The Lost Twin

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“Yeah, exactly. He frequented that bar caffé, and once back home, he often went there after work. Her wife has told me.”

“Ok, that’s clear”, nodded Zamagni.

“Hence, as I was saying to you, I’ve seen the father very rarely. Although, as far as I know, one day he disappeared. Yeah, one day.”

“The same was told to us as well”, admitted the inspector. “Have you ever recognized any other relatives or friends of the boy, who probably may have some kind of reason to hurt him?”

“I already recognize Mrs. Carla, the sister of boy’s father, who always seemed a very calm person. I saw her very often as she used to come and see her nephew two or three times a week after work. As for the rest... don’t know what to say. I think he didn’t have any friend or acquaintance in particular.”

“Many thanks for your information. I think it’s enough for now”, said the inspector, “Anyway, we kindly advise you to remain available if necessary.”

“Sure, no problem for me”, agreed the lady.

“We’d be pleased to talk to the chief of medical team that followed up the health condition of the hemiplegic boy”, added Zamagni, giving a business card to the nurse.

“Of course. I think he’s not able to help you more than I did, however, here is the telephone number of professor Salvemini. The medical team is at the hospital Sant'Orsola of Bologna”, Daniela Rossi concluded her statement and then gave to the inspector a plasticized card with all the useful contact information to get in touch with the medical team.

Both policemen thanked the nurse for taking her time and left away.

VI

Once left the apartment of Daniela Rossi, the inspector Zamagni contacted captain Luzzi on the phone to make an update on the latest interviews of the day, then informed him of their decision to go back to San Lazzaro of Savena and obtain a photo of the husband from the boy’s mother, then go to that bar caffé and show the photo off, hoping to get some more information on the husband, and given the chance, they would go and have a talk with professor Mario Salvemini before returning to the Police Station.

Once the policemen made such request to Marisa Lavezzoli, she didn’t find it difficult to get a photo of her husband, and then Zamagni dhe Finocchi saluted her and went to meet with the owner of bar caffé.

The bar caffé was actually managed by some Chinese people who initially failed to know the man from the photo the inspector showed, nevertheless they pointed out the fact of having the ownership of bar caffé in the recent years, while before them, the bar caffé had been owned by an Italian couple who, in turn, had decided to shut off the activity and enjoy in serenity the rest of their life.

When the inspector Zamagni asked them of the residence place of the past owners, one of Chinese gave to them a piece of paper with the names, address and the phone numbers.

“Unless they’ve changed their own address, this is what you’ve asked for”, explained the man behind the counter, “I’ve received these data from the sale contract.”

Despite his Chinese nationality, it was obvious that the person whom they’re talking to, used to live in Italy for some years as he was fluent in Italian, differently from his friends in the bar caffé.

Zamagni and Finocchi expressed their thanks to him and then went out the caffé heading towards the place indicated in the paper.

“It is nearby”, the inspector explained to agent Finocchi, “We can reach it easily on foot within a few minutes.

Aldo Marini and her spouse Giovanna Carletti lived in street Parma, within the same city, San Lazzaro of Savena, a short street parallel to street Repubblica, which was located behind the café owned by them before selling it to some Chinese people.

“May we talk to you for a little bit?”, asked Zamagni after showing the police identification card to the man who showed up in the door.

“Please”, the elderly man let them in, “What’s up?”

“We’re inquiring a case and need to show a photo to you and your wife. It’s about a person, who as far as it seems, used to visit your bar café.”

“What’s going on, Aldo?”, asked a lady, in a voice coming from the other room of the apartment.

“Please come here, Giovanna, the police need to talk to us”, was the answer of the man, and then turning to the two policemen, he said at a lower voice: “It’s my wife speaking. She used to work with me in the café.”

“Hello, what’s going on here?”, asked the lady.

“We’re looking for this person”, replied Zamagni, showing the photo that Marisa Lavezzoli gave to them a short while ago, “Do you know this man?”

Both spouses stared for a moment at the person in the photo, then made a gesture of approval and the husband confirmed it.

“I remember him coming quite often to our café. He used to drink something and often played cards with other clients as well. ”

“What do you know about him?”, the agent Finocchi asked.

“He didn’t talk much to us. Only used to speak when ordering drinks.”

“And what did he drink usually?”, Zamagni wanted to know. “Alcohol or something else?”

“I remember that he didn’t drink alcohol”, responded Aldo Marini, “Sometimes coffee, or merely water or soft drinks.”

“Did he look like a calm person or probably occurred that you’ve seen him angry sometimes?”

“A calm person, I’d say”, returned the wife, “But, it comes to my mind now, that one day I didn’t see him again, I recall this fact.”

