Blue Bear_or the Impossibility of Anonymity
Page 35
“Alright, here, type in Giovanni Fasani,” said Lucy.
The old prince was not hard to find. He had just one wife, one heir — the current principessa — and an incredibly noble pedigree.
“Okay, so let’s bookmark this,” said Brian.
“Now to find Virginia Pironi.”
Being part of a mafia family, it was a little trickier, but they eventually tracked her down. They also found Irene Spiga and Eugenio Galli. They were already marked as married. Irene’s entry had a good deal of ancestry history, but Eugenio’s lineage was blank. Using the administrator log-in, Brian changed Eugenio’s status to deceased and entered the date of death.
“Alright,” said Brian, “are you sure about this?”
“One hundred percent.” Lucy pulled out the small framed photo of the prince — the one that had always hung from above her sink — and removed the back cover. Inside was a sappy love letter written from “Ginevra” to “Mio Principe.”
Brian linked the prince’s profile with Virginia’s by a dotted line to indicate an extra-marital affair between the high class aristocrat and mafia princess. He then connected both of the parents’ profiles to the illegitimate fruit of their encounter: Eugenio.
“And there we are,” said Brian.
“That simple?”
“That simple.”
“That was easy,” said Lucy.
“Now what?”
“Now we mail this love letter to the tabloids, and see if anyone cares.”
The Mormon missionary came back into the room, Lucy and Brian hurriedly closed the browser, shook hands with their helper, and ran out of the visitor center.
Lucy stopped in the lobby, “Wait, I’m going to slip into the bathroom.”
“What? No. Let’s go. We can stop at the mall. I don’t want to have to talk to these people again.”
Lucy was already gone. She emerged five minutes later in her running outfit and handed off her briefcase to Brian.
“What did you change for?” he asked her, walking out of the visitors’ center.
“I’m going to run home.”
“From here?”
“Yeah.”
“It took us an hour and a half to get here on the bus.”
“Yeah, It’s only seven miles from home, though.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Welcome to Europe,” said Lucy. “Why didn’t we just take a cab? Aren’t we rich now? When I go home for Christmas, if I hear any young American talking about how great public transportation is in Europe, I swear, I’m going to punch them in the face.”
“An hour and a half and we only got seven miles. You can run and get home faster.”
“Exactly,” said Lucy. “I can run and get home faster. I’ll race you.”
She took off running and Brian shuffled back towards the mall and the bus stop.
I was along the bank of the Tiber River, sitting on a step and admiring the water, smelling people as they travelled up and down the bike path. Upstream I saw a runner in Lucy’s clothes, with Lucy’s gait, but with blonde hair and sunglasses. She slowed down to a walk when she came around the path to where I was sitting. She took a seat right next to me, pulled her new phone out of her armband – her old phone now belonged to the Republic of Italy – and placed it next to her ear.
“Hello?”
“What’s up?” I said. “Were there any paparazzi outside the building?”
“Just one, but he was on a smoke break. I probably could have left even without a disguise. This wig is gonna be gross if I have to keep using it for running. It’s so dumb. Nobody’s published anything on me for two days. I’m not interesting. I should be allowed to leave.”
“That doesn’t seem to be stopping you.”
After the previous week’s events, things had gone extremely well. Between the combined corroborated testimony of Luca, the model, Natasha, Brian, and Lucy, as well as the audio recordings from Lucy’s phone and the memory chip from Luca’s camera, it was pretty obvious to everyone what had happened. The two Australian-Italian thugs were in custody, Virginia had disappeared, and Lucy’s lawyers had her on lockdown at the Palazzo. Luca Speziale was back to work at the station, and the police finally had some resolution regarding the Galli and Ludovici cases.
“Well Blue Bear, I survived.” She scooted up next to me and leaned in.
I wrapped my paw around her, “I’m glad.”
“Not just survived though... thrived. Wouldn’t you say?”
“Sure.”
Notes
[←1]
“You can’t come in. There’s been a murder. You understand? A murder!”
[←2]
“Yes,” she gasped, “But I live here. Who’s been killed?”
