The scarlet Lady

by Giada Trebeschi

  Rome, House of Mary and Pietro, 6.10 p.m.

  The captain drove across Rome’s streets as if he was in a car race and Vittorio couldn’t really follow him. Once in front of Mary’s house he got out of the car and mounted the steps to the first floor flat two by two.

  The door was still open and de’ Risis found his cousin on the floor in the children’s room. She was crying holding her kids, clearly still shocked by what they had seen. She looked at him without moving.

  «Damned fascists! Those bastards took my husband from me! Curse on them and all their sons and daughters!»

  «Pietro is still alive – the captain informed her helping her to get up – They still have to interrogate him. I’ll try to make him run away, to save him.»

  «Don’t be silly. There is no hope for him. We know their methods better than anyone else. And you are also in danger – said Mary embracing him – They know we are cousins and I am sure they suspect you as well. You have to run away. Don’t let them catch you, don’t let them do to you the same they did to my brothers and that they are now are going to do to Pietro.»

  She stopped a moment. Then she looked at him.

  «I am sorry Giulio, they took her too».

  The words were like a sword piercing him.

  «When? How?»

  «Twenty minutes after Pietro was captured, another team arrived. I don’t know, maybe the old lady living on the top floor heard something or they simply thought that they could also be here. I saw them pushing Letizia down the stairs and taking her away.»

  «Alessandro?»

  «I don’t know. I didn’t see him. But I’ve heard some shots.»

  When she heard the first shot Mary thought they shot the lock and she was right. The door closed from the inside and the basket with the food and the remains of lunch were clear signs. They didn’t have to look for them anymore.

  Alessandro and Letizia tried to hide in different parts of the room: he went behind the chest covering himself with a carpet and hoping not to be seen immediately, she hid in the niche in between the wall and an old wardrobe. But the edge of her skirt was visible.

  «Look what a babe we have here! I am sure we’ll have some fun together» said one of the Militia men taking Letizia out of her hiding place.

  The other two laughed and Alessandro, blood boiling in his veins, hoped it was a good moment to surprise them. He suddenly got up throwing the man who was holding Letizia on the floor and jumping on the other two.

  The Blackshirts were clearly unprepared for his attack and pulled back; one of them stumbled on an old broom and fell. Alessandro attacked the one still standing with such a strong punch which broke his nose. Then he attacked the one that was trying to get up. But in that short time the first man was back on his feet and after pushing Letizia into a corner he got his gun out. She started shouting to warn Alessandro but two bullets had already hit his back. He cried in pain falling on his knees. The man with the gun neared stood close to him and shot the finishing blow into his neck.

  When de’ Risis arrived in the attic he saw Alessandro’s corpse immediately. He didn’t know a lot about him, he had even been jealous of him, but now he knew it was a friend he was mourning. A friend that even dead was able to tell him something. As he neared him to close his eyes he noticed the black notebook full with slips of papers that he so often had seen in Alessandro’s hands. Leaving the attic he read the last words written in it: infra 12 leones.

  Vittorio arrived at the building where the captain’s cousin was living. He didn’t get out of the car but waited there. He parked not far away, in a side street from which he could see the entrance door. As Morelli expected the captain immediately went to his cousin. Vittorio was not surprised: he went there to support her. He would have done exactly the same. After twenty minutes the captain left again.

  He drove so fast that Vittorio didn’t have single chance to follow him. Morelli was not going to be happy about it. He only hoped that the captain was going to the meeting with don Cosimo so he decided to drive to the Vatican City. If de’ Risis was going there someone would have certainly seen the car and told him where to find him.

  Rome, Voluntary Militia for National Security

  Headquarters, 6.30 p.m.

  Morelli and Musone concluded their interrogation. Pietro’s face was unrecognizable. But they were not able to get a single word out of him. After the burning of his genitals he fainted. Musone kicked him on the back and decided that he needed time to rest.

  Torturing can be exhausting.

  Musone was smoking a cigarette when a Squadron Chief[8] entered to inform them they found the two art historians. Unfortunately Romei had been killed but Miss Cantarini was captured alive and they were now bringing her there.

  «When she arrives, undress her and shut her naked in the cellar» said Musone with a satanic grin.

  Group rape was a common procedure to extort confessions and destroy self-respect. Raped women would become unworthy of respect. From that moment on, even if they were going to survive, they would to be considered less then whores.

  Morelli liked his colleague’s idea. He imagined the proud Miss Cantarini naked in a cellar, shivering from coldness and fear. A fear that would grow with every noise, every voice, every step she could hear behind the door. Terror and awareness of what she knew she was going to go through.

  A new and much more interesting interrogation was anticipated now by Morelli and Musone. They looked at Pietro once again and finally realizing that he was not going to speak, they ordered their subordinates to kill him as subversives and traitors deserved.

  Immediately after Miss Cantarini arrived, Musone’s orders were carried out. The squadron chief went back to his superiors to show them what they had found on her.

  «Under the prisoner’s clothes we found this bag containing some old papers» he said showing it.

  «I knew it, I knew it! She found other papers with the skeleton and she hid them! I am sure they’ll take us to the treasure!» Musone exulted.

