The Year of the Mantis

by P J Mann

  “Fuck! What was the problem this time? A short circuit, locusts, plague?” It wasn’t the first time technology failed when it was needed the most. “Come on! They installed the cameras for this precise reason, so if a crime occurred in the garage, it would be easier to identify the suspect.” His voice trembled in frustration, as he raised his hands to his head.

  “The cameras were under maintenance, and a guard was supposed to be there to compensate for that lack. Now, the problem is that not everyone knew this detail, and not everyone knew where those cameras are located. Therefore, we have two important clues: Number one, the killer is not an idiot, and didn’t act impulsively. He or she studied the place accurately under every single detail. Number two, the assassin is either one of the people living in the building or a person who comes regularly there to visit a family member or...” Leonardo counted on the fingers hesitating on the last sentence.

  “Or is in a relationship with one of the residents,” continued Maurizio.

  “Precisely!”

  Rubbing his chin with his hand, Detective Scala lowered his gaze and walked to his desk. Fully immersed in his thoughts, he slowly sat down as if not make any noise to disturb his train of thoughts.

  He then raised his eyes to Leonardo, “This means that it’s either the son, the girlfriend or one of the people living in the building. Although, I do believe only a handful of them knew Mr. Calvani close enough to have any reason for killing him.”

  “What could have pushed his son to even conceive anything like a murder?” Leonardo’s forehead creased at the unexpected suggestion.

  Certainly, for a young man in his University years, having a Lamborghini, a fat bank account, and a beautiful apartment on the most expensive part of the city would have been a reason good enough to kill. Not to mention that he would have also inherited at least half of his father’s business if Mr. Calvani decided to include his ex-wife in his will.

  “What about the other heirs? Was Luciano his only son?” Leonardo tried to consider the whole scenario and all those who would have a reason to have Claudio six feet underground.

  “Yes,” mumbled Maurizio. “One thing for sure is that without recordings, things are going to be difficult. The murderer could be literally whoever, except the wife, who has a bulletproof alibi. At the time of the murder, she was on the night train from Reggio Calabria to Rome. His son was asleep in his room. What if he wasn’t sleeping and he appeared by the car? Mr. Calvani certainly wouldn’t have expected to have him shooting.”

  “I seriously doubt he was expecting anyone to shoot him. He wasn’t a politician, a drug dealer, or a magistrate involved in an organized crime case.” Leonardo shook his head, crossing his arms to his chest. “We are talking about a successful businessman, who never received any threats, with, apparently no enemies, but with a soft spot for women. If this puts him into the position of being a target, then we should include half of the Italian entrepreneurs. This doesn’t make any sense, and I don’t believe his son would ever do anything like that. We are too early into the investigation to start reaching these types of conclusions.”

  Pursing his lips, Maurizio lazily browsed through the items on his desk. Grabbing a pen, he started tapping on the table with its tip.

  Tick...tick...tick... A measured rhythm marked the time, together with his own thoughts.

  At the fourth ticking sound, Leonardo grabbed the pen from Maurizio’s hand, “Would you stop it, alright!” he hissed, slamming it on the desk.

  “Cool down, brother,” Maurizio replied, annoyed, holding the pen once again.

  He grabbed his head between his hands, and a long exhale came from his mouth as he raised his stare once again at Leonardo. “According to Mrs. Moretti, the neighbor, we should look for the girlfriend, but she also admitted the relationship between father and son wasn’t the most harmonic. She mentioned hearing, Luciano, yelling at his father. The reason was probably the jealousy; he wanted to spend time with him, but this one was completely caught in the relationship with his new girlfriend.”

  “So, you think he thought that killing his father would have been the best solution? Something like If I can’t have you, then no one else will? I would have considered instead to kill the girl,” Leonardo observed, excluding completely the involvement of the young man.

  Leaning on the chair, Maurizio’s eyes met the clock on the wall. “I’m going to consider this day gone. I’ll ask the rest of my team to gather more information as to whether there’s a testament, a life insurance, anything that could lead someone to think killing a person would be a brilliant idea.

  “Yeah, I think we start to turn the case around without getting anything done. After a good night sleep, we will all feel better with hopefully clearer ideas in our minds.” Leonardo stood from the chair and waited for Maurizio to leave together.

  “It’s indeed quite late,” observed Romizi, glancing at his wristwatch, “How come your wife didn’t call you yet?”

  “Hmm,” Maurizio growled, considering he had a point. Generally, if he was late and forgot to inform his wife about it, she would have called him to understand whether he was going to join them for dinner or they had to go on without him.

  He slipped the mobile phone from his jeans, and with a cringe, he noticed he’d forgot the telephone was muted. There were indeed three calls and ten messages. The last one was a clear “Get yourself a sandwich, asshole.”

  Peeking from a side, Leonardo grinned, “Someone’s in trouble! Is she going to let you sleep on the couch?”

  “I don’t think this is what she meant, but it’s perhaps safer if I do so, after having apologized.”

  “That’s why I’m not married...” Leonardo chuckled.

  “No, the reason why you’re not married is nobody wanted you,” was the clarification offered by Maurizio.

