“And yet he does not stay close to home for your sake?”

“He does. He is only up in the fields. I can show you the way if you wish to see him. Only . . . it was raining yesterday. Your boots will get muddy.” That ought to be a deterrent. He wasn’t the sort of man to dirty his feet if he could help it.

“He leaves no one here at the farm to help you? Protect you?”

“Rosa and the children aren’t far.”

“There’s no sign of them now.” He took a step closer.

“I stayed behind to work on the mending. The heat of the day . . . I wasn’t feeling well.”

“So we are alone.” Another step.

“Apart from your men.” Would he care that the soldiers would witness whatever he meant to do?

He took another step, near enough now that he might reach out and touch her if he chose, but she held her ground. He would not see her cower. She would not beg him to leave her be.

“I mean no disrespect, Signora Gerardi, but I fail to see the attraction.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Why did he cast everything aside for you? It’s not as if you’re some great beauty. You have no family, hardly any education, certainly no money of your own. What made him turn his face on his future? On his true vocation?”

“Perhaps he decided I was his future.”

Zwerger didn’t bother to hide his disdain. “Perhaps. Or perhaps it was a more . . . carnal sort of attraction.”

“You disgrace yourself with such talk.”

He was so close that she could see the beads of sweat that clung to his upper lip. Could see the red line where his too-tight collar dug into the soft skin of his neck.

“My family is returning,” she said, though she could hear nothing above the roar of her terrorized heart. “Do you have any more questions for me?”

Still he stared and stared, more drops of sweat rolling down his temples to vanish into the wan brown of his manicured sideburns. Only when Rosa and the children came around the corner of the house did he step back.

For an instant no one said anything. The children’s happy chatter vanished, as if it had been swept up and bottled, and Rosa simply stared, openmouthed, at Zwerger and his car and the hovering soldiers.

But Selva was all too aware of the danger, and before Rosa could catch hold of her collar she rushed forward, her snarls building like thunder, and pushed herself between Nina and Zwerger.

He staggered back, and Selva lunged at him, her teeth bared, her fury unleashed. Before Nina could reach her, Zwerger pulled his pistol from its holster, aimed it lazily in the dog’s general direction, and shot her.