January 12 - Milano - La Scala

[robertod]

"You need to ask the costumery staff for more information." says Toscanini

Toscanini gives the directions to the costume department: a left, a right, up three levels and you’re there. To get there, the visitors weave their way along narrow corridors lined with anonymous doors, climb rickety flights of stairs, and make choices at intersections neglectfully unmentioned by Toscanini. Nonetheless, the journey to the costume department is a respite from the backstage madness. At least the people here are stationary and quiet. The costumiers’ room is the size of a Pullman carriage, filled with material, pins, designs, and cotton. The costumes are manufactured here but probably stored elsewhere. Six dressmaker’s dummies are adorned with costumes in various states of development. Four women work here. One is young. She smokes and draws at a desk. The others are the three elderly women, ancients dressed in black who busy themselves at the dummies like dwarves dressing magicians and princesses. They are tiny and work nimbly. The young woman is not attractive, but has a friendly and cheerful face with plump cheeks. Her big eyes are lively and intelligent.

[Mr. Handy]

Felicity approaches the woman with a smile on her face and greets her in Italian, translating for the others. "Buon Giorno, Signorina," she says. "I'm Felicity Hayward. My friends and I are friends of Caterina Cavollaro, and we're helping to try to locate her. May we ask some questions, please?"

[Mephistophilis]

Andrew watches the old women, simultaneously fascinated and disgusted. He tries to get a look at the dressmakers' dummies, to see if any might be made of something unlike the others. And whether the old women show any signs of injury or disease.

[SaintMeerkat]

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Archie nods, both relieved that the Maestro hadn't had that particular symptom and mildly annoyed that he would have to wait.

"Thank you, Maestro," he said. Then, agreeing with Felicity, he asked, "Could you be so kind as to point us in that direction?"

[aine]

Clarence looks carefully at the dressmakers’ dummies; were any of them other than hessian wrapped horse hair?

[robertod]

The dummies are all made of wood and looks like normal dressmaker dummies. The older women are quite pale and not in good physical shape. They cough every now and then. The young woman seems to be the more vigorous one, she replies promptly to Felicity, with a tone of sadness thought.
"Yes, sure."
"Do you guys have any idea what might have happened to her?"

[Mr. Handy]

"We have some ideas," says Felicity, "but no proof yet, and we're not sure where she is right now. We were hoping if you and the others here could answer some questions, that might give us some more leads to follow. How did she act in the time leading up to her disappearance? Was there any change in her behavior, anything unusual she did or said? Was anyone new hanging around her?"

[robertod]

The young woman, named Luisa, she knows Caterina very well. They are close friends.
"I hope nothing serious happened to her, but I suspect she might have purposely escaped from her life for a while. Those past days I´ve been feeling she could breakdown at any moment. You might have found her happy and enthusiastic, but that's just a mask. She suffers the pressure and the expectations of those around her."

She lowers her voice...
"Other than that... well there have been rumors that Caterina was starting again a relationship with Flavio Conti. Before falling ill, Flavio looked quite interested in Caterina. He often appeared during Caterina´s rehearsals. By the way... I heard Flavio was very ill. It is a miracle that he has recovered.
Finally... Catherine had also family issues going on. She had a quarrel with her major sister Virginia lately."

[Mr. Handy]

"Thank you," says Felicity. "That fits with what we've discovered about them. Do you know what kind of illness Flavio Conti had? Has it been going around here at La Scala too?"

[Mephistophilis]

'And what was her disagreement with her sister about?'

[robertod]

Luisa shrugs, answering Andrew.
"I don't know. Probably something futile... any pretext is always a chance for those two. Catherine and Virginia have always had a troubled relationship. Virginia suffered greatly from being an unwanted firstborn. Her father wanted a boy and so Virginia was not a wanted child. Then, Amedeo was born and lastly Caterina was. Caterina was born after the family got a male child, so her birth was welcome with more benevolence. Apart from that, Virginia is an opera singer too, but she has never been as talented as Caterina. I always had the impression that Virginia is envious, even if she tries to hide it."

Then replying to Felicity, Luisa says:

"Yes, Flavio got sick around the time he started coming to Caterina's rehearsals. He caught a bad tuberculosis."

[Mr. Handy]

"Where did you get these dressmakers' dummies?" asks Felicity. "And when?"

[SaintMeerkat]

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Although Archie knows it's his imagination, his arm's tingling gets worse for a moment as Felicity brings up the dressmakers dummies. He knows that they will have a difficult decision to make about whom will pick it up if they find another part of the statue among the pieces.

"And we would love to see them if possible," he adds.

[aine]

Clarence remembers the corruption around the statue’s arm when they found it; there doesn’t seem to be anything like that here. He wanders casually around the room, smiling at the old bats and looking for… anything untoward.

[robertod]

Luisa remains a little speechless, not understanding the sudden change of the visitors interest from Caterina's disappearance to the dummies.

"Well.. we get them from different sources at different times. Some have been here a long time and we use them over and over again. Every once in a while, when some get old, we replace them... there are a few in the store room and a couple that will be used in a scene in the opera... I think.
But why are you interested, if I may ask?"

[Mr. Handy]

"We suspect one of them may be the sources of the illnesses," says Felicity. "We'll want to inspect them all closely."

[SaintMeerkat]

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"By any chance, do you happen to remember whether or not you replaced on around the time the illnesses started?"

[aine]

Clarence’s ears prick up,
“Some are to be used actually on the stage, you say? I think one of those may be our culprit.” He shakes his head in wonderment.
“Imagine all the audience becoming ill! What a blow to the theatre that would be.”

[robertod]

Luisa has a confused and unconvinced face.
"I see. Well.. I don't know much about infections but I can't imagine a piece of wood on the stage infecting all the theater audience, including the distant rows. Right now, I don't think it's possible for you to inspect the pieces of the stage and the storeroom. The staff are working to assemble the scenery and prepare everything for the premiere which will be by an hour. They are usually rushed and do not want people around. You will be able to inspect the thing as soon as the show ends."

[Mr. Handy]

"What do you know about Dr. Arturo Faccio?" asks Felicity. "I hear he attends the opera here."