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‘When you returned for the funeral I told you we were in touch, but the truth is I haven’t seen her since she left the convent.’
‘But you said you wrote to each other all the time. That she was studying law.’
‘I exaggerated a little,’ Alicia said. ‘Quite a lot, actually.’
‘So how often did you write?’
‘Not as much as I would have liked to. Not as much as I told you we did...’
‘How much are we talking?’
‘She sent me two cards.’
‘Since when?’ he prompted. ‘Since I went to Rome? Since the funeral?’
‘Since the day she left.’
‘Only two cards?’ He was blunt.
‘We promised that we’d stay in touch and be friends...’
‘You were just children then.’
‘No.’ She shook her head.
‘People move on, Alicia...’
‘No, we were so close. I’ve searched for her. That’s why I came to Milan. On the weekends I go to the library, and I’ve visited schools, universities... I’ve even taken the train to Florence and Rome and done the same there...’
‘You’re stalking her as well as me?’ He saw her flinch and abandoned the joke. ‘Have you tried a private investigator? They do that sort of stuff all the time—’
‘Listen to you!’ She stared, wide-eyed. ‘We don’t all have your endless resources.’
He gave a black smile. ‘I’ve been working my ass off since I was ten—not cosy in my convent school and warm bed. I’ve earned what I have.’ He looked right at her. ‘Don’t go for the sympathy vote, Alicia...’
‘I’m not.’ Her cheeks were on fire. ‘I just want to find out what happened to Beatrice.’
‘Okay, tell me what you know.’
‘You’ll help me?’
‘I’ll ask one of my team to put someone on it.’ He took out his phone. ‘Festa?’
She nodded.
‘Middle name?’
‘No.’
She told him the little she knew and he typed it into his phone. Clearly it wasn’t enough.
‘You must know the address of the school she was sent to?’
‘The nuns always wrote the address on my envelopes. It would have been a big church school, I assume...’
‘Her date of birth?’
She told him—or tried to. ‘I am not sure what the official certificate would say. They might have put it as the day before she arrived as she was a few hours old when she was found...’ Alicia gave a helpless shrug. ‘We’re both Virgos...’
