leaving him to dream about the new game he had just learned.
As of that day, he started bathing very often, and his aunties were indeed happy.
‘What a good little man, always so clean,’ they would say.
Annina would slip into the bathroom and play the periscope game with him, her hand under the water and a smile on her lips. Afterwards, he would kiss her cheek, or bury his face in her blonde hair, breathing a scent of sun and the kitchen.
One evening he lay in bed, unable to sleep because that morning Annina had whispered into his ear: ‘Tonight I’ll come and see you in your room, and I’ll read to you. Would you like that?’
He lay there with his head under the covers, listening to every sound. It seemed an eternity. When at last he heard the door open, a cold shudder ran up the back of his neck to his head. Someone sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled back the sheets. He felt the touch of coarse linen on his face and then, in the shadow, saw Annina’s smiling face, a restless glint in her eye. A blonde braid brushed his ear. He pulled himself up and leaned back on the pillow. Annina was wearing a white, almost glowing nightgown.
‘Let’s be quiet.’
‘Okay.’
‘So, what shall I read you?’
‘Ahhh, I dunno!’
She held a half-broken book in the air.
‘Do you know
‘The whale?’
‘Would like me to read it to you?’
‘Yes.’
Annina rested the book on her lap, holding it still with her open hand. With her other hand, she went searching under the covers for his periscope and started playing with it with her fingertips. After she had read barely a page, she stopped.
‘Can I come into bed with you?’ she said. He nodded yes.
Annina dropped the book on to the floor and jumped into bed, lying down beside him and pulling the covers over her.
‘Come on, little torpedo, come on top of me so we can cuddle.’ And she slipped a hand under his back and gently rolled him on to her. He nearly sank into that large, female body. Burying his face under Annina’s chin, he felt his lips against her smooth collarbone. A hot vein in his neck was throbbing fast. Anna was fiddling with his periscope, doing something he didn’t understand, and then he felt her other hand slide down to his bottom and pull him towards her. His periscope plunged into a warm sea, and it felt as if his whole body were submerged in a hot tub. Annina began to move about and breathe heavily, then grabbed his hips and made him move with her. Raising his head, he saw her smile, eyes closed, as she stroked his hair and arched her head backwards. Her braid lay across the pillow beside her face.
‘Kiss me, kiss me,’ said Annina, pulling him by the shoulders. He thrust his lips forward and covered her cheeks with kisses.
‘Yes, yes, lots and lots of kisses, kisses, kisses, kisses …’ He kept kissing her, on the nose and eyes, then the ears, mouth and chin. His periscope aflame, all at once he felt a hot wave run deep through his flesh from the lower back to the nape of his neck, then many waves all together, rapid and deep. He grabbed her tight, almost in fear, fast exhaling all the breath he had left in him, as she pulled him tightly towards herself and whispered words he couldn’t understand into his ear, caressing his head with both hands. He felt so good he almost wanted to cry.
Then peace.
‘Now sleep,’ said Annina. He collapsed on top of her, sinking into that vast, scented sea. Still feeling a few shudders under his skin, he fell into a deep sleep until morning. Waking up, the first thing he noticed was the smell of Annina’s skin on the sheets.
A few days later, Annina was summoned home by her family.
They had found her a job with a seamstress in a town near by. He stood in the doorway of her room, watching her pack her suitcase. Every so often she would turn round and make a face.
‘Little monster,’ she said to him in play.
Before she had finished, he ran away, into the garden and under the pergola where his aunts were taking tea. Annina then came down carrying her suitcase and bowed faintly in greeting. The aunts, however, all stood up together and went to kiss her.
‘Dear Annina, we wish you all the very best, do stay in touch …’ He stood there beside them, not moving. He felt strange. The world had changed. Annina bent down to say goodbye to him, kissed him on the cheek and, before raising her head, whispered in his ear:
‘Bye-bye, little torpedo.’ Her lips were so close that her words echoed in his head, and he was worried that his aunts had heard. He blushed and stood there as Annina walked briskly away. He followed her with his eyes, waiting for her to turn round again, but she never did. The last he saw of her was the blonde braid bouncing on her bare neck.
‘A registered letter for you, sir, from Rome.’
‘Thanks, Mugnai, just set it down here. Do you know where Piras is?’
‘I’ll send him to you straight away, sir. I saw him just a moment ago.’
Mugnai disappeared and Bordelli opened the letter. As he leaned back in his chair to read it, his fingers searched his pocket for his cigarettes. He’d just been promoted to chief inspector. Old Giuseppe Ierino had reached the end and was retiring. Bordelli chased away a fly that kept trying to land on his wrist, then lit his cigarette and, with a wrinkle of concern on his face, picked up the intercom to the office of the Assistant Commissioner.
‘Dr Cavia, this is Bordelli.’
‘Hello, Bordelli, did you get the news?’
‘I certainly did.’
‘You deserved it, don’t you think? You can move straight into Ierino’s office this morning, if you like.’
‘Well, that’s what I was calling about. I’d rather stay where I am.’
‘Why? Ierino’s office is bigger and brighter, and gives on to the street.’
‘I’d rather stay where I am, believe me.’
‘I really don’t understand.’
‘I don’t either, but that’s my preference, I assure you.’
‘As you wish, Inspector — I mean, Chief Inspector.’
‘Thank you, sir.’
As Bordelli was crushing his cigarette in the ashtray, there was a knock at the door.
‘Come in.’
‘You asked for me, Inspector?’
‘Sit down, Piras. We need to take stock of the situation.’ A wisp of smoke rose from the not quite extinguished cigarette in the ashtray, and Piras looked at it with concern. Bordelli noticed and snuffed it out. As he was about to speak, he slapped himself on the forehead.
‘Damn!’ He’d just remembered Rosa’s flowers. He sprang to his feet and spread his arms. ‘I’m sorry, Piras, but I have to go somewhere very quickly.’
They left the room together. In the doorway, Bordelli turned round to look at what had been his office for the past fifteen years. By now it had become his home. He could eat and sleep there as easily as in his apartment. Not even a salary increase could persuade him to move upstairs. Let alone the fact that it would have disturbed him to see someone else sitting at his desk. It would have made him feel old.
‘I’ll see you later, Piras. Meanwhile, give some thought to our next move.’
‘My brain is mush today, Inspector, but I’m not giving up. I can sense that we’re close.’
‘It’s always good to be optimistic. See you later.’
Bordelli ran out, hopped into his Beetle and raced to Rosa’s place. He could already see the devastation, the plants withered all the way down to the roots after a long agony. He imagined Rosa’s expression. She certainly wouldn’t start yelling, since that wasn’t her style, but she would wear a long face for quite a while.
He parked on the pavement in front of Carlino’s bar, to pick up the keys. Carlino Forzone had been a resistance fighter in the Piedmont with the
