The rip
Page 5
Now, a year later, the man is back to settle the issue his own way and I cannot stop him.
My mother hands him the documents, then she stands up and turns away from him.
The man, who never sat down, takes a little knife from the pocket in his pants.
I wish I could stand up to defend her, shout, but my body does not respond to my command.
The man raises the knife above his head, ready to vent his anger on my mother, who is standing still, impassive and resigned, ready to pay with her life for her wrongdoing.
The clean and sharp blade of the knife shines sinister in the man’s hand.
I try closing my eyes not to see the atrocious scene in front of me, but I cannot do that either. In a few moments, the blade will be soaked in blood.
The man takes one step forwards, then he hits.
A sharp thud resounds in the living room.
«Your son still needs you.»
He than takes the documents, goes back to the entry, opens the door and leaves.
The blade half way in the table keeps shining while my mother, still turned around, falls to her knees and starts crying.
12
«Giulia, take a break. You have been looking at the footage for over four hours...»
Brezzi has entered the projection room while I am still examining the video from the cameras in the Dark Angel’s restroom. I am so concentrated on the CCTV footage that I did not notice his presence, although the light entering from the door being opened must have lit the room, that is now back to the semi-darkness of the black and white images coming from the screen.
«... you must have seen the images at least a hundred times...»
«Eighty-seven times, Mario. Only eighty-seven times and I still cannot pinpoint the detail I need: I know it is there, but I cannot see it.»
Brezzi switches the light on, hurting my eyes used to the semi-darkness, he then walks to the projector and turns it off.
«Let’s recap the situation. Maybe you will get an idea.»
«All right, Mario. Tell mw which elements can be seen in the tapes... this one in particular.»
«The murderer is never caught on tape directly, so we must think that he knows were the cameras were located. If we hold this hypothesis, we can say that he is someone who know the club pretty well: someone who works there, who has worked there or a regular customer, who, in that case, made one ore more on the spot inspection before he committed the crime.»
«What other elements?»
«The murderer is a man, for two reasons. First because from the images we recovered he seems to be wearing a jacket and, more importantly, only the girls who work in the club and their guests can access the private area, and given the usual dress code of the girls, we excluded that the murder can be a woman.»
«Bonomi is standing in front of the urinal and it seems he did not realize what was happening. Not even when the murderer puts his left hand in front of his mouth to prevent him from screaming and with his right hand hits his throat with a small knife or a Swiss army knife. We infer from that that the murderer is right-handed or ambidextrous.»
«It takes about 20 seconds from the moment the murderer enters to restroom to when Bonomi is killed. There is no fight or hesitation, so the homicide is premeditated.»
«It is not only premeditated, but the murderer must have followed Bonomi’s movements in the club because he hit without risks.»
«You are right, Giulia, but let’s not narrow the field: it could be someone that just followed Bonomi in the club, or who was tailing him for a while and knew his movements.»
«Let’s not wander from it, Mario. We shall draw our conclusion later; let’s first analyze all the elements we collected. For instance, what cannot be seen in the videos?»
«Well, there are a number of cameras throughout the club: the entrance, all the bathrooms, the dance floor and the relax area; the club is well monitored with the exception of the private area, which means we have no footage either of the sitting rooms or the corridor that connects them and leads to the girls’ dressing rooms and to the other restroom for the clients. The girls’ restroom, the dressing rooms and the storage room are accessible to the staff only, so there are no cameras there. All other areas accessible to the clients have, on the contrary, surveillance cameras in place.»
«Exactly, and as the owner “kindly” told us, the lack of surveillance cameras in the private are is made up by the bouncer standing at the door who checks the area and monitors access to it.»
«So?»
«So, another video, from which unfortunately we cannot see who enters the private area, shows that the bouncer never left his post since two hours before the murder.»
«I don’t get it.»
«Let me explain it. I heard the bouncer’s deposition myself and, when I interrogated him a few days ago, he basically confirmed his first declarations. Which is that nothing strange happened entering or exiting the private area: only clients and the girls had access to the area. Keeping his statement in mind, and checking the video, in the hour before the homicide, there were four girls and four clients in the private area.»
«It is clear now.»
«That’s not all. If we exclude the girls and the bouncer, for what we said earlier, the murder must be one of these clients. Two of them were identified cross-checking the videos and the girls’ depositions, and they still were inside the club when the police arrived. Which rules them out.»
«Why so?»
