The Lost Twin

“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?”

“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.”