Into the Killer Sphere (9 page)

Before going inside the villa, his instinct told him to explore the outside and the whole garden, just to be sure he hadn’t missed anything relevant. What had Ramona meant with that parting statement? Did she know something? Was she afraid of someone, or did she want to get things sorted out after the pot falling? Sorting out things was meant to be her specialty, after all.

The dogs started barking as soon as they spotted Chase approaching their enclosure. There were five, all some sort of pedigree hunting dog. There were five different little wooden buildings on one side of the pen which had to be the dogs’ kennels, although they actually seemed like miniature houses.

Every dog had a pretty, likeable snout and a coloured collar with its name on. Chase could only see the marks of the inscription on the metal but couldn’t read the names, as the dogs were moving too much: it was a merry confusion of barks, paws on the fence and wagging tails.

Despite Chase patting them, the dogs didn’t stop making a noise, so Chase left them and went on past the paved area and hedges, from where he could
catch sight of the fruit garden.

It was a very nice place, the neatest area of the whole garden. There was a pail and a harvesting bin every two or three trees. Some ladders were placed here and there, either leaning against the trunks or between the trees. Chase walked around the garden, reaching the patio again: now the point of view of the place was different. And it revealed a surprise for Chase. While exploring it, Chase noticed a dark, hidden hollow below the small flight of stone stairs on the patio. Chase snooped within the corner and saw a wicker basket.

He decided not to touch it because he didn’t have any gloves with him, and made a mental note to bring a pair with him next time. If there was a next time, of course. He carefully moved the basket to inspect it using the corner of his blue shirt. His trousers already had a chocolate stain after all, so why not sacrifice his shirt too?

Inside he found muddy cloths, some shears, a pair of work gloves and other small gardening tools. At the bottom of the basket, he also found some glass splinters.

“
They must belong to the chandelier,”
he thought.

He entered the villa, heading upstairs. The main hallway was decorated with a series of pictures and lithographs of ancient and medieval Tursenia, while the bathroom walls were smooth and immaculate. The bedrooms were all finely furnished with nothing on the walls. It surprised Chase that all the rooms had been tidied except for Rachele’s, where chaos reigned supreme among boxes, bags and piles of clothes.

With the calm of solitude, Chase could fully appreciate Agata’s style of home furnishings downstairs. The whole house had already been checked out, by Inspector Mecci firstly, and more recently by Angelo. What neither had noted down in their reports was how the villa actually looked. There were little oil pictures, ornaments and display cabinets with cups, dolls, bells, photos from World War II, Masonry emblems and Partisan’s badges almost everywhere. Dusting all that stuff every day had to be a really big job for Ramona.

Even in the utility room you could recognise Agata’s hand but not in the library, which was Piero’s territory. Chase poked and pried everywhere but he found nothing relevant.

At the end of his tour he went back to the library. He had to move some furniture to get in, but finally he did it. The room looked like he had left it the day before: clean and in perfect order. Chase was about to sit down on an armchair when it occurred to him to double check if the sets of French doors were locked or not. The west ones were, but not the east ones. Thanks to that Chase was able to notice something very interesting just beyond the curtains.

A broom and a dustpan still full of shards and soil had been leant against a tree in the fruit garden. How could he not have noticed them when he was outside?

He grabbed his smartphone and browsed the latest photos in the gallery. While the thoughts were crowding Chase’s mind, his legs led him outside again, next to the dark hidden corner of the patio. Again he wrapped the corner of his shirt around his hand and took the shears from the basket, then looked at them against the light: they were deeply scratched.

“Interesting,” commented Chase aloud.

He hurried back into the house to find his phone where he’d left it in the library.

“Now I need to talk with Doctor Conforti,” he sighed.

Guests arrived at the villa to
commiserate with the Gallis. The house was more crowded than Chase expected, so it wasn’t easy to spot Angelo amongst all those people. However, he found him after a while and was asked to patrol the property, keeping a special eye on the suspects.

“There’re also some
plain-clothes police officers around to help me out, but I don’t trust them. I trust you.”

Chase thanked Angelo for the friendly pressure he put on his shoulders, then they lost each other for about an hour.

Chase kept walking around the first floor of the villa observing the ritual of Tursenian public relations in high ranking society. All the guests talked quietly and showed off a certain elegance: women were fully bejewelled and not gaudy in their outfits, while men paraded shiny cufflinks, pretty tiepins, antique pocket watches and designer belts.

It seemed that none of the big names of Tursenia’s elite were missing. Chase met, among many popular faces, the mayor, Bracciali and other politicians or important people whom he often saw on the front page of
La Gazzetta di Tursenia
. All of them patiently lined up to exchange a few words with Agata; she touched every hand and talked to everyone, sitting on a chair and surrounded by a handful of women of her age.

When Chase finally caught Angelo again, he was on the patio devouring a sandwich.

“Any clues? Any news?” asked Angelo.

“You can’t stop eating, huh? You’re working, man. Get a grip!” Chase accused him.

“I need to feed myself, stay cool,
bello
! I can move my jaw and my eyes at the same time,” Angelo grunted.

“Have you noticed any of our favourite Gallis acting suspiciously?” Chase changed topic.

“Yes. I mean, no. Rachele is in the hall with Conforti. She’s been crying the whole time. And Conforti spent the ceremony at the church behaving like a sponge. Agata has been surrounded
by all her friends. You know the court of Versailles? You'll see what I mean when Agata passes by you.”

“And what about the others?”

