Page 325 - The Grotesque Children's Book
P. 325
Chapter 50.
A far worse eavesdropping
His fretting kept him awake at nights, tossing and turning, contributing to his exhaustion,
further exacerbated by his arriving at I Magistrati at the earliest possible hour so as to paint the
clues for Aurelio. So it was no surprise when he discovered one day he’d fallen asleep on top of
his scaffold. How long he had been there, asleep, he didn’t know. The sunlight was diminished;
it was late in the day.
He heard whispering.
It was coming from inside one of the offices, below him, hushed but husky: secretive.
Whoever the whisperers were, they must not have realized he was atop the scaffold.
“It can’t ever be traced to the Cardinal.”
“Francisco will never even know.”
“Oh, he’ll know. I’ll make sure he knows. That will ensure you’ll go through with it.”
Cardinal Francisco? The Duke’s brother; the next in line for the Medici throne. What
were they plotting?
“There will be nothing to trace. It will be done slowly, over time.”
“How can you kill the Duke slowly? I’ll sanction no torture.”
The Duke! They are planning to murder the Duke.
“No torture. Slow poison over a matter of months. He and Bianca will grow sicker and
sicker. Everyone will assume it’s just fever.”
“How will you do it? Their food?”
“Their medicine. Their alchemist can be bought.”
The Cardinal is going to poison his brother and the Duchess and ascend to the throne.
Santi shivered.
The shivering rattled the scaffold. It was a slight rattle, but enough to make a sound; a
very quiet creaking of the wood.
The whispering stopped.
Santi stayed as motionless as if he’d still been asleep. If they see me up here....
He heard footsteps; quiet, stealthy. One of the whisperers was coming out into the hall to
look for the source of the sound.
On the other hand, thought Santi, it might be better if it looks as though I’d been painting
all this time and couldn’t hear their whispering. I should get caught in the act of painting, and
pretend to be startled when I hear them. Or...should I stay here, motionless, and hope they don’t
look up? What am I saying? They’ll look up. Of course they’ll look up. When they see the
325
