Episode 1
AS THE summer twilight faded to night across the hills of Umbria, Francesca Bellini gazed out from the balcony of the Villa Purana, the imposing stone farmhouse which her family had owned for four generations. Despite the tranquil familiarity of the view and the welcome coolness of evening, she felt a growing sense of dread. Already the minibus was making its way up the road from San Mascarpone, its lights bobbing and weaving, moving closer with every passing second.
Episode 2
He was really copping an earful, the pig. The guests could wait for their extra pillows. This was too good to miss.They were speaking English, which she could follow because it was her best subject and all the good bands sang in it. But anyone could tell that the Australian woman, Fanny, was really letting him have it. A liar, she was calling him, a cheating person, a little shit.
Episode 3
If only everything else was as good as the food, she thought. That Claudio was a real gem - unlike Bruno, who had turned out to be a complete weasel. Not only did he cook well, he was keeping the guests entertained while she tried to figure out what to do next."Is just like a painting, no?" Claudio Vitali swept the air with his arm, presenting the guests of the Villa Purana with a sun-bathed view that extended from the terrace where they were having their breakfast across a picture-postcard landscape, all the way to the campanile of the village churchin the valley below.
It was indeed just like a painting, some bucolic fresco.
Episode 4
Daria interjected in broken English. "I find him prostrated. In the ... how-you-say ...'grotto'?" "Grotto," said everybody, simultaneously."First I think he is dead, but he make a little noise." She demonstrated with a low groan, then tapped the crown of her head. "He have a knock-out. I try to arouse him, but not possible."
Episode 5
The attractive young woman, the one with curves, raised her hand tentatively, like a shy school pupil. Vittorio had noticed a certain look in her eye, one that he did not wish to discourage."
Si, Signorina?" he said courteously."
Was the owner attacked or something?" Vittorio's hands vigorously erased the air. "Please, do not be alarmed. There is no danger. The carabinieri have many duties.
For example, the safety of working places and the protection of the artistic patrimony.
Even the healthy food inspection.
You have nothing to fear. In Italy, the visitor is safe and sound."
Si, Signorina?" he said courteously."
Was the owner attacked or something?" Vittorio's hands vigorously erased the air. "Please, do not be alarmed. There is no danger. The carabinieri have many duties.
For example, the safety of working places and the protection of the artistic patrimony.
Even the healthy food inspection.
You have nothing to fear. In Italy, the visitor is safe and sound."
Episode 6
The village square was straight out of Gourmet Traveller, a cobbled quadrangle of umbrella awnings and market stalls edged by small shops - here a gelateria, there a pasticceria, an enoteca, a macelleria. Pigeons fluttered, scooters zipped, and all that was missing was the Nino Rota soundtrack.
Episode 7
Some Italian teenagers were hanging around in front of a little convenience store, propped on their scooters, but it wasn't like he could just walk straight up and talk to them.
Episode 8
Some of the apples looked ripe, so he hoisted himself up onto a branch and took a bite out of one. It was still sour and he tossed it away, but the foliage was nice and cool. He leaned against the trunk and chilled out. After a while, footsteps came down the path. Through the leaves he glimpsed bare legs, sandals with crisscross straps, a swishing skirt. Daria.
Episode 9
Montana pointed past the oddments of collapsed stonework to an archway set into the hillside, half-hidden by undergrowth."What's that?" "Ruins," explained Claudio. "In ancient times was a temple here, sacred place for worship the gods."
An enchanting lie. But he could hardly tell them the truth, after all.
Episode 10
Behind her aristocratic composure, the woman was clearly worried. Roger, who'd earlier done a passable impression of her insouciant hauteur, rushed to pull out a chair and pour her a coffee."I hope this unfortunate incident does not cloud your stay in my home. Bruno wanted everything to be perfect, but the people he depended upon let him down. And now I must do my best without him."
The guests made sympathetic noises and stared self consciously into their drinks.
