The Year of the Mantis

by P J Mann

  Glancing at his thoughtful expression darkened by concern and perhaps, also fear, she understood he was probably too young and inexperienced to completely run the entire business alone.

  From the day they got married, she helped Claudio daily with the expansion of his company, helping with the bookkeeping, communications with the clients, and bureaucratic matters. She had her job at the administration of the National Postal Services, but she gladly sacrificed her free time to help her husband expand and fulfill his dream to bring the family business to its maximum potential.

  She stood from the couch and walked to the bathroom, willing only to have a long shower and wash away all the tiredness of the working day, together with the weight of the memories the testament brought back to her mind.

  We thought this was going to be something to bond us together; a project for our lives and for the future of our children, she thought as she enjoyed the warm and relaxing shower. Everything changed when our lives settled into a routine and Luciano turned eighteen years old. Then, he met her, and our life together meant nothing anymore.

  She slipped into something more comfortable other than her business attire and her thoughts turned to informing the Police about the testament reading.

  ***

  Maurizio was in his office, after returning from a well-needed chat with the employees at the firm Claudio owned. Besides the tension for the uncertain future of the business and the eventual redistribution of the working places, nobody seemed to have any problem of going along with Claudio.

  “Every person I’ve spoken to would describe him as a very easy-going person, understanding and professional. This, at least, might take away any sort of jealousy in the firm.” His voice resounded between the walls of the empty room. He raised his glance from the keyboard of his laptop, where he was putting in order his notes, and felt the loneliness of not having either Leonardo or members of his team to brainstorm with.

  It wasn’t the first time he was working alone, but certainly, it was the first time he felt lonely. Leonardo was finalizing the collection of the data from the apartment. Once it would have been completed, they would have gone through all the bits of information and get an exact idea of what happened that evening and what could have been the reason for murdering Claudio.

  The ringing of his mobile phone resounded in the room, giving him a sense of gratitude, toward whoever came to rescue him from his loneliness.

  “Scala,” he answered with his usual firm tone.

  “Good afternoon, Detective, this is Giulia Martini, Claudio Calvani’s ex-wife. I’m not sure whether you need to know this particular detail, but I feel like it’s better to know too much than too few in this case,” she commenced as she walked to the kitchen to get a soda from the fridge.

  Leaning on his chair, his expression relaxed. “Good afternoon to you, Mrs. Martini. How can I help you?”

  “Well, today, as I came back from work, as usual, I had checked the mailbox, and between the regular correspondence, I received two letters, one for me and one for Luciano. We both had been invited this Friday to the reading of the holographic final will of Claudio,” she explained, hoping this wasn’t useless information that could be considered a waste of time. “I was surprised to receive the invitation as well; I was sure he’d left everything to Luciano and his new girlfriend.”

  Maurizio grabbed a pen from the desk and started playing with it, a smile opened up on his face as he recalled how Leonardo found this way to release his stress: tapping any object he could find against the surface of the desk annoying. “That indeed is a very important piece of information and, if you permit me, I will need to be there as well. Do you have any idea of who else may have been invited to the reading?”

  Shaking her head and scrutinizing the letter once again to check whether the names of those who would participate were listed, she replied. “No, Detective, I believe the only way you can find this information is to call the attorney who is handling this case. I wish I were more helpful.”

  “You have been very helpful with this call. One thing I would ask you is the time of the appointment and the address where you are supposed to meet. I will be there as well and, perhaps, I will get the opportunity to have a chat with the attorney who has taken charge of the will.” He searched for a piece of paper where he could write down the address.

  There was his laptop sitting there on his desk, ready to take any sort of input, but Maurizio was still attached to the old-fashioned pen and paper method of note-taking. He felt like they were far handier, when it was a question of taking fast notes.

  “Yes, the Antonioni Law firm is the one who’s taking care of the case and you can refer to Silvia Antonioni, who is the attorney who sent us the invitation. I believe she took care of the legal business of Claudio. It might also be the law firm that was the one who was paid in case of legal issues with his business. We are supposed to meet there at three o’clock in the afternoon, and the address is ‘via Cola di Rienzo, 100.’” Her eyes browsed around the room and met the clock on the wall. With a grimace, she acknowledged that the time to prepare dinner was approaching.

  Living alone, she never had to adhere to any timetable, but as Luciano moved into the same apartment, she returned to the routine of having dinner together at the usual time they used to have it, when they were once a family.

  A melancholic sigh escaped her mouth, recalling those times, so far in the past to fool her as they belonged to someone else’s life.

  “Yes, thank you very much,” he answered as he finished writing down the address. “Is there anything wrong?” Maurizio wondered, acknowledging her tone.

  “No, Detective. I was thinking about preparing dinner,” She giggled, amused, standing from the chair. “I’m no longer living alone, and this means timetables and routines have to be restored.”

  Folding the note, he placed it on his wallet. He nodded and recalled that probably he also was supposed to either call home or to consider the day over.

