Martina Landini, translated into English by Ruth Stephens
Chapter 4 – A Strange Encounter
On Saturday Maria decided to call in on Gioacchino before the show. On reaching his dressing room, she found him busy with the final details.
“Can I come in?” she asked, from the doorway.
“Of course, dear,“ replied Gioacchino “Sit down. What brings you here?”
“I was just passing and thought I would pop in to wish you luck for the show this evening and to see how you are.”
“Well dear, I’m nervous, very nervous,” said Gioacchino.
“But there’s no need to be – your creations are fantastic!” Maria tried to reassure him.
“I’m not only nervous about the collection, “ Gioacchina continued, “but also about this.” He took a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket and showed it to Maria. On it was written:
‘Tick tock, tick tock, the time for the end of fashion is approaching. Prepare for heads to fly. You are going to pay for what you’ve done!’
“Oh, no! Another note!” cried Maria “But don’t worry, Gioacchino, the security here is good. There are plenty of checks. All will be well. Carry on with the preparations for the show. Your bride will be so beautiful with that necklace.”
Maria got up, squeezed Gioacchino’s hand reassuringly and left the room. But she couldn’t get the thought of those notes out of her head. She didn’t know what to make of them.
As she made her way out of the building, she noticed the delivery boy still hanging around the other dressing rooms. “That’s strange” she thought.
Then the idea came to her to send Gioacchino some flowers to cheer him up. She went to a nearby florists and chose the most beautiful flowers she could find – roses and tulips. The flowers reminded her of those printed on the dresses Gioacchino had shown her.
But the florist told her that they couldn’t deliver: she would need to go to the delivery firm around the corner, which happened to be the same firm that had delivered the necklace to Gioacchino. That was good, thought Maria, she could be sure the flowers would go to the right place!
Maria approached the staff member at the delivery firm’s reception desk.
“I would like this bouquet of flowers delivered, please,” she said. “To Gioacchino, the fashion designer at the Palazzo della Moda. I’m afraid I don’t remember the number of his room but it’s the same one that you delivered a necklace to yesterday.”
“Yes, that’s right,” the man replied. “Mario delivered it, but I’m afraid he no longer works for us, so, although he knows the street, I can’t send him.”
“How come he no longer works for you?” Maria asked, surprised. “I saw him in uniform just a little while ago at the Palazzo della Moda! Can you tell me what his surname is?”
“Yes, he’s called Mario Gialli. He resigned this morning. I took him on three months ago. I employed him because he’s the son of an old friend, who isn’t doing very well. He has a firework factory that’s about to close. And Mario called me this morning to say he was leaving…”
Maria thanked him and left the building.
“How strange!” said Maria to herself. There was something mysterious about all this. So many things were happening: first the threatening notes, then Mario Gialli’s background and him still going around in uniform at the Palazzo della Moda… Was there a link between them?
Maria checked her watch. The show was about to start. She’d better hurry.