Part 4 (1/2)
”Well, I a.s.sume that Jared has had tickets for us from the beginning, but are you sure you want me to come?” Jordan asked.
Lynn laughed. ”Of course. Yes, Jared has had tickets for months. Surely he told you that the Friday ball is ours.”
”I just knew there was a round of parties,” Jordan said. ”I'm glad, delighted, that one of them is yours. I'm afraid that Jared only explained the contessa's party, and it seems the contessa is very important to his business.”
”Ah, so Jared felt that hers was the most important party.”
”I didn't mean to say that-”
Lynn shrugged philosophically. ”The contessa .. . is n.o.bility. She is rich. Her party is definitely for the truly elite-invitation only. It's a big deal to be invited. Come to think of it, none of us at the shop are ever invited to her events. We must be poor peasants in her eyes.”
”I wish I'd been a peasant in her eyes. Everywhere I've been today, people stare at me.
I'm the idiot American who panicked at a party and brought in the police.”
Lynn's smile deepened. ”Well, I'm afraid the story has traveled, but... you know, there are people who don't like her as well. Quite frankly, she's a snot. She breezes down the street as if she's got a stick up her a.s.s.”
”Lynn!”
Anna Maria, tall, slim, a beautiful woman in her early forties, had emerged from the shop just as Lynn spoke. A native Venetian, she had a striking bone structure, long brown hair touched with natural gold highlights, and a sense of energy and purpose. Her English was nearly perfect; her accent was charming.
Lynn choked, having been inhaling her cigarette when Anna spoke. Anna Maria had her hands on her hips, but a glitter in her eyes belied the stern way in which she had spoken.
”Sorry, the contessa is charming, just charming.”
”Lynn! Such words you are using. It is sour grapes; I believe that is the saying,” Anna Maria chastised. ”We are not invited, so the contessa is a sn.o.b. Forgive us, Jordan.”
Jordan laughed. ”Actually, don't tell Jared I said so, but I think Lynn's description is rather apt.”
”The contessa is beautiful. And she has done a great deal for Venice.”
”Um, and she's a snot-you've done a lot for Venice and she ignores you!” Lynn defended.
”Lynn, Jordan is a visitor; we mustn't air muddy laundry-”
”Dirty laundry,” Lynn corrected.
”Dirty laundry,” Anna Maria agreed, shaking her head. ”Lynn, do I make fun of your Italian?” ”Upon occasion, yes!” Lynn said.
”Jordan, you must not listen to us. Lynn, give me one of your American cigarettes.”
Anna Maria took a cigarette and lit up, exhaling with a little sigh of pleasure.
”The way I'm feeling this morning, Anna Maria, I hate to admit it, but I'm delighted to hear something bad about the contessa,” Jordan said. ”If it was all a charade, it was a horrible thing to plan to do to people.”
”If it was a charade?” Lynn asked softly.
Jordan shrugged. ”Everyone keeps telling me so. The police were angry, my cousin is still angry, and the contessa ...” She paused, staring at Lynn ruefully. ”Well, she acted as if she had a stick up her b.u.t.t!”
”The streets sometimes have ears,” Anna Maria murmured. ”Yet, I'm so sorry. I adore my city. And Carnevale. You should have all good impressions of the city and the gaiety.”
”I love Venice,” Jordan said quickly. ”The contessa's party did not change that.”
”But, poor dear!” Anna Maria said. ”The rumor is that you were absolutely terrified.
Again, I'm so sorry to hear that, but...” Her voice trailed off, and then she laughed and spoke very softly. ”I like to imagine the contessa running through the streets in the middle of the night to the police station. That's what she gets for her great dramas, always promising something more spectacular than anyone else can offer. Her party might be more exclusive, but you're right. Such entertainment is sick. I promise you, the artist's ball tonight is wonderful, but our party will be the most fun. So. What are you wearing?”
”Being a visitor and a novice at Carnevale, I've only the one outfit-”
”Ah, that will not be enough. Come in, come in, we'll find more costuming in pet.i.te!”
Anna Maria dropped her cigarette and stepped on it. ”Now ... we'll go in and find something fun for the artist's ball tonight and our party on Friday.”
”It's really not necessary-”
”Ah, but it is!” Anna Maria corrected. ”It is Venice, and it is Carnevale, and you must enjoy the splendor of it all.” She glanced sternly at Lynn once again. ”In a way that is not sn.o.bby, snotty, or stick up the a.s.s-y in any way at all.”
”No, look, it's all right, the store is crowded, you're so busy-”
”Never too busy,” Anna Maria said. ”Andiamo. We go in to the costume section. Many things are already rented, but ... we never run out of masquerades in Venice, eh, Lynn?”
”Never,” Lynn agreed.
”And if something does not quite fit, Lynn is an extraordinary seamstress.”
Lynn groaned. ”No rest for the weary!”
”Or the naughty,” Anna Maria said sternly.
”I'm sure I can make my own adjustments-”Jordan offered.
”No, no,” Anna Maria protested. ”Lynn wishes to outdo the contessa, even down to your costume. We shall all three see that it is so.” She indicated the door. ”Come along, and we'll get busy.”
Jordan hesitated, thinking that perhaps she should return to the hotel, but it felt good to be with people who sympathized without thinking her totally insane. It felt good to be here, and it would be fun to wear a new costume.
She shrugged, and preceded Lynn and Anna Maria into the shop.
Jared liked to take public transportation in Venice, slipping onto the vaporettos with crowds of tourists and natives, studying the islands of Venice as the boat came to stop after stop. He knew how to get around the city, and loved the architecture of it.
Today, however, he took a private launch. Arriving at the palazzo, he was greeted by the contessa's aide, a tall, skeletal woman with iron-gray hair and a forbiddingly gaunt face.
Her disapproval of him was obvious today, though she was always cold and silent.
He was led to the contessa's palatial bedchamber, a room as large as many a full house.
There was something exquisitely Renaissance about her decor, from the carvings on the great draped and canopied bed to the scenes on the lush Persian rugs. A sitting area flanked the fireplace; the mantel was marble carved in detail with two grinning gargoyles on either side, as if the pair guarded the flames which might be a gateway straight to h.e.l.l.