  “You’re right. I will have a chat with the attorney, and I’ll be there for the reading of the wills,” Maurizio stood from the chair, stretching his back. “Thank you very much for the information and I shall see you on Friday.”

  As he ended the conversation with Giulia, Maurizio thought he’d better tend to straight up the relationship with his wife. Therefore, he considered informing her that he was about to leave and prayed to be home as soon as possible. Later the traffic on the Tiburtine Road would have been unforgiving, and at best he knew he needed to get a head start.

  He switched off the computer and walked away, trying his best not to even think about the investigation, at least until the morning after or until someone would have called him in the middle of the night.

  As he entered his car, he decided to message Anna. “The important thing is that she knows I’m on my way.”

  The beeping of another message was coming in as he placed the phone on the passenger’s seat and made him regret his choice; he was risking an endless chat with his wife, but at the same time, he was glad she promptly replied. ‘Whatever you do, don’t take the Tiburtine Road to come back. There’s been an accident, and the traffic is completely jammed. You’ll spend the night there!’

  “Why am I not surprised about it? But that’s a great piece of information, I will have to set up the navigator to find an alternative road.” He typed a fast ‘Thank you, sweetheart’ and started on his new route.

  Every evening was the same old story, and many times, together with his wife they considered the possibility to move to another part of the city. Yet, every time they thought about it, either the real estate market was frozen, or the apartments were completely unaffordable.

  “I’m afraid we should hire a real estate agent to search for something for us. This is not certainly the way we can go on,” he mumbled. “It might take some time, but if we don’t take a firm decision about it, we will live forever trapped by the confines of Tiburtine Road.”

  It
took almost two hours for Maurizio to reach his apartment and considering the deviation he needed to take to avoid the accident on a route, which was supposed to be the fastest, he considered himself satisfied.

  Coming inside the apartment and slipping off his shoes to fit into more comfortable house sleepers, gave him a sense of peace, one that put a smile on his face, regardless of the day he had.

  The scent of food coming from the kitchen and the television on made him feel that this was the only place on earth he ever wanted to be: his home, with the only people he would never have enough of.

  “Maurizio, you just arrived in time for dinner, go wash your hands and join us!” The chanting tone of Anna’s voice reached him like the trumpets of Heaven. He looked around and realized how lucky he was, and how he never appreciated enough of what he had.

  Anna was the most amazing gift he had from life, with her patience to put up with his job that caused him to behave almost carelessly.

  Returning from the bathroom, he hurried to the dining room, where everything was waiting for him, and almost with tears in his eyes, he reached Anna and held her tightly to himself.

  “What have you done?” she asked with a suspicious tone, parting from him. That was a behavior she was expecting when he had something to be forgiven for.

  “I have never appreciated you enough, and I’m afraid I’ve also taken our relationship for granted, when instead I should have worked harder to make sure nothing could ever disturb this perfection. Yet, although I know, how important it is to remind you about my love, I never do so. I keep forgetting things, and let you wait.”

  There was a long pause of silence between them, when Anna tried her best to understand whether he was just kidding, as usual or he was serious.

  She brought her hand to his forehead, “No, you’re not feverish.” Her voice started fickle with concern.

  “I have been thinking about the argument we had, and you were completely right.” He needed to take out all the right words coming out from his soul. “I don’t take into account the effort you are putting into our life; the care for Giovanna, the care for the house, and your work...”

  “Maurizio, Giovanna is at the kindergarten from eight in the morning to four in the afternoon, and the home is clean mainly thanks to Ms. Pina, who comes three times a week to take care of it,” She tried to explain that she wasn’t by any means to be compared to Cinderella. “Of course, there are things I care for by myself here, but they are minor things if we compare to those who can’t afford paying for a maid.”

  He closed his eyes and held her hands in his own, “I wish to have more time to spend with you two and be more present. I have chosen a terrible job to start with, but maybe I can try to make it up to you. I was considering moving us to a better part of the city, where none of us need to be stuck in the terrible traffic of the Tiburtine Road.” He looked deep into her chestnut brown eyes.

  “We tried many times, but without any success,” she protested. Anna hoped they could move away, but if she started to think about moving, and packing everything, she already started to feel tired.

  “I will take care of everything; all you need to do is come with me to see the available homes. I’ll call a real estate agent tomorrow, first thing in the morning, and from that moment on, you won’t have to think about it,” he assured. “This is the least I can do.”

  Her face brightened up, “Then we have a deal, but how about we eat our dinner, now? I’m starving!”

  As they were eating, Anna scrutinized him, “How is the investigation going?” She hesitated a bit to ask about the latest case, also because she knew the family requested the press blackout to protect their privacy, but sometimes there isn’t the need for any press to make sure the news is spread around the population.

  “We are still at the preliminary phases; we are gathering all the information about everybody, but we don’t have any leads to anybody. The family wants to keep everything within the walls of their houses, and I can understand their feelings. It’s not easy to be under the spotlight when you’re mourning the murder of a family member,” he explained without coming into details of the investigation.

