Page 54 of Villa of Secrets

Naomi pulled out a kitchen chair. ‘Tragic . . .’ She focused on the empty seat for a moment before sitting. ‘Difficult . . . and startlingly honest. Dora grew up so fast, didn’t she? Bubba wanted to talk about it this morning; she told me how much she loved the shepherd boy.’

‘Love is a wonderful thing,’ he said quietly.

‘It seems most of the Jews had no idea of what was going on in mainland Europe, or even Greece.’ She met the priest’s eyes. ‘I actually shed a tear, imagining Costa and my boys sailing away like that. How dreadful.’

‘The last Jews to be transported from Greece, only ten months before the war ended.’

‘Ten months . . . so did they survive and return?’ Naomi asked.

‘Not for me to say. You have to continue with this monumental history lesson, Naomi.’

As soon as the old priest had gone, Naomi picked up the diary and started reading.

Chapter 24

By time the Andartes lowered the sack and let me out, I was exhausted. I ached all over and struggled to hide my anxiety. I’ve been bullied in the past because of my size, and I know I have to give in to those stronger than me.

‘Are you going to behave, little girl?’ Nathanial asked. Although he sounded angry, I caught a sympathetic glimmer in his eye.

I nodded quickly, not trusting my voice. Although I’m now grown-up, there’s still a lot of the child inside me – and that child wanted to cry. My heart was pounding, and I felt an urge to run. However, I stood firm and made myself as tall as possible, determined to appear calm and sensible.

‘Giovanni told me you have information about what happened at L’Aeronautica?’ As he spoke, a black cloud rolled over the sun and huge drops of rain fell from a windless sky.

‘Malaka!’ he boomed, making me jump. ‘Bring her to the villa.’ He turned and disappeared through the dense wall of vegetation behind him.

Two of the bandits lifted me by the armpits. They dragged me through trees that grew so close together, we had to turn sideways to squeeze between the trunks.

On the other side, I could hardly believe my eyes.

The forest had encroached on a magnificent Venetian villa, a sea captain’s residence. Tall dark pines surrounded the building like a huddle of witches around the prettiest cauldron.

The deep rose-pink exterior had faded to a pleasing, dusty, hue. Tall columns stood either side of a heavy carved door, and above the imposing entrance, a Juliet balcony supported voluptuous cream balustrades. The roof had Italian terracotta tiles streaked pale yellow and orange. Enormous sandstone quoins framed the delicate blush of the facia and gave it a solid, impenetrable appearance.

The windows, tall and narrow, were covered by louvre shutters on grey marble sills. The place appeared as secure as it could be. Although the entire structure appeared neglected, shabby to say the least, it still had an imposing majesty; magical and overpowering. A building that once seen would not be forgotten.

The men rushed me inside where the Andartes leader sat on a dilapidated sofa of huge proportions. The floor was dark red marble, the colour of raw meat, which continued up a sweeping staircase with more balustrades that matched the ones outside. I stood with my mouth hanging open, taking in the wonderful architecture, and wishing I had my watercolours with me.

Someone closed the front door, shutting out the thrum of heavy rain on the trees.

‘Bring her here!’ Nathanial shouted, clearly annoyed.

The men deposited me before their leader.

‘You ever tell anyone about this place and I will kill you, they will cook you, and we will all eat you! Do you understand?’

Unable to speak, I nodded emphatically.

He reached over the arm of the chair and raised a long, plaited whip, which he cracked like a bolt of lightning centimetres from me. ‘I will find whoever you told, and I will flay every strip of skin from their body, then I’ll cut their head off and feed it to the dogs! Do you understand me?’

I trembled violently and whimpered.

Satisfied that he had frightened the life out of me, he dropped the whip and folded his arms across his barrel chest. ‘Now, tell me about L’Aeronautica.’

I took a deep breath, my mouth so dry the first words came out with a croak. ‘I was there. All of us were, for three days.’ I tried to sound grown-up, and used some of the long words I’d learned recently. ‘The situation was unjustifiable. What was the point of it all? They could have left us at home for those three days.’ I dared to meet Nathanial’s eyes. ‘I suspect the Germans are not as organised as they pretend to be.’

At this the Andartes leader guffawed. ‘Go on,’ he said.

‘The very old and the sick found our circumstances particularly difficult.’ I stared at the ground for a moment, recalling the awful scene. ‘We slept on the hard floor without food or water. We got so desperate, we drank from the toilet, but then it blocked and the Nazis cut the water supply.’