On Sunday morning Franco was woken up suddenly by the telephone.
«Hello. Who’s speaking?»
«Detective Manera, this is Giovanni Della Torre. Am I disturbing you?»
«No, go on» said Franco, yawning.
«I’m sorry to bother you on Sunday, but I wanted to tell you that Rosa, the maid, is back. I want you to follow her and gather more evidence.»
Franco hadn’t much desire to follow Rosa, especially because he thought it would be a waste of time, but Giovanni Della Torre seemed to have made up his mind and Franco felt he didn’t have much choice.
«O.K. Signor Della Torre, I’ll get to work right away» he agreed wihout enthusiasm.
«Great» replied Della Torre «At eleven, Rosa has to go out to run some errands. Follow her and see if she does anything suspicious.»
This was going to be a boring job. Franco would have to waste the whole day following the maid. And given that he didn’t have a car, he’d even have to spend some money to rent one.
He went to the car rental agency and asked to rent the cheapest car they had. He was given an old black Smart, with a broken bumper.
Having collected the car, Franco headed for Via Merulana, to the Contessa’s building.He parked fify metres before the gates of the driveway and sat in the car waiting for Rosa to come out. He lit the last cigarette in the pack and switched on the radio.
After about ten minutes Rosa left the house. Franco started the car and followed her.
First she went to the laundromat, then to the supermarket to do the shopping.
After doing the shopping, though, instead of heading back to the Contessa’s house to prepare lunch, Rosa climbed drove towards Via Nazionale. There, she went into a jeweller’s and stayed there for around twenty minutes.
After coming out of the jewellers, Rosa got back in her car and, this time, drove back to Via Merulana.
Franco decided to go back to the jeweller’s to find out what Rosa had been doing there.
He double-parked and went into the shop. He glanced around. It wasn’t one of those luxury jewellers that you usually find in the center of Rome. It was a rather inconspicuous jeweller’s, which also bought gold and jewellery from people who wanted to sell it. A little like a pawnbroker’s.
Franco pretented to be Rosa’s husband and asked the female assistant:
«This morning my wife was here. She’s a short, slim woman with brown hair. She was wearing a maid’s uniform. The thing is, I’m very worried about her. I’d like to know what she was doing here. Did she buy something that we can’t really afford?»
He pretended to be very anxious.
«No, sir, no need to worry. I shouldn’t tell you, but today your wife came here to sell something». The shop assistant disappeared for a moment and came back with some earrings in her hand.
They were beautiful, made of gold and decorated with small diamonds. They also perfectly matched the bracelet and necklace stolen from the Contessa, which Franco had seen in the photo.
Perhaps Giovanni Della Torre hadn’t been wrong. Maybe Rosa and the “bad company” that Giovanni had mentioned had managed to steal both the painting and the jewellery. And now she wanted to sell the jewellery a little at a time to get money.
Franco thanked the assistant and left the shopping, trying to get his thoughts in order.
Giovanni could be right. But something didn’t seem right. The Contessa hadn’t mentioned any earrings in the list of stolen jewellery. She’d talked about necklaces and bracelets, but not earrings. But Rosa, however, had sold some earrings which must have come from the same collection as the bracelet and the necklace.
It was all very strange… Franco decided to find out more. He had to continue to follow Rosa.
He went back to Via Merulana. He wanted to speak to the Contessa, hoping to find her alone. He didn’t want Giovanni to be there. Giovanni was already convinced of Rosa’s guilt and would certainly try to convince his mother and Franco too.
He rang at the door and it was opened by the same maid as previously, who showed him into the living room. However, instead of finding the Contessa there, to his surprise he saw Giovanni.
Giovanni too seemed very surprised to see the detective.
«Hello Signor Della Torre, I was looking for your mother.»
«Hello detective, what are you doing here? My mother’s not at home today. She’s gone to the spa with some friends. I’ve just come around to check that everything is OK. I wouldn’t want there to be any other thefts…»
So Franco excused himself and went home. His work was done for the day. But the mystery has not been solved.
Read Chapter 5
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