The mess of his brown hair.
Her hand on his cheek.
Marco tenderly moving a piece of hair from her face like he so often does with me.
It’s not a picture drawn from my imagination. It’s real. The shock hits me with such force that I stop for a moment in my stride … It’s a memory.
And then like a shock of electricity, I feel a current run through me and the missing forty-eight hours of my life suddenly come back to me.
Every lost minute.
‘Are you all right?’ the detective asks.
‘Yes, I’m fine,’ I say, hiding my shock.
I’m more than fine, I think to myself as a plan begins to form.
I will get my daughter back. And then my husband will pay.
SARAH
When I fell in love with Marco, I made the mistake of believing it was for life. I first noticed him in one of my lectures. He was this dark, handsome and mysterious Italian man who stood out in a crowd. He was strong; his arms bulged under his T-shirts, as did his taut chest. Even in those early years, he rarely shaved, so he always had a faint moustache and beard that trailed down to his neck. I remember noticing his eyes, an almost luminous golden-brown shade that made me think of a tiger’s-eye gemstone.
I got the sense that he had two sides to his personality, of which the real one was hard to discern. Alone, he seemed broody and distrustful, but in a room full of people he would easily become vivacious and loud, animatedly narrating stories of his experiences on different digs. He was a chameleon; he could change into whatever he thought people wanted him to be. Marco was an enigma to me and maybe that’s why I was initially so attracted to him.
When we married, I accepted that I would never truly know him. It didn’t bother me back then because I foolishly believed that nothing I found out about him would ever change my feelings. I loved him in spite of his flaws: his often dark silences, his secrets, his stubbornness, his arrogance. He was mine, and we were happy. Then came our children, Daniel and Emily, and our family was complete. Nothing filled my heart with more warmth than seeing him take to fatherhood, something he thought he wasn’t capable of. When each of them were babies, I would often sneak past their nurseries and catch Marco peering over their bassinets as they slept, staring at them lovingly. I would see him stroke their cheek or rest his hand gently on their chest, and I would know that whatever his weaknesses might be, he loved our children fiercely and unreservedly.
So now, I struggled to comprehend how that same man – that man I loved, that man who loved our children so wholeheartedly – could do what he has done?
I was wrong to believe all those years ago that my love for Marco was permanent. I didn’t know then what I know now: that love and hate are like opposite sides of a coin. All it takes is a simple flick of the hand to find yourself on the other side.
The curtains inside the hotel room are drawn. I’m surprised to learn that they’ve had this secret office set up the entire time, which makes me think that perhaps Marco and I were suspects from the start. It’s a double room with a connecting door in the middle.
Vittoria has joined the three lead investigators here and is looking at me now with what I can only assume is a mix of concern and compassion. ‘We have been closely surveying Marco. He withdrew a large sum of money while he was in Naples. We now believe that he used that cash to pay whoever he hired to take Emily.’
I shake my head. The bastard. Using our money to pay to have our daughter abducted.
‘It’s best that you communicate directly with Sofia,’ she continues. ‘If we get involved, she might get spooked and get rid of Marco’s phone. That phone is the only evidence we have right now. It’s the key to getting Emily back.’
‘I’ll do whatever you tell me to do. I just want to act quickly and free my daughter.’ I hate to think about what mental scars Emily will carry after this, made worse by the fact that her father was the one who inflicted them.
Vittoria is sitting at a desk with her laptop open. She types something quickly and then turns her attention back to me. ‘Time is of the essence. While we are here, our counterparts have used the number Sofia gave you to try to get a location of where Emily might be held.’
I start fiddling with my wedding band, taking it on and off my finger. ‘How will you do that?’
She gestures with a nod to Lieutenant Fallaci, sitting beside her, to explain. He scratches his bald head and straightens his round, black-rimmed reading glasses. ‘We are using a method known as cell-tower triangulation. Basically, the phone carrier will send a signal to the phone called a ping. The reply from the phone will be picked up by, let’s say, three cell towers. We use the time it takes to receive a response from the phone to work out the distance between the phone and each tower. We can then use this information to work out an approximate location of the phone.’
