people, but I send you to the people you should arrest, and I give you the evidence that will help convict them. And I do it, sir, by asking people questions and then thinking about what they tell me and using that to go and ask other questions of other people.' She paused but he said nothing, merely nodded to show that he was listening to what she said.
'If I do it with this,' she said, waving a red-nailed hand above her computer keyboard, 'or I go out to Pellestrina to spend time with people I've known for years, there's really little difference.'
When he saw that she had stopped, he said, 'I'm concerned about your safety, Signorina.'
'How gallant,' she said, stunning him with her tone.
'And I don't have the authority to send you out there. It would be completely irregular.' He marvelled at the realization that he didn't have the authority to stop her.
'But I have the authority to grant myself a week's vacation, sir. There's nothing irregular about that.'
'You can't do that,' he insisted.
'Our first fight,' she said with a falsely tragic face, and he was forced to smile.
'I really don't want you to do this, Elettra,' he said.
'And the first time you've used my name.'
'I don't want it to be the last,' he shot back.
'Is that a threat to fire me or a warning that someone out there might kill me?'
He thought about his answer for a long time before he gave it. 'If you'll promise not to go out there, I'll promise never to fire you.'
'Commissario,' she said, returning to her usual formality, 'tempting as that offer is, you must understand that Vice-Questore Patta would never let you fire me, not even if I were discovered to be the person who killed those two men. I make his life too comfortable.' Brunetti was forced to admit, at least to himself, the truth of this.
'If I charge you officially with insubordination?' he asked, though both of them knew his heart wasn't in it.
As if he had not spoken, she continued, "I'll need some way to keep in touch with you.'
'We can give you a telefonino,' he said, caving in.
'It'll be easier for me to use my own,' she said. 'But I'd like to have someone there, just in case what you say is true and there is some danger.'
'Some of our men will be sent out to investigate. We can tell them you're there.'
Her answer was instant. 'No. I don't trust them not to talk to me if they see me or, if you tell them to ignore me, make such a production of it that they'll call attention to me in any case. I don't want anyone here to know what I'm doing. If possible, I don't want them even to know I'm there. Except you and Sergeant Vianello.'
Did her reluctance, he wondered, result from information he didn't have about the people who worked in the Questura or from a scepticism about human nature even more profound than his own? 'If I assign myself the investigation, then I'll be the one to go out to talk to people, just Vianello and I.'
'That would be best.'
'How long are you planning on staying out there?'
'I can stay as long as I usually do, I suppose: a week, perhaps a bit more. It's not as if the people in the village are going to see me get down from the orange bus and come up to tell me the name of the person who did it, is it, sir? I'll just go out and stay with my cousin and see what's new and what people are talking about. Nothing at all unusual about that.'
There was little left to settle. 'Would it be too melodramatic if I asked if you'd like to take a gun with you?' he asked.
'I think it would be far more melodramatic if I accepted, sir,' she said, and turned away, as glad as he to be finished with all of this. 'I'll start seeing what I can find about the Bottins, shall I?' she asked, reaching out to swing the screen of her computer towards her.
7
'You're going to let her do what ? ' Paola protested that night after dinner, when he had finished telling her about his trip to Pellestrina and his subsequent conversation - he wanted to call it a confrontation but thought that was
'If I do it with this,' she said, waving a red-nailed hand above her computer keyboard, 'or I go out to Pellestrina to spend time with people I've known for years, there's really little difference.'
When he saw that she had stopped, he said, 'I'm concerned about your safety, Signorina.'
'How gallant,' she said, stunning him with her tone.
'And I don't have the authority to send you out there. It would be completely irregular.' He marvelled at the realization that he didn't have the authority to stop her.
'But I have the authority to grant myself a week's vacation, sir. There's nothing irregular about that.'
'You can't do that,' he insisted.
'Our first fight,' she said with a falsely tragic face, and he was forced to smile.
'I really don't want you to do this, Elettra,' he said.
'And the first time you've used my name.'
'I don't want it to be the last,' he shot back.
'Is that a threat to fire me or a warning that someone out there might kill me?'
He thought about his answer for a long time before he gave it. 'If you'll promise not to go out there, I'll promise never to fire you.'
'Commissario,' she said, returning to her usual formality, 'tempting as that offer is, you must understand that Vice-Questore Patta would never let you fire me, not even if I were discovered to be the person who killed those two men. I make his life too comfortable.' Brunetti was forced to admit, at least to himself, the truth of this.
'If I charge you officially with insubordination?' he asked, though both of them knew his heart wasn't in it.
As if he had not spoken, she continued, "I'll need some way to keep in touch with you.'
'We can give you a telefonino,' he said, caving in.
'It'll be easier for me to use my own,' she said. 'But I'd like to have someone there, just in case what you say is true and there is some danger.'
'Some of our men will be sent out to investigate. We can tell them you're there.'
Her answer was instant. 'No. I don't trust them not to talk to me if they see me or, if you tell them to ignore me, make such a production of it that they'll call attention to me in any case. I don't want anyone here to know what I'm doing. If possible, I don't want them even to know I'm there. Except you and Sergeant Vianello.'
Did her reluctance, he wondered, result from information he didn't have about the people who worked in the Questura or from a scepticism about human nature even more profound than his own? 'If I assign myself the investigation, then I'll be the one to go out to talk to people, just Vianello and I.'
'That would be best.'
'How long are you planning on staying out there?'
'I can stay as long as I usually do, I suppose: a week, perhaps a bit more. It's not as if the people in the village are going to see me get down from the orange bus and come up to tell me the name of the person who did it, is it, sir? I'll just go out and stay with my cousin and see what's new and what people are talking about. Nothing at all unusual about that.'
There was little left to settle. 'Would it be too melodramatic if I asked if you'd like to take a gun with you?' he asked.
'I think it would be far more melodramatic if I accepted, sir,' she said, and turned away, as glad as he to be finished with all of this. 'I'll start seeing what I can find about the Bottins, shall I?' she asked, reaching out to swing the screen of her computer towards her.
7
'You're going to let her do what ? ' Paola protested that night after dinner, when he had finished telling her about his trip to Pellestrina and his subsequent conversation - he wanted to call it a confrontation but thought that was
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