The Italian Affair

by Helen Crossfield

  “Well I am determined to help you rationalise it. I’ll try really hard to think of what to do next” said Dan. “It just that it all sounds so unbelievable at the moment, but I know you would never lie about something like this or anything else for that matter. It’s just that….quite frankly it sounds like something out of the Godfather and that our light-hearted conversations in Ravello have come back to haunt us.”

  “I know. And that is why I need you to know what happened. In case something sinister is going on. As far as I know, there was only me around when I got to the crime scene. Then simultaneously, or just after that, the underpant salesman arrived” Issy said trying to piece things together and make sense of it as she spoke.

  “But surely if it happened so close to our school, someone would have mentioned it or there would have been much more activity on the streets nearby. Normally, when something like this happens in England, the whole vicinity around the crime scene would be cordoned off and there would be hundreds of police vehicles” replied Dan puzzled by the fact that the Neapolitans who were so friendly and interested in everything should suddenly retreat when someone obviously needed help.

  “Um it was that bit that perplexed me as well” said Issy. “But remember what you told me in Ravello? You should know more about this sort of thing than most, having watched the Godfather so many times. There is always a code of silence around Mafia related crime so maybe neither of us should be so surprised. The whole thing felt suspicious at the time and it feels suspicious now. This was definitely the work of the Mafia or the Camorra.”

  “Yes you’re probably right” said Dan “but somehow you always think that it is just fiction and it couldn’t really happen in real life.”

  Issy wasn’t really taking in anything that Dan was saying anymore. She was in a state of shock and her mind kept going back to the body. It was too much for her. She had been up close to death twice too many times in her life now, it was a like a bad coincidence. “Why had it happened again?” she thought as she stared at the two piping hot pizzas that had just been brought over by the waiter.

  “It was just totally bizarre,” she said shaking her head as she continued. “Everyone who I saw in the proximate vicinity carried on as if nothing had happened, as if they hadn’t heard the shot. I seemed to be the only one who responded and cared about what happened next. And it was the same when we returned to the crime scene everything was as normal – apart from a congealed pool of blood on the road there was no-one.”

  Issy took a gulp of water as she remembered what she’d seen.

  “What you mean you actually went back afterwards once you’d left?” said Dan.

  “Yes” faltered Issy.

  “Why?” asked Dan.

  “Because I felt guilty we had run away. I pleaded with the underpant salesman and told him we had to go back and he eventually agreed. I still don’t know why this shooting happened but what I do know is that no-one wants to talk about it or involve the authorities by reporting it. Just knowing about it and not helping makes me feel VERY GUILTY and SCARED.”

  Dan and Issy both looked at the untouched food in front of them. The pizzas suddenly seemed much less appetising than when they’d seen them on the menu. As they pushed pieces of tomato and pizza base around their plates Dan eventually spoke.

  “I suppose what I’ve learnt since being here is that despite the splendour of the food, the aquamarine blue of the sea and the heat of the sun’s rays, occasionally the impacts of organised crime must touch the ordinary people who go about their business and by chance it happened to you today. The truth is that the Mafia still thrives in this region and is actually gaining power and growing. The death of the young man almost certainly had something to do with the Camorra. The silence or the Omerta seems to indicate that.”

  “And that,” said Issy “is the scary thing about today. Being at the crime scene makes me feel vulnerable in more ways than one. I was a bloody witness but there seems to be no-one to give my witness statement to.”

  “Um,” replied Dan. “I can’t be sure about this of course but having listened to what you’ve just said it seems to me that this man, for whatever reason, must have threatened the Camorra and has now been dealt with in the most final of ways. That is why the underpant salesman must have led you away. He may not have been directly involved in the shooting but knew enough to know you weren’t safe if you were seen to help a wanted man.”

  “Ok, so if we’re agreed that I came face to face with the Camorra this morning we need to find out who did it to feel safe ourselves or we may end up finding out what happens to those people like me who become unwittingly involved.”

