Through a Glass Darkly by Donna Leon Page B

asked, his feet crossed on the low table in front of them.
    â€˜Assunta De Cal,’ she said.
    â€˜Whatever for?’ he asked. Then he remembered that it was in her father’s
fornace
that the glass panels had been made and wondered if Paola wanted to see more of the artist’s work.
    â€˜She’s worried about her father.’
    Brunetti was tempted to inquire what his involvement in that might be but asked only, ‘Worried about what?’
    â€˜She said he’s getting more and more violent towards her husband.’
    â€˜Violent violent or talk violent?’
    â€˜So far, only talk violent, but she’s worried – Guido, I really think she is – that the old man will do something.’
    â€˜Marco’s at least thirty years younger than De Cal, isn’t he?’ When she nodded, Brunetti said, ‘Then he can defend himself or he can just run away. Walk away, from what I remember of the old man.’
    â€˜It’s not that,’ Paola said.
    â€˜Then what is it?’ he asked kindly.
    â€˜She’s afraid that her father will get in trouble by doing something to him. By hitting him or, oh, I don’t know. She says she’s never seen him so angry, not ever in her life, and she doesn’t know why he is.’
    â€˜What sort of things does he say?’ Brunetti asked, knowing from experience that the violent often announce their intentions, sometimes in the hope that they will be prevented from carrying them out.
    â€˜That Ribetti’s a troublemaker and that he married her for her money and to get his hands on the
fornace
. But he says that only when he’s drunk, Assunta said, about the
fornace
.’
    â€˜Who in their right mind would want to take over a
fornace
in Murano these days?’ Brunetti asked in an exasperated voice. ‘Especially someone who has no experience of glass-making?’
    â€˜I don’t know.’
    â€˜Why did she call you, then?’
    â€˜To ask if she could come and talk to you,’Paola said, sounding faintly nervous about passing on the request.
    â€˜Of course, she can come,’ Brunetti said and patted her thigh.
    â€˜You’ll be nice to her?’ Paola asked.
    â€˜Yes, Paola,’ he said, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek. ‘I’ll be nice to her.’

6
    ASSUNTA DE CAL came to the Questura a little after ten the following morning. An officer called from the entrance to say Brunetti had a visitor, then accompanied her to the Commissario’s office. She stopped just inside the door, and Brunetti got to his feet and went over to shake her hand. ‘How nice that we see one another again,’ he said, using the plural to avoid addressing her either formally or informally. If she had looked older than her husband at the gallery opening, she looked even more so now. Her skin was sallow, and the lines running from her nose down either side of her mouth were more pronounced. Her hair was freshly washed and she wore makeup, but she had not managed to disguise hernervousness or the stress she seemed to be under.
    She had apparently decided that he was to share in the same grammatical dispensation as Paola and addressed him as
tu
when she thanked him and said it was kind of him to take time to listen to her.
    Brunetti led her to the chairs in front of his desk, held one for her, and took the other as soon as she was seated.
    â€˜Paola said you wanted to talk to me about your father,’ he began.
    She sat upright in the chair, like a schoolchild asked into the office of the
preside
to be reprimanded. She nodded a few times. ‘It’s terrible,’ she finally said.
    â€˜Why do you say that, Assunta?’
    â€˜I told Paola,’ she said, as though she were reluctant or embarrassed and perhaps hoped to learn that Paola had told Brunetti everything.
    â€˜I’d like you to tell me about it, as well,’ Brunetti encouraged her.
    She took a deep breath,