  “But I’m not going to sleep on the couch either, so everything considered, I think I am on the winning side,” he replied as they reached the parking lot.

  As Maurizio was inside the car, he thought about what happened during the day and what was waiting for him from the moment he’d arrive home. Anna, his wife, was right, after all. It wouldn’t have taken too much for him to inform her about his delay, nor that it would have been too much to unmute the mobile.

  That wasn’t the first time he forgot, and he hoped that being that a trait of his own personality, it would have been easier for her to understand and perhaps have a bit of patience.

  With a sigh, he grabbed his mobile phone and, setting up the handsfree, called her, hoping to obtain her mercy, so to, at least being able to be admitted in the bedroom with his queen.

  ***

  It was about midnight, and since Luciano decided to take a break from the University for a couple of weeks, he didn’t have to go to sleep early. Nevertheless, he didn’t have a reason to remain awake. The television wasn’t offering anything interesting, and for the moment, he preferred to be alone rather than going out with his friends.

  Everything resembled a bad dream, and he wasn’t sure he was awake. The sudden ringing of his mobile phone returned him to reality, the one he was trying still to understand from the confusion of his thoughts. He grabbed it and glanced at the caller ID. Irina was calling him, and although he wasn’t convinced it was a good idea to call each other, she could have been the only connection with that new reality and decided to answer her.

  “Hello...” he couldn’t formulate anything else and hoped she had clearer ideas to start a communication.

  “Hi, I have been thinking about you the whole day. How do you feel?” Her voice was calm like nothing serious happened.

  “I feel confused. I still cannot believe it... It’s not right. How about you?” He wondered, hoping she would have given him a way to overcome the terrible guilt.

  “I understand your feelings, believe me, and I know even if he wasn’t caring about you, he was still your father, and you loved him, but...” She didn’t have any good words to say to make
him feel better.

  “But he deserved to die?” he almost whispered that phrase, as if someone could have heard, and arrest him for the murder of his own father.

  “We shouldn’t talk about this; it’s not going to help the way you feel, nor the reality of the facts. We need to meet somewhere. Can you reach me?”

  Luciano looked around; if he were in his father’s apartment, he could have invited her in. Like every time Claudio was away, she could have come and spent some time together without any restriction.

  It wasn’t the fact of having to ask permission; at his age, the only thing required was to inform his mother he was going out, but he knew it would have perhaps sounded suspicious if he would have gone out to spend some time with his girlfriend or with whoever else. In his way of seeing things, the best decision was to stay away from each other at least until the investigation would have been closed. He knew he was one of the possible suspects for the murder of his father, due to the broken relationship between them, because of the money he would have inherited, or for whatever reason the Detective could have figured out.

  “No, I’d prefer to meet you tomorrow at the University,” he mumbled.

  She wasn’t frequenting the University. Being older than him, she completed the course work and discarded the idea to go further with her studies, but he hoped if there was someone listening to their conversation, this appointment would have sounded more like a normal behavior to be expected from him. She remained silent for a moment, and once she understood what he meant, she played along. “Sure, I will be at the faculty by nine. I’ll see you there at the entrance. I love you.”

  The last sentence reached Luciano with the same effect of a punch on his face. His heart felt warmed up by the tenderness of her voice, but his senses sharpened as the presence of a girlfriend could have messed up everything. He wasn’t sure why he felt this way. That’s not the way I planned this whole situation between us.

  “I love you too,” he replied curtly before interrupting the conversation. The mobile phone felt like a fire burning in his hand, and he threw it away on the bed.

  He stared at his mobile for some time as if he expected something to happen, but it remained there, lying on the blue blanket, the one he still remembered from the times he spent the holidays in his grandmother’s apartment in Turin. She died a few years ago, and he was surprised to recall that detail.

  It’s probably good that I’m going to meet Irina tomorrow, although her presence is complicating everything. We need to figure out a way to get out clean from this situation, so our lives can move forward from this point on. A loud yawn filled the silent emptiness of the room, and lazily undressing, Luciano slipped through the fresh linen scent of the sheets. The fragrance carried the memories of his childhood and all the past years, when he still had a family and life was made of only good news.

  “I’ll get back to that feeling one way or another,” he whispered, closing his eyes, tired and confused.

  ***

  The morning after, he woke up before the alarm clock would have rang. A ticking rain created a soothing sound, almost inviting him to turn around and continue to sleep.

  Indeed, he could have done it if it weren’t for the appointment he had with Irina. Groaning, he sat on the bed and glanced around, trying to understand where he was.

  He froze for a moment to recollect his thoughts. That wasn’t a nightmare, his father was dead, the apartment where he lived for most of his life was seized by the police until further notice, and he found himself with fragments of his life to be put back together.

  Walking to the kitchen after the shower, he found something else he thought he’d lost in a far past. On the table, there was breakfast ready and a message written on a post-it.

  The yellow leaflet shone under a shy sun filtering through the clouds after the rain. And like in a dream, it glowed, inviting him to read.

  I hope you could sleep at least a bit. I prepared you the breakfast, like the times when we lived together. Take your time; I will call you later to check on you. Love you,

  Mom.