  Dan shook his head. “We will probably never know who did it Issy. It could have been someone from a feuding Camorra family. But one thing I do know is that those who had inside knowledge about the murder and helped to perpetrate it will need to remain silent if they want to live. So that is why everyone is telling you politely to keep your mouth shut as these murders and feuds are normally intra family. We need to keep out of things. The only option for both of us now is to pretend it never happened.”

  “The thing is” said Issy. “I know it sounds weird but the person they killed did not look like he was in the Mafia. He looked just like a regular guy on his way to work. As for the underpant salesman, goodness knows why he came across and grabbed hold of me.”

  “From what you’ve said, it sounds like he must have been somehow involved” said Dan.

  “NO,” said Issy starting to look visibly agitated. “I don’t think he was guilty of anything and I certainly don’t think he had anything to do with the shooting.”

  “Well what on earth was he doing there otherwise?” replied Dan trying to apply logic to his sudden appearance. “Why would someone who sells underpants in Pompeii be in Via Maria Magdala at that time of morning? Surely, he would be making his way out to Pompeii at that time to set up his stall and sell his pants?”

  “No. No” said Issy shaking her head quite violently once again. “One thing I am absolutely sure about is that the underpant salesman did not kill anyone this morning. I don’t believe he was involved in anyway. He was kind, lovely even. He did not do it. I will go to my grave knowing that. What I do think though is that he understood the danger.”

  “Ok fine. But unless he lived in that street why was he there? And why did he rush you away? That’s the most suspicious bit” said Dan.

  “I have no idea” said Issy. “But I felt he was trying to protect me. It didn’t feel like he was running away because he felt guilty or had something to hide.”

  “Look Issy, you can’t know that. I hate to say this but did him telling you he loved you make you feel differently towards him? You‘re in a vulnerable state.” said Dan.

  “God no,” said Issy. “

  I’m a bloody feminist for Christ’s sake. I’m not even sure he did say that anyway. I was in a state of shock so maybe I just imagined that bit. I simply can’t say for certain he said those words. But it sounded like that. And anyway it wasn’t a lust thing. It’s just there was a connection of some kind. I can’t describe it. It’s like I’d met him before. Just certain things made me feel I knew him.”

  Dan looked at Issy tenderly and said “It wasn’t another Theia Mania moment was it?”

  Issy shifted uncomfortably on the plastic pizzeria chair which had started to stick to her lower legs. “I don’t know if I’d call it that. But there was certainly a pull. Not exactly like it was with Jeremy but something quite similar.”

  “Look Issy,” Dan said caringly. “All I will say is be careful. As nice as he may have appeared, he could be duplicitous. These people usually are. If you live in the shadows you have to learn to dupe people to survive. It‘s a bit like international spies. They work covertly, covering their tracks. The more normal they appear, and the more integrated they are into the fabric of everyday life, the more difficult it becomes to blow their cover. Maybe he thought that if he was seen
with you it would divert attention from him?”

  “Dan. Listen to me” Issy pleaded. “I don’t believe that. When I looked into his eyes, for a second there was a flicker of something familiar. He is good and honest. Complicated maybe but he’s not bad I assure you. When I looked into his eyes I actually felt the potential for Agape.”

  “Eh” said Dan. “Agape is what you had with Jeremy. How can you compare what you had with Charles Ryder II with a fleeting few moments spent in the company of an underpant salesman fleeing from a crime scene?”

  “Look Dan,” Issy countered “I know this is going to sound off the wall but when dad died, I remember thinking, even though I was so little that whilst his body was still there in the room he wasn’t but that he hadn’t gone completely. It felt like he had gone somewhere but where? That question is what drove me on to find answers. From a young age I understood how the physical can still exist when the person doesn’t. Coming so close to death, I learnt that the eyes are the window onto the soul – when those eyes close forever the body becomes irrelevant and it is only the essence of that person that remains. When I looked into Bruno’s eyes I saw honesty and a desire to protect. Remember I was looking into my father’s eyes when he died. He had no need to speak. I understood everything he would have said to me had he been able to talk. All I need to do now is look into a person’s eyes and I immediately know who they are and what they stand for. Even with you, I understood certain things without you even needing to speak.”

