"Discovering a body is easier if you know where you left it?"

Minerva is the clever one, but even I had seen that much.

I said, "I always find it so."

"But why would a murderer turn in the body himself, whether he found it by chance or simply fetched it from where he put it?"

"I don't know." I was fairly sure I could think of a reason or two when I did not have to meet the withering gaze of those brilliant gray eyes. "Will you come in with me to see Avonal, if he's home?"

"No."

Chilly silence.

"Dearest, if you want the Maestro's help, or even mine, you will have to be open with us."

She pouted. Aspasia or Medea would still have refused, but Minerva could understand. "Very well. We met when a patron took me to a musical soiree at Avonal's house. I was asked to play the lute, and did. Evidently I impressed him, because a couple of days later he sent a note, asking me for an evening… oh, it must be about two years ago. He was not a senator then, just an official in the Salt Office. He took me to a dance in the Palazzo Corner Spinelli. He left early and took me home."

"And stayed the night."

"Of course. He was a skilled and considerate lover. He asked me again, about a month later… That time he just wanted sex. I agreed, although lovemaking should be the crowning episode of an enchanting evening, not a scheduled commercial transaction like a haircut. There are plenty of prostitutes for that. He was quite different!"

"Different how?" I asked. I was finding the conversation stressful. The woman I love was telling me about other men in her bed.

"Weird! He was rough and aggressive, almost a different person." She, who is all women by turns, did not seem to notice the irony. "I had to ring the bell."

"What bell?"

She smiled sphinxly. "I have a hidden bellpull by the bed. Antonio came. Avonal drew on him. Antonio disarmed him, snapped his sword over his knee, and threw him out. No, not into the canal. But I shall not come in with you to see His Excellency."

Antonio is the senior bouncer at 96. He is nowhere near as big as Bruno, the Maestro's porter, but a sight more blood-curdling, with a forked beard and the scarred face of a lifelong fighter.

"Was Avonal one of Lucia's patrons also?"

"I don't know. He could have been. She had retired, but that doesn't mean… Maybe not completely retired. If she was asked nicely." At that point, Minerva inexplicably yielded place to Helen, threw her arms around me, and kissed me until my hair smoked.

"Mm…" I said when I was allowed a chance to breathe. "I do think this case is insoluble. The best thing we can do is go home and discuss it."

"Later." She smiled a promise and cuddled a little closer.

"I love you," I said. "You rule my heart as la Serenissima rules the seas."

"Oh, really? That would have been a much better compliment a hundred years ago."

And so on. Banter was very enjoyable but did not help me plan a strategy for calling on Senator Avonal. I knew nothing about him except that his name was uncommon and nobles from small clans rarely win election to senior offices. He must be personally impressive or extremely rich or both. Violetta was not much better informed, unable to tell me what other posts he had held, or what allies had helped him win his seat in the Senate.

The Senate meets three or four afternoons a week, but I had not heard the dei Pregadi bell in the Piazza ring to summon it, so he might be home. Or not. Having no official standing, I cannot command an audience with anyone, and Avonal was neither a patient of Nostradamus's nor a client for astrological counsel. If he were not home I should have to leave my name; if he were home he might refuse to see me, and either way I might never get a chance to speak with him at all. Proper procedure would be for me to go home and pen an effusive letter begging a few moments of His Excellency's valuable time at some date and hour he would select, for some reason I must invent. Normally I would have played safe and done so, but that day I was making inquiries on Violetta's behalf, not my master's, and tomorrow he might remind me that my time is his time and tell me to stop wasting it. I would have to risk the direct approach.

Violetta directed us to a watergate opening directly onto the Rio di San Nicolo-no grandiose frontage or loggia, just an unprepossessing doorway in a plain brick wall.

"Announce me," I told Giorgio.

He crooked his eyebrows. "To call upon Senator Avonal?"

"The villain himself."

"One floor up," Violetta said. "The door to your left."

Giorgio brought the boat in and moored it with the stern nearest the steps, so he could disembark. Then he adjusted his bonnet, stepped ashore, and vanished into the dark corridor.

I had to ask, "You are absolutely convinced that Lucia did not commit suicide or just fall into a canal in her party clothes?"

"Absolutely." But her eyes gleamed gold.

"Not you, Delilah. I want to hear it from Aspasia."

"Oh, Alfeo, you idiot! I wish you would stop this silly game of giving me different names." But then she spoke in Aspasia's voice. "Lucia was a very hardheaded and sensible woman. A merely pretty woman can amass a fortune, but only a very clever one can hang on to it."

"Thank you." I kissed her.

At last Giorgio reappeared and nodded to me-His Excellency would be graciously pleased to receive me. Now it was my turn to climb the stairs. The relevant door was closed and I was left to enjoy the customary urinal fragrance of a communal corridor for several minutes before it opened. A manservant confirmed my name and bowed me in.

The hallway was tiny by Ca' Barbolano standards, and niggardly for a senator, even one setting an example of frugality in the ever-cramped city. Four doors led off it, all closed, and several works of art cried out to be inspected, if not necessarily admired, but I had no time to study them or the furniture because my host was standing in the center of the room, arms akimbo, studying me. He had the windows at his back.

I bowed very low, as nobles do to one another. The minimum age for election to the Senate is forty and I would have judged Avonal at less than that, still a giovane in political terms. He was big, but broad more than tall, with a heavy face supporting a thick sandy beard and a grim expression. Part of his size came from the scarlet robes of a senator, but the nobility do not wear their robes at home, so he had put his on especially for me, either to honor me or impress me.

My first thought was that this man had bedded Violetta once and frightened her another time and I had a sword and he did not. I suppressed bloodthirsty instincts.

"I am more honored, Your Excellency-"

"Just state your business." Avonal had an oddly squeaky voice for such a monolith. I had expected a boom.

"I am doing a favor for my servant Maria da Bergamo," I said. "Two weeks ago you retrieved the body of a woman from the lagoon and delivered it to the authorities, a most Christian act. The unfortunate woman has since been identified as Maria's aunt. She wishes me to convey her deepest thanks and appreciation. Of course I add my own, clarissimo. Now she has recovered from her initial shock, she is dearly anxious to know more about this terrible affair. So far I have learned no more than your name, Excellency, and I presume to inquire what other details you can supply to put the child's mind at rest?"

He paused, as if debating whether to throw me out at once or bid me buona sera first and then throw me out.

"I was on my way to the Lido to ride my horse, which I stable there. Riding is an uncommon pastime in Venice, but not an illegal one. We saw the body floating, so I had my boatmen lift it aboard and we delivered it to the sbirri in Castello for Christian burial. I took possession of the valuables still visible on the corpse, because I knew what would happen to them otherwise. The next day I handed them to my attorney and told him to have them identified and see that they were returned to the dead woman's family."