Chapter 28

"R epeat what you just said," Rat demanded, shaking his head in confusion.

"I think that Avraham is the link, somehow. I was thinking back to what Luisa told me about Signor Graziano's sons: one is an artist, and the other, Avraham, lives in Vienna and works in a library."

"So? I still don't understand what you see," Rat exclaimed in frustration.

Melody had burst into Rat's bedroom to find him where she had left him when she went to meet Xander, sitting in front of the fireplace, deep in thought. Now, she moved to reseat herself opposite him and took a moment to calm herself and to try to explain in as calm and methodical a manner possible the insight that had just hit less than ten minutes earlier.

"Let us consider what we know," she began. "We know that articles are being published in newspapers in Italy and Austria purporting to expose nefarious schemes within Austrian-Hungary directed at Italy and its citizens. Not only have those pieces been published, but they have quoted supposedly stolen documents and have even included photographs of said documents. Obviously, someone within the Austrian government or civil service, or close to them, is stealing these documents. I supposed we would call someone doing something similar in Britain a traitor."

Even as she said this last sentence, Melody reflected again that treason was in the eye of the beholder; one man's traitor is another man's hero .

Rat considered her words and thought about the papers Lord Langley had given him to read. "There are certainly various factions in Austria-Hungary and within Germany who are against the war that is looming. From what I've read, the Austrian Social Democratic Workers' Party is just one of the groups that is passionately anti-war because of what it sees as the inevitable exploitation of the lower classes. However, there are also many intellectuals and other figures who bemoan the belligerence of their country and its allies. Then there are the usual pacifist groups. Certainly, there are more than enough reasons that someone within the government in Austria might want to provoke Italy and its subjects to turn away from the Triple Alliance."

Melody acknowledged Rat's words and continued, "So, someone steals the documents and photographs them or makes copies. Then, they have to find a way to get these distributed to publications in Italy and Austria. I am assuming one does not just send such things by mail."

"There definitely needs to be a covert way to move the material. Perhaps they use couriers, but that would seem to hold too many risks."

"Exactly. So, there needs to be a way to get evidence of what Austria-Hungary plans out of the country and disseminated to news organisations that will not seem out of the ordinary in any way." Seeing that her brother was not following where her thoughts had led her, Melody continued, "Think about the list we found."

"Yes. It was a list of names."

"And what else was listed?" she asked patiently.

"I don't remember. Was it books?" Rat asked, his frustration evident.

"Exactly. The list had books by German authors, perhaps also Austrians. I saw the name Arthur Schnitzler. Is he Austrian? Anyway, the point is, it was a list of books."

"Graziano was a bookseller. Surely it is not surprising to find a list of authors and their works in his home," Rat remarked .

"Rat! Why are you not getting this?" Melody snapped, her patience at an end. "Yes, he is, well was, a bookseller. His son works in a library in Vienna. Somehow, stolen documents are getting transported from Vienna to Italy."

Finally, Melody saw Rat's eyes light up. "You believe that Avraham Graziano is secreting documents in books that the library is shipping to Venice?"

"I do. I cannot imagine that he was shipping them directly to his father. That would seem too suspicious. There must be an intermediary at a library here in Venice. Perhaps Signor Graziano then borrowed the books, removed the documents, and distributed them to journalists, which is why Silvio Verdi's name was on the list. It was a record of which books from the library had material for particular journalists. I would bet anything that the other names on that list are also journalists writing for newspapers, or perhaps they are other people in Italy who might influence public opinion somehow."

Melody paused again and considered her theory. "Perhaps Avraham sends his father letters recommending books for him to read, or something like that. They must have had some way to secretly communicate which documents are in which books and to do so in a way that would not raise any suspicions, particularly if the communications were intercepted."

"Melody, I think you're right. You're amazing," Rat gushed. Melody blushed with pride at her brother's praise. "What is Herr Peetz's role in this, do you think?"

This had been something that Melody hadn't worked out yet. She shook her head. "I am not sure, honestly. We know that his newspaper publishes anti-war pieces. Perhaps he also receives some of the stolen documents and that is the extent of his involvement."

"Yet, what I overheard Herr Peetz discuss with Foscari suggests otherwise. They talked of their plan being disrupted. Surely that indicates that, if nothing else, Dieter Peetz was aware of Antonio Graziano's role as a link in the chain connecting whoever is stealing these documents in Vienna to their eventual publication in Italy."

Too late, Rat realises the implication of his words, which Melody seized on immediately and victoriously. "Ha! So, by your logic, Alessandro is also on the side of good, trying to prevent Italy from joining the war as Austria's ally."

Loath to concede the point, yet boxed in by his own words, Rat held his hands up in surrender. "You win. Yes, all the evidence points to Foscari being, if not on Britain's side, at least not on Austria's. However, that doesn't mean that I now trust him. It certainly does not mean you were right to tell him about the abduction of Herr Peetz's daughter."

Rat looked at the clock on the mantlepiece. "We only have a few hours. What are we going to tell Lady Bainbridge to explain why we are not joining her for dinner?"

