Silvia slowly placed the paper on her desk and raised her eyes to her audience.
There was a long pause of silence, when nobody could find the right words to be spoken. Maurizio knew that was just a temporary situation and soon, all hell was going to break loose. Glancing at Silvia, he understood she was also waiting for the bomb to explode.
“That’s the reason why you killed him!” Giulia yelled, standing from her chair glaring at Madlen. “You wanted his life insurance!”
Madlen was obviously still shocked by the news, and it appeared as if she had no idea of the existence of such a piece of the settlement.
“I had no idea! I loved Claudio, I would never have killed him, and I didn’t know anything about this insurance!” She stood from the chair and felt the judging stares of everyone on her. Indeed, that was the most obvious reason for someone to kill, but she was ready to swear on everything she hadn’t done it.
She glanced at Maurizio, who remained calmly seated on the chair, pondering on the situation, observing the reactions, and trying to get an opinion about it.
“Aren’t you going to do anything, Detective?” Giulia wondered, outraged at his calm.
“Mrs. Martini, what am I supposed to do?” Maurizio furrowed his brows, knowing she was wondering why he hadn’t already arrested Madlen for the murder of her ex-husband. “Having a good reason for killing Mr. Calvani, is not sufficient proof to bring her to jail. The investigation is still ongoing, and we need more than just a suspicion.”
Madlen toured with her eyes Maurizio and Giulia as if to wonder whether they could have decided of her fate right away.
Giulia threw her hands in the air in an exasperated attempt to be heard, or to have someone who could have listened to her. “That woman stole my husband, just to kill him!” She pointed her finger to Madlen, her voice trembling as old feelings appeared from a hidden corner of her heart; the same feelings she still held for the man she married. Despite the fact that she addressed him as a jerk and asshole, without the intervention of Madlen in their lives, she would still have addressed him with dear words. “Without her, my husband and I would have remained married, and he would still be alive today.” Tears welled from her eyes.
“Claudio came to me, not the other way round. I had no idea he was married. When I met him, he told me he was planning a divorce.” Madlen tried to defend herself and her relationship with Claudio.
“Bullshit!” Giulia yelled at the top of her lungs.
“Mrs. Martini, please come with me, you need to calm down,” Silvia came to offer her a friendly shoulder to cry on. Holding Giulia, she guided her outside, glancing at Maurizio, hoping he understood he needed to bring Madlen outside and try to calm the waters.
“I guess we all need to leave now,” Maurizio announced, glancing at Madlen and Luciano. One thing baffled him; it was that Luciano appeared as cold as an ice cube for the entire length of the reading. He had no idea whether he was a person who preferred to keep everything inside, even the tears and emotions, or there was something sincerely scary about his behavior.
“I will go to see whether my mother needs my help,” Luciano whispered, and without greeting or waiting for any answer from Maurizio or Madlen, he left the room, walking in the same direction as Giulia.
“Detective, you have to believe me, I haven’t killed Claudio. He never talked to me about any means to secure my future—we were not thinking about the possibility of dying. He was still young!” Tears started to flow like a river from her eyes, and Maurizio could understand the reason why he felt attracted to this woman. Scala didn’t try to justify Claudio, but her beauty was something uncommon to be seen in everyday life.
“Ms. Fazekas, you certainly understand I have to consider this as proof. Yet, it doesn’t mean I am going to arrest you only on this basis, until we find who is responsible for the murder of Claudio Calvani.” He locked his eyes on hers, trying to make her feel confident that despite the fact that there were a few suspects, there wasn’t any steady lead on anyone, at the moment.
“I loved Claudio,” she wept, trying to wipe her tears away.
Gently Maurizio placed a hand on her shoulder, and guided her out of the room, and the building. As they were in the parking lot, she turned her glance at Maurizio. “Thank you, Detective Scala. I will return home now, and I will remain available to answer every question you need.”
“Do you need a ride back home?” He asked.
With a fast shake of her head, she tried to smile, “No. Thank you, perhaps a bit of fresh air will help me to clear my thoughts. All I need now is to be alone.”
With those words, she turned on her heels and walked away.
Maurizio remained there for a moment before deciding to take the car and return to the precinct. He looked at the clock; it was already four o’clock. He knew that returning to the office meant he had to write down his impressions and some notes about the new details obtained during the day. “I’ll be late at home, so it’s better if I inform Anna about this. She can have her dinner with Giovanna and leave something for me,” he mumbled as he started to write her a message.
Placing the mobile phone back in his pocket, he recalled he was also supposed to contact the real estate manager to start finding buyers for his apartment and
