White Shotgun

his cassock. He spoke at a gentle pace, a person of true contemplation — none of the greedy egotism I expected in a religious leader. As a hostess, Cecilia treated him with utmost respect, showing all her sides — competent, obedient, and seductive — deeply desiring to impress herself upon the quiet authority of this man.

So when Sofri and I saw that the priest had also gotten up from his table and was hurrying behind Cecilia and Nicosa to the red Ferrari, we left the party immediately, and drove thirty-five minutes on hair-raising jet-black roads to the hospital, which was located in an industrial park. Like my sister, it wasn’t large, but inspired confidence. It had the air of bold, forward-thinking modernity, with a waiting area like an upbeat take on a sixties motel — turquoise sofas and funky lamps like daisies that looked surreal in contrast to the torchlit grandeur of the abbey, and the life-and-death struggle of a kid who was into something way over his head.

When we arrive, the waiting area is empty. Sofri disappears down a hallway to locate the family while I attempt to engage the one police officer in sight — overweight, middle-aged, with a big, bald, indented head. His front teeth are yellow and pushed together as if he’d been attacked by a mad dentist with a vise. When I ask for information about Giovanni Nicosa, he shrugs as if he has never heard the name. I try again, explaining that I am the boy’s aunt from California, and I am very worried.

“California?” He understands “California” and slowly grins with recognition.

“TV?” says the officer.

“You watch TV?”

He nods.

“American TV?”

“Si.”

“Really? What is your favorite TV show?” He draws in the air. Tracing letters.

“CSI! You like CSI?” He nods, pleased to have conveyed this important fact.

Once again, Sofri arrives to save the day. At his side is the woman police detective who appeared at the abbey, Inspector Francesca Martini, talking rapidly on a cell phone while clutching three unopened packs of cigarettes. Still talking, Inspector Martini manages to shake my hand.

“You are Giovanni’s aunt,” she says in English, then holds up a finger to signify the importance of her phone conversation, which is taking place with the head of the provincial police, her boss, “Il Commissario.” I give a nod. Her bangs go straight across, and the rest of her long, shiny black hair is efficiently pulled into a clip. The short- sleeved uniform reveals a set of muscular, beautifully sculpted arms. You could work out for a hundred hours and never have those arms — they are genetically authentic to the Roman goddess of war.

I ask Sofri how Giovanni is doing.

“Come outside,” he says.

The red Ferrari is one of the few cars in the parking lot. The door is open and the interior lights are on so that Cecilia, bent over an appointment book, can read a number while punching it into her cell phone. She seems to be going down a list — the people you would trust in a crisis. Nicosa is also on the phone, pacing back and forth in the headlights. Sofri shrugs deeper inside his blazer. The temperature had dropped twenty degrees since the morning. The air is damp and there are halos around the streetlights.

“Giovanni will need emergency surgery,” Sofri says. “They are waiting for the doctor to arrive from Montepulciano. I can’t believe this.” The door slams shut and the car goes dark. Cecilia walks over to where we are standing. The black dress seems the one thing physically holding her together. Her hair is falling loose and her hands are clenched. Her face is white. I draw her aside.

“I can help you with this,” I say gently.

“How?”

“Let me call the FBI in Rome. We can pressure them to kick-start the investigation.” “Right now I cannot think about that.” “I know. This is what I do. Let me take that burden off.” “I don’t want you to call the FBI.” “Because of Nicoli? Whatever’s going on with him, he’ll want his son’s attacker to be found—” “Please, you don’t understand. Just leave it to the provincial police.” Her eyes are glistening. She’s on the edge of frantic. She needs to know she’s still in charge of something.

“I’m here if you need me.” “Thank you, Ana,” she murmurs, and my heart squeezes for her pain. “Sofri said you were inside, talking to the police officer. What did you find out?” “His favorite TV show is CSI.” “Don’t make a joke!” “Forgive me; I’m not making a joke. The officer told me nothing.” Sofri is there. His fingers close soothingly around Cecilia’s arm as Nicosa joins us.

