“Rarely, but it did. I suppose Mr. Calvani understood he also had duties toward his son. I think he did indeed love Luciano, but he was too caught up with this girl and probably didn’t realize he was neglecting their relationship.” She exhaled deeply, thinking about the son who was first suffering from the lack of attention from his father, and then he had to discover him dead.
There was a pause of silence when Maurizio took his time to recollect his thoughts and consider other questions to ask. Nevertheless, at that moment, he probably needed to have some confirmation about what Berenice said. He had to understand whether he just wasted his time listening to her gossip, or there was indeed something helpful in what she said.
He stood up, grabbing the last cookie. “I need to go now. I don’t have any other questions for you, but I might return in case I come up with new ones. I need some time to process what I have right now.”
“It has been a pleasure for me, Detective, and I hope you will find the person who killed Mr. Calvani, but keep in mind what I told you because the girl might have had a great reason to kill him,” she warned. “I will be at your availability and will keep some cookies in case you will have more questions.” She winked as she guided him to the door.
“Thank you very much for your help and for your hospitality. I will inform you if I have the need to return, and if you happen to recall anything, you can call this number,” he handed her a business card and stepped out of the door.
He reached the car, and his stomach started to growl to remind him of the promise he made about having a Porchetta sandwich as he got out of the apartment.
“Yes, I know, and we’re going to have it. I’m literally starving,” he chuckled as he started up the engine of the car.
***
Since he returned from the Police precinct to allow the forensics to obtain a copy of the hard drive of his computer, Luciano closed himself to his bedroom and looked around. That was just a spare room and had none of the things he liked to surround himself with. He realized he’d been spending too much time in vain trying to get his father’s attention and neglecting the relationship with his mother.
“I behaved toward her in the same way he behaved with me. I guess this is a sort of Karma striking back. Perhaps had I been more considerate toward her feelings, I would have also obtained more attention from him.” He sat on the bed and wondered when he would be able to either return to the apartment or to get at least some of his belongings. In the hurry of the moment, he could get only his mobile phone, the laptop, and the books to study.
He never spent more than a few hours in his mother’s apartment, and nothing was familiar to him. It was only the place where he was going to meet his mother every now and then. His heart didn’t recognize it as home.
The ringing of his mobile phone broke the silence in the room, and Luciano rushed, searching for it.
“Hello,” he replied without checking the caller ID.
“Luciano, I heard on the radio the news about your father. How are you?” Stefano’s voice arrived like a storm through the receiver.
It didn’t take much for the news to circulate around, Luciano considered. He hoped the press would have been informed later, and perhaps the news would have reached his circle of friends and acquaintances with some delay.
“I’m confused. I… I still can’t believe it,” he replied, trying to get a grip of his emotions. “I think that it was less than a day ago when I greeted him as he was going to meet his girlfriend... To think that only this morning, I was whistling for the chance of getting his car to reach the university... Everything is so unreal, and I feel like such a fool for my stupid desire of showing off with his Lamborghini.”
Finally, he started to realize his father wasn’t coming back anymore and whatever he had in mind to tell him had to wait for eternity.
“I still can’t believe it. If there’s anything I can do for you, don’t hesitate to ask. Even if it’s just to have someone listening to what you need to say, or you need to get distracted. Really, whatever.” Stefano and Luciano had been friends since the beginning of the university. It was a new friendship, but they connected immediately and became very close. With his old utility car, borrowed from his mother, he couldn’t compete with Luciano’s wealth. Still, their friendship was not about being at the same social class, but about being on the same wavelength.
A smile appeared on Luciano’s face as he heard the concern in his friend’s voice. He suddenly felt less lonely, and probably talking with someone who wasn’t directly affected by his fate was a good idea to avoid the feeling of emptiness taking space in his soul.
“I appreciate this. I know I can count on you. I’m sorry, I should have called you explaining why I wasn’t at the lecture this morning. Everything happened so suddenly, and I didn’t have the time to fully understand it.”
“Are you crazy? You didn’t need to do anything else but to take care of yourself and of your mother. I know she divorced him, but I believe it was a shock for her to realize her ex-husband had been killed.
