Maurizio remained silent for a moment to elaborate in his mind that information. Then raising his glance, he turned to Leonardo, who had been silent the entire time, almost holding his breath listening to what the other officers had to say. “What about the forensic report? You said once that there was something strange on the DNA traces detected on the murder weapon. Can you tell us anything new that came to your mind, or that came out from further testing?”
Bringing his knuckles against his mouth, Leonardo furrowed his brows, creasing his forehead. “I still find it a bit strange. The touch DNA is indeed different for each human being, and someone might not leave any trace when they touch a certain surface. Some individuals consistently do not leave sufficient trace for a complete DNA profile, making them impossible to trace only on the basis of touch DNA. We are talking about a man who wasn’t alien to criminality. He knows perfectly well that DNA is the best way to nail a person to the crime scene.” He stood up and walked to Maurizio’s desk, where he could find some napkins. He wiped his hands and placed the napkins on the table. “If we’re going to examine these, we would find Maurizio’s touch DNA, too. Just traces, but you get the message.”
Drawing a long, deep breath, Leonardo returned to sit at the table. “There are a few points that don’t make any sense here: The first, is why didn’t he use latex gloves? Whether or not these wouldn’t have stopped to imprint some traces, they wouldn’t have left any fingerprints, which were there. Secondly is the amount of touch DNA material. If you hold a pistol for a few minutes, you might or might not leave any viable trace. Yet, if you are in an emotional state, like the one of a man who’s going to murder a love rival, your hands are certainly sweating, and you’re leaving more of a residue than you’d ever wish to. The third point is why in this world would you keep the murder weapon at home without making sure every trace is wiped away? It might belong to a serial killer’s profile who wishes to be caught— not an occasional assassin. Then there’s the presence of her daughter...” Leonardo shook his head.
“So, she was there by chance?” Maurizio added.
“Sir, I don’t believe it was a coincidence that she was there visiting him.” Senior officer Milani intervened.
“Neither do I, but I need more proof, and I need to have her here before accusing her formally of the murder, or the participation in the murder of Claudio Calvani.” Maurizio grabbed a pen from the table. “Meantime, Igor Leonov has disappeared from the face of the earth, as none of the border police in neighboring countries had recorded him. He’s searched internationally, but so far so bad, and I’m not expecting to see him any time soon.” He dropped the pen on the table with an angry grin, twisting his face.
“What could be the reason for the girl to kill or to take part in the murder of her mother’s boyfriend, who’s also her boyfriend’s father? She cannot have such a strong bond with her father to agree and make two dear ones suffer.” Officer Silvani mumbled, lowering his head.
“Never underestimate the reason of a psychopath,” Maurizio lectured. “Besides, let’s assume ad absurdum that she is the killer. This would have brought her to enter the Italian territory eluding the border control. She also would have needed a scapegoat, and who would have been better than her father? A man who had all the reasons to get rid of Mr. Calvani. She knows the place where his victim lives and has access to it, being the girlfriend of his son.” He stood from his chair and started to pace the room. “She had all the accessibilities to get to know the garage area, and that there would be a maintenance gap, where the cameras weren’t on. She had the spare keys to the garage, so Luciano didn’t have to go downstairs and open it for her when she arrived in the garage area.
“Still ad absurdum, let’s consider she had this plan since before engaging in the relationship with Luciano, and got access inside the apartment of his victim. She knew many things, because her mother would have talked to her about this man, and perhaps her father would have added other details to the picture...”
“But, then where’s the father? Where’s Igor Leonov?” Officer Silvani asked. “What would have been the reason for her to kill Mr. Calvani? Jealousy? Was she helping her father in getting revenge?”
“Money!” Leonardo smirked. “Don’t forget the life insurance the mother would have gotten, in case of death.”
“Her mother— not her!” Officer Silvani grimaced scratching his forehead. “Besides, it seems like she had no idea about the insurance...”
“What if all the three would have come to an agreement to get rid of him and split the money? I don’t believe the fact that Madlen wasn’t aware of the insurance. If Mr. Calvani trusted so much to stipulate a life insurance, he would have let her know,” Senior officer Milani intervened.
A pause of silence allowed them to consider what had been said about the case and about the people involved. Yet, something was missing.
Maurizio was sure the details they were missing were right there in front of their noses teasing them by being so evident nobody could have seen it.
“Let’s return to the original ad absurdum assumption,” Maurizio turned his glance at Officer Silvani. “You were asking where Mr. Leonov is, which is indeed a great question, because I believe he was involved in the crime, but as an accomplice. He would have been the man who provided the alibi, the gun and the way out for
