say a lot for my thesis project which I’ve already sent to America…but that is not important right now.
“How long will it take for your boats to find them?” I ask Damien. He shakes his head.
“I don’t know. We don’t really even know where they were going. But we know how long they’ve been gone, so we’re sending boats into every conceivable direction.”
“Do you mind if I stay?” I ask. “I’m never going to sleep until he’s found and safe, anyway.”
“Of course,” Damien answers cordially. He hands me another Scotch. “I assumed that you would. It will be nice to have you here when Luca returns anyway. It will be helpful to have a professional explain what we think has happened.”
That’s a good thought. After a lifetime of believing he is a monster, it is hard to say how Luca will process the revelation that he isn’t. That none of the Minaldis have ever been… that his best friend in the world has betrayed him his entire life.
It’s an inconceivable thought and it would be difficult for anyone to handle.
I settle into a leather chair and cover up with a blanket that Christoph brings me. The only thing we can do now is wait. I take another sip of Scotch, allowing it to burn my throat on the way down. Grendel pads quietly into the room and sits at my side. I’m surprised, but it seems fitting. Luca’s dog is waiting for him, too.