‘How long will it take?’
There’s a fast-paced energy in the room and I’m grateful that despite the revelation that Marco is behind this, they still see the need for speed. ‘We can usually identify the general location pretty quickly. It’s the precise address that can take time,’ he replies.
I take the ring off my finger now and put it in my pocket. ‘And how accurate is it?’
‘Sometimes it can be a suburb, other times we can narrow it down to a block.’
‘So, do you think the man sent that text to Marco from the place he’s holding Emily captive?’
This time Vittoria answers. ‘We’re hoping that’s the case. Once we have a location, we want you to call Sofia back. We know it’s going to be hard given the revelations of their –’ She pauses, as if embarrassed for me. ‘Their affair. But, it’s best if you don’t get her offside.’
I nod my head. It’s one thing to be cheated on, it’s another to be publicly humiliated by it. And no doubt, when we get Emily back and this gets out, their affair will be rubbed in my face when it’s printed in every newspaper.
My cheeks feel flushed. ‘What do you want me to say?’
‘Keep it brief. She’s staying at a hotel on the lake between Como and Cernobbio, which means it would take Marco around forty-five minutes to drive there.’
I cringe. My husband has clearly brought his mistress to Lake Como and put her up in a fancy hotel. The anger that consumes me is overwhelming. I want to slap him. I want to spit in his face.
‘We’re going to tap his secret phone,’ she continues. ‘Once that’s in place, ask her to call Marco and tell him he left his phone with her. She needs to be completely casual. He’ll probably panic and want to get it straightaway. We can’t risk Marco knowing that we’re on to him; if he suspects anything, he could contact the man that’s holding Emily and they might move her to another location, or the perpetrator may be afraid to get caught and act against Marco’s wishes. We cannot take any chances. So, when Marco arrives, Sofia’s got to act as though nothing has changed. That’s really important. She’s got to keep him there for as long as possible.’
I feel so humiliated. They’re asking me to get his mistress to use whatever means necessary to make him stay. Imagining what that will be makes my stomach turn. ‘Then what?’
‘Undercover police will be on standby, trailing Marco outside her hotel. Simultaneously, once we have Emily’s location, we’ll have our team in place and send the special forces unit, the Nucleo Operativo Centrale di Sicurezza, to free your daughter. If all goes to plan, once the perpetrator is detained and Emily is safe, the officers will arrest your husband.’
I finally feel the first waves of relief. This is going to be over soon. I’m going to get my daughter back. ‘I need to be there when you free her.’
‘That’s not possible, I’m afraid,’ Vittoria says, shaking her head. ‘For your own safety, we need to keep you away.’
I stand up and speak firmly. ‘Look, I understand that it might not be protocol but I need to be there for my daughter. She’s been through enough already.’
Vitt
oria gives a curt nod. ‘We’ll see what we can do.’
‘Thank you.’ I exhale.
Captain Palazzo instructs me to text Marco and tell him I’ve gone with a police escort to a nearby park to get some air. Marco replies with a simple ‘Okay’ and doesn’t seem to take any further notice, and now I know why.
Then Captain Palazzo’s phone rings. As he writes something on a notepad I try to decipher his change in body language but it’s impossible given his seemingly permanent expressionless demeanour. He rubs his chin as he listens, making the dimple at its centre more pronounced. ‘Thank you,’ he says and hangs up.
He turns to Vittoria and the other investigators. ‘I have the coordinates. An area within a three-kilometre radius near Lake Lugano, one hour from here and close to the border of Switzerland.’
It’s like I’ve been electrocuted. My nerves are so highly strung that it feels as if my hair is standing on end. ‘So, that’s it, you know where she is?’ I ask with disbelief.
‘If the perp is with Emily, that location provides us with a vicinity she is being held in,’ Captain Palazzo explains. ‘But it’s three miles wide and there could be any number of properties in that area – so, we’re closer to finding her but we’re not there yet.’
