“I need to feed myself, stay cool, bello! I can move my jaw and my eyes at the same time,” Angelo grunted.
“Have you noticed any of our favourite Gallis acting suspiciously?” Chase changed topic.
“Yes. I mean, no. Rachele is in the hall with Conforti. She’s been crying the whole time. And Conforti spent the ceremony at the church behaving like a sponge. Agata has been surrounded by all her friends. You know the court of Versailles? You'll see what I mean when Agata passes by you.”
“And what about the others?”
“Ramona should be around somewhere, handing out drinks and food. I guess you’ve come across her. Marco and Gloria are making people feel at home since Agata is too busy for that. You know, posing like the inconsolable mother,” Angelo chomped.
“I don’t like your tone, big boy. You should respect her, she’s a war veteran,” Chase reminded him.
“Mangia! Eat and forget your British manners. Thank you very much, Gloria, these are delicious!” exclaimed Angelo taking another sandwich from the tray Gloria suddenly appeared with.
Chase refused the offer with a polite wave. Gloria replied with a cold smile then kept offering food to people around the house, receiving condolences from the acquaintances she met on the way.
“Ah, and those are Marco and Gloria’s kids. Have you seen them before? I expect so, otherwise what else have you been up to?” Angelo pointed out three young adults.
The young man was sitting in a corner in the living room with headphones on and playing on a video game console. He looked like an ordinary teenager who didn’t care about anything or anyone. The two girls, on the other hand, were frantically going here and there throughout the villa. They were quite pretty and so alike they might have passed for twins, although they weren’t. They were very well dressed, with designer label clothes and shoes, fashionable hairstyles and polished makeup. They were giggling the whole time in unison, ranging around like tormented souls. A few more minutes spent observing them were enough for Chase to realise they were pursuing one of the guest’s sons, a fairly good looking boy who didn’t give a damn about them.
“I’m going to collar Conforti, I’d like to talk with him,” Chase said.
“Va bene, I’ll be right back,” Angelo muttered.
“Couldn’t you ask your questions inside, Signor Williams? It’s getting cold here,” Doctor Conforti grumbled, following Chase outside. “Besides, I don’t think it’s the right moment to ask anything. Rachele needs me.”
“Rachele can manage by herself for few minutes, she’s strong enough,” replied Chase briskly, then he stopped in the middle of the garden, near to the corner which led to the dog pen. Conforti screeched to a halt behind Chase so as not to run into him.
“I need you to walk up to the dogs and then come back, please,” Chase explained.
“I beg your pardon?” Conforti replied, confused.
“You heard. Walk towards the dogs, then come here again. That’s it.”
“Is that all you had to ask me?” the man frowned, and Chase nodded. Conforti expressed his scepticism with a smirk that he didn’t try to hide at all, but he walked towards the dogs anyway.
As soon as he came close to the pen, the dogs started barking. Following his instructions, Simone came back to Chase. The dogs gradually stopped their noise.
“Very well, thank you, sir. You can go now,” Chase smiled, looking pretty satisfied.
Angelo was on his way to join them outside when he met Conforti along the path.
“Your colleague is crazy,” the doctor snapped.
Angelo asked Chase for an explanation.
“I’ll tell you later. I need to do the same with Ramona, just to double check. However, I’m concerned that she won’t be so willing to take my test,” said Chase. “You know where she is?”
“You think she’s escaped to Romania? She’s inside,” Angelo replied witheringly.
Angelo was wrong to make his sarcastic comment, because Ramona had in fact suddenly disappeared. Chase and Angelo looked for her everywhere, and at last asked the help of Rachele and Simone, who couldn’t find her either. Angelo briefly met Marco on the stairs before the older man vanished upstairs and there was no way of meeting him again.
Within a few minutes, even Agata had been informed about the missing girl and asked if she knew where Ramona might have gone.
“I have no idea,” Agata muttered looking quite worried, “but I’m sure it’s Rachele’s fault.”
“Honestly, mate, I’m kind of fed up with her singsong,” Chase muttered to Angelo, taking him aside.
