“Do you mean Marco Mezzogori?”, Zamagni asked the captain, who in return nodded as a sign of approval.
“Yeah, I’ve known him, if it’s correct to say so”, then continued the inspector, “I’m informed that he was found dead yesterday in late afternoon.”
“Could you extend some explanation to me as well?”, asked Finocchi.
“I will tell you everything after a while”, Zamagni cut it short, before turning to the captain once more.
“How come you already know that?”
“I’ve been informed about the results of autopsy. It’s been a murder.”
The inspector still remained speechless and after some moments, the captain began to speak.
“From the results of autopsy, it comes out that a fight has been occurred between the hemiplegic boy and the murderer. Nobody knows the real cause of the fight, but we should keep inquiring further on.”
“Why did you approach to me personally, captain?”, asked Zamagni, “I‘ve got acquainted with the boy by chance, at the time he was found dead, and additionally, we need to take care of the verification of these documents. Isn’t anybody else who could be in charge of this case?”
“Perhaps would be”, returned the captain, “but there is one other detail I haven’t yet mentioned to you.”
“What is it about?”
“The boy’s aunt has called the police, probably after the family has been informed on the results of autopsy, and has explicitly demanded you to deal with the investigation of this case.”
The inspector remained silent for a couple of seconds, and then nodded.
“Ok, as you wish.”
“Have you become famous now?”, the agent Finocchi asked Zamagni.
“I don’t think so, but I know personally the boy’s aunt. It was just to do her a favor as she‘s my acquaintance by chance. ”
The agent nodded.
“Well, what are you waiting for?”, the captain said to them, as if he was feeling around the pressure that needed to be taken away.
“Let’s go right now”, said Zamagni, and Marco followed him while both of them went down the street.
“Now, it would be the right moment to talk to me and tell me some more things.”
“I’m gonna tell it to you on the way to San Lazzaro of Savena.”
“But what are we supposed to do right there? Do you need to pass by your house at first?”
“No. That’s the place where the murder did occur.”
IV
“Could you let me know on what I’m supposed to do right there?”, asked the agent Finocchi, sat down on the passenger seat while coming close to San Lazzaro of Savena.
“All happened just by chance”, began to speak the inspector Zamagni, driving the car in the attempt to escape from the heavy traffic on the road, “I know shortly Carla Mezzogori, the aunt of hemiplegic boy who remained dead from the murder. She asked me a favor to go and see the apartment where her sister-in-law actually lives. It was very obvious that the boy, given his physical disability, was living together with the mother.”
Marco Finocchi nodded, and then let the inspector to go on with the whole story.
“His mother declared that she went out for a while in the evening of the same day the boy was found dead. She still says of going out to buy some stuff as always, and once back home, she found her son laid down on the floor, with no sign of being still alive.”
“But who could have wanted him dead?”, Finocchi asked such a question to himself and to the inspector as well. “I mean... he was an innocent boy, I guess. I think he hasn’t been harmful to anybody. One of the reasons occurring to my mind right now, is the vengeance for an offence the boy has committed before.”
The agent remained silent for an instant, and then got back to reasoning.
“But how can we? Perhaps it has to do more or less with a sort of dispute?”
“I couldn’t really make a guess in this regard”, said Zamagni, “If it was about a sort of dispute, who would be the other person the boy has been disputing with? There wasn’t anyone else inside the apartment, is that right?”
“Yeah, exactly”, nodded Finocchi, “It seems nobody, so far.”
“Another assumption is that of a petty thief who enters the apartment forcefully seeing the window left open, comes across with the boy over there, then suddenly a fight occurs between them while the boy is disadvantaged because of his general physical disability.”
“Based on this version, to my opinion there’s a problem in terms of time, which means that, everything is supposed to happen very quickly”, said the agent.
“For now, we can only make guesses”, returned Zamagni, “Until now there are very few facts on which we can give any opinion.”
“What did mother say when you visited her with the sister-in-law?”
“Nothing useful. She merely said of being very shocked and failing to think or speak about it.”
“Yeah”, nodded Finocchi, “Now eventually, since some time has already passed, she could do better, and be able to tell us further information. Perhaps she’s been very confused in her mind due to the trauma caused by the son’s death and can’t help thinking of what had happened to her.”