  Morelli started examining them. They were difficult to read but already the smell of the papers made him feel nearer to the treasure. He imagined it hidden in an old chest, closed with a heavy lock and buried somewhere around Poggio Catino. The idea of being the one delivering it to his Duce made him happy as a child.

  «How long has she been shut in the cellar?»

  «Half an hour» answered the squadron chief.

  «Send down three or four men. They can have a bit of fun with her but they shouldn’t really start the rape before we arrive. It’s an order. Mr. Morelli has the honour of being the first. We’ll take care of her later. She’ll pay also what she did to my poor friend Boriello. Can we have something to eat now? All this work has stimulated my appetite.»

  Letizia was sitting on the floor with her arms around her knees. She was terrified. She tried not to look the men in the face; she didn’t want to read their intentions. She was cold. The boiling hands of a Blackshirt pushing her onto a camping bed burned her flesh as if they were made of red-hot iron.

  The three Blackshirts in front of her were menacing. Two of them were at least thirty years old, the third one was little more than a teenager. Probably at home, waiting for them they had wives or fiancées who never would have imagined what their men were able to do. Letizia nearly pitied those women.

  «What are you looking at?» asked one of them squeezing one of her breasts.

  «Nothing. There is nothing interesting to look at here» she dared.

  The answer was a heavy slap on the face.

  «So that you learn how to behave! Or do we have to teach you everything?» asked one.

  «And now show us what you are able to do» added a second one.

  Letizia tried to scratch his face. She knew it was hopeless but she couldn’t just stop fighting.

  «We have a rebel pussy tonight! Very good. The more you fight back the more we get excited.»

  She wanted to take his eyes out with her o
wn nails. She couldn’t complete her wish before they were tying her hands to the bed. The terror was becoming desperation.

  The three men were inciting each other with no savings on obscenities. She was beautiful and that time it was not going to be difficult at all to perform the orders. It was only a pity they had to wait for their superiors before really raping her.

  One started licking her breast and a second one spread her legs. The third man put two fingers into her making her scream from pain.

  «You like it, eh? But you are still too dry. Let’s see if we can do better.»

  He spit on his hand and penetrated her again. Letizia closed her eyes hoping only that they would finish quickly.

  When she opened her eyes again one of the men was opening his trousers. He climbed on her belly and started to masturbate at few centimetres from her mouth. When he came, he exploded on her face.

  «Turn her» ordered one of them taking a whip.

  «I know you are young and impetuous but didn’t I order you to wait for us?» said Musone entering in the cellar.

  «We didn’t yet even get started» said the younger one.

  «Sit her on the bed. Before having fun I want to ask her something.»

  At the same time Morelli issued an order that Letizia was not able to understand. Two of the Blackshirts went out of the cellar.

  «Very good, my dear – started Morelli playing with one of her nipples and being more interested in her breast than in the medallion nobody thought to take away – I hope our men convinced you to be more collaborative this time.»

  «For example, we want to know what the papers we found on you say» went on Musone.

  Letizia didn’t let them frighten her any more. She knew they were going to rape and maybe even kill her whatever she confessed.

  «I am not really sure, but I guess you are able to read. Read the papers yourself if you want to know what they say.»

  «I know how to tame you – said Musone pulling her hair so that she had to bend the her head – Don’t think you’ll be much stronger than the others.»

  Letizia thought back to when she saw him at the brothel and she couldn’t help but laugh.

  He slapped her. She spat in his face.

  «Get ready! It is time to give a lesson to this bitch!» Musone shouted furiously to Morelli.

  Morelli already had his trousers down to his knees. He would certainly have penetrated her if the thud of Musone’s body falling hadn’t got his attention. The only door of that horrible cellar had opened letting in a bit of fresh air together with an odd hiss.

  Letizia heard that hiss again: the young Blackshirt fell on the floor dead.

  Morelli wasn’t fast enough to get up so he fell on her again. A rivulet of blood gushing out of his head.

  Someone removed the heavy body from her chest, so that she could breath normally.

  «I hope I am on time» said the captain helping her to sit.

  «Just on time» she answered.

  Her eyes filled with tears.

  «Can you walk? – he asked putting his coat on her shoulders – We have to go.»

  When she was nearly out, she turned to look at her persecutors. Musone’s face was crushed in a horrible grin of cruelty and astonishment. The young Blackshirt seemed to sleep and Morelli, with his trousers lowered and his stiffened old cock was now merely a grotesque spectacle.

  Rome, Voluntary Militia for National Security

  Headquarters, 8.25 p.m.

  They only had two flights to get to the ground floor and de’ Risis was moving quickly upstairs holding Letizia by the hand. They had nearly reached the last steps when they heard steps coming down: it was the two Blackshirts Letizia already knew.

  The two didn’t immediately recognize that there was someone on the stairs. Letizia was paralyzed, she couldn’t move at all. Giulio squeezed her hand and moved a few steps back. In that very moment the stairs under her naked feet seemed to be even cooler. She had a powerful impression of standing on the marble of her own gravestone.

  The two Blackshirts approached deciding to go into the cellar to have some fun.

