The scarlet Lady

by Giada Trebeschi

  Alessandro and the captain looked at each other astounded.

  Only few seconds had passed before Musone, with an effort, broke that uneasy silence, but it seemed hours.

  «I have been informed about the quarrels between you two, but I wish that an old, unpleasant accident is not going to jeopardize the relationship you’ll create working together again.»

  «I don’t think there is a lot left to be jeopardized» replied Letizia dryly.

  «As you might well understand Miss Cantarini, the point is that we are appointed to monitor your work and I don’t think that the way you are talking can be described as very positive. Since we will have to spend a lot of time together, I suggest you to be, let’s say… more collaborative» concluded Musone unctuously.

  That word again! Did they really expect she would collaborate with that bastard? Unfortunately with certain people at that time it could have been very dangerous to disagree. She remembered the papers hidden under the clothes and felt Alessandro’s knee softly hitting hers as to tell her to keep her tongue quiet. She saw the captain moving uncomfortably on his chair. She felt oddly calm and lucid. She kept silent a few moments and then, with icy kindness, she spoke to Musone.

  «Good» she started.

  Alessandro’s eyes were imploring her not to say something she would regret.

  «I believe you are right. My team will work with you but please do not discuss my choices. It is quite some months that I have been working on this project and I do not want to slow it down now. I think this is also in your interest. Captain de’ Risis, as I have already told Mr. Morelli, will be informed of any progress, any decision. And now, please forgive me but I need to pick up something upstairs. I will meet you later at palazzo Biraghi.»

  Letizia got up with the impression that the captain’s hand had softly brushed against hers. It was a pleasant feeling. She didn’t understand why but she felt closer to de’ Risis than the rational part of her was willing to admit.

  «Captain, I hope there won’t be other problems – hissed Musone as soon as Letizia walked away – Please, wait for Miss Cantarini and then take her to palazzo Biraghi. I’ll see you there. See you later Mr. Romei.»

  Musone and Boriello took their coats and hats from the hall stand and went out. Alessandro and the captain looked at them without moving or speaking till they were gone.

  It was the captain who broke the silence.

  «Sorry, but I need to ask you. Do you know who that man is and why Miss Cantarini treated him that way?»

  «I am not sure, but I believe the problem goes back to when she was still a student in university. I know her well and if she behaved like that I am sure she had to have a good reason for it. Excuse me now, I need to pick up my bag and I’ll check on how she feels.»

  As soon as he arrived in her room, he saw his friend as he had never done. Her beautiful face was twisted, the lips as thin as a sharp blade, her eyes had changed colour turning their gorgeous green into a metallic grey. Her soul was totally trapped in only one stormy emotion: rage.

  «Letizia please – he said entering the room – don’t make things worse. We will already have a lot of problems to justify the disappearance of the Little, don’t add more difficulties.»

  «I told you that he reminded me of someone! When I met him he had a beard but now, of course, he doesn’t! How could he ever play the good fascist without properly shaving? But he should at least try to lose that abominable belly. If not how is he going to show off during the gymnastic tests?»

  «Can you please tell me what did he do to you?»

  «What he did? He is simply a beast.»

  «You are like a sister to me, you know, I will always protect you.»

  Letizia was really upset. She was shivering now. Suddenly she turned to the table and opened her bag emptying from it all the papers with a fury that left Alessandro without words.

  «Here it is! – she finally said approaching him with a paper in her hands – Here. I always have this letter with me not to forget it. Read it and you’ll know why I don’t want to see that man. It has already been very difficult to write this letter and go through what I went through, but having to stand his presence again is really too much!»

  Alessandro took the paper from Letizia’s hands. She collapsed on the armchair and began to gnaw at her lips. After a while she exploded in a liberating and quiet weep. Rage was slowly gushing out together with the tears.

  Alessandro was reading.

  It was an open letter dated 1925.

  Dear professor Boriello,

  I hope you will appreciate this letter I am writing to thank you for all you did for me.

  I don’t know yet which kind of person I will become, but I surely know the kind I don’t want to become and I thank you for having showed it to me in such a paternalistic way. Actually, I am not sure you know the exact meaning of the word paternalistic which you so often used with me. It is a word coming from the Latin pater, father, and I hope you don’t behave with your daughter the same way you did with me because you would be a degenerated father.

  Thank you for having paternalistically put your hands on me even if my repugnance was more than clear. I will disclose a secret to you: no means no.

  Thank you because, even if I wasn’t so intelligent or strong enough to denounce your harassment to the authorities – also because it would have been the word of great professor against my word as a poor student – I completely understood how evil is the fabric you are made of.

  Thank you for making me understand what it means to be a slave in the 20th century, so that I will always be able to recognize all the pathetic swindles that fill this world. Men like you think they are authorized to abuse, to perform psychological and physical violence, to oppress in any possible way in the name of that crumb of power they think they have. But which power? The power of barons burdening farmers? The power of inquisitors who burned witches on stakes?

