Donna Leon - Suffer the Little Children (Commissario Brunetti 16)

SUFFERTHE LITTLE CHILDREN

Donna Leon has lived in Venice for many years andpreviously lived in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Iran and China, where she workedas a teacher. Her previous novels featuring Commissario Brunetti have all beenhighly acclaimed and include Friends in High Places, which wonthe CWA Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction, UniformJustice, Doctored Evidence, and Blood froma Stone.

Praise for SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN

'Suffer the Little Children is DonnaLeon at her best, deftly mixing Commissario Guido Brunetti's detective workwith perceptive awareness of social issues The Times

"Leon tackles this difficult issuesensitively, without stinting on mouth-watering descriptions of Venice DailyTelegraph

'Summarizing Leon's plot, like telling the story of anopera, cannot do justice to the subtlety, drama and narrative skill that keepus turning the pages, wondering until the end how she will manage to tie up somany loose ends... [and]

Leon's fans who use Brunetti as an insider's guide toVenice will not be disappointed.' TLS

'As ever, Leon writes with an insider's knowledge ofVenice, expertly navigating its complex geography SundayTimes

Also by Donna Leon

Death at La Fenice Death in a Strange Country The AnonymousVenetian A Venetian Reckoning Acqua Alta The Death of Faith A Noble RadianceFatal Remedies Friends in High Places A Sea of Troubles Wilful BehaviourUniform Justice Doctored Evidence Blood from a Stone Through a Glass, Darkly

DONNA LEON

SUFFERTHE LITTLE CHILDREN

Published by Arrow Books 2008

24681097531

Copyright Donna Leon and Diogenes Verlag AG Zurich, 2007

Donna Leon has asserted her right under the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is a work of fiction. Names and characters arethe product of the author's imagination and any resemblance to actual persons,living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shallnot, by way of trade or otherwise,'be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulatedwithout the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover otherthan that in which it is published and without a similar condition includingthis condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

First published in Great Britain in 2007 by WilliamHeinemann The Random House Group Limited 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V2SA

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Wenn die Gotter tins bedenken, Unsrer Liebe Kinderschenken, So Hebe Heine Kinderlein!

How happy we will be

If the gods are gracious

And bless our love with children.

With darling little children!

Die Zauberflote The Magic Flute Mozart

I

'... and thenmy daughter-in-law told me that I should come in and tell you about it. Ididn't want to, and my husband told me I was an idiot to get involved with youbecause it would only lead to trouble, and he's got enough trouble at themoment. He said it would be like the time when his uncle's neighbour tappedinto the ENEL line and started to steal his electricity, and he called toreport it, and when they came, they told him he had to ..

'Excuse me, Signora, but could we go back to what happenedlast month?'

'Of course, of course, but if s just that it ended upcosting him three hundred thousand lire

'Signora

'My daughter-in-law said if I didn't do it, she'd call youherself, and since I'm the one who saw it, its probably better that I come andtell you, isn't it?' 'Certainly

'So when the radio said it was going to rain this morning,I put my umbrella and boots by the door, just in case, but then it didn't, didit?'

'No, it didn't, Signora. But you said you wanted to tell meabout something unusual that happened in the apartment opposite you?'

'Yes, that girl

'Which girl, Signora?'

'The young one, the pregnant one

'How young do you think she was, Signora?'

'Oh, maybe seventeen, maybe older, but maybe younger. Ihave two boys, you know, so I could tell if she was a boy, but she was a girl

'And you said she was pregnant, Signora?'

'Yes. And right at the end of it. In fact, that's why Itold my daughter-in-law, and that's when she told me I had to come and tell youabout it

"That she was pregnant?'

That she had the baby

'Where did she have the baby, Signora?'

'Right there, in the calle across frommy place. Not out in the calle, youunderstand. In the apartment across the mile. Ifs alittle way down from my place, opposite the house next door, really, butbecause the house sticks out a little bit, I can see into the windows, andthat's where I saw her.'

'Where is this exactly, Signora?'

'Calle dei Stagneri. You know it. It's near San Bortolo,the calle that goes down to Campo de la Fava.I live down on the right side, and she was on the left, on the same side asthat pizzeria, only we're both down at the end, near the bridge. The apartmentused to belong to an old woman - I never knew her name - but then she died andher son inherited it, and he started to rent it out, you know, the way peopledo, by the week, to foreigners, or by the month.

'But when I saw the girl in there, and she was pregnant, Ithought maybe he'd decided to rent it like a real apartment, you know, with alease and all. And if she was pregnant, she'd be one of us and not a tourist,right? But I guess there's more money if you rent by the week, especially toforeigners. And then you don't have to pay the ...

'Oh, I'm sorry. I suppose that isn't important, is it? As Iwas saying, she was pregnant, so I thought maybe they were a young couple, butthen I realized I never saw a husband in there with her.'

'How long was she there, Signora?'

'Oh, no more than a week, maybe even less. But long enoughfor me to get to know her habits, sort of

'And could you tell me what they were?'

'Her habits?'

'Yes.'

'Well, I never saw too much of her. Only when she walkedpast the window and went into the kitchen. Not that she ever cooked anything,at least not that I saw. But I don't know anything about the rest of theapartment, so I don't know what she did, really, while she was there. I supposeshe was just waiting 'Waiting?'

'For the baby to be born. They come when they want

'I see. Did she ever notice you, Signora?'

'No. I've got curtains, you see, and that place doesn't.And the calle's so dark that you can't really seeinto the windows on the other side, but about two years ago, whenever it was,they put one of those new street lamps just across from her place, so if salways light there at night. I don't know how people stand them. We sleep withour shutters closed, but if you didn't have them, I don't know how you'd get adecent nights sleep, do you?'

'Not at all, Signora. You said you never saw her husband,but did you ever see any other people in there with her?'

'Sometimes. But always at night. Well, in the evening,after dinner, not that I ever saw her cook anything. But she must have, mustn'tshe, or someone must have taken her food? You have to eat when you're pregnant.Why, I ate like a wolf when I was expecting my boys. So I'm sure she must haveeaten, only I never saw her cook anything. But you can't just leave a pregnantwoman in a place and not feed her, can you?'