  «And you, what are you doing here? Where do you think you are going? We didn’t finish with you!» said one of them as soon as he saw the terrified Letizia.

  «But the Lady finished with you» said the captain appearing from the darkness.

  De’ Risis aim was infallible: the two fell without a sound, one on the other, at Letizia’s feet.

  The ground floor corridor seemed to be empty. Letizia walked the last twenty meters to the exit her heart pounding.

  They crossed the street running.

  A car arrived at the same moment and it nearly ran over them. Letizia stood motionless in the middle of the street, her eyes blinded by the car lights. The captain seized the advantage from it, ran to the driver and, with the gun in his hand, ordered him to get out.

  The surprised driver was Vittorio. After having been to the Vatican City where no one saw the captain nor knew don Cosimo, he was going back to the headquarters to inform Morelli that he had lost tracks of de’ Risis.

  And now de’ Risis was pointing his gun to his face.

  Vittorio got out of the car without a word. He saw that the woman he nearly ran over didn’t have shoes and was shivering. From her upset face he realized what happened to her. He was disgusted by Musone and Morelli.

  He looked at de’ Risis again and he was sure he wouldn’t hesitate to shot. He moved out of the vehicle letting the captain and the woman get into the car.

  Only when the lights of the Fiat Balilla disappeared in the darkness did Vittorio walk to the Voluntary Militia for National Security Headquarters.

  He needed some minutes before his eyes got used to the brightness in the entrance and only then he saw two Blackshirts running down the stairs.

  He followed them to the cellar climbing over the two bodies on the stairs: he was the last one to arrive in the cell where they had tortured Letizia.

  There were several men already, stunned in front of the corpses of their superiors.

  Someone shouted for revenge.

  «Who could have done it?» asked one of them.

  «It was certainly someone who knew the prisoner well» answered someone.

  «It could have been anyone. What do you think?» they asked Vittorio.

  «I have no idea» he answered covering the grotesque exhibit offered by Morelli with a sheet.

  Rome, Largo Argentina, 9.45 p.m.

  The captain was thinking fast. They couldn’t go around in that car for long. They needed a place to rest for a few hours. Dolores’s place was excluded, Vittorio was certainly going to send someone there to check and his cousin’s house was clearly under surveillance.

  Letizia looked exhausted. He caressed her head and she withdrew with fright. When he took her hand to reassure her, he noticed she was shivering with fear and cold. He had to find a safe place to calm her down. Suddenly he had an idea. It was crazy but he didn’t see any other possibility.

  Overtaking Palazzo Venezia, where they said the Duce was working till late in the night, de’ Risis went to Largo Argentina.

  They parked the car not far from Campo dei Fiori and went on foot to the ghetto. Letizia had difficulty in walking and frozen rain drops were draining down her back. She followed Giulio without moaning, without asking anything, sure that he knew what he was doing.

  When they arrived in piazzetta Mattei in front of the Turtle fountain she was unable to stand anymore. The captain took her in his arms and rang the doorbell.

  Nobody came.

  He rang again, longer.

  He waited hoping. Letizia had dropped her head on his shoulder; she collapsed. For the first time for a long time he found himself praying. He was praying to God to send someone to open, the door. He begged him to help saving the woman he loved.

  He had nearly lost every hope when Konblum’s mother opened the door.

  «I am captain de’ Risis – he said to make he
r recognize him in the darkness – please, let us in.»

  «Why should I? Your colleagues killed my son.»

  «I know. This is why I am here now to beg you to save this innocent woman. Please. This is Miss Cantarini.»

  «Lass sie rein! – shouted a man’s voice – let them in.»

  The woman opened the door just enough to let them pass and told the captain to follow her.

  Mr. Kornblum was waiting for them behind the door. He showed de’ Risis a bed for Letizia to lie on.

  «Was ist passiert?» asked the man seeing that Letizia was naked and bruised under her coat.

  «What happened?» translated his wife.

  «The Blackshirts. The same men that shot your son» answered de’ Risis.

  Letizia opened her eyes and instinctively searched for Giulio’s hand.

  «Tell them how brave the Little was. Without him we would never have discovered how to get to the ruby» she whispered to him.

  Mrs. Kornblum approached with a cup of boiling soup.

  «Here. Drink it, it will help» she said.

  Mr. Kornblum helped the captain to take his wet clothes off and hang them in front of the stove. He looked for some dry clothes to give him and he found some that had once belonged to his son. They were not the right size but for one night they would do.

  «Thanks for letting us in. You were our only hope.»

  «Friends of our son are always welcomed here.»

  «We won’t stay long. Just till dawn. Then we’ll try to get out of Rome.»

  Mrs Kornblum looked alarmed. Her son had been killed when he tried to leave the city and the idea that it could happen again filled her with fear.

  Letizia seemed to be sleeping.

  In the half-light of the room de’ Risis checked her breath.

  «You have to sleep as well» said Mr. Kornblum.

  «He is right. Or you won’t be strong enough to protect her. I saw how you looked at each other. You are in each other hands now» added his wife softly.

  The captain nodded and went to one of the armchairs.