«Did you notice how much blood there was in the restroom, and the splashes on the wall? Our man can have been very careful, but could not avoid getting dirty. Once he left the private area and the club, he might have gone unnoticed because the club is pretty dark and blood stains on a dark suit can go unnoticed to vacant looks, even more so if our man fled the club right after the alarm went off; but when we got there, the area was fully lit: if our man was still there, we would have gotten him right away. Still... there is another escape way, the way through the girls’ dressing room... that might indicate the connivance of someone working inside the club. Hard to demonstrate, at this time... the bouncer’s declarations are in agreement with what Santarossa told us and what we found out by ourselves: if you want to get out from the club undetected, you can do so through the dressing rooms, simply handing e few euros to your companion, but you cannot come in from there, and from the images we have there are only two persons who were in the club that night and we did not interrogate: one is the victim, the other, still unidentified, is certainly the murderer.»
«Details, inspector Montorsi, details... no one can beat you on that.»
«Stop kidding me and let’s try to get to a conclusion.»
«Well, we have only one suspect: man, a client of the club and, for what we said, a regular. Access to the club is public but there is a selection at the entrance, more so for the expensive fares. So, there is no registry of clients. For privacy reason they all pay cash, not much to the liking of our colleagues of the Revenue Guard Corps which generally rely on the electronic payments during their inspections and cannot find a cent out of order... forget it... this is the reason why we have no clue, at this time: our man has common characteristics.»
«Mmmm... what does Bonomi’s autopsy say?»
«What we suspected. Bonomi had more alcohol than blood in his veins, but no trace of drugs. A blow compatible with a small knife that cut the throat dissecting the right carotid killed him. The bleeding, combined with a brain hypoxia, killed him in a couple of minutes. In the CCTV footage, we cannot see any reaction by the victim, probably because he was blind drunk; after the blow, he might have fainted due to the shock. The wound is compatible to the one we found on the victim in the park, but until we recover the murder weapon we cannot be sure. Considering the angle and the strength of the blow, the murderer must be about 1,70 meters high and of normal build if he’s a man, quite stout if the murderer were a woman.»
«And this last detail dispels all
doubts that the murderer is a man... detail... detail... damn it, I am an idiot!»
«Giulia, what’s wrong?»
«Let me see the video... right now.»
Brezzi, infected by my urge, switches on the monitor and the video player and closely follows my orders.
«Go on... go on... here, slightly back... stop, here in this image... can you enlarge it?»
«Sure, Giulia, I am not an expert but give me a moment... there.»
«Damn it!»
«Giulia, I don’t get it.»
«Mario, what are you looking for? The murder weapon, right? This is the reason why we missed it until now. We concentrated all our attention to identifying the murder weapon, while now I am looking at the other hand, the left one.»
«Well, what’s special about it? He is wearing an ordinary watch...»
«That is not an ordinary watch... enlarge it a little more.»
«You are right... it’s strange... a dial with a two-faced bird...»
«Not any bird., it’s an eagle... and if look carefully there are some engravings on the strap: some lilies among vines.»
«It’s right! It seems you know this item quite well.»
«I don’t want you to say a word to anyone about what we saw here. And this is an order!»
«But, Giulia...»
«No buts! I take full responsibility. And now, bring me the file of the Falchi’s investigation, please.»
13
Shut up for hours in my office examining the only interesting minutes among the many interrogations we recorded in the past week, I am ever more convinced that the solution to this case is the one that suddenly jumped to my eyes.
The clues we gathered are quite clear, crystal clear, and they all point to one inexorable conclusion. But it is so absurd to me that I cannot be fully convinced about it.
The only elements that let me hope there is another solution is the fact that there is no clear motive and that we did not find the murder weapon.
I don’t believe in fate, but for a strange twist of fate at the beginning of this investigation I just wanted to find the murderer and gain my promotion, now I just want to be wrong.
Unfortunately, Sala’s dossier, the Dark Angel CCTV footage and the testimony of Kris Mirozov leave me no space for doubts.
Kris Mirozov, after providing her personal data to the officer on duty, entered my office. She was the last “informed witness” I spoke to last night, after many hours wasted interrogating people and “authorities” which were at the Dark Angel the night Bonomi was killed. None of them saw or heard anything or – worst – they came with their lawyers and answered with a concise: «Nothing to declare» while urging me to «keep the utmost reserve» on their presence at the club.
The sunset light entering from the window at my back enlightened Kris’ face showing she was even more beautiful of what I remembered.
At first I did not recognize the girl sitting in front of me. She seemed quite different from the woman I met at the club the night Bonomi was killed. She was now wearing black pants and matching blouse, shoes and handbag, her hair was gathered up and she had a very light makeup on. It was hard to believe that this girl at night changed into one of the most sought-after escorts of the luxurious night club of Milan and that, at times, she did not disdain the oldest profession in the world.
The dresses she was wearing and her behavior were quite normal, light-years away from a world made of lights, colors and sequins along with sex and cocaine. Furthermore, she showed her real age, not like the night we met at the club when she was wearing a fire-red low-necked evening dress over high stiletto heels.
I asked her to sit down, and she did so right in front of me. We started a long and exhaustive conversation.