“Ok then, we’re going to make a try once more”, proposed the inspector, “Let’s hope things will go better than the last time... We arrived.”
After they parked the car along the road, both of them moved towards the apartment where the woman was living, ringed the bell and once introduced themselves, went upstairs to the apartment at the first floor.
“Hello, madam”, said Zamagni, “We already know each other quite well, while the person next to me is one of our colleagues. Please, let me introduce you with the agent Marco Finocchi.”
“Good morning”, returned Marisa Lavezzoli, “I guess you’re here again for the investigation on my son’s death, isn’t it so?”
“Yes, exactly”, admitted the inspector, “We’d want to talk a little bit on what had happened to your son.”
“But I’ve already told you”, the mother of hemiplegic boy tried to cut it short.
“I know, madam. Please excuse us, but we’re in charge to shed light on this case”, said Zamagni, in attempt to avoid any sort of dispute with her.
“You may perfectly understand that we’re here with the only scope of finding out who is the murderer of your son”, added Finocchi, “We’ve been acknowledged on the autopsy report, results of which reveal that it’s been a murder.”
“We’d want to catch him and do justice to your son”, said Zamagni.
The lady remained silent for an instant, without opening her mouth, and then said only a few words: “I don’t know if I can help you to do your job. I am still shocked because of what had happened to me.”
“We perfectly understand how you feel”, returned the inspector very empathetically, “and we’ll make sure the situation appears as easy as possible to you. We’re only doing our job, intending to do all that is possible, for bringing the murderer to justice. To make it happen, we also need for your help and for everything else you might know, which would make our job easier.”
The woman still kept silent.
“We cannot exclude a priori any version, but basically, the robbery attempt is less likely to happen due to lack of time”, said Zamagni.
“Have you ever thought that possibly the time has been well planned by the robber, who instead had studied all the timings in detail?”, Marisa Lavezzoli asked both of them, “That is, everytime I go for shopping, I use to do it pretty much at the same timings, hence the thief might have noticed that and then tried to enter the apartment forcefully.”
“It’s likely to happen what you’re saying now”, admitted the inspector, “even though doubts remain in this respect. However, we’re still at the initial phase of our inquiry. For the moment, it would be enough for us to gather as much data as possible.”
“Now I would like to leave me alone”, said the woman, “I’m not in good mood and would want to have some rest, without thinking at all.”
Zamagni and Finocchi stared at each other, and then looked at the mother of the hemiplegic boy.
“Please.”
“Ok”, nodded the inspector, “but please be advised that we’ll need your help to conclude this case, and, for sure, we’ll have to get back to you again.”
The woman nodded in sign of approval and saying nothing else, opened the door and kindly asked the two policemen to leave the apartment.
“Unfortunately, the Forensic Science probably won’t be able to find anything helpful. The fingerprints are already confusing”, said Zamagni, going down the stairs.
“Proceeding in such a way would lead us nowhere”, captain Luzzi pointed out as soon as he learned about the unsuccessful visit to the apartment of the hemiplegic boy’s mother.
Zamagni and Finocchi nodded, and then the inspector added: “As long as the lady seems unwilling to cooperate, it would be extremely hard for us to come to a final solution of this case.”
“Frankly speaking, it hasn’t occurred to my mind before”, said Marco Finocchi, “what about her husband? The hemiplegic boy has had a father, right?
“It seems that one day he has left away, as if he disappeared into thin air”, explained Zamagni.
“This means that he’s not findable so far?”, asked the agent.
“It seems so, even though I’d want to get in touch with him”, said the inspector.
“At least, he would be able to save his wife suffering from this shock”, asserted Finocchi.
“Would be possible to start searching for him?”, proposed Zamagni, “If we succeed, then we can make him meet his wife again. Even though there’s bad blood between them, I believe the two spouses could become closer to each other for the sake of their son.”
“Yeah, we can have a try”, admitted the captain, “Let’s spread the word then.”
“All right. What else can we do in the meantime?”, the agent Finocchi wanted to know.
“Good question”, Giorgio Luzzi replied to him, “We don’t have yet in our hands any fact or clue that may lead us to a pertinent connection or conclusion. Although it might seem unlikely, this is the only lead to be followed at the moment.”
“Hence, how are we gonna proceed further on?”, asked Zamagni. “I don’t know”, was the instinctive answer of the captain, “We need to squeeze our brains and come up with some idea.”