[←3]
“Uh, at this point we can’t say. But now, miss, you have to stay here,” said the officer pointing at the ground, “And we’ll need to ask you some questions.”
[←4]
“Excuse me, miss, can I see some identification?”
[←5]
“Um, it’s in my room upstairs, because I was out running.”
[←6]
“Alright, we can go get them in just a second. Name, please.”
[←7]
“Lucy”
[←8]
“Last name?”
[←9]
“Fox”
[←10]
“You’re not from here, I take it?”
[←11]
“Yeah, I’m American.”
[←12]
“Of course you are. Do you know what’s happened here?”
[←13]
“They told me there’s been a murder.”
[←14]
“Did you hear or see anything?”
[←15]
“No, I was out running and I just got back. I didn’t hear or see anything.”
[←16]
“Was there anybody with you?”
[←17]
“Well, in the park, no, but on the way home I stopped at the coffee bar with my friend Brian, here.”
[←18]
“And I’m sure Brian didn’t hear anything either, right? Can you point him out for me?”
[←19]
“Um, yeah, he’s the one dressed as a clown.”
[←20]
“Oh, great, that’s just what we needed. I’ll have my colleague here ask him some questions.”
[←21]
Lucy thought she was about to get let off the hook, until the officer said, “In the meantime, we can go upstairs and have a look at your identification.”
[←22]
“Alright, let’s go upstairs.”
[←23]
“Damn, this has to be an awesome place to live, huh?” he said with a big grin on his face.
[←24]
Yeah, yeah, it’s really nice.
[←25]
Alright, let’s go look at that I.D.
[←26]
“Young ladies,” said the cop, “do you mind if I interrupt you for a second?”
[←27]
“Oh, yes, sorry, sir,” responded Lucy.
[←28]
“Oh thank God you really do speak Italian,” said the new girl.
[←29]
The officer turned to Lucy and said, “Can you please tell her that I want her first name, last name and some I.D.?”
[←30]
“Oh, nice,” said the officer, “you’re from Colorado? My brother went there once to see the Grand Canyon. Beautiful isn’t it?”
[←31]
“I don’t know. I’ve never been.”
[←32]
“Wow, I’ve got an aunt who lives in San Francisco. Sometime I’d love to go see her. Maybe I’d hit Denver too. Is it beautiful? It’s right next California, right? About sixty miles?”
[←33]
“More or less.”
[←34]
“Well,” said the cop with a note of final
ity in his voice, seeing that Lucy was not interested in chitchat, “I’ll take my leave of you. If you hear of anything get in touch with the police immediately.”
[←35]
“Of course.”
[←36]
“And please, stay up here and don’t come down for at least a couple more hours.”
[←37]
“Okay.”
[←38]
“Oh, could you wait just a second. That young lady over there, is she our new arrival?”
[←39]
“Yeah.”
[←40]
“Splendid. Could you tell her to come over to us. We’d be delighted to make her acquaintance.”
[←41]
“Certainly”
[←42]
Lucy walked over to Natasha and took her by the arm, interrupting her wonder moment and dragging her over to the mean girls’ table. “Hi, I’d like to introduce you to some of the more illustrious residents here at the palazzo. Mrs. Pironi, this is Natasha Abramova, the newly arrived student in our group.”
[←43]
“It’s a pleasure.”
[←44]
“The pleasure’s all mine.”
[←45]
“And then, here we have Mrs. Sbarra.”
[←46]
“ It’s a pleasure, miss.”
[←47]
“The pleasure’s all mine.”
[←48]
“And then Mrs. Torretta.”
[←49]
“It’s a pleasure.”
[←50]
“The pleasure’s all mine.”
[←51]
“Please,” said Mrs. Pironi pointing to the chair in front of her, “have a seat.”
[←52]
“Thank you, that’s very kind.”
[←53]
“Where are you from?”
[←54]
“I’m South African.”
[←55]
“Splendid.”
[←56]
“Oh, hey there, beautiful. What’s up? How are you?” said Gambetti in the lobby.
[←57]
“I’m fine thanks, Gambetti. See you!”