  Thanks for having showed me the way of those compromises that humiliate human dignity, thanks for having black mailed me at the end of my research trying to force me to acquiesce the satisfaction of your instincts; thanks because now I know how to face low level situations like this. I tell you, they can shoot me but I will never be civil to people like you.

  Again, thank you for your precious teachings: I understood that anyone who has a working brain, especially if that brain produces individual thoughts, is forced to distance himself from professors like you because they’ll constantly try to waste its grey matter with the clear intent of imprisoning and vulgarising a precious intellect. Finally, since this is a devoted thanking letter to a great teacher, I want to disclose another secret: thoughts, dreams and ideas cannot be put in cages. Our mind is born free and, whichever conditions it has to undergo, it can always find a way to flee for liberty.

  No regards.

  L.C.

  Alessandro lowered the paper and stared at Letizia. He couldn’t believe it. He had heard of the scandal but he never thought that the woman in front of him, the friend with whom he was hunting a five hundred years old story, was the student brave enough to publically denounce an event that too often happened and even more often remained imprisoned between university walls.

  When he had heard that on all the bulletin boards of Bologna’s university someone had put up an open letter to denounce a professor’s hateful harassment, he thought that the girl who wrote it had to have the braveness and the strength of a solitary knight. And now, that knight and that girl were there, together, sitting on the armchair in front of him and both were asking him for help.

  «Letizia, you never told me…»

  «I thought you knew. Everyone in the field knows. And anyway, I don’t like to speak about it.»

  «I’ll leave you here a moment. I’ll go and ask the captain…»

  He stopped seeing the captain nearing the door which had been left open.

  «I am sorry to interrupt you, but we should go» said de’ Risis without enter
ing the room.

  Alessandro gave him the paper he still had in his hand and went to look out of the window.

  «Read, captain, read. This letter has been on all Bologna’s university bulletin boards. I told you she must have had a good reason.»

  The captain read.

  «I think the only way to face this situation is never to let you be alone, Miss Catarini» said de’ Risis after going quickly through the letter.

  «You read my mind, captain» agreed Alessandro.

  «I understand that working with someone like him will not be easy, but if you were brave enough to write this letter you’ll also be able to find the strength to make the best out of a bad thing. Unfortunately in my position I can’t do much but try to protect you.»

  «Letizia, the captain is right. We’ll take turns never to let you alone. But you have to try to let it go with that scum. I hope you don’t want to risk the same fate as your father.»

  Letizia was motionless on the armchair, she barely seemed to breathe. Very slowly she turned her head toward Alessandro and then in the direction of the captain. She felt totally emptied.

  «I will not appease them, no way» she said in a voice coming from her deepest being.

  Then she got up, collected her papers and put them in the bag. She put on her coat and moved to the door.

  «Are we going? I believe they are waiting for us.»

  The captain and Alessandro followed her downstairs.

  Palazzo Biraghi, 9.30 a.m.

  Musone and Boriello were waiting at palazzo Biraghi having a serious talk with Mr. Morelli and his assistant Giacoboni. Entering the room where they were assembled, Letizia and Alessandro picked out the words Olgiati and Ravine.

  «Good morning, Mr. Morelli. I didn’t expect to see you here this morning» the captain said politely greeting the group.

  «As you well know, not only the Royal family has an interest in this case but the Government as well. This is why, together with you, these two gentlemen have been sent here to cooperate. Let me introduce you…»

  «We met already – interrupted the captain – they are also staying at Mrs. Rosa’s hotel.»

  «Very good then, there is no need for wasting more time. Good morning Miss Catarini, good morning Mr. Romei.»

  Alessandro and Letizia greeted him together.

  «Miss Cantarini, I’d like to see the room with the skeleton before going back to Rome» said Morelli.

  Letizia looked at him quite annoyed but only de’ Risis seemed to notice her gaze. He searched for an eye contact to invite her to control her feelings.

  «Of course. Please follow me» she said.

  The group started going up the stairs.

  «Where are we?» asked Musone looking around.

  «In the service corridor» answered Alessandro.

  «Very interesting. Are there many corridors like this one?» asked Giacoboni.

  «Yes, of course. But many are closed because of the dangerous floor conditions or because they are haunted by ghosts.»

  «Have you ever heard these ghosts?» asked Giacoboni who seemed a bit intimidated.

  Everyone laughed except him.

  «I meant…»

  «Chief maniple Giacoboni, I think it is better you shut up – Musone interrupted – As the proverb says: no flies can get into a closed mouth.»

  Mr. Morelli walked a bit faster and neared Letizia to ask sarcastically if she was also afraid of ghosts.

  «I am not afraid of dead people, I fear the living ones» she answered.

  They were nearly there, just behind the room where generations of aristocrats slept for centuries. Letizia stopped in front of a little door.

  The room they entered was full with light and their eyes needed a few seconds to get used to it. The windows were open and some men of the team were attaching big buckets to the pulleys they used to get rid of the wall plaster flakes they were soon going to destroy.

  «Good morning, Miss Cantarini – said the master builder – The pulleys are nearly ready. We are just waiting for you to tell us when to start.»

