Part 35.
They showed Ugo the Padrone's house from a distance and
ordered him to harm the lady of the house. First the lady, and then the master;
but it was essential that the lady be killed first. The money was much more
than enough, and the execution was not overly urgent. The main thing was that
the murder plan had to be developed well and cleverly, and no one should ever
suspect the real client.
Ugo agreed without hesitation. That was, after all, his
business. He would devise the plan himself and carry it out to the end.
He usually did not spend much time on commissioned jobs.
He did not even keep close contact with the victim; he would just mark them
from a distance, and that was enough to dutifully carry out the order at a
favorable moment later.
First of all, it was necessary and urgent to get rid of
the lady, and the rest would turn out as it might—it didn't matter, as long as
the lady did not remain alive.
In the city, and in relatively crowded places, it was
easier to mark the victim, and then to lie in wait in a carefully chosen spot
and carry out the deed.
It wouldn't work out like that with the Padrone. He
couldn't easily loiter near the estate either. The Padrone occupied a large
part of the surrounding area. A stranger would be easily noticed. He had to
find a way to break into the house somehow, which, thanks to Dada, he managed
to do very easily on his first attempt—something he really didn't expect.
As for the Padrone, he had already scouted him in the
city before. And when they mentioned a "lady," he thought it must
have been the Padrone's wife, who would be of an appropriate age and, in
appearance, should have resembled a lady, not someone like Dada. The reason for
this was that the man with the dangerous eyes had never spoken to him directly;
they had only nodded to each other from a distance. He had sent the gypsies to
him, and they had delivered the message.
The man with the dangerous eyes linked arms with the
Padrone and continued their conversation. Ugo could not hear what they were
talking about, but that linked arm was a sign indicating one of his victims,
and everything else should have been clear.
Therefore, when Ugo first saw Dada, he did not for a
moment think that she was the very lady whose life he had come to take.
He was charmed by her from the very beginning. However,
he considered her a little girl and did not even look at her properly; thanks
to her, he even took on a "position" and easily found a place to
sleep.
Dada was always bustling about in the yard. At first, he
thought she was a servant's child, and he didn't pay any attention to the fact
that the girl couldn't speak, nor did he pay any attention to her at all. He
had already marked the Padrone a long time ago, but he couldn't lay eyes on the
lady anywhere.
Gradually, he quietly became friends with the servant
women. From them, he learned that the Padrone's wife had passed away, having
died in childbirth with the girl, and he suddenly realized that the
"lady" for whom he had sneaked in here was that very girl who...
Ugo was in a dilemma. He could in no way imagine that
Dada posed such a danger to anyone. "Maybe I'm mistaken, maybe I didn't
understand it correctly," he kept thinking. At the same time, he tried to
bustle about near Dada unnoticed so that he could observe her better.
Time was passing. Ugo began to doubt more and more that
the client had mixed something up.
Everything needed to be re-verified from scratch. A
couple of times at night, he sneaked into the city unnoticed, but he received
the same answer. The client stubbornly wanted only Dada's soul. That was the
main order.
This saddened him deeply; the more he observed the girl,
the more his heart broke. Finally, he made a decision. He made up a serious
excuse and sent word to the dangerous man, refusing to carry out the order.
He felt perfectly well and was convinced that this matter
would not end so easily.
He knew that someone else would be sent to kill Dada in
his place, and therefore he firmly decided to protect her. Ugo had no idea how
he would manage this, but no matter the cost, he had to try to protect Dada.
Although he had sent word refusing the client, he did not stop gardening; on
the contrary, he continued working in the garden with even more diligence,
remaining that humble gardener to protect Dada, and he did not even know how
long it would last. And it was precisely because of this that he was almost
killed himself.
If the Padrone had not happened to see him that morning,
he probably would not have survived. The Padrone turned out to be a decent man,
too. He treated him as warmly as he did Dada, and everyone took care of him.
The Padrone realized what kind of man Ugo must have been and also understood
why Ugo had been punished. Anyone else in his place probably wouldn't have left
him alive, but this man, on the contrary, took in the dying man and put him
back on his feet.
There was no sign of banditry in the Padrone, and if he
had been a dangerous criminal in the past, now, from what Ugo observed, he had
become a completely different person, with nothing left of his past life.
If a person wants to change with all their heart, life
always gives them a chance. From Ugo's perspective, it was not Dada and her
Padrone who should be killed, but the man with the dangerous eyes himself. If
he had any, even old personal scores to settle with the Padrone, what did that
girl have to do with it? Her own troubles were enough for her.
"Poor girl.
How am I supposed to protect you like this?"
The wounded Ugo looked at the girl smiling with happy
eyes, and his heart sank, being stretched out on the bed so helplessly, without
the strength even to get up.
But time was passing. No one appeared. No one had come to
kill Dada or to replace Ugo.
This made Ugo think more and convinced him even more that
a new plan was being prepared. That man with the dangerous eyes would not just
stop like that. He would only find out about all this if he could get out of
the Padrone's house, and he had to leave this place in time before it was too
late.
Here too, Dada helped him. His guardian angel, who
herself needed to be protected and guarded.
LEX. Wednesday, March 23, 2016.
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