"Dibdin, Michael - Aurelio Zen 02 - Vendetta UC - part 09" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dibdin Michael)

chemical analysis, which listed among other things the
abbassamento crioscopico, concentrazione osmotica and con-
ducibilita elettrica specipca a x8'C. Each litre contained
0.00009 grams of barium. Was this a good thing or a bad
thing?
The door of the pizzeria opened to admit the half-witted
midget he had seen outside Confalone's office that morn-
ing. She was dripping wet, and Zen realized suddenly that
the hushing sound he had been hearing for some time
now, like static on a radio programme, was caused by a
downpour of rain. The next instant a deafening peal of
thunder rang out, seemingly right overhead. One of the
teenagers shrieked in mock terror, the others giggled
nervously. The beggar woman limped theatrically over to
Zen's table and demanded money.
'I gave you something this morning,' Reto Gurtner
replied in a tone of distaste.
The owner shouted angrily in Sardinian and the woman
turned away with a face as blank as the wooden carnival
masks hanging on the wall and went to sit on a chair near
the door, looking out at the torrential rain. She must know
a thing or two, thought Zen, wandering about from place
to place, privileged by madness.
When the owner came to clear Zen's table, he apolo-
gized for the fact that he'd been bothered.
'I try to keep her out of here, but what can you do? She's
got nowhere to go.'
'Homeless?'
The man shrugged.
'She's got a brother, but she won't live with him. Claims
he's an impostor. She sleeps rough, in caves and shepherd's
huts, even on the street. She's harmless, but quite mad. Not
that it's surprising, after what happened to her.'
He made no effort to lower his voice, although the
woman was sitting near by, perched on her chair like a
large doll. Zen glanced at her, but she was still staring
rigidly at the door.
'It's all right,' the owner explained. 'She doesn't under-
stand Italian, only dialect.'
Zen eagerly seized this opportunity to talk.
'What happened to her?'
The young man shook his head and sighed.
'I wasn't around then, but people say she just dis-
appeared one day, years ago. She was about fifteen at the
time. The family said she'd gone to stay with relatives
who'd emigrated to Tuscany. Then a few years ago her
parents died in ... in an accident. The son was away
doing his military service at the time. When the police
went to the house they found Elia shut up in the cellar like
an animal, almost blind, covered in filth and half crazy.'