Angelo grimaced. ‘I know you could explain it as all part of Nonno being an eccentric art collector, but I don’t want people mocking my grandfather or saying he’s like one of those hoarders whose house is a health hazard.’
‘Of course you don’t. And my programme isn’t about that sort of thing. It’s about appreciating art and sharing people’s dreams.’ She looked at him. ‘Does your grandfather know where anything is among his, um, storage system?’
Angelo wrinkled his nose. ‘We can ask, but I have a nasty feeling that he probably doesn’t.’
‘There’s no way we’ll find the evidence in here before Friday,’ she said. ‘I can sort through that paperwork and catalogue all the paintings for you, but it’s going to take a lot of time and I really can’t do it in Florence. I need to be in London because I have weekly meetings with my supervisor about my thesis, and obviously we’re working on the new series of Hidden Treasure so I’ll have things to do for the show.’
‘So where do you suggest we go from here?’ he asked.
She liked the fact he was asking her advice rather than taking charge and making assumptions that might not be correct. This was a man who paid attention to detail—but who also thought beyond his own ego, and she appreciated that. ‘I think the most sensible thing would be for me to photograph all the canvases here, framed and unframed, and then bring back the unframed sketches and all the paperwork to London.’
‘We could bring everything back to my house,’ Angelo said. ‘That is, if you don’t mind working there.’
‘OK. I could do that.’
Just as they were about to go in search of Leo, Angelo’s phone rang. He glanced at the screen. ‘Excuse me. Would you mind if I answer that?’
‘Please do,’ she said.
He spoke in Italian so rapidly that she couldn’t quite catch the gist of it. ‘That was my mother,’ he said when he ended the conversation. ‘She worries about Nonno.’
‘It’s good to have family who care,’ she said. If hers hadn’t been close and looked out for her, Eric would have ground her down completely.
‘Mamma’s a bit torn at the moment. My sister Camilla had a baby two weeks ago, but Serafina was a month early and Mamma wants to be there to support Cammie—except Cammie lives in Rome, and meanwhile Nonno’s getting frailer and Mamma wants to support him at the same time. I come back to Florence every weekend at the moment, but I have work commitments and I can’t be here as much as I’d like to.’ He took a deep breath and pain filled his eyes. ‘We’re all hoping that you visiting will make him a bit brighter.’
She remembered how that felt. She would’ve done anything to brighten her grandfather’s days at the end. ‘With the hope of authenticating his Girl, you mean?’
‘Yes.’
She nodded. ‘Though I don’t want to tire him out.’
‘What do you need from him?’
‘As much information as he can give me. To save him having to walk round the palazzo with me, maybe I could take a photograph of each painting on my laptop and use them as a prompt. Then at least he can sit down while we talk and not have to stand.’
‘Thank you for thinking about him. How good is your Italian?’
‘I can get by,’ she said, ‘but if he talks too fast I won’t be able to follow.’
‘If I translate for you both, then you can ask what you want to know in English, and Nonno can answer in Italian.’
Mindful of how much Angelo was paying her in consultancy fees, Mariana said, ‘Can we start today?’
‘We should have lunch first.’
‘All right. And we’ll take everything at your grandfather’s pace. He can rest when he needs to, and I can do other work in between.’
‘Do you want me to fetch your equipment from your hotel?’ he asked. ‘Or maybe we can kill two birds with one stone and have lunch there—we can pick up your equipment at the same time.’
‘That,’ she said, ‘is a very good idea.’
CHAPTER THREE
THEY TOOK A taxi to Mariana’s hotel; although it was within walking distance, clearly Angelo was worried about his grandfather getting overtired.