“I’ve been watching Rachele all the time I’ve been here; she’s been in crowded rooms the whole time. It’s impossible that she kidnapped the maid,” Angelo observed, and Chase had to agree with him.
In the meantime Marco reached them with his cheeks on fire. He appeared very frightened and said he couldn’t find his wife.
“My kids haven’t found her either. They’ve looked everywhere, but there’s no trace of her,” Marco whinged. His hands were shaking terribly and he seemed like he was about to faint.
Chase took Marco's arm and gently led him into the kitchen, far away from the confusion of the crowd.
The Gallis, headed by Agata and under Angelo’s supervision, calmly got the guests to leave the house without raising the alarm.
Marco looked very shocked and freaked out at the same time. He mechanically sat down on a chair, completely bewildered.
Marco’s children peeped out from the door of the kitchen, looking pretty terrified too. Chase filled up a glass of water from the sink and handed it to Marco, then he turned to the kids.
“Want some water too, guys?”
The teens moved a step back, shaking their heads to refuse the offer.
“Come on in, we’re going to find your mother and Ramona. And your dad needs your support,” Chase invited them.
“To be honest, we just want to find our mother,” one of the girls shyly whispered.
“What a nice girl,” Chase thought.
The youngsters stood around Marco, and the girls hugged him from behind to comfort him and themselves. In contrast, the boy stayed impassive, reminding Chase of the cold and steely-nerved attitude of his mother.
“Signor Galli, where do you think your wife could have gone?” asked Chase. It might have sounded like a stupid question, but it wasn’t.
“I don’t know!” Marco exclaimed, and threw his hands up.
“Do you think she might have been abducted or something?” Chase kept going, looking serious.
“Why are you asking me that? Has Gloria been kidnapped? You gotta tell me that!” Marco shouted.
The two girls now got even more frightened.
“I didn’t say that, sir. Just calm down and think. Think. Where is your wife?” urged Chase, trying to ease the situation.
“Are you insinuating that I know where Gloria is and I don’t want to tell you?” Marco burst out.
Chase had enough of his hysterical behaviour, so he went for one last ditch effort.
“I want to know if there is anything you can tell me to help us figure out where your wife has gone.” Chase burst out in turn.
But talking to Marco was like talking to a brick wall.
“And what if they went off together? I mean, Mom and Ramona,” one of the girls said. Chase's eyes widened to demand an explanation, so she carried on talking, although hesitantly. “I saw them whispering something and then they went out of the house.”
“That's true, I saw them too,” the other girl added. “And now that I think about it, I remember they had their coats, so I guess they went off somehow.”
“Are you sure, girls? Gloria’s coat is on my bed, I’ve just seen it,” Rachele interrupted, entering the room with Simone.
“Did you see Ramona’s coat as well?” Chase questioned.
“No,” Rachele replied.
Within a couple of minutes, the room was full of theories and weird
stories coming from Rachele, Simone and the two sisters. They kept going like an overwhelming flood, until Marco’s son, who hadn’t said a word so far, took the floor, making everybody shut up.
“I expect Mom took her garden raincoat instead of her usual coat. And she probably did go off with Ramona,” he said gravely. Since no one commented, he continued. “It’s the only reasonable explanation. We can double check if her raincoat is missing.”
He headed towards the utility room next to the kitchen, which overlooked the garden. “No raincoat here,” he confirmed.
Chase snorted.
“Why should Gloria have taken her raincoat instead of her beloved best coat?” wondered Rachele.
“She uses it when it’s wet outside or if she’s going to be doing something or going somewhere with water. You are too focused on yourselves to notice anything,” the boy pontificated, turning to his sisters.
Chase looked outside the window where the sky had cleared up. Tursenia was definitely not London, and if the weather was turning nice then there wasn’t much chance of it raining.
“Which wet place might they go to?” Chase murmured to himself. In the meantime, Angelo and Agata had joined them in the kitchen.