“Che succede?” Nicosa asks.

Cecilia, tense, shakes Sofri off.

“I am telling Ana about Giovanni. He was stabbed several times.” Her fear gives way to fury. “In the leg, chest, and abdomen. He has right now bleeding into the abdomen, with laceration of the iliac and femoral arteries, which means he could lose his left leg.” “Lose a leg?”

“The artery was severed; he lost the blood supply to the leg. There is the possibility of amputation.” Her medical authority has returned to steady her. “Also his lung is collapsed from the knife wound to the chest, and he has a broken arm, probably from defending himself.” “What’s the plan?” “To get the best vascular surgeon I know to repair the artery and save the leg. He is on the way.” “What do they say about the assault?” “Nothing,” Nicosa interrupts bitterly. “It happened in Torre.” “Nothing? Because of a rivalry from the thirteenth century? No. I’m sorry, no. Modern police forces do not operate that way.” “Your brother-in-law is suggesting that the police are maybe a little bit slow tonight because the Commissario — the chief of the provincial police in Siena — is from Torre,” Sofri explains.

I am astonished. “They’re not going to investigate?” “They’ll investigate.” Cecilia pulls out the clips and shakes her hair. “But we will never really know who did this. They’ll say, Cosa si puo fare? It is Palio,” adding savagely, “when we all know it has nothing to do with Palio.” “This is ridiculous.” Sofri looks at his watch. “Where is the surgeon?” I don’t like the way Cecilia is refixing her hair with eyes lowered in resentful silence.

“What do you mean, ‘Nothing to do with Palio?’ ” “I can tell from the wounds it was not a random stabbing, okay? Someone knew exactly what they were doing,” she says. “If they wanted to kill him they would have cut his neck or shot him in the head. But no — they only come this close. Instead, they hurt him and leave him a cripple.” Sofri winces. “Please!” “Why? It is the truth. They do it to send a message. This kind of attack is something we see in the emergency room in Napoli, not in Siena, when two contrade get into a fistfight.” “But it could happen,” Nicosa says. “Between contrade.” “Why do you say that?” Cecilia snaps, venomous, as if the gold snakes on her dress have come to life. “If he went with friends, where are the friends? If they fought with Torre, why didn’t anybody see?” I cut in. “Is Via Salicotto a busy street?” “Yes.”

“Stores and cafes open?” “Yes, of course. Summer is the busy season.” “If there were any witnesses, and if they were from Torre, what is the likelihood they would come forward to help someone from Oca?” There is a pause as the three exchange glances, as if to decide just how crazy the Sienese might be.

“You have to believe not even the people of Torre, sangue d’ebrei e Torraioli,” Sofri says, adding an ugly curse meaning that the enemy is as low as the Jews, “would be silent about something this serious.” “Anybody could have seen!” Cecilia cries, exasperated. “Thousands of tourists in the city — someone walking on Via Salicotto had to notice if a boy was being stabbed almost to death.” Nicosa cocks his fist. “He will not die!” “Basta,” Sofri says. “We have to be together now.” “He acts like he has nothing to do with it,” Cecilia murmurs.

“What is that tone in your voice?” her husband demands. “Are you saying this is my fault?” “You have turned your head.” “Let’s go inside.” Sofri takes her hand. “The doctor is here.” As headlights swerve into the parking lot, Sofri steers Cecilia toward the hospital.

“I have turned my head?” Nicosa shouts. “You spoil him! You treat him like a baby! You don’t allow him to grow up!” Cecilia twists from Sofri’s grasp. “He doesn’t want to grow up. He doesn’t want to be like his father—” But then she stops herself and her look becomes pleading. “Mi dispiace, Nicoli. Sono spaventata cosi.”

Nicosa relents and comes toward her. They embrace, long and hard and desperate; you can see in the fit of their bodies how the years have carved them together. They hold on until Sofri gently takes Cecilia’s arm. The surgeon from Montepulciano has gotten out of his car. Nicosa watches as the three meet and the automatic doors swing open and swallow them inside.

“Giovanni is going to make it,” I say.