“Sir, I’m in the worst traffic jam on the Tiburtine. Nothing personal, but I know I’m late and there’s nothing I can do about it.” Maurizio shook his head, still keeping his eyes on the road.
“I feel for you, but I didn’t call you simply to remind you that you’re late, rather I wanted to inform you about the status of your request to obtain a warrant for Irina Leonova to have the chance to interrogate her. Being the suspect also an Italian citizen and residing in a European Country, should make the task easier and smooth, and a request has been forwarded to the Magistrature.” He smirked, imagining Maurizio cursing in the middle of the traffic jam. Everybody who has been living in Rome or visiting long enough to be stuck in the Tiburtine, knows the challenges of having to drive it every day during the peak hours in the morning and afternoon.
“Great news! Thank you. I will get the team together to brainstorm about all the clues and evidence we have so far. Then I will be able to produce a report for you this evening, or whenever I reach the precinct,” he sighed hopelessly aware of the fact that there wasn’t any certainty on when he would have been able to get out of the Tiburtine.
Ending the conversation, he thought about it, starting to create a list of things to be done. Certainly, having Irina back in Italy for interrogation would have been a step ahead in the investigation. He was certain she must have had at least an idea about the location of her father’s whereabouts.
I think she was aware since the beginning of his plan to kill Mr. Calvani. The question is, whether she is an accomplice, a person who tried to dissuade him, or she was completely ignorant of the fact, and his father left home with an excuse the night of the murder, he reasoned within himself. There must be something that can give an answer to these questions besides questioning her personally. I need to go through all the DNA traces with Leonardo, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do as I get there—if ever I manage to do so.
It took almost another hour to get to the precinct when Maurizio stormed in, looking like a mad dog, as Leonardo would have described him, when he completely lost his temper.
Leonardo was on his way to the common room to get another coffee, when his eyes crossed Maurizio’s. They both remained frozen for a moment, engaging in a staredown, their eyes like gunslingers in western movies.
Leonardo opened his mouth, ready to mock his high school friend.
“Don’t even think about it!” Maurizio yelled, his voice resounding through the alleys. His finger pointing at Leonardo as if holding a gun.
Releasing a chuckle, Leonardo raised his hands, “Don’t shoot! I give up.”
“We need to talk, and I need all the brainpower available. I’ll come with you to get some coffee, and then we gather Officers Silvani and Milani to my room.” Maurizio cut it short. The first thing he needed was a coffee to collect his thoughts and forget about the traffic jam. He was confident that staying until late, as he predicted, would have allowed him to skip the worst of the peak hours on his way home.
As they all were gathered to Maurizio’s office, he gave a good look at each of them. “We have to take stock of the situation. First of all, we have forwarded the request to the magistrature for an international warrant arrest of Irina Leonova. We have to expect that they will ask for more evidence of her involvement, and this is what we need to do now.” He turned to address Senior officer Milani. “What is the news of the officers who are following Luciano Calvani and Madlen Fazekas?”
Opening a folder, she brought from her desk, she cleared her voice. “Concerning the moves of Ms. Fazekas, there hadn’t been anything out of normal. She went on with her life like you would expect. She has tried to get her job back at the club, even if no more as a stripper. She hasn’t received or made any suspicious calls, so we can certainly continue following her, but I doubt she’s involved in the murder. The reason why we might want to do so is her connection with her daughter.” She turned to officer Silvani, who had the report of the officers who were keeping an eye on Luciano.
“Instead,” Officer Silvani continued, talking with a lower tone of voice. “Mr. Calvani received a few phone calls from Ms. Leonova. All of them took place during the night, which is something that raises many questions. He’s working and waking up early every morning, so I would expect him to go to sleep early and keep the telephone calls for the late afternoon. Yet, they call each other in the middle of the night. Of course, there isn’t any rule that forbids calling at that time, but I personally don’t get the reason. According to the recording and transcript of the chats they had, it sounded like they knew they might have been heard.”
“Hmm...” Maurizio muttered, biting his lower lip. “Was there any possibility that the officers had been spotted?”
Shaking his head, Officer Silvani was convinced this wasn’t the reason for their hesitating chats. “What I know is that her aunt started questioning her about her journey, and she got wary. I believe this rarely happens, so she probably expects to be invited to present herself here to answer a few questions. Moreover, it was obvious she’d been in Italy entering in a way to elude the border control. The reason why she did so, isn’t clear but strange enough to bring her