«Miss Mirozov, where were you at the time the body was found?»
«I was in the private area, in the room farthest to the restroom.»
«Where you with a client?»
«What do you mean?»
«Where you with a regular client, someone you have known for some time now, someone you can tell me the name of, or was it an occasional encounter?»
«How dare you! Who do you think I am? Don’t you dare treat me like a whore! I don’t know what you know or you think you know about me of the Dark Angel, but for what I am concerned, you are wrong, very wrong. In my country, I got a master in nuclear engineering, I speak four languages fluently, so don’t treat me like an idiot or like the common women you are used to... Yes, I am a good-looking girl, men are attracted to me like bees to honey, so what? It is my fault? ...is it a crime?»
After the unexpected outburst, Kris calmed down, got her demeanor back, and went back to looking fierce and self-confident.
«I do not have any client, as you say. In the club the fight over spending some time with me, but it is a useless match since I am the one and only who decides who I spent my time or my nights with... and these are all respectable persons, my friends, man who don’t even dare touching me if I don’t want them to, men who I have sex with only because I have an interest in them and because I like sex: are you shocked by this?»
I kept looking at Kris Mirozov without an eye blink, not at all shaken by her statements. She continued, with the force of a river in flood that sweeps everything away, making her point of view even clearer.
«I don’t know and I don’t care what the other girls do in the club. I have nothing to do with them. If the club takes advantage of them, too bad for them! I have a regular job contract, including pension fund payments... I have been living in Italy for three years now and I know how these things work... I don’t sell my body, and who I take to bed, if you don’t mind, is my own business.»
«Well! You made your point of view quite clear. I get it then, that you were in the private area with one of your friends, someone you meet regularly.»
«Exactly.»
«Can you please tell me his name and what you were doing at the time the body was found?»
«The guests at Dark Angel love their privacy and, anyhow, I don’t think I can help you much... His name is Marco, but I just call him “doctor”.»
«Quite strange you don’t know the last name of someone you say is a “friend of yours”...»
«You know all the details... I forgot you are a policewoman, you certainly know all about the people you mix with.»
«Don’t be cheeky! As you well noticed I am a policewoman and you are in a police station as “informed witness”, so you better cooperate and answer my questions.»
For a moment Kris lost her cockiness. «All right, I’m sorry.»
«Let’s go back to it. Do you know something more about this Marco: age, marital status and... by the way, why “doctor”?»
«He started coming to the club about two years ago, but I met him just last year. He is young, in his thirties I think, well groomed and dressed... I can always see a strange melancholy in his eyes, and this is what has intrigued me... he never talks about himself, he is very reserved. I call him “doctor” because he told me once that he works in the medical or pharmaceutical field, I don’t remember quite well.»
When I heard those words, an idea appeared in my mind, the classic switch turned on, and I sharply shut Kris up.
I left the room and came back in a few minutes holding a picture in my hand.
The sunset light was no longer showing from the window and the room was almost in darkness, the darkness that holds nothing good in it.
I closed the door behind my back and switched on the light. The artificial neon light lit the office.
I at down and spoke to the girl again.
«Miss Mirozov, could you recognize the person you described a moment ago?»
«As I told you, he is my friend. Of course I can recognize him.»
I showed her a picture, showing suspect number one with three more persons, a man and three women. I added: «Is the man you were telling me about in this picture? Think about it, carefully, before you answer.»
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br /> With no doubt or hesitation, the girl indicated the first man on the right, the youngest, who was hugging a nice-looking girl, who unfortunately was the object of one of my investigations.
The girl name was Laura Falchi, she died two years ago during an attempted robbery. He was Marco Politto, her fiancée.
«It’s him. He is Marco, the “doctor”.»
14
Wrapped in my bathrobe, I sit, exhausted, on the sofa and I listen to the answering machine I put on the armrest.
Beeeeep...
«Hi Giulia, I am in Rome... we must celebrate... watch the evening news on channel 7... kisses.»
... beeeep.
It’s 8PM, I’m just in time. I stretch my hand towards the remote control on the crystal table in front of me and I push the “7”.
The TV turns on showing Federico Menti’s face.
...Tonight’s main news regards the developments in the investigation of the murder of businessman Giacomo Bonomi who, as you will recall, was killed in a famous night club of Milan, the Dark Angel.
Well-informed sources told us about a parallel investigation originating from that tragic event which involves some Parliament’s leading personalities in a story that smells of prostitution and recommendations in exchange for sexual favors that, as it seems, were paid for with public money.
If this were true, we would be facing the umpteenth political scandal against the Italian citizens, covered up by the authorities that allowed, for personal interests, illicit activities such as prostitution and pimping, inside the Dark Angel... for further details, follow this exclusive report about the investigation of our colleague Carlo Scala and the developments in the police investigation...