“Where would you go with a raincoat on?” Chase asked Angelo. His friend didn’t know exactly what was going on, but Chase trusted Angelo’s answers and team spirit.
“Don’t know. Is it raining outside?” Angelo asked in turn.
“No, mate.”
“Then I might be going fishing,” he shrugged.
“Maybe she could have gone to Prendilavio Lake,” hazarded Marco.
His son thumped him on the back. “Bravo!” he said.
“Is she familiar with it?” Chase rapidly questioned.
“Of course she is. She knows the west side, the closest to here, very well. She likes walking along the pier and having a gelato, especially when she’s tired or upset,” explained Marco.
“Let’s go, mate. Put one of your blokes to guard the house,” Chase urged Angelo and pulled on his jacket.
The girls smiled at each other, perhaps being aware of having witnessed a turning point in the search for their mother. And their grandmother’s maid of course, but they didn’t care about her.
“No one must leave here.” It was the last thing Chase said to the Gallis before disappearing through the door.
Chapter 10
Prendilavio Lake was the only lead Chase and Angelo had to find Gloria and, hopefully, Ramona too. Angelo headed for the Autostrada instead of taking the minor road which passed close to the villa.
“It’s the fastest way to reach the lake, Chase, trust me,” he said. Angelo was Tursenian born after all, so he had mastered those roads better than Chase ever could.
“All right. But drive safely, I beg you,” were the only words Chase managed to say at the beginning of Angelo’s crazy race to the lake. Chase’s chattering died almost immediately, at Angelo’s first badly-taken sharp bend.
Despite the terrifying ride, Chase was kissed by the goddess of fortune that afternoon and they soon spotted Ramona’s yellow car at the side of a boulevard, a few steps away from the pier.
Angelo and Chase got out of the car and made for the pier. Some moored boats were rocking in the water. Small ripples created by the wind were slapping on the dock, creating a pleasant background that made the atmosphere relaxing. Lunch time was over, so kids were back at school and fishermen had long since gone home. Someone drove along the road, but the pier was absolutely quiet and deserted.
After a few minutes of walking and searching, Angelo spotted a silhouette some distance from him. At first Chase thought he could see two of them, but after having sharpened his eyesight he saw just one.
“It’s green, it could be Gloria’s coat!” exclaimed Angelo, pointing the profile out and keeping his voice low.
The silhouette turned and began running. It was immediately clear that the cause for this flight wasn’t the sight of Angelo and Chase, since it was running towards them.
Angelo increased his pace, intrigued by the silhouette’s actions. Chase was caught on the hop by Angelo’s sprint, but was able to follow him easily despite his sore ankle.
Angelo was running ahead of Chase, taking the lead by a few feet, when he unexpectedly accelerated on approaching the wharf where he could see into the lake. Chase watched his friend pull up short and take off his jacket. He even had time to ask Angelo for an explanation as he ran furiously towards the edge of the wooden wharf.
“Catch the lady, Chase!” Angelo shouted in response.
At that moment Chase clearly recognised Gloria as the green silhouette. She was still a hundred feet away from him. She looked Chase in the eye and hastened her pace. She attempted to evade him by changing her direction, but Chase was a clever runner. On top of that, Gloria didn’t look like a running enthusiast, and she would have never beaten Chase, even if she could have succeeded in her amazing zigzagging.
Chase rushed after her in pursuit. The woman lost one of her high-heeled shoes and Chase took advantage of her lack of balance to tackle her. They crashed to the ground.
“Why are you running from the ball, Cinderella?” he asked.
She sneered up at him but didn’t say a word.
He tugged her up with him to where Angelo’s jacket was and took a pair of handcuffs out of the pocket. Angelo always had some on him. Chase also tied Gloria’s legs using his belt, then turned to the wharf attracted by a noise he’d heard earlier while tackling Gloria. It had been the noise of a body impacting the water.
Angelo was clumsily swimming in Chase’s direction. He finally reached the shore, clambering up the slipway, not so far from Chase’s position.
Chase ran to meet Angelo. He was dragging Ramona out of the lake, holding her up, like a true hero.