Since the day in which the tragedy happened, the mother of Marco Mezzogori, had switched from the initial state of shock to a sort of nervous breakdown, and as far as appeared, she had no desire to meet or talk to anyone.
Even Carla, the aunt of hemiplegic boy, so far hadn’t been in the apartment of her sister-in-law after the death of her nephew.
The nephew was indeed the true inspirational motive of her visits to that apartment, and this was also because of the cold relationships with her sister-in-law.
Giuseppe Ruspoli, Carla’s husband, and Luciano Mezzogori, Marco’s father, used to work together in the same mechanic shop, and it occurred once in a while that Carla went to see her brother in the job place.
In this way she had met by chance her future husband.
To be more precise, Luciano was the employer of his brother-in-law given that he was the owner of this mechanic shop and the other one located in Bologna as well.
At that time, Luciano Mezzogori was already engaged to Marisa, her future wife, and it occurred to both couples to get together and arrange a hangout around.
On those occasions, Carla has had also the chance to know Marisa much better, and at once she had the feeling that Marisa seemed a woman unrealised in the full sense. Her husband used to say that she should be dealing with housework, instead of working. She had no kids and her hobbies were just limited to very minimal things. She also used to listen music, and occasionally used to go to cinema with Luciano for watching movies, and that’s all.
Her self-realisation has been materialized in her son, Marco, who very soon had presented some problems with hemiplegia.
It was obvious that Marisa was never felt happy and, as if this wasn’t enough, her husband also disappeared one day. Carla still hasn’t been able to understand the reasons that led to such disappearance; the only thing occurred to her mind was that her husband could no longer bear to see the son in that condition, but in her view, he wasn’t that kind of person who could abandon his own family due to such reason.
Moreover, their son now wasn’t with her anymore, he’s dead already.
Carla didn’t know how to cope with such situation, as she was completely aware of the problems and hardships arisen and, on the way to the apartment of her sister-in-law, she wouldn’t allow any mistake to herself. In particular, the very first approach would be decisive.
When decided to go and visit her sister-in-law, she saw no significant change happened since the day when she witnessed her sister-in-law with the son laid down dead on the floor.
On the way back home, she passed by her as usual, and went upstairs to her apartment, but once showed up at the door, she noticed that her sister-in-law was not so welcoming.
Once entered the apartment, Marisa immediately said: “I’d want to be alone.”
“You should do something to overcome this situation”, Carla advised her, “We both know that it has been a big shock, but now the Police is inquiring to find the murderer of your son and do justice for him. Meanwhile, you should think to do your best so that you can go back to normality.”
“And why would it really matter!”
“I can imagine it’s extremely hard for you, but you should do something. Have you ever tried to go out for a walk around?”
“No”, was the sharp reply of Marisa Lavezzoli.
“You need to try”, said Carla, “You should give courage to yourself in order to shrug off these thoughts. Unfortunately, only the idea that Marco won’t be back amongst us, is very hard even to me, but we cannot help but admit it, and it’s worthwhile to realise that your behavior is not helpful at all.”
“There are only words, what you’re saying, but now I remained alone, and all this due to an incident.”
“I’m fully aware that a petty thief may have come up here through the open window, but, what if he might have an unexpected sickness, and consequently the autopsy results could have proved to be wrong? Have you ever thought about it? It may occur sometimes that even doctors make mistakes, isn’t it so?”
Carla has pronounced these last words mostly in attempt to make her distract from the current situation, because she herself didn’t believe such words said to her sister-in-law.
Carla was convinced that something terrible had happened to her nephew, who perhaps was prompted to fight with a kind of murderer or thief without having the slightest chance to run away unharmed.
“I’m so sorry the problem remains intractable”, Marisa expressed her apologies, “But the situation is quite critical and believe me, I would get more exhausted before escaping from all this.”
Carla nodded.
“Now I’m going home”, she said at the end, realizing that it was time to go away and leave alone her sister-in-law. Perhaps it was better to take one step at a time, and for the moment, the right thing was to put the conversation to an end.
Marisa said goodbye to her sister-in-law, who left the apartment and went out into the street.
Having behind him several scenarios on the murder, Stefano Zamagni was aware that sometimes the most obvious motive was the true one, while in other cases the true motive was the the most unthinkable one.
