“Yes, sir,” she briefly replied, grabbing the radio.
“Now we’re going to the apartment of Mrs. Fazekas, and let’s hope she’ll be there willing and ready to solve that little mystery for us,” Maurizio added as they reached the car.
CHAPTER 21
Maurizio and Senior officer Milani returned to the Department after three o’clock in the afternoon. The two teams of officers were already on their duty to follow and report everything happening with Madlen and Luciano, but Maurizio just received other pieces of that crazy puzzle from the visit to Madlen.
In his office, together with Senior officer Milani, they began to put everything together and clarify the situation. “So, let’s start from Irina,” Maurizio began spreading the dossier on the table, where he collected all the evidence.
“She was raised mostly by her aunt and studied in Hungary. The relationship with both her parents is smooth, like those you could expect in a normal family. The mother called her every day and went to see her every time her work allowed her. Madlen described her as a quiet girl with a great determination and sense of humor. Her aunt describes her as a restless child, who cooled down with age. She didn’t seem to have had any trouble, either at school or frequenting wrong companies, I mean the typical lively child, who turned out to be a normal teenager. At school she’d always been a proficient student and started to work part-time during high school to earn some small money for herself.”
Senior officer Milani kept her eyes on the papers, following what Maurizio said. Resting her elbows on the desk, she crossed the fingers of her hands. “When she reached the age of fifteen, she started to travel to Italy, to spend some time with her mother, and other times with her father. Those were all recorded by the border passport control at the airport,” she continued.
“But one day, something happens, and she meets Luciano. According to him, they met at the university, when she was looking for a course to follow. The flame sparks, and they fall in love with each other. Yet, we have no idea whether she knew Luciano was her mother’s boyfriend’s son. This is something we can only imagine. According to Luciano, she didn’t know in the beginning, and she found out later.” Maurizio continued, standing up from his chair.
Following him with her gaze, Senior officer Milani continued. “Indeed, and from that moment on, her visits to Italy become more frequent, but they aren’t all recorded from any border control. According to Luciano and her mother, she was here in October. In December, none of her passports were recorded entering the Italian territory, but she was in Paris traveling with a friend of hers, this is according to her aunt as well. However, her presence was testified by a telephone number from a prepaid sim card. The card has a foreign operator, but the roaming was recorded in Rome.”
Maurizio started to pace around the room. “Yes, but these aren’t the only times she arrived in Italy. For an unspecified period, she was living with her father, but her passport was recorded only in Paris. According to what her aunt told us today, she’s now in Hungary, and we should move forward to get her here. The chief commissioner has provided grant permissions with the Hungarian government. We’re eagerly waiting for a reply.”
“Why would she try to enter Italy illegally?” Senior officer Milani shook her head.
“The first thought is that she didn’t want to be tracked, but she made too many mistakes, like showing herself around. The second one is that she might have been aware of the plans of her father to kill Mr. Calvani, and she tried her best to stop him, in virtue of the fact that he was the father of her boyfriend.” Maurizio tried to reason.
“Or perhaps she came to help him, because she was the one who had connections to allow them both to leave the country as fast as possible and without leaving any trace. But who could have been her contact?” Senior officer Milani wondered.
Maurizio stopped pacing and remained frozen. “The captain of the ‘Sea Rider’ for example. They were leaving for fishing. What if on that occasion they brought her to the coasts of Corsica?”
Shaking her head, Senior officer Milani’s hair, secured in a ponytail swung from side to side, “How would they have been able to elude the coastal guard? They need special permission to enter the territorial waters of another country, regardless of whether we’re talking of the EU, which has a special agreement.”
“This might be true, but it would fit with the strange behavior of the crew. Yet, this is just a theory and we have absolutely not a single clue in that direction. To be honest there isn’t a single proof that Irina and the captain knew each other, and the connection to reach the French coast could have been through other sources. Nevertheless, this could be one possibility we might take into account,” Maurizio returned to sit down in his chair and started to add some notes to one of the documents spread on the table.
“I guess we have the culprit. Igor Leonov killed Mr. Calvani out of jealousy. Was Irina also involved? Did she help her father by giving him the contact of the person who would have smuggled him far from the Italian territory? Did she pretend to fall in love with Luciano to obtain information about the garage where Mr. Calvani kept his car?” Senior officer Milani continued.
With a smirk, Maurizio leaned in his chair. “We’ll need to have those members of the crew questioned either as