Palazzo turns his attention to Second Lieutenant Romano, who took note of the coordinates and is now typing quickly on a laptop. Romano is average height and well built, mid-thirties I assume, with thick brown hair and arresting blue eyes that seem to radiate a fierce drive.
‘Excuse me, Sarah,’ Palazzo says as he moves to the other side of the hotel room to talk to the officers in hushed tones.
It’s impossible to overhear what they’re saying and I don’t ask any questions because I just want them to move quickly. They gather around Romano’s laptop.
In the meantime, I look up Lake Lugano on my phone. It’s a glacial lake situated on the border between southern Switzerland and the Lombardy region of northern Italy. On the Italian side there are number of small waterfront villages, but between them are vast densely wooded areas. As I’m reading about the location, I hear a raised voice.
‘There, a farmhouse,’ one of them says and points to the computer screen. I strain my neck to see what they’re looking at. They have maps open with a satellite view. ‘And here, it looks like another farmhouse.’
I don’t want to slow them down so I stay seated, using every ounce of my willpower not to open my mouth and hound them with questions.
Vittoria whispers something and then they all stand up, taking the laptop with them into the connecting hotel room and closing the door behind them.
I’m left alone with no explanations. Without the exact coordinates they were given, I can’t search the map function of my phone and see what they were looking at. So, instead I pace the room.
I still cannot absorb that fact that my husband is behind this. I’ve always known he was an egotist and self-absorbed but I’ve never thought of him as cruel or unkind. I can only assume that this concealed side of him stems from his childhood, a history he doesn’t share but one that has, no doubt, left a permanent mark. And now I fear for our children, who may not have suffered blows from Marco’s hands, like he did from his father’s, but from the cruelty of his actions. Scars they will carry for the rest of their lives.
The door suddenly opens and Vittoria and the detectives enter the room. Their movements are fast paced and determined, and I can see in their stern expressions that something has changed.
‘Sarah, we have some new information,’ Vittoria tells me. ‘The location appears to be in a rural, mountainous area along the lake. From what we can see, there are only two farmhouses within that vicinity, both of which are not owner-occupied but are available for holidaymakers to rent. Captain Palazzo and Lieutenant Fallaci are going to head to the properties now in an undercover car to scope out the area and see what vehicles are parked outside and to whom they are registered. We’d like you to head back to the villa so Marco doesn’t get suspicious about your absence. Once we have any information, Second Lieutenant Romano or I will give you a signal, and we’d then like you to discreetly exit the villa and return to this hotel room, where you can make the call to Sofia.’
Again, I’m swimming with questions but I just want my daughter back, and the sooner they get in their car and on the road, the sooner that will be. Before they walk out the door, Vittoria turns to me. ‘I know this will be hard, Sarah, but you must act normally towards Marco. Do whatever it takes to hide your hostility towards him. Perhaps spend some time with Daniel so that you can occupy the same space but are not face to face.’
I take a deep breath and swallow. How can I possibly act unchanged when I face my husband for the first time knowing what he’s done? How will I suppress these overwhelming feelings of hate and anger towards him?
Pallazo and Fallaci leave and I head back to the villa escorted by the younger investigator, Romano. I try my best to calm my breathing and shake out the rigidity in my shoulders. I can do this, I tell myself. Marco has played me, and now I will play him. I’ll be an actress. I’ll perform the role of the unsuspecting, loyal wife. The one I’ve been foolish enough to be until now.
I pass the police stationed outside the back gates of the villa and walk inside. Daniel stops me as I pass the kitchen, his face pale. ‘Mamma, there’s something I haven’t told you.’
He runs his hands over his eyebrows and then through his hair. I wonder what on earth he could have to tell me that I don’t know already. I’m in no mood for any more revelations. ‘Can it wait?’ I ask.
He shakes his head. ‘It’s really important.’ His eyes dart around nervously as officers pass the open kitchen door. He closes it and bites his nails. I’ve never seen him so anxious.