“We’re in search for him because it seems that he disappeared years ago”, the agent Finocchi underlined.

“His family thinks that something bad has happened to him and that’s the reason of asking help from the Police?”, asked Mr.Marini.

“We have no idea what has happened. In every case, this is an ongoing inquiry, therefore we can’t speak out about that”, Zamagni explained to him, “However, you also confirm that one day you haven’t seen him again, right?”

Both spouses nodded.

“To be exact, since when you don’t run the bar café in street Repubblica?”, asked the inspector.

“I’ve not a fresh memory”, returned the man, “but I’d say eight or maybe ten years, at least”, replied the husband.

Zamagni dhe Finocchi saluted them, expressing thanks for the time spent, then went out into the street and set off on their way to the hospital Sant'Orsola to keep talking to professor Salvemini.

“Well, who is Lincoln Rhyme?”, asked Marco Finocchi while driving the car from San Lazzaro of Savena to the hospital Sant'Orsola.

“Oh, yeah, you’re right”, began to speak the inspector, “I promised you to explain it. Are you sure you’ve never heard of him? Haven’t you ever watched The Bone Collector? It’s a movie from several years ago.”

“I remember the movie title, but never watched it”, responded the agent.

“Lincoln Rhyme is a character born from the imagination of Jeffery Deaver, a writer of thriller novels who became widely known through publishing of his adventures, I believe so. He’s an expert in forensic science and solves the cases from the place in which he currently lives.”

“That’s weird”, Marco Finocchi made a comment, “He doesn’t go to see the crime scene at all?”

“It would be so hard: he suffers from tetraplegia. Fortunately, he’d managed to set up some technology systems by means of which he’s able practically to do everything simply sitting on a wheel chair. Moreover, he has established a small laboratory in the house with many examination tools that serve to resolve the cases he’s in charge.”

“But how does he get the objects that he needs to examine, if he can’t go to the crime scene?”

“He does that through an assistant. Her name is Amelia Sachs. She goes onsite to the crime scene and it’s pretty the same as if Rhyme sees it himself.”

“That’s pretty interesting. And how does she do that?”

“She goes to the crime scene and examines it along with Rhyme. She describes all remotely through the radio transmittent, cell phone or any other appliance similar to these.”

“That’s great!”, exclaimed Finocchi.

“You could read the books of Jeffery Deaver with Lincoln Rhyme in the role of protagonist”, advised Zamagni.

“I would consider it.”

“It’s time to get off the car”, said the inspector at last, “We just arrived at the hospital.”

Following the directions indicated in the business card the nurse had given to them, both policemen reached the second floor of the hospital building, in which they asked for some guidance to find professor Salvemini.

A lady on a white sleeve said to them that the person whom they’re looking for, was momentally busy with medical check-ups, but she advised them to wait at the clinic and then get in touch as soon as he frees from the workload.

Zamagni thanked her for the politeness and along with the agent Finocchi went to sit down at one of the chairs close to the front door of clinic.

Once one patient came out, and before the doctor was about to call the other patient to enter, the inspector peeped inside from the door and, while showing the police identification card, asked if they could have a conversation together.

“Unfortunately, I have some medical check-ups already pre-scheduled and it’s not possible to cancel or postpone”, Mario Salvemini explained to them, “but I promise to get back to you right away, once I’m done. It’s a matter of only one hour. You can wait in the hallway or come back again after a while. It’s up to you. In all cases, I won’t be leaving from here.”

Zamagni thanked him and along with his colleague Finocchi went downstairs on the first floor to have a walk outside the hospital looking forward to seeing the professor later on.

Having a very short time available, Stefano Zamagni and Marco Finocchi tried to draw some conclusion based on the information gathered so far.

“It seems we haven’t so much in our hands”, the agent began to say, “anyhow, sooner or later, we need to find something really helpful, right?”

“Yeah, I hope so”, admitted the inspector, “So, until now we’ve excluded a priori only the version of robbery attempt as the petty thief has been supposed to be very well prepared, in the smallest detail, to intrude in the apartment, to deal with the boy and to rob some stuff there.”

“Perhaps we can ask the boy’s mother if any valuable item has been stolen”, proposed Finocchi.

“We can ask her to get rid of any doubts on this, but I really believe that it wouldn’t be much relevant”, Zamagni continued to say, “Or, we’ll also do that if it comes to our mind.”

The agent nodded.

“First of all, I think we should try to realize which are the other things we have to focus on”, continued Zamagni, “I wanna say that, right now, there exist two potential typologies of the murderer: relatives and friends. We should find out the motive and, once this objective is achieved, probably we can better outline the list of suspects for this murder.”

“It’s not so easy”, admitted Marco Finocchi, “anyway, let’s make a try.”