Thinking back to what he’d witnessed in Mezzogori’s apartment before and what he’d already learnt about the family, the inspector didn’t know which way to turn.
Although the robbery attempt gone wrong was seemingly the less convincing motive, this shouldn’t be excluded a priori.
Setting aside the robbery attempt by a petty thief who enters forcefully the apartment, who else would be willing to want him dead? However, taking not into consideration the version of robbery, this was the very first question to raise in order to come up with the identification of murderer.
What about if the murderer has been a friend or relative of the dead boy, who for some reasons, could have got a dispute with the boy?
What about his father? Could be possible that he might have a role in this murder? Theoretically, he was not supposed to have the keys of the new apartment, as he had left away times before his wife and son moved to the current one, nevertheless nothing could be excludable indeed.
The above were merely some versions occurred to Stefano Zamagni and Finocchi’s mind meanwhile they were still reasoning on this case.
“Is there any news on his father?”, the inspector asked captain Luzzi.
“Not yet for the moment, unless he’s been found right now.”
“So, what is our next step?”, asked Marco Finocchi.
“First of all, we can go back to the mother to see if she’s able now to help us, then probably we’ll have a talk with other neighbours in the building, which may likely help us to get some more information”, proposed the captain, “Somebody could have heard or seen any kind of things that may appear useful.”
“So, we have to go back to that place”, said Zamagni finally. “Meanwhile we’re hoping to find the father as soon as possible.”
“All right”, concluded Giorgio Luzzi.
V
On the next day, Zamagni dhe Finocchi went back to Marisa Lavezzoli, hoping their visit would be much more successful than the previous one.
“Good morning, madam”, said the inspector, showing up at the front door of the apartment. The lady let them enter, then sat on the armchair inviting both of them to sit down as well.
“How are you feeling today?”, the agent Finocchi asked her.
“As usual, more or less”, she answered.
“Do you think you’ll be able to talk to us a little bit?”, Zamagni wanted to know, “More information is needed in order to come to a final solution of this case.”
“I’m not in good mood”, the lady clarified at once, “What would you like to know?”
“Any kind of information that could be helpful to us to move ahead with the inquiry and identify the murderer”, explained the inspector, “we’ve already made some assumptions based on those few facts we’ve acknowledged up to now, nonetheless, we still need much more information. Anything that you may tell us, is very welcomed.”
The lady nodded.
“For the moment, we consider that the version of robbery attempt and consequently, the fight between your son and the robber, is very unlikely to happen”, began to say Zamagni, “We’re focusing more closely on other motives, although don’t know yet on which element we should focus our attention.”
“I cannot figure out how to really help you. Nothing comes to my mind.”
The inspector nodded, then added: “Have you no idea of anybody else who could have had a reason to hurt your son?”
The lady didn’t speak at all.
“We really understand your state of mind now, but we need you to make a try.”
There was a short silence, and then the agent Finocchi pointed out the short time from the moment the lady left until she went back.
“Could have been someone who has organized this plan well in advance?”, the inspector asked the lady.
“Somebody who’s been very aware of my movements?”
“We can’t figure it out”, Marco Finocchi expressed his opinion, “We’re just making some assumptions. We need your help in order to have something more specific in our hands.”
“Would your son be capable to open himself the front door of the apartment, if seeing the door bell ringing?”, the agent Finocchi asked a question.
The lady shook her head.
“Ok”, said then the inspector, “It occurred to our mind that the murderer could have been a friend or acquaintance of your son who, for some reason, has got a score to settle with him.”
“My son didn‘t have friends. The only acquaintances of him were the nurse who used to assist with the injections of botulinum toxin as well as the rest of medical team that followed him since the very beginning.”
“Could you please tell us the name of the nurse?”, asked Zamagni.
“Her name is Daniela Rossi.”
The two policemen inquired how to find her, then the agent Finocchi added: “Hence, the suspect could be one of relatives, although such assumption could seem very improbable. Right?”
After such declaration, the agent crossed with the eyes of Zamagni and the dead boy‘s mother.
“I didn’t mean to hurt anybody”, said immediately Marco Finocchi, “It’s only that I wanna exclude nothing, therefore we need to take also this version into consideration.”