I tap my foot on the floor. ‘Okay, what is it?’
‘I think the girl I’ve been seeing, Caterina, could be involved in Emily’s abduction,’ he spits out.
I squint in confusion. ‘What do you mean?’
He speaks so quickly that he barely stops to take a breath. ‘I met her the night of your accident. She’s a jewellery designer. She knew all about Papà and his search for the necklace. She kept asking me questions about whether you had found it. And the night Emily went missing, she talked to me on the phone for ages as if she was trying to keep me on the line, maybe to distract me so whoever she’s in this with could abduct Emmy.’
‘Daniel, I –’ I try to interject but he doesn’t let me get a word in as he rambles on.
‘I’m so sorry I didn’t say anything earlier. I hoped it wasn’t true but now I’m afraid that it is.’ He drops his head into his hands, his eyes bloodshot. ‘Mamma, what if this is all my fault?’
‘Daniel, this has nothing to do with you,’ I say, putting a firm hand on his shoulder.
He is so absorbed in his theory that he isn’t listening to me. I almost want to shake him to snap him out of it. I look behind me to check that the kitchen door is still closed and then I lean right up to his ear and whisper. ‘I know who did this. And it’s not Caterina.’
His whole body stills. He covers his mouth, then drops his hand away. ‘Who?’ he asks, his eyes so wide I can see red caterpillar veins.
‘I can’t tell you right now. But I will, soon.’
‘Come on. I have a right to know.’
‘Only Vittoria and the key investigators have the intel at this stage. It’s for your sister’s safety that no one else knows. Not even your dad. We can’t have anyone compromising her rescue.’ I stare at him sternly. ‘You need to promise me that you won’t say a word to a single soul.’
‘Of course.’ I can almost see his mind working as he turns over the possibilities. ‘So, where is she? When will they rescue her?’
‘I can’t say anything more. I’m sorry. I will when it’s safe to do so. This will all be over soon but until then, don’t act like anything has changed. Especially to your dad. You understand?’
He nods. I can see how
desperate he is to know more. His eyes plead with me to relent. But I can’t.
‘I have to go.’ I study my son before I walk out the kitchen, hoping that I can trust him not to say a word and jeopardise it all. I am about to open the door to leave when he grabs my attention in a low voice. ‘Mamma, can you tell me one thing – is it someone we know?’
I freeze. How will I ever be able to tell my son that the person he should have trusted the most committed the greatest deceit? ‘I’m sorry, Daniel. I can’t.’ I open the door and rush out so he won’t read the repugnant truth in my eyes.
I find Marco in the bedroom frantically going through his suitcase; there is stuff all over the floor. He’s obviously realised his phone is missing. I feel a sort of guilty pleasure as I watch him, knowing that his grand plan is about to implode.
‘Looking for something?’ I ask, startling him.
‘A credit card must have fallen out of my wallet,’ he says, flustered. ‘I’ll have to cancel it.’
His tone is so convincing that I can see how I was easily fooled by his lies. I have such searing rage that it’s taking all my energy not to push him off the balcony. I’m afraid of what I could be capable of in this state. ‘I’m sure it will turn up somewhere,’ I reply, my voice calm and even. Play the role, Sarah, I remind myself. The unsuspecting wife.
He stops searching and starts to pace around the room. If I didn’t know what I do now, I would have put his anxious behaviour down to Emily’s abduction.
I can tell that he wants me to leave the room so he can keep searching, so I deliberately stay there. ‘You seem upset. Are you okay?’ I ask.
‘I just want this all to be over,’ he says.
Of course you do, I think. You’ve got yourself into a far deeper mess than you ever thought.
‘Me too,’ I say instead. ‘I keep thinking to myself, what kind of a disgusting pig would do something like this to an innocent girl? It’s unconscionable that someone would be so cruel. Can you imagine the mental torture she’s going through, not knowing from one minute to the next if she’s going to be killed?’
The Perfect Couple Page 24