“Ramona should be around somewhere, handing out drinks and food. I guess you’ve come across her. Marco and Gloria are making people feel at home since Agata is too busy for that. You know, posing like the inconsolable mother,” Angelo chomped.

“I don’t like your tone, big boy. You should respect her, she’s a war veteran,” Chase reminded him.

“
Mangia
! Eat and forget your British manners. Thank you very much, Gloria, these are delicious!” exclaimed Angelo taking another sandwich from the tray Gloria suddenly appeared with.

Chase refused the offer with a polite wave. Gloria replied with a cold smile then kept offering food to people around the house, receiving condolences from the acquaintances she met on the way.

“Ah, and those are Marco and Gloria’s kids. Have you seen them before? I expect so, otherwise what else have you been up to?” Angelo pointed out three young adults.

The young man was sitting in a corner in the living room with headphones on and playing on a video game console. He looked like an ordinary teenager who didn’t care about anything or anyone. The two girls, on the other hand, were frantically going here and there throughout the villa. They were quite pretty and so alike they might have passed for twins, although they weren’t. They were very well dressed, with designer label clothes and shoes, fashionable hairstyles and polished makeup. They were giggling the whole time in unison, ranging around like tormented souls. A few more minutes spent observing them were enough for Chase to realise they were
pursuing
one of the guest’s sons, a fairly good looking boy who didn
’t give a damn about them.

“I’m going to collar Conforti, I’d like to talk with him,” Chase said.

“
Va bene
, I’ll be right back,” Angelo muttered.

“Couldn’t you ask your questions inside, Signor Williams? It’s getting cold here,” Doctor Conforti grumbled, following Chase outside. “Besides, I don’t think it’s the right moment to ask anything. Rachele needs me.”

“Rachele can manage by herself for few minutes, she’s strong enough,” replied Chase briskly, then he stopped in the middle of the garden, near to the corner which led to the dog pen. Conforti screeched to a halt behind Chase so as not to run into him.

“I need you to walk up to the dogs and then come back, please,” Chase explained.

“I beg your pardon?” Conforti replied, confused.

“You heard. Walk towards the dogs, then come here again. That’s it.”

“Is that all you had to ask me?” the man frowned, and Chase nodded. Conforti expressed his scepticism with a smirk that he didn’t try to hide at all, but he walked towards the dogs anyway.

As soon as he came close to the pen, the dogs started barking. Following his instructions, Simone came back to Chase. The dogs gradually stopped their noise.

“Very well, thank you, sir. You can go now,” Chase smiled, looking pretty satisfied.

Angelo was on his way to join them outside when he met Conforti along the path.

“Your colleague is crazy,” the doctor snapped.

Angelo asked Chase for an explanation.

“I’ll tell you later. I need to do the same with Ramona, just to double check. However, I’m concerned that she won’t be so willing to take my test,” said Chase. “You know where she is?”

“You think she’s escaped to Romania? She’s inside,” Angelo replied
witheringly.

Angelo was wrong to make his sarcastic comment, because Ramona had in fact suddenly disappeared. Chase and Angelo looked for her everywhere, and at last asked the help of Rachele and Simone, who couldn’t find her either. Angelo briefly met Marco on the stairs before the older man vanished upstairs and there was no way of meeting him again.

Within a few minutes, even Agata had been informed about the missing girl and asked if she knew where Ramona might have gone.

“I have no idea,” Agata muttered looking quite worried, “but I’m sure it’s Rachele’s fault.”

“Honestly, mate, I’m kind of fed up with her singsong,” Chase muttered to Angelo, taking him aside.

“I’ve been watching Rachele all the time I’ve been here; she’s been in crowded rooms the whole time. It’s impossible that she kidnapped the maid,” Angelo observed, and Chase had to agree with him.

In the meantime Marco reached them with his cheeks on fire. He appeared very frightened and said he couldn’t find his wife.

“My kids haven’t found her either. They’ve looked everywhere, but there’s no trace of her,” Marco whinged. His hands were shaking terribly and he seemed like he was about to faint.

Chase took Marco's arm and gently led him into the kitchen, far away from the confusion of the crowd.

The Gallis, headed by Agata and under Angelo’s supervision, calmly got the guests to leave the house without raising the alarm.

Marco looked very shocked and freaked out at the same time. He mechanically sat down on a chair, completely
bewildered.

Marco’s children peeped out from the door of the kitchen, looking pretty terrified too. Chase filled up a glass of water from the sink and handed it to Marco, then he turned to the kids.

“Want some water too, guys?”

The teens moved a step back, shaking their heads to refuse the offer.

“Come on in, we’re going to find your mother and Ramona. And your dad needs your support,” Chase invited them.

“To be honest, we just want to find our mother,” one of the girls shyly whispered.

“
What a nice girl,
” Chase thought.

The youngsters stood around Marco, and the girls hugged him from behind to comfort him and themselves. In contrast, the boy stayed impassive, reminding Chase of the cold and steely-nerved attitude of his mother.

“Signor Galli, where do you think your wife could have gone?” asked Chase. It might have sounded like a stupid question, but it wasn’t.

“I don’t know!” Marco exclaimed, and threw his hands up.

“Do you think she might have been abducted or something?” Chase kept going, looking serious.

“Why are you asking me that? Has Gloria been kidnapped? You gotta tell me that!” Marco shouted.

The two girls now got even more frightened.

“I didn’t say that, sir. Just calm down and think.
Think
. Where is your wife?” urged Chase, trying to ease the situation.

“Are you insinuating that I know where Gloria is and I don’t want to tell you?” Marco burst out.