“As regards to what I’ve stated previously, what can you tell us about your husband?”, asked Zamagni.
“He hasn’t been with us for some years”, replied back Marisa Lavezzoli, “I don’t quite remember how many years exactly have been passed. Do you really think that he is the murderer?”
“As we said earlier, at least for now we’re trying to consider everything with no exception”, emphasized the inspector. “Does your husband have the keys of this apartment? ”
“No”, responded the woman, “He never had the keys. He wasn’t with us when I and my son Marco moved to our current apartment.”
“That’s clear enough”, nodded Zamagni, “Do you have any idea why he ran away?”
“I can explain it with his inability to cope with the present situation.”
“In what sense?”, asked Marco Finocchi.
“To my opinion, he couldn’t bear the health condition of our own son.”
Both policemen nodded.
“Now I feel very exhausted”, said the lady, after a moment of silence, “If you don’t mind, I would like to have a rest.”
“We’re gonna leave very soon”, replied Zamagni. “Do you have any idea how to get in touch with your husband, madam?”
“No I don’t, sorry.”
After saying the last words, Marisa Lavezzoli kindly asked both policemen to leave the apartment.
Taking the chance of being still inside the building, Zamagni and Finocchi decided to talk to other neighbors in order to gather some information, confirmation or denial, in regards with the hemiplegic boy and his family.
They firstly knocked in the doors next to the apartment in which the boy was found murdered, but nobody responded, therefore went upstairs on the upper floor.
“Hello, can we take your time shortly?”, asked Zamagni, meanwhile an elderly woman wanted to know who was knocking in the door. “It won’t take much time. We’ll finish very quickly with you.”
Through the half opened door, the inspector showed the police identification card and in turn, the woman let them in.
“What’s up?”
“We’d like to talk to you for a while on something happened a few days ago”, said Zamagni. “On the first floor, to be very precise.”
“I have no idea on what you’re talking about, however I will help you, if I might be useful.”
“Do you recognize Mezzogori family?”
“I merely know the mother is living only with her son in that apartment”, replied the woman, “I’ve never seen the father.”
“The son was found dead one day ago”, explained the inspector, without mincing words.
“Oh, what a pity!”, cried out the woman, expressing sadness in her face, “This is the reason why I saw the medical emergency team through the peephole. I heard some noises, therefore I saw through the peephole those who were walking up and down the stairs. But how did it happen?”
“We don’t know exactly, therefore we’re searching for information that may lead us to the right path in our inquiry”, replied Marco Finocchi, “Have you ever seen or heard anything that drew your attention? I mean, besides the fact you just mentioned, the medical emergency team that you saw through the peephole.”
“I am very sorry that I can’t help you further, but recently I don’t usually go out. You know, I am at an age that better not to undertake such risks.”
Zamagni nodded, then asked the old lady if she could be able to provide some other information on the family, any sort of information that could help them to come out of the darkness wrapped around the whole investigation.
“Unfortunately, I can’t say much to you”, she declared, “I know that the mother was taking care of her son all the time and I think there was also another person... a nurse, maybe? ... Or a doctor?... who used to come to their apartment day by day. Don’t know what she was doing exactly but I think she used to provide assistance to the son. He was suffering from a kind of paralysis.”
“Anyway, I thank you a lot for welcoming us”, said the inspector, “We apologize for bothering and taking your time.”
“Nevermind. No need to worry at all. I would like to offer my help, though only for a little. I really hope to have been useful to you.”
“Although your statements aren’t new facts to us, again we’ve confirmed those we already knew”, admitted Zamagni. “We’d be very grateful if you’d let us know if something else comes to your mind, or if occurs to hear or see any kind of fact or information that draws your attention.”
“For sure I’ll do it, with great pleasure”, said the old lady, saluting both policemen.
The inspector gave his business card, then both of them said goodbye to her and left the apartment with the intention to contact other neighbors inside the building. They soon realized that only elderly people were living in that building, who all confirmed, more or less, what they already knew.
In fact, none of them had ever seen the father of hemiplegic boy, however such information did mean nothing, and as far as appeared, even the family didn’t have any dispute or claims against them, besides the disability problem of Marco Mezzogori and the economic hardships. The poor economic situation was a normal conclusion drawn by Zamagni and Finocchi who explained this with the fact that both mother and her son used to live in a building owned by the Municipality of San Lazzaro of Savena, at an estimated low price.