  «Immediately! You have to start immediately!» ordered Morelli with the tone of those used to command.

  «Sorry, who are you? I only get orders from Miss Cantarini.»

  «Don’t worry Giovanni – said Letizia trying to maintain calm – Mr. Morelli and the others here this morning have been sent from Rome to check our discoveries and they are in a hurry. Could you please open the entrance to the secret room a bit more so that Mr. Morelli can come in with me? I’ll focus on the last details and then you can tear it down.»

  While the master builder started working, Giacoboni observed that the room within a room seemed to be built deliberately to be invisible.

  «Really? Very Good Giacoboni, we have a new very quick colleague here!» exclaimed Boriello laughing.

  Giacoboni blushed.

  «Actually, it is a room within a room but we don’t know much more yet. And none of the plan report its existence» explained Alessandro.

  A few minutes later the opening was big enough to allow Morelli to get in.

  «We follow you. We are here to check everything» said Boriello.

  «I am sorry but I will allow only Mr. Morelli to get in. You’ll see it after the wall is destroyed» responded Letizia.

  «And by what right?» answered back Musone.

  «By the right of the chief in charge. I am responsible here and I will not permit anyone to modify not even a little detail in this room. Everything can be important in discovering who this person was and why he or she has been punished with such a terrible death.»

  «All right, all right, we understood that this is your case but you’ll have to share the results, soon or later» said Musone.

  «Let Miss Cantarini decide as she wants – replied Morelli nearing the opening in the wall – She is the chief in charge this time. A strange job for a woman, if I may say so. Is it because of some labour of love that you decided to stay away from more feminine tasks?» Morelli asked sarcastically following her in the secret room.

  «Love for Knowledge doesn’t have sex, Mr. Morelli. And in any case, isn’t Curiosity female?» answered Letizia stopping in front of the skeleton.

  «I wonder if it was Curiosity that lead this person here. In that case, I am sure it was a woman» said Morelli looking around.

  «We don’t know it yet but the coroner should be here soon.»

  Pointing the torch in the right place, Letizia showed Morelli the skeleton. Its ankles were secured by long and heavy chains and the poor remains were still partially covered with pieces of a tunic that once had to be red. On the floor there were a couple of empty bowls, writing tools and three papers. There wasn’t a lot of light but beyond the torch and the opening on the wall, from a round hole on top of the external wall, a bit of sun was coming in.

  When they went out again Letizia said she was finished and ordered Giovanni to tear down the wall that had hidden that terrible prison for centuries.

  «The ministry of Justice, Pietro de Francisci, appointed us to move the entire cell and all what it contains. Therefore I ask you to write a very detailed report on the disposition of objects and walls» explained Morelli to Letizia.

  «This is normally my task –Alessandro intervened promptly – I will prepare a precise report as soon as possible. But, if I may ask, why do you want to deprive this place of the skeleton that has been here for centuries?»

  «This is none of your business. In any case, I can tell you that the owners of the palazzo don’t want to have it here so it will be taken to the Criminal Museum in via Giulia in Rome. Remember that not only the skeleton will be brought there but also parts of the wall. I wait for your report, Mr. Romei. Gentlemen, would you accompany me? I need to speak with you a minute before I go back to Rome. Farewell Miss Cantarini. Captain, I remind you: be vigilant» Morelli concluded.

  The four men went away using, this time, the main rooms and corridor. Letizia noticed their movements. The
y were running after Morelli looking like hens that crowd together around the farmer with the birdseed. They were pathetic and unaware that, at any moment, one of them could have been the main ingredient for the Sunday soup.

  «Finally they have gone. We might be able to start working in peace now!» said Alessandro.

  «Don’t mislead yourself Mr. Romei, the two from Naples will soon be back – answered de’ Risis copying their accent – and they will come back together with all their pearls of wisdom!»

  Alessandro and the captain laughed.

  «They are ridiculous, it is true but, as always, a mediocre man who has a bit of power can become very dangerous» commented Letizia.

  The opening of the wall was now large enough to allow Alessandro to enter the room.

  «Please, come in» he said to the captain «don’t you want to see the discovery that raised so much interest? I wonder what they are really looking for. I doubt they are thrilled simply because of these poor human remains.»

  The captain followed Alessandro.

  «What hellish pit for humanity to descend into. It always upsets me to see how deep cruelty can dig» he commented in front of the skeleton.

  Letizia’s expression changed as though she had been struck by lightning.

  «Did I say something wrong? I am sorry, I didn’t want to unsettle you» said de’ Risis noticing her mood.

  «No, you simply said a word captain that made me understand what Morelli was talking about this morning when we arrived» she said.

  «I am sorry, but I don’t know what you are talking about.»

  «Do you mean the Ravine?» asked Alessandro.

  «Yes.»

  «It doesn’t help a lot. Can you please explain to me what it is about?»

  «Excuse us, it is only a legend… Letizia, did you already check the papers here?» answered Alessandro trying to change the subject.

  «Not yet. Wait, I take them – she said picking up the papers – Shall we go to the office? It is cold here.»