“She forced me to follow her. She had a knife in my ribs, she would have killed me anyway. I was so scared, I knew it would end badly,” Ramona managed to say, shaking with the cold.
Chase helped Angelo to lay her down on the wharf. He took his jacket off and covered her with it. Ramona was coughing up water but seemed OK, Angelo less so. It was freezing for him too after all, even if he was trying not to shiver.
“What?” asked Angelo, seeing Chase’s worried stare. “Never gone swimming in a lake in February? You’d better call an ambulance and some backup,” he added, spluttering.
“So you caught her in the act!” Fortarrigo jabbered, crunching some crisps.
“A minute later and we would have seen Ramona’s body floating on the lake.” Angelo shook crumbs from his shirt. “After two attempts at killing her mother-in-law, Gloria failed with the heiress-to-be as well. What a noob.”
“Poor Signora Agata, she really liked her daughter-in-law, didn’t she? She was so in-step with her!” said Chase, a little ironically.
“Chase, you gotta stop worrying about Agata Galli, trust me.” When Fortarrigo used that reassuring tone of voice, it meant he didn’t have the slightest idea about what was saying. Probably he heard it somewhere and was recycling it. “She will be fine. Who would kill her? In any sense, I mean. Anyhow, I’d never have associated Piero’s death with his sister-in-law,” he added.
“Well, it was quite tricky, actually,” Chase stated.
“He knew everything and didn’t tell me anything. Can you believe it?” cried Angelo looking for Fortarrigo’s support. “He was waiting for more evidence, can you believe that too? Ramona could have died because he wanted more clues. You’re such a jerk, man,” he complained, turning to Chase.
“Hey, slow down with the accusations!” Chase exclaimed.
“Ok, I got the story up to when you were looking for the killer’s gender. So how did you solve the mystery, Chase? And why you said that Gloria tried to kill Agata twice? ” asked Fortarrigo.
“You’re right, mate. The first thing we did was to rule out the people who couldn’t be the murderer,” Chase began explaining.
“I
t was clear very quickly that it was an inside job: nothing was missing and there were no signs of forced entry. Cangi’s report helped us a lot. Moreover, it must also be said that Marco Galli looked such a true wimp, he was far too dominated by his wife to have done it.”
He cleared his throat. “I always trust my first impression of someone I meet. On the other hand, Doctor Conforti – as I’ve said previously – is a man of science and he wouldn’t have made so much noise; that would definitely not be his modus operandi.”
Fortarrigo handed him a beer.
“Ok, but now tell me about the women,” he asked impatiently.
Chase smiled.
“There were four candidates for the ‘murderer of the family award’: Rachele, Agata, Ramona and Gloria.” Angelo commenced. “Agata was quickly ruled out because of Cangi’s report. Although she’s a strong woman and had no alibi, she’s old after all and could have never inflicted a lethal blow to a big man like Piero. She would have found different and easier ways to kill her son.”
Chase drank some beer and took over from his colleague.
“The rigour, the order and the accuracy that reigned in the house ruled Rachele out of the game. She’s too messy a kind of girl and would never have thought of putting the murder weapon back in its right place after having used it.” Then he turned to Angelo. “Do you remember my chocolate-stained trousers?”
Angelo looked at Chase in total puzzlement.
“Come on, the day we talked with Rachele and Conforti, in the living room. I sat down on a chair and there was a chocolate sugared almond on it. I didn’t notice it and stained my trousers, and it was Rachele’s fault. She didn’t know where the sugar almonds had got to. Doesn’t that give you some idea how scatty Rachele is?” Chase explained to Fortarrigo.
“Yes, I guess. A person like that would never remember to tidy up after herself in her everyday life, let alone after committing a murder,” reasoned Fortarrigo.
“In addition, Rachele is really too thin and flimsy to hurl a glass ball at her father with the force necessary to kill him. I mean, she could possibly have done it, but she was the least likely among our candidates,” Chase concluded his assessment of her.
Into the Killer Sphere Page 7