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astragal
a few steps, looked at them
and then across to the trees
before retreating.
‘They were angry we didn’t
call earlier,’ Stefano said.
‘They said there wasn’t much
light left now. There was one
who was quite vocal. I didn’t
think it was necessary. I don’t
want Frieda to know this.’
The young man bent down as
he spoke, eyes fixed on the
timber. ‘They said we should
have alerted them first. Not
the
carabinieri
. They said we
were stupid for thinking she
might have been kidnapped.
Stupid,
the guy said. It was
your wife’s first thought,
I’m sorry. Frieda and I just
went along with it. They said
we should have called them
straightaway. Then there
might have been more time
to find her.’
He listened to his son-in-law,
but found he couldn’t talk. He
had been asleep through all of
this. He’d been dozing when
the child had ceased playing,
when her gaze had travelled
away. What had called her
from beyond the border of
pine trees, down the savage
incline? And all of this had
been visible from his window.
Her little steps, one after the
other, her passage into the
shadow, under the branches
with their brown skirts and
spiralling arms. He looked up
in a rage to the first folds of
the peak and the summit in a
crust of white pleats.
‘I need to join Frieda now,’
Stefano continued. ‘And speak
with the officers. Though it
seems clear we did the wrong
thing by her. Sir, I’m infinitely
sorry. They didn’t seem to
hold much hope.’
His son- in- law hoisted