[←58]
“Are you Ms. Lucy Fox?” one of the officers asked her.
[←59]
“That’s me.”
[←60]
“Okay, come with me.”
[←61]
“It sure is nice out today, isn’t it?”
[←62]
“Miss,” responded the tougher looking one, “it’s better if we don’t talk. Thanks.
[←63]
“Lucy Fox, you are under arrest for the murder of Eugenio Galli on the fifth of October 2015. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”
[←64]
“Take her away, the disgusting little murderer.”
[←65]
“Alright, young lady. Everything you’re wearing now belongs to the Republic of Italy. You can take it all off yourself or we can take it off for you. You decide.”
[←66]
“Oh, what a stench! Life must be difficult as a little American assassin girl.”
[←67]
“Luca, do you realize how important this interrogation could be for all of us and for you?”
[←68]
“Yes, boss.”
[←69]
“Let’s go over the facts again. One, she’s committed murder. Two, she’s a young American girl, even prettier than that one they caught in Perugia a few years back. Three, if you can demonstrate, as I suspect, that there’s also some sort of adultery or something like that involved, this will be the most important case in your life. The media love this stuff. Understood?”
[←70]
“Yes, understood.”
[←71]
“We’ll get book deals; we’ll earn a ton of money on the interviews; you’ll get promoted, and I’ll retire at a villa in the countryside.”
[←72]
“Have I ever let you down, boss? I’m entirely up to the job.”
[←73]
“Are you sure you don’t want a translator?”
[←74]
“Boss, there’s no one in the department who speaks English as well as I do.”
[←75]
“But I’m not talking about in the department. We can bring in professional native speaking translators from outside by tonight, if you want.”
[←76]
“There’s really no need.”
[←77]
“Alright.”
[←78]
Juanita! Juanita! Come here now! We need help!
[←79]
At the front desk, assuming hematologists don’t work on Sundays, she asked the lady, “Good morning. I’m an old friend of a hematologist who works here. I was in the area, and thought I might drop in and and see if he was around. It’d be great to say hi.”
[←80]
“What’s his name?”
[←81]
“Eugenio Galli.”
[←82]
“Yeah, he’s here today.”
[←83]
“Wait! Look, he’s arriving right now.”
[←84]
“Brian, how come you haven’t said hi to me today?” Yvette’s speech patterns were as close to laughing and singing as you could get while still speaking.
[←85]
“Because I’m not well behaved. And because I had to escape that last lecture. Did you stick around?”
[←86]
“Oh my God, I stayed, and I feel dead tired! When will the Lord come? Tell me when?”
[←87]
“Listen, Yvette, I wanted to ask you something. Can we talk for a second?”
[←88]
“Of course! Tell me!”
[←89]
Virginia handed her a glass of lemonade with a straw and asked her, “Have you seen him over there?”
[←90]
“Yeah, he didn’t say hi to me. He always says hi.”
[←91]
“Today, yeah, he seems different. Very different. If you ask me, somehow, he’s come across some money.”
[←92]
“Why do you say that?” asked Lucy.
[←93]
“I can’t say for sure, but if you ask me, look, he’s a very impulsive guy, right?”
[←94]
“Definitely.”
[←95]
“Today he came to work in a new suit, and he’s not doing anything but running off every twenty minutes and coming back with a stack of lotto tickets. Somebody who’s that impulsive doesn’t act like that unless he’s just unexpectedly come across some money.”
[←96]
“Weird.”
[←97]
“Definitely. We’ve got to keep an eye on him.”
[←98]
Martina, who was on the couch with two other ladies watching the T.V., turned around and yelled, “Oh, shut up! We’re trying to watch Don Matteo!”
[←99]
“Oh, hey there, beautiful,” he said. His eyes were flickering back and forth between Lucy and his lottery tickets, “How’s it going?”
[←100]
“Good. Listen. Do you have a moment to chat?”
[←101]
“Of course. Always.”
[←102]
She came around the counter through the door to the porter’s office, and perched herself on the desk in front of him, slightly to his right side, on top of his lotto tickets. She put her right foot up on the seat of his office chair, and leaned in close to him.