‘Lovely. I feel like it’s very good for you.’
‘It is. It builds up your immune system. It will stop you getting sick.’
Once she’d had a few sips of her own tea, Katerina ate her pastry quickly before settling back contentedly in her chair.
‘Now I feel human again,’ she said with a sigh. ‘I won’t need to shop again for several days.’
Stella felt herself relaxing, too. In her own surroundings, Katerina seemed less intimidating somehow and perhaps more open to questions.
‘Did you and your husband live here, before he passed away?’ Stella continued, pushing back her own chair and resting a foot on the opposite knee.
‘We did. We moved here when we married. I’d lived with my family in town up to that point. It was wonderful to have our own place.’
‘And do you spend much time at Villa Ariadne when it’s unoccupied? Or maybe it’s always full? It’s so beautiful, I wouldn’t be surprised.’
Katerina raised her eyebrows, which, still dark, contrasted sharply with her grey-white hair.
‘Oh! It’s often empty,’ she replied, as if it the answer were obvious. ‘Not because people don’t want to come. We get many enquiries, but we only accept very special visitors.’
The ‘we’ dangled enticingly in the air between them, but Stella’s fingers had been burned when she’d asked about the owners earlier and she decided not pick up on it.
In any case, she was just as intrigued by the rest of the old woman’s statement.
‘What do you mean by “special”?’ she asked. ‘How do you know?’
Katerina took another sip of tea, her black eyes sparkling mischievously.
‘Let’s just say, it’s an intuitive thing. We can always tell from our visitors’ correspondence who will fit right in and gain the most from coming here.’
‘Have you ever made a mistake?’
The housekeeper thought about this for a moment before shaking her head.
‘Not really, no. Perhaps one or two didn’t get as much out of their stay as I’d hoped. But mostly they leave in a better place than when they arrive.’
She was sounding peculiarly prophetic, like Marina, which prompted Stella to enquire now about the artist.
‘She means no harm,’ Katerina insisted when she heard about Marina’s alarming warning. ‘You shouldn’t take offence.’
If she were surprised by what had passed between the two women, though, she didn’t show it, which made Stella wonder if she’d heard already.
‘How well do you know Marina?’ She deliberately didn’t disclose what April had told her of their relationship. ‘Is she a friend of yours?’
Katerina breathed in and out deeply. ‘In a manner of speaking, yes. I’ve known her all her life, since before she was born, in fact. I was friends with her mother, Cora.’
‘And was Marina always, um, a bit different?’
This was met with a nod. ‘She was nothing like Cora. She took after…’
Her voice trailed off and Stella desperately wanted to hear the rest.
‘Took after who?’ she said eagerly.
Katerina reached into her pocket and pulled out a grey woollen pouch, which she rolled between her fingers. It seemed to contain several small items and Stella wondered what they were.
‘You said you saw the paintings of my lady in the villa?’ the housekeeper commented.
‘Yes.’