During the time spent there, both policemen had been able to talk to the majority of neighbors, besides those ones living at the same floor with Marisa Lavezzoli, but, in all cases they’d have enough time to go back there considering the long time the investigation would take.
Once getting in the car, the inspector Zamagni informed the captain about the confirmation enabled by some neighbors in the building as well as the interviews to be made as soon as possible with the rest of them, and then informed him about the intention to go and meet the nurse who used to take care of the hemiplegic boy, and lastly, they’d get back to work after completion of all the above tasks.
“All right”, agreed Giorgio Luzzi, “Meanwhile, I’m letting you know that the father is not trackable yet.”
Since the day the tragedy has been happened, Miss Daniela Rossi waited for the police to come and see her in person over the following days, because, other than his close relatives, she was probably the person who perfectly knew Marco Mezzogori.
The lady welcomed Stefano Zamagni dhe Marco Finocchi at her own apartment situated in the street Carlo Sigonio in Bologna and accommodated them in the dining room.
“Would you like to drink something?”, she asked, “Even simply a glass of water or a cup of coffee.”
“I’ll have a cup of water with pleasure, if you don’t mind”, said the inspector, and the agent Finocchi also demanded the same.
Nodding, Miss Rossi left for a while and came back with two bottles of ice water, one natural and one sparkling, and with two glasses, served in a tray. “I have also water at normal temperature, if you don’t prefer it cold.”
“We don’t intend to disturb you more”, said Zamagni also thanking her.
“As you like”, said the woman lastly, and then asked them about the reason of their visit. Though she was able to guess it.
“We’re following up the case of Marco Mezzogori”, began to speak Zamagni pouring some natural water in the glass. “It’s about a hemiplegic boy whom you knew very well.”
Daniela Rossi nodded.
“As you’d probably learned, the boy has been found dead on the floor of his apartment and the autopsy results have shown that it’s a murder.”
“I am pretty aware”, confirmed the lady, “The boy’s mother have told me.”
“Ok, fine”, said Zamagni, “Now we’d like to make some other questions regarding the boy.”
“What you’d like to know?”
“Anything that could be useful to our inquiries”, explained the inspector, “unfortunately, we’re groping around in the dark. Please tell us what comes to your mind for the moment.”
“Ok”, the lady began to speak, “I’ve recognized Marco Mezzogori since he was a child. His family learned very soon about the problems he had with motor development. He was able to move only the right part of the body. After some diagnostical examinations, it was found out that the boy was suffering from hemiplegia, one of the cerebral paralysis symptoms. It could be the case of a person who appears to be a tetraplegic, or not able to move either the upper limbs or the lower limbs... have you ever read the books in which Lincoln Rhyme is the protagonist?”
Zamagni nodded, while the agent Finocchi got very surprised.
“I will explain it later on”, said the inspector, and then turned to the nurse. “Go on, madam.”
“Yes, of course, I really apologize for jumping out of the main topic of our discussion. I was saying... due to a cerebral paralysis, or inability to move two limbs out of four ... usually it’s the lower limb that he’s not able to move ... or, just like the case of Marco Mezzogori, the disabled person may result with hemiplegia, when the paralysis partly affect the body, only a section of it. This boy wasn’t able to move the right part of the body. For your information, there exist some other forms of paralysis such as the monoplegy and triplegy.”
“Hence, the boy for example needed to learn to carry out a lot of jobs and make movements with the left hand”, agent Finocchi dared to say.
The nurse nodded.
“Have you anything else to tell us?”, asked Zamagni, “For example, how were the relationships in the family? And out of the family, as far as you may know?”
“Yeah”, responded the lady, “The mother was very attached to her son, this was very obvious every time I used to go to their apartment. The son was the most important to her. Regarding his father, I don’t really know what to say to you. I’ve recognized him, yeah it’s true, but he wasn’t present most of the time I’ve spent there, because of engagements with his job or probably with shopping or something like that. I simply know that he used to go to the bar caffe in the street Repubblica in San Lazzaro of Savena, that is, the one in the very center of the city, not the bar caffe located in the intersection with...what’s the name of that street?”
“Street Jussi?”, suggested the inspector, “Is this the name of street you mean?”
