Ailanthus. Antonio De Vito

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СКАЧАТЬ didn’t feel to insist. Someone just killed her husband and I didn’t feel like insisting.”

      â€œSure. Obviously we have no validation of this version, but I don’t think it’s important in our killer research. I also think that the wife told the true.” Stacie tended to exclude the wife from this story, maybe making a mistake, because she couldn’t attribute such an atrocious crime to a woman.

      â€œWhat were you reading before?” Stacie looked at the papers on Frank’s desk.

      â€œOh, yes. I was doing some research about serial murders happened in the State in the last decades, trying to understand if there are some common elements between this case and the most famous ones.” Frank was clearly clumsy in front of Stacie. He almost feared that he couldn’t live up with her role. When it occurred, he looked away to the floor and started stammer. It wasn’t hard to understand. But Stacie did nothing to emphasize it. That allowed him to rapidly recover and delude himself that, maybe, she didn’t even notice it.

      â€œWhat have you found of interesting?”

      â€œNothing at all. And, if I have to be honest, while I was flipping through these papers, I really hoped you were coming back, because you’d surely do a better work than mine.”

      â€œDon’t beat yourself up. While doing a search you never know which way to go. If you’re lucky you’ll turn to the shortest that brings you to your destination, but if you don’t have the stars on your side, you can spend sleepless nights without get blood out a stone. Let’s do this, I take these papers and leave you free to go. Try to know something else about the victim and most of all if there was a reason why someone had to hate him this much.”

      â€œThank you Stacie, I think it’s a great idea. I’m going to take a walk. I’ll also speak with Officer Michael Pet. He took over me in the first hours after we intervened. I’ll listen what he has to tell me and if there are any particulars that I missed.”

      â€œBefore going, who’s your boss now?”

      â€œJack Folasky. The Chief of the Detective Bureau. He’s a bonsai manic and can’t stand cigars’ smell.” Frank replied whispering.

      â€œLet me know who the coroner is. I want to talk to him.” Stacie already had a plan in her mind. Knowing if the murderer was a male or female would have halved the investigation field. The coroner would have dissolved all her doubts.

      â€œSure. I’ll give you his contacts as soon as I know something about him.”

      Stacie got to work as soon as Frank turned to go away. First she poured some coffee from the jug that was right there in front of her. She had never been a real coffee drinker, but since she had come back from Geneva, she was appreciating its taste. She read some of the papers that Frank selected, but didn’t find much. She spent more time thinking than reading. She thought about the murder’s details. A throat cut and an eye carved out. There was to expect that the killer wouldn’t stop there. It didn’t seem a crime destined to be isolated.

      -6-

      Jack Folasky was in his office attempting to fix some papers, when he saw Stacie coming in from the partially open door.

      â€œWelcome back, Stacie. Frank was in anxiously waiting. I guess you’ve already met, so I can spare you the details.” Folasky wasn’t as fascinated as Douglas about Stacie’s investigative abilities. In addition, he didn’t have a big estimation of women. Despite everything, he was used to give everyone a chance.

      â€œI’m here most of all to know you better and understand if there are some suspects, some traces I can start following. Prosecutor Douglas gave me free reign and I’m completely at your disposal.”

      â€œStacie, It’s clear to everyone that this murder preludes to something else. Because of this, all of my best men are with their eyes open in the worst streets of Flatbush neighborhoods. Unfortunately, from my experience, I think that the next victim will hardly be in that area. In the meantime, Frank and you can take any action. Keep me updated about any aspect, even apparently insignificant.” Although he doubted of Stacie’s abilities, Folasky couldn’t refuse the expertise of the District Attorney’s assistant.

      â€œI’ll try to give my aid to the investigation. I see that this story has some totally different edges from the one I previously dealt with, but my engagement won’t be different, that’s for sure.” Stacie was lying. Surely she was scared of what was going to be. It wasn’t about a missing person but a brutal murder. The difference was obvious. Moreover, she was entering that case in the worst state of mind possible, after Sam’s death. Only a huge strength of character, united to her huge commitment to her job, could give her back full confidence in herself.

      By the time Stacie got back home, it was late in the evening. The return had been definitely challenging. If only Sam was there with her, now she would have gone to bed tired but willing to go back to the Department deciding with Frank how to give the first breakthrough. Unfortunately she unavoidably dragged with her the pain from the separation with Sam, a pain that was going to accompany her over a very long period of time.

      From the manholes was coming out so much steam that visibility was really reduced. As if it wasn’t enough, the street lighting seemed to work worse than usual. It was really cold and that wool coat wasn’t enough at all to shelter her. It was hard to move forward without risking to trip over something or simply catch the corner of a wall.

      She was walking slowly putting her hands in front of her to make her way. She started hearing her shoes making a strange noise. She had the feeling of walking in mud. She started to have difficulties to move forward and didn’t understand what was over the shroud of mist. A few more steps and just a little more light showed her the most horrible scene in which she really was. She was walking in a gigantic blood pool that went from one side to the other of the street. At least a centimeter of smoky liquid blood was covering the asphalt that she was hurrying so hard to traverse. She managed not to vomit and walked another couple meters until she turned the corner to understand where was that stuff coming from. She saw a black car with the motor off and the lights still on. From the driver’s window she could see a shadow. She forced herself to move forward in that terrible situation. The stink was so strong to get into the brain. She could feel the smell of blood inside her.

      When she was two steps from the car, she stretched out a hand towards the shadow. A street-lamp lighted again in that very moment and lighted up what was Sam’s face with the throat torn apart so that he had lost river of blood, that same blood that was rinsing down the whole street. Stacie didn’t ‘t hold back a scream, although her hands were on her mouth. Then she backed off of a few steps but she fell disastrously on the ground swallowed by mist and blood.

      In that very moment, Stacie opened her eyes and found herself on the floor next to the couch of her apartment swallowed by blankets. She took a few minutes to get over the state of panic which she had drowned in. Another nightmare. She burst into tears and stayed sit there for a while before deciding that having a shower was the only way to get that discomfort away. So she did.

      -7-

      Stacie that morning was showing off bags under her eyes worthy of the best insomnia.

      â€œHi Frank, what’s new?”

      â€œGood СКАЧАТЬ