Episode 11
‘Do you think we should have killed him?’ said Fanny.’Troppo pericoloso,’ sighed Claudio regretfully. ‘Too risky. The carabinieri ...’
On this they could all agree.
Episode 12
"Not now." He took her hands between his strong, brown ones, easing her back down.
"Not now." He took her hands between his strong, brown ones, easing her back down.
"Our collaboration, it is better we keep private secret. You show me later."
"Tonight?"
"I come to your room."
Pure ham, she thought. Prosciutto crudo. But she was here, after all, to sample the local specialities.
"Tonight?"
"I come to your room."
Pure ham, she thought. Prosciutto crudo. But she was here, after all, to sample the local specialities.
Episode 13
THE naked, writhing bodies held no attraction for Barbara Shapiro. Oh, the anatomical draftsmanship was masterful and the composition was dramatic, but the whole thing was terribly apocalyptic. Probably because it's a Last Judgement, she reminded herself as she rejoined the procession of tourists shuffling through the cathedral.
Episode 14
And there they were. The excavations. Small - hardly dangerous - just a shallow trench running along the base of the wall and a pile of dug-out dirt. A wheelbarrow and shovel further in.
Episode 15
That afternoon, Barbara Shapiro skipped the Spoleto trip and took her sketchbook into the grounds. She worked fast, sweeping the charcoal across the paper, filling the pages withbold, impressionistic gestures. In her mind's eye, they were already taking shape as paintings. But that would come later, back in Melbourne.
Episode 16
"My God," she gasped suddenly. "The light, it's back again." A pinprick, like a torch or a signal, down near the grotto. Just like the one she'd seen on her first night at the villa, before the incident with Bruno.Vittorio saw it too, and his heart sank. However much he was enjoying himself in the embrace of this amenable, slightly over-enthusiastic Australian, he was here in his role as a carabinieri officer, ostensibly on the lookout for lights of just such a suspicious nature. If he didn't investigate, he'd look like an utter poltroon.
Episode 17
As the sound grew louder, the light grew brighter. Down a side tunnel, around a corner.Vittorio was in a large, concrete-walled bunker. Earsplitting music filled the space, along with artificial fog, flashing lights and about a hundred gyrating bodies.
Episode 18
Felix Shapiro was pinned to a graffiti-covered wall by the sheer volume of the music. It was crap.
Hi-NRG Euro-dance crap. Ibiza remixes, for Chrissake! It was hard to reconcile the crud coming out of the speakers with the total coolness of everything else. The crowd, packed and pumping. The three-deck DJ set-up. The blitzing lasers. And this insane air-raid shelter, or fuel bunker, or whatever the hell it was.
It was totally going off. A guerilla underground rave, and he was right there in the
Hi-NRG Euro-dance crap. Ibiza remixes, for Chrissake! It was hard to reconcile the crud coming out of the speakers with the total coolness of everything else. The crowd, packed and pumping. The three-deck DJ set-up. The blitzing lasers. And this insane air-raid shelter, or fuel bunker, or whatever the hell it was.
It was totally going off. A guerilla underground rave, and he was right there in the
middle of it.
He hoped he didn't look like a dork standing there on his own.
He hoped he didn't look like a dork standing there on his own.
Episode 19
For a man who had just awoken from a five-day coma, he looked remarkably sanguine.
Apart from a large bandage wrapped ostentatiously around his head, the villa's proprietor appeared none the worse for the mysterious incident that had befallen him soon after Fanny Crisp arrived with her party of nine Melburnian gastro-tourists.
Apart from a large bandage wrapped ostentatiously around his head, the villa's proprietor appeared none the worse for the mysterious incident that had befallen him soon after Fanny Crisp arrived with her party of nine Melburnian gastro-tourists.
Episode 20
Francesca sucked in her breath and summoned her dignity. Then she slapped her nephew's face, hard, turned on her heels and marched back into the temporary tranquillity of the
Villa Purana.
Episode 21
How long, he wondered, could he string Roger along thinking that the worthless scraps of metal in his pocket were rare and costly artefacts from a vanished civilisation?