  The corners of his lips arched downwards to the bitter feeling of not having appreciated those moments when they were all still a family. With tears blurring the sight, he sat down, glancing at the thermic pot with milk, coffee, the jar of jam, and bread.

  His memories tasted exactly like that, but with the home already empty and his mother out to work, a bitter aftertaste corrupted the sweetness of the jam, and the memories. The guilt feeling of having abandoned his mother to follow his dad overwhelmed him together with the certainty of having given his love to the person who didn’t requite his feelings.

  Silently he finished his breakfast and cleaned the kitchen. Living with his father was at least useful in developing a sense of housekeeping. He was sure his mother would have appreciated finding the kitchen in order, when she returned from her work.

  His gaze focused on the window, and glancing at the clearing sky, he clenched his teeth and fists. His lips trembling with rage pursed as a dark thought emerged from his soul. He just deserved to die...

  CHAPTER 6

  Maurizio stormed into the precinct, minus any good feelings about the day to come. The argument with his wife, Anna, lasted well into the night. As a result, he got up late that morning and got stuck in the traffic, which made him, if possible, even more nervous. He arrived inside the premises, where he’d hoped to find a way to get a grip on himself, but that hope turned out to be vain.

  “You’re late...” Leonardo observed walking with his cup of coffee and noticing the way Maurizio stormed in. With his roughed-up hair and pouty growls, he acted like a hungry bear unable to find food.

  Clenching his fists, Maurizio glared at Leonardo. “Mind your fucking business and disappear from my sight! You should be at the Forensic Department doing your job!”

  Without waiting for a reply, he reached his office and slammed the door behind him. There, although everybody could still hear him, he released his frustration screaming curses to the whole world and throwing away the first item he found at the reach of his hands; in that case, being a chair.

  Leonardo calmly walked toward the office; although a call to an exorcist may be necessary, he knew they had a long unfinished business, and a bad mood was not a good excuse to delay the investigation.

  Lorenza Sabbatini, one of the officers who witnessed the scene, watched him walking in the direction of Maurizio’s office and rushed to stop him. “Are you crazy? He’ll kill you!” She warned; grabbing the crucifix on the wall, she handed it to him. “Take this with you. It’s the most common weapon in cases of possession.”

  With a chuckle, he grabbed the crucifix she handed him and walked to the office, amongst the curious stares of the other officers.

  He opened the door, keeping the crucifix as a shield. “Satan, leave the body of this innocent man!” Leonardo yelled.

  Maurizio was seated at his desk, trying to calm down his boiling temper. As he saw Leonardo coming in with the crucifix in his hand, he couldn’t keep the laughter any longer, and his stress had released, resulting in a long hysterical laugh.

  Grinning from ear to ear, Leonardo closed the door behind him and gathered the chair lying on the floor. “Better?” He placed the crucifix on the table, planning to bring it back to its place.

  “I don’t know, but I needed to discharge; I’ve been up until one o’clock arguing with Anna. She’s right, and I should have informed her of the delay, but what was done couldn’t be undone, and perhaps we should have let the incident slip away and spend the evening in peace. This morning, I woke up later than usual and got caught in the deadly traffic on the Tiburtine...” Maurizio grabbed his head between his hands.

  “Come on, shit happens, now let’s focus on more pleasant issues and put together some clues on this murder, shall we?” Leonardo sat down in front of the desk and started sipping his coffee.

  “That would be the best solution, at least for this morning.�
�

  Maurizio’s thoughts immediately switched to the case but promised to call Anna as soon as something would have given him the hint of a long day at work. I should call her right away, then. This is starting up like one of those cases that will require most of my free time, together with the last fragments of my sanity.

  He grabbed the notebook where he scribbled all the notes from the previous day. There was already a lot of information, but nothing was producing any clear image in his mind of what had happened that night.

  “We need to know more about the habits and the life of this man. Mr. Calvani probably had a complicated lifestyle, and I’m going to find out every detail of it.” He stood from the chair.

  “I’m finishing my coffee, and I suggest you do the same. Nevertheless, I’m going back to the lab and try to put together all the details. I’ll make a list of missing information and probably, be back at the crime scene in the early afternoon to collect the data needed. I want to scan every single corner of the apartment and garage. It might take quite some time,” Leonardo stood and grabbed the crucifix. “I believe we won’t need this any longer, you seem back to your normal self.”

  Glancing at Leonardo’s cup, Maurizio remembered he didn’t have time to have breakfast. He ran to his car, rushing from his bed to the bathroom for a shower. He knew his belly would have complained far too noisily about any abuse on its rights, and with a smile, he walked in the direction of the common room to get his morning coffee. That would have given him time to straighten up his thoughts and make a clear plan as to where he should have started from.

  ***

  When Luciano arrived in front of the faculty, Irina was waiting for him at the statue of Minerva, and as she spotted him, she paced toward him. The awkward feeling of something that had changed between them with the death of his father forced her to hesitate, before saying anything or kiss him as they used to do.

  “Hi,” he whispered, lowering his gaze to hold her hand.

  “You look tired. Haven’t you sleep last night?” She said, entwining her fingers to his.