  “I know. I was a bit curious, and I have been literally bombed at work and by people I know, about this case. I always say that you don’t have permission to talk about it with me, so I don’t know anything about it. However, sometimes it’s difficult to keep them quiet. I wish there was more information about it from the press, but I’m afraid I will have to contain those news-hungry beasts.”

  An amused laugh escaped her.

  “I know, I understand it mustn’t be easy,” he grinned sarcastically.

  CHAPTER 8

  On Friday, Maurizio reached the attorney’s office a little in advance. He wanted to have a chat with Silvia Antonioni, who had arranged to summon the heirs.

  She was a woman of an undefined age, possibly between thirty and fifty. Her career would have suggested the latter, but glancing at the fire burning in her eyes, and the care in the way she chose her dress, she could have been younger. That was the kind of person Maurizio feared the most because there wasn’t any chance to predict her thoughts, not at least based on the generation she’d been growing into.

  Luckily for him, she wasn’t one of the suspects, rather a possible ally, which made him more comfortable with the questions he needed to ask, before the reading of the testament.

  “Thank you for granting me an appointment before the reading,” he commenced, shaking her hand and smiling amiably at her.

  “There are no reasons for me to deny you some time, and I agree in this case, you will need all the information to find the person who murdered Mr. Calvani. Please, have a seat,” she replied, inviting him to get more comfortable. “I have to admit the news of the death of my client came as quite a shock.”

  “Thank you,” Maurizio replied, smiling. “There is one thing I keep constantly thinking, that being the time when Mr. Calvani gave you his holographic will.”

  She brought a hand to her mouth, thinking about it, and lowered her gaze at the pile of papers she had accumulated on her desk. “Let me check; I believe he changed it many times,” she browsed through the folder. “He gave me the first version of the testament five years ago. At that time, he was still married to his wife, Mrs. Giulia Martini. A couple of years ago, he gave me a new one and informed me that he added three life insurances, one in favor of his son, one in favor of his mother who remained alone after the death of her husband, and another to a certain Madlen Fazekas.”

  At hearing her name, Maurizio froze, feeling he got a great piece of information that could have produced an important milestone.

  “How much is the sum to be corresponded to each of those three beneficiaries?” His heart thumped in his chest.

  “It was twenty million euros. However, since his mother died last year, her part will be divided between the other two beneficiaries, according to the contract he undersigned with the insurance company, so at the moment his son and Ms. Fazekas would receive thirty million each,” she explained, raising her eyes back to Maurizio. She knew exactly what he was thinking.

  He averted the glance from her and scanned the room to find a place to fix his attention on, a place that could have given him the chance to focus on his consideration. The library at the right side of the desk where Silvia was seated grabbed his attention and offered him the best item to focus on.

  Well, we have two winners in the lottery of life. One is the son, who would have inherited most of his father’s wealth, so thirty million more or less wouldn’t make a big difference in the whole jackpot. Yet, this is not a good reason for excluding him from the list of the people who had a reason to have Claudio Calvani dead. The other one is a stripper for whom the same figure would have meant a radical change of life. She was certainly maintained by her boyfriend, but we all know that relationships come and go, and he might have dumped her as he did with his wife. If this had happened, she would have had to re
turn to her dancing career, but this time, considering the age, she wouldn’t find another deal.

  His mind was working like an overheated machine, and the possibility that Madlen had one of the best reasons to kill Claudio started to take over his mind, giving him a steady direction for his investigation.

  I need to know more about this woman’s background, where was she born, her family, why did she choose to come to Italy... I need everything, Maurizio pondered, caressing the stubbles on his chin, keeping his glance steady on the bookcase.

  Silvia remained watching him, trying to guess what his thoughts were. It wasn’t difficult to imagine he was contemplating the idea of having Ms. Fazekas accused of the murder of Claudio Calvani, and if she had to be honest, it sounded like the most promising lead to solve the murder. Yet, there is still time and a long list of details, I’m afraid will come out from this case.

  “So, let me understand one thing,” he turned his eyes on her. “He changed his will, and he added a life insurance policy to make sure his new girlfriend wouldn’t have had to fight legally if the direct heirs contested the will, and they would most probably have won, leaving her without anything, back to where she started.”

  “That’s a possibility, yes.” She wondered where he was heading to, but she was waiting for him to clarify his train of thoughts.

  “Yet, I don’t understand the reason why a healthy middle-aged man writes a testament and in addition, he stipulates three life insurance policies, for which he might have paid quite a sum. What was he afraid of? Did he feel threatened and considered a murder something feasible to happen? But then, why to also include his son? He would have been the direct heir,” he growled, biting his lower lip, hoping to find an answer to all those questions as soon as possible.

  Silvia glanced at her clock and exhaled. “Those are indeed interesting questions, Detective Scala, but now we need to reach the room where my guests have arrived. Since Mrs. Martini has invited you, and you are investigating the case of Mr. Calvani’s murder, I believe you will find some of the answers in the reading of the testament.”