ELISA HARTWOOD AND THE POISONED LORD ✔

Part 4

It took all of Elisa's wits and intention to get the Generale to let her have ten minutes with the Contessa. Both Sergeant Cray and Dawson had stepped in to back her up and after much hand waving and protesting from Generale Rafelli and the crowd of Italian police surrounding him she was eventually granted the last interview on the grounds that they had already worked it all out anyway so a few more minutes of ineffective questioning from the 'English girl' wouldn't make much of a difference.

She raced to the Contessa's room and found her sat in the middle of her sumptuous four-poster bed with her head in her hands, her magnificent dress forming a lake of red satin around her. She let out quite loud sounds as she sobbed and groaned.

'Somebody has done this to me,' she weeped. 'I lost Rhys and now I lose my honor. Oh my God!'

She looked shocked when she looked up and saw Elisa standing at the foot of her bed adjusting her glasses on her nose with her index finger.

'What do you want?' she raged, eyes flashing. 'You police you already come into my room, search everything. No respect.'

She spun her arms in a theatrical gesture towards the remainder of her bedroom which was in a state of chaos and disarray. The pretty drawers were opened, a multitude of coloured underwear splayed across the floor. The family portrait where they must have found the poison hung lob-sided on the wood paneled wall.

'Itsa disgusting! And I did not put that poison there!'

The veins on her smooth, dark neck were bulging. Even in the height of rage she was undeniably one of the most beautiful women Elisa had ever seen. Everything about her was sumptuous and dramatic – her lips, her eyebrows, her flushed cheeks.

'Contessa Imelda,' said Elisa, moving forward and perching herself on the end of the bed as gently as she could.

'I can only help you if you tell me the truth.'

'Help me? You don't want to help me, you want to put me in a jail – forever. Make my family a disgrace –'

'Imelda,' said Elisa 'We do not have much time. A matter of minutes in fact. Just answer my questions honestly. Very soon a group of police are going to come through that door and arrest you anyway. You have nothing to lose.'

The Contessa took a deep breath and looked as though she were trying to find some strength inside herself.

'Why did you argue with Lord Rhys tonight?'

'Who told you that?'

'Just answer.'

'He told me to keep it a secret. I can not dishonor a man who is about to go to his grave.'

'Tell me.'

'It make me look guilty.'

'Tell me.'

'Ok, ok. I was mad because he confess to me he did something bad with someone.'

'They will come through that door at any moment...'

The Contessa let out a throaty cry.

'He slept with Alexandra – some time back in England.'

'I see.'

'He told me it only happened one time, a mistake. And that I must, must, must not tell the Prince.'

'Did you tell the Prince?'

'No!'

'Did the Prince know?'

'I don't think so.'