What Happens in the Alps.... T Williams A

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СКАЧАТЬ half hidden by a scarf and a hat, but there was no disguising the expression of guilt on what she could see of his face. Before she could say anything else, however, he reached down, grabbed his bag, and set off along the pavement at a run. Annie followed him for a few metres, but in her indoor shoes she didn’t stand a chance. She slipped on the ice and only avoided doing herself some permanent damage by grabbing hold of the mirror of one of the parked cars. Once again she was thankful Karen hadn’t been watching. Reluctantly, she turned gingerly round and went back to inspect the sign. As she did so, she heard footsteps and turned to find Beppe, Signora Toniolo’s husband, hurrying across to see what had happened. He was a normally friendly-looking man with a shining bald head and an expansive waistline. Now he was looking worried.

      ‘Annie, Annie, what’s wrong? Has something happened?’

      She gave him a little smile and explained about the man with the screwdriver and, together, they inspected the sign. The man had only managed to remove one of the screws so far and Annie even saw it lying on the pavement at her feet. As she picked it up, she heard Beppe voicing the same thoughts that were passing through her head.

      ‘He was trying to steal your sign, your brand-new sign. Now why, I wonder, would he want to do that?’ He removed the screw from her unresisting fingers and twisted it back into the hole until it was quite well bedded. Years of kneading pizza dough had given him powerful hands.

      Annie was puzzled. ‘Maybe he’s just a weirdo who likes stealing shiny new signs.’ Even as she said it, Annie knew that it didn’t ring true. Beside her, Beppe’s face showed what he thought of the notion. Maybe the man’s motives were more sinister.

      ‘I wonder if it’s one of your competitors, trying to get at you.’ Beppe caught her by the arm and led her back across the road. ‘Come along, Annie, it’s too cold out here and you’ve still got half your pizza left. When you’ve finished eating, I’ll tell you a little story.’ He grinned at her in the garish light of the Pizzeria sign. ‘But I’ll let you eat first.’

      Annie did as instructed and returned to her food, mulling over what the man had tried to do and what Beppe had said. As far as competitors were concerned, the only one she knew about in Santorso was the ABC School. From what she had heard from Paolina and others, it didn’t enjoy a good reputation, but that didn’t necessarily mean they would stoop to underhand means against a new arrival. Or did it?

      She was still working her way through the pizza when her phone rang. It was Matt. As she saw his name come up, she felt suddenly pleased.

      ‘Hi, Matt, where are you?’

      ‘Just north of Turin on the motorway. There’s snow on the ground here and the radio’s telling me you’ve had a load of it up there.’

      ‘I think you might need your four-wheel drive if it snows any more. So are you coming up to do a bit of house hunting?’

      ‘Yes. I’m staying the night with a friend just down the valley.’ Annie decided not to delve too deeply into the sex or identity of the friend in question. Quite probably, Luisa the TV girl already had a rival, if not a replacement. How he lived his life, she had realised years ago, was his affair and the girls he picked up bore their share of responsibility as well. ‘And, yes, I’m going to do the rounds of the agencies tomorrow.’

      ‘Good luck with that. I’ve been looking for flats all week, but with no joy so far.’

      ‘Do you need a hand to move your stuff?’

      ‘Thanks, Matt, but there’s no need. It’s just a couple of bags. All my things are at the school already.’

      ‘I’ll call round to the school at the end of the afternoon tomorrow to see if you need anything.’ Annie was struck by his caring tone and she remembered what Janet had told her about his enquiries as to her well-being.

      ‘Thanks, Matt. You’re a sweetie.’ She realised that she was really pleased he was back in her life.

      ‘Anything for you, Annie.’ She blew him a kiss and immediately found herself wondering how it was she was having affectionate thoughts about two men in the space of less than a day.

      Annie carried on with the pizza that was by now fairly cold until, finally, she could eat no more. She dropped her knife and fork on her plate and sat back. A few minutes later, Beppe came over.

      ‘Finished?’ Annie nodded in response. ‘Nothing else; an ice cream, some coffee?’ Annie shook her head. Beppe indicated the spare chair at her little table with his hand. ‘May I?’ Annie smiled and waved him down. He took a seat and began his story. It fairly quickly emerged why he had been so insistent that she finish her food before hearing it.

      ‘When we first opened the pizzeria here, back in the eighties, there was a scruffy little local restaurant just along the street from us. The building was demolished when they extended the car park, but for the first year, we were in competition. From the very first day we opened for business, things started to happen. One day we’d find the dustbins overturned and rubbish all over the street. On one occasion we found the window had been smashed and, worst of all, we kept finding that somebody had…’ Beppe looked across the table apologetically. ‘Please excuse me, Annie. What we found was that somebody had… used our front doormat as a toilet.’ Mercifully he didn’t go into any greater detail.

      ‘Oh, God, that’s disgusting. But, are you sure it was him?’

      ‘Nowadays I daresay we could use DNA testing to prove it, but not back then. All I know is that the day he closed his doors and moved away, these events stopped.’

      ‘Beppe, that’s enough.’ Signora Toniolo had emerged from behind the bar and had been following the conversation. ‘You’ll frighten the poor girl.’

      ‘It’s all right. I’m fine.’

      Signora Toniolo wasn’t so sure. ‘And don’t you worry about what Beppe was saying. The man trying to steal your sign was probably just doing it for a laugh. You’ll see, it’ll be fine.’

      Annie certainly hoped she was right.

       Chapter 5

      Next morning, Annie packed her bags and said goodbye to Janet and Guido, wishing them well as their busy season started. She knew they would have precious little free time now until Easter. She drove back to Santorso and hauled the bags up the stairs to the school. She stood at the window of the room where all her stuff was piled up and wondered how she was going to fit a bed in there. The room where she had been sleeping before was now draped with dust sheets and in the process of being redecorated. The bed she had used and the mattress were leaning, upright, against the corridor wall. Outside, it was a brilliant sunny day and it didn’t take her long to decide what to do. She could always sort out her bed later on. For now, the call of the slopes was overpowering.

      She changed into her skiing clothes, picked up her skis and boots and headed for the car. Half an hour later, she was in the car park at Montalto, pulling on her boots. Being a Saturday, there were more people about, but as it was still very early in the season, there were no crowds and only a tiny queue for the lift. She travelled up on the chairlift alongside a young Russian couple who totally ignored her and spent all their time cuddling and kissing. For her part, Annie concentrated on the pistes below and was pleased to see them relatively empty. It was wonderfully quiet up there, the only sound the hiss of the snow beneath the СКАЧАТЬ