Carpathian 10 - Dark Symphony

thinking about," Tasha contributed with a shudder. "Marita had blood all over her. No wonder she collapsed."
    "No one should be walking around alone at night." The captain pinned Tasha with a steely eye. "There is no reason to be in the grove until this animal is found. I believe the gentleman we found is most certainly one of your grounds-keepers. Signor Franco Scarletti identified him."
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    Dark Symphony
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    "Oh, no." Antonietta's fingers curled around Byron's, hung on tight. "One of ours? We must hire security to escort our people back to their houses until this creature is caught."
    "And this has been going on for some time?" Byron prompted, his voice a compulsion for truth.
    "Unfortunately, yes. In other areas for some time. Our first discovery was a young woman's body by the sea with her throat torn out. We have plaster of the paw prints. It was identified as a jaguar, a rather large one. The general belief at the time was that someone had one of these cats as a pet, and it either escaped or, like so many others when the laws went into effect against exotic pets, it was dumped in the middle of the night."
    Tasha sank into a chair. "Our grounds are extensive, the wildest country around, and little Vincente and Margurite play all the time in the maze. They were in such danger, and we never knew."
    Diego put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I have three children at home. Madre mia takes care of them, and she is old and frail. I've given orders that they remain indoors, but the two oldest get away from her. I worry myself. I do know how you feel. The killings have been far between in a range of well over a hundred miles. We didn't put it together until several months ago."
    "When did this start around here, Diego?" Tasha asked.
    "The first body was found in our area nearly two years ago. We searched, of course, but nothing was found. There were two bodies found prior to that one, but it was thought they were dead and wild animals got to them. It took us awhile to put it together that one cat might be actually preying on humans."
    "And what does your wife say to this? Why does she not stay with your children?" Tasha asked.
    The question was unexpected, and Diego answered truthfully before he could stop himself. "My wife did not want our children or a policeman for a spouse. She left after the bambina was born and does not want to see any of them again." It was a painful moment for him, humiliation and anger shimmering in his dark eyes.
    "Poor little bambini, abandoned and unwanted," Tasha said softly.
    "I want them," Diego said adamantly. "They do not need a woman who will not love them."
    What is it?" It was one of the few things about being blind that made Antonietta crazy.
    She always had to wait for identification.
    "I am sorry, cam mia, it is sheets of music."
    Antonietta sucked in her breath. Finally, they were in the privacy of her sitting room with the doors firmly locked. Tasha had settled in for the evening to entertain the captain, and with all the other duties, Antonietta thought she would never be alone with Byron. Curiosity was slowly killing her. That, and wanting to be alone with him.
    "My music? She was taking my music out of our home to give to someone else?"
    Antonietta's body didn't feel her own. Feverish. Needy. Incomplete. She moved away from Byron to keep him from noticing.
    "No. It is not yours. This music is very old. I am afraid to touch it. It could crumble in my fingers."
    Antonietta went very still. Her hand went to her throat. "I know what it is. How did Marita get her hands on that? It's kept locked in Don Giovanni's private safe. No one but Don Giovanni has the code. At least they shouldn't, and believe me, Nonno would never give away
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    such a treasure. The existence of that composition is not even known outside our immediate family."
    Byron leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs toward the leaping flames in the fireplace. "It is very valuable?"
    "Oh, yes, it's valuable. It is genuine, the original work of the composer George