"Well, that I can answer easily; she told me earlier that she is out for the evening, and we will be dining alone. We will still need to eat something. I will ask Rossi for something light that we can eat up here so we can talk in private." At this, Melody rose and left the room to find the maggiordomo. She returned a few minutes late and said that Rossi would be bringing some trazzamini and other refreshments up shortly.

Settling back into the armchair, Melody asked, "So, what is our plan?"

Rat considered the question. "The piece of this we still don't understand is why the two men were murdered and by whom. I think we need to consider this question, if only to have some sense of what we might be walking into this evening."

This had been another piece of the puzzle that Melody had also considered, to no avail. She had delighted in Rat's praise and hated to be unable to follow-up her earlier deductions with one equally laudable. Desperate to surprise her brother with another brilliant hypothesis, she pondered the question again.

Finally, Melody asked, "Luisa said that Herr Peetz had left Vienna because of the government's displeasure at the pieces his newspaper was publishing. Is it too much to assume that they have also noticed the pieces being published in Italy? If they have seen copies of secret, internal government documents reproduced in Italian newspapers, the Austrians must have realised that there was a leak that somehow led to those journalists."

She paused, then added, "Here is the part I do not have any answer for: one might posit that both men were murdered over the list. Except, what does the list really show? Surely, the Austrians can extrapolate which journalists are being fed documents just by tracking what is being written about and by whom. At least, from what we saw, it is a list of names and a list of books. As you said, Signor Graziano was a bookseller; even if someone came upon that list, what would it tell them?"

"Well, you pieced together the method by which the information is carried between Vienna and Italy. Why couldn't someone else?"

"Well, to begin with, we are not sure that I am correct. We merely have a hypothesis at the moment which has yet to be tested and proved correct," Melody told him.

Rat smiled, "You may have been spending too much time with Cousin Lily. Her scientific terminology has rubbed off on you. But your point is well taken. However, let us assume, for the time being, that you are correct. After all, isn't that what scientists do: assume the possible truth of a hypothesis until they can test it sufficiently to either confirm or discard it."

Melody nodded, and Rat continued, "So, we have a working hypothesis. Given that, what might an operative working on behalf of the Austrian government have been able to extrapolate from such a list? More to the point, how would he even have known it existed?"

His sister considered his words. As they sat in silence, there was a knock on the door, and Rossi entered with a tray of food. As well as the promised trazzamini, there were little savoury pastries, wedges of cheese and slices of salami. There was a bowl of black olives in oil and herbs and another bowl with sauteed artichoke hearts in it. Finally, there was a basket filled with warm rolls. To top off the feast, and because it was Italy, after all, there was a bottle of red wine and two glasses.

Rossi laid out all the food on the table near Rat's chair, then left Rat and Melody to their meal. Their lunch felt like it was many hours ago, and Melody realised she was famished. She loaded up her plate in a very unladylike manner, then settled back in her armchair. Neither sibling spoke for some time as they satiated their immediate hunger.

Finally, washing a third trazzamini down with a gulp of wine, Rat said, "Let us not worry about how this Austrian operative, who we are assuming is our murderer, found out what Signor Graziano and the others were doing. As you pointed out, the results of their operation were evident enough to anyone paying attention to the sudden flurry of anti-Austrian news articles. So, our killer, let's call him Mr X for now, is sent to Venice to investigate."

Immediately, Melody could see the flaw in Rat's argument, "But why Venice? Does it not seem unlikely that these articles are only being written for Venetian newspapers? While it is true that the people of Venice have a particularly recent unpleasant history with Austria, how much can the citizens of one city influence? These articles must have been placed in newspapers all over Italy, don't you think?"

"So, what do you believe made Mr X target Venice?"

Melody considered the question. "Well, I think there are two possible options: either Herr Peetz had already been identified as a person of interest, and when he left Vienna, Mr X followed him to Venice."

"That's it!" Rat exclaimed, not even letting Melody get to option two.

"Well, I agree, it is very likely. However," his sister counselled, "we need to consider option two: that Mr X was already in place in Venice. After all," she said slyly, "you were sent here by the British Government. Venice's proximity and complicated history with Austria clearly makes it a city of interest to your overlords. So, why not also to Mr X's?"

Rat had to concede his sister's point. Then he added, " If we assume that the Austrians were suspicious of how supposedly secret information was making its way into Italian newspapers, perhaps Mr X was watching Silvio Verdi and the other journalists and came to suspect that Antonio Graziano was involved. Maybe he was killed because he would not reveal his son's role and help lead the Austrians to whoever is leaking the documents." This made sense and Melody nodded her agreement.

Taking another sip of wine, as he considered whether he had room for one more trazzamini, Rat said thoughtfully, "Regardless, we have even more reason to be very cautious tonight. Mr X did not kill by accident or as a last resort. This man had the forethought to pick up a pillow to silence his gun; he knew what he was doing. He might even be a trained assassin."

As her brother said this, Melody wondered for the first time whether Rat had been similarly trained for such assignments.