Death Brings Gold

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“Inspector, please, I’m counting on you to let me know as soon as possible both the results of what you find in this room and of the autopsy. Anything that can offer an explanation to this bizarre case.”

CHAPTER 6

“Come in.”

The door opened without a sound and detective Bassani peeped out into Walker’s office.

The two men stood staring at each other. So? the Chief’s eyes seem to shout.

Bassani looked away, as if for some strange reason he felt intimidated by the Chief Inspector.

“We’ve tracked down the widow Pilenga, Martina’s mother, wife of…”

“Good. Well done.” Walker interrupted him abruptly. “Where is she now?”

Bassani hadn’t even had time to respond when Walker spoke again.

“That woman should have already been here.”

The detective’s eyes widened.

“You’re right, Chief, but…” he stopped, worried by, but also quietly relishing the brooding expression on Walker’s face. “Martina Pilenga is notavailable at the moment.”

“What do you mean ‘is not available at the moment’ ?”

“Just what I said, Chief. What our witness said, Belmond…”

“Belmondo” Walker remarked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Yes, Belmondo. Like Belmondo was saying, Martina Pilenga moved in with her mother – probably following the stormy period with her husband –, but it’s been a couple of days since she’s been there. The widow Pilenga, Martina’s mother, said her daughter had told her that she was going to be away for the weekend …”

“But?” asked Walker, as if he was inevitably expecting a “but”.

“But she is pretty old,” Bassani hurried to answer. “And doesn’t remember where she’s gone. Actually, she doesn’t even remember if her daughter told her.”

A cloak of silence fell on them again. Then it was the Chief who spoke again.

“So, let’s see if I’ve understood it well…” he grumbled. “A man is found lifeless in his flat after discovering his wife was unfaithful. The colleague who finds him states that that man was a good person, but had just found out that his wife had cheated on him. We, obviously, try to trace the wife of this poor unlucky man and, strangely enough, she’s away for the weekend and no one, not even her mother, knows where she’s gone. It could be a coincidence, of course! But I’d say something strange is going on here. Very strange.”

The Chief took a pause. He couldn’t wait for Caslini - the detective he’d worked with since his arrival in Milan – to get back quickly enough from his holiday. It’s not that he didn’t like Bassani, he simply lacked initiative. Moreover, Walker was convinced that he was a slacker.

“That’s why I want that woman to be found asp,” Walker continued, running his fingers through his hair. Then the tone of his voice went up. “Call her girlfriends, relatives, colleagues, cats, dogs, even turtles – if she has any… I want somebody to tell me asap where the fuck this woman is. And I want her here, in my office. It’s the only lead we have.”

“I’ll do my best, Chief,” the detective said. “Anything else?”

Walker shook his head.

The detective turned, heading towards the door. When he was about to open the door, the Chief Inspector stopped him.

“Bassani?”

He turned around.

“Yes, Chief,” he answered.

“If that woman, for whatever reason, cannot manage to come to my office this very day” now his voice was calmer, “I at least want to speak with her on the phone.”

Bassani gave his boss a perplexed look, and tried to answer in a way that wouldn’t disappoint him.

“It will be done, Chief.”

Before disappearing through the door, Bassani raised his hand to wave goodbye.

Walker stood motionless for a long time, before deciding to treat himself to a cigarette. Although by law it was strictly forbidden, as long as that office was his, he would smoke any time he felt like it.

Smoking relaxed him, as well as helping him think.

Automatically he let the ash fall on a little china plate which had seen better days, when he felt a sharp pain running through his arm. He clenched his teeth and grimaced with pain, tossing and turning on his chair. The wound on his shoulder was still burning. Maybe he had underestimated it.

CHAPTER 7

“What do you mean she’s at the spa?”

“A SPA is, like…” replied Bassani, “… a sort of wellness centre, Chief.”

“I know perfectly well what a SPA is,” Walker replied dryly. Then the tone of his voice mellowed. “Did you think I thought it was the Software Publishing Association?”

Bassani smiled, shaking his head.

Walker became serious again.

“What I meant was… what the hell is she doing in a SPA?”

“She must have gone there to relax, Chief. Maybe to have a break from her husband, since it looks like they were on bad terms.”

Walker nodded, remembering what Belmondo had told him about the marital instability between the victim and his wife.

“So,” the Chief Inspector considered, “Ghezzi’s wife is relaxing at a wellness centre. Sauna, Turkish baths, massage and other shit like that. All of this while her husband is resting peacefully at the morgue, after having been killed. Quite bizarre this thing.”

“Well, although a mortuary isn’t a wellness centre, at least it is a calm place. Where you certainly don’t get stressed” Bassani tried to joke about it.

“That was a good joke, detective. Unlike mine”, smiled Walker. “But now, let’s be serious again. The fact that this woman is unreachable could make her a suspect. Actually, the only suspect, at this moment.”

Bassani nodded without saying a word, allowing the Chief Inspector to continue.

“Who told you that Ghezzi’s wife is at a wellness centre?”

“After speaking with some people who knew her, one of her girlfriends told us.”

Bassani didn’t mention the identity or details of that person and Walker didn’t care to know.” And where is this wellness centre?”

“In a town in the region of Versilia, Chief.”

“So I can assume that it would be impossible to have her in my office today.”

“Exactly…”

“But I did say that in that case I would have wanted …”

The phone ringing cut the Chief’s sentence clean off . Before he could answer it, Bassani hurried to say he had called the place where Mrs Pilenga was staying.

“After introducing myself, I told them I needed to speak urgently with Mrs Pilenga. I gave them your extension. This should be her” Bassani concluded, nodding towards the receiver that kept on ringing. For once, he felt like he had done something right.

“State Police, Chief Inspector Walker speaking.”

On the other end of the line was the tense voice of the receptionist who, after having introduced himself, passed the phone to Mrs Pilenga.

“Hello?” the woman said, her anxiety tightening her throat.

The Chief Inspector introduced himself and, choosing his words carefully, informed her of the fate that had befallen her husband.

No reply.

After a time that seemed, according to Walker, sufficient to take in the news, he prompted Mrs Pilenga.

“Mrs Pilenga, are you still there?”

“This isn’t a joke, is it?” she asked faintly.

“It’s not a joke, Mrs Pilenga. My condolences.”

“Dead in our flat?”

“Yes, Mrs Pilenga,” confirmed Walker, not reminding her that she hadn’t lived under the same roof as her husband for some months.

“It’s impossi…”

Sobbing stopped her from finishing her sentence.

Walker waited until the sobbing diminished, then asked her to come to Police Headquarters as soon as possible.

“I should be back in Milan tomorrow,” the woman told him.

“Tomorrow will be perfectly fine.”

“I was supposed to leave in the early afternoon, but…” more sobbing in her voice, “… I will leave early tomorrow morning.”

The Chief Inspector told her he would expect her in the afternoon. Then, exactly when he was about to hang up, she mumbled something incomprehensible.

“Excuse me?”

“Can I know why you want to talk to me in person?”

Walker had expected that question. Nevertheless, he gave himself a couple of seconds before answering.

“Mrs Pilenga, your husband has been found dead, in rather unusual circumstances. And you are his wife. It seems more than reasonable for me to ask you some questions.”

“Unusual circumstances? What do you mean?” Mrs Pilenga asked in an agitated shrill voice

“I’m sorry, Mrs Pilenga, but I can’t provide any information over the phone. You’ll have to come to Police Headquarters.”

His tone of voice did not encourage a reply. The silence on the other end of the phone was a clear sign that she had got the message.

Walker re-confirmed the appointment for the following day, said goodbye, rang off and stood there listening to the sound of the interrupted dial tone, lost in his thoughts.

When he came back from the place he’d gone to, a new thought struck him: if the woman was in any way linked to the death of her husband, she hadn’t showed it at all. At least not from her voice. Only one more day and Walker would also read her body language. Then he could arrive at his most valid conclusions. He was trusting the same instinct that had many times before guided him to the right place.

“So?” asked Bassani.

“Tomorrow we’ll see if Mrs Pilenga has something to tell us.”

“Good,” said the detective, nodding. “Can I go now?”

“Just one minute, please, there’s something else I want to talk to you about.”

Bassani’s silence was an invitation for Walker to continue.

“I’ve been informed the necktie is the MODADUOMO brand. You know it, don’t you?”

“Who doesn’t know MODADUOMO, Chief?”

Walker nodded, smiling. Then he typed the brand name on his Smartphone and clicked on the link.

“Listen” he said. “Straight from Wikipedia. MODADUOMO.… well known fashion brand made in Italy… founded in Milan… production and sale of tailored, custom-made suits and accessories for men for over fifty years… blah, blah, blah… with branches throughout Italy. Since 2004 the well known brand has also been exported, opening over fifty stores across the world.”

When Walker finished reading, Bassani, looking disoriented, spoke.

“I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me, Chief.”

Walker stared at him. The point perhaps eluding himself too.

“Basically we are dealing with a giant of designer fashion. The necktie found at the victim’s throat could have been bought anywhere.”

Walker stopped talking, giving himself time to reflect. It was when he noticed Bassani’s puzzled expression that he began to put forward his next question.

“I’m getting there, Chief,” Bassani said, interrupting with a fast movement of his hand.

Walker continued. “It would be almost impossible to track down the killer through that. O.K., it’s also true that the colour is not one of the most common ones. Did you get any idea of how many gold neckties MODADUOMO, in that exact model, have been sold around the world?”