  “OK. I would quite like to test that theory. So what did you understand when you looked into my eyes the first time we met?” Dan asked looking rather peeved by the fact she seemed determined to defend the underpant salesman.

  “I could see you were quirky, different. That you are a romantic and that you want to experience real love from another human being, I also see reflected in your eyes that you are someone who’s suffered and who has acquired wisdom and a level of knowledge way beyond your years by having to survive with few people around to support you. When I hugged you in Ravello I finally understood the detail. But right from the beginning I understood some of these things without you having to utter a word. I saw my pain reflected back at me in your eyes.”

  “Well, I’d say some of that is absolutely true,” Dan said. “But you are taking me down a different alleyway with that conversation and I’m not sure this is the right time to be talking just about me and my history. All I was trying to say to you is BE careful Issy – you are obviously naturally intuitive. But you only just met this man. He could be involved in this. You have no proof that he wasn’t. I’ve only known you for a matter of days but I already care about you enough to ask you to not rush into anything.”

  “Look Dan,” Issy countered. “I am happy to be proved wrong but intuitively I know that Bruno is not personally involved in any way in the shooting this morning. And as inconvenient as it is, I felt a really strong attraction towards him that was instantaneous and reciprocated. To describe it another way would be to lie to you. And the reason that it’s extraordinary is not because he sells underpants, or was in the vicinity of the murder. It’s because I am supposed to be here to forget Jeremy and re-charge my heart and my soul and not just fall in love all over again with the first good looking man I meet.”

  “God,” exclaimed Dan exasperated that Issy had already decided it could be love “I know this has shaken you up. We’re not going to get to the bottom of what happened this morning anytime soon. I’ve got an idea. Let’s get out of Naples this weekend. I’d been planning on going to Ischia to paint. and there’s an exhibition on the island of some of Dahl‘s work. Let’s just go together and buy some time until we can work out what has been going on around us. This conversation is getting a bit jumbled up and I can’t think straight or really breathe anymore.”

  “Ok” Issy said slightly reluctantly as she wrapped a half metre of stringy mozzarella from her pizza around her fork before putting it into her mouth.

  As she chewed she thought. It surprised her that despite the shock and the probable danger she was now in part of her actually wanted to remain in Naples in the hope she might see Bruno again in the next twenty-four hours. But Dan was probably right another dose of Theia Mania would probably kill her.

  She needed some time to assess things in a calm way. And she had to accept that whether Bruno was involved in the murder or not, which she didn’t believe for one moment he was, someone had died and she’d been the only person interested in helping. However kind the underpant salesman was he hadn’t wanted to go back and offer support.

  “Ok Dan,” Issy said. “I guess you’re right. I need to escape from here for a bit to get my head sorted out and if you’re sure you don’t mind me tagging along to Ischia that sounds like an ideal place to lie low for a bit. A question I have though before we go is should I report this to the police? I’ve just had a lesson with Giuseppe and he pretty much advised me to keep my mouth closed. In fact he seemed really angry with me for even wanting to chat things through with him.”

  “I think you need to leave things” replied Dan with some finality. “Not because of what Giuseppe told you but just generally. We need to buy some time before we do absolutely anything else. What happened cannot be reversed. A person died this morning and you had nothing to do with it. All you tried to do was help. Ever since it happened everyone has tried to silence you. That in itself is telling you that what you need to know. It is now more dangerous to speak than to remain silent.”

  “I still feel guilty though” Issy said.

  Dan now grabbed her hands. “Look. You were only there because you thought you might be able to help the poor man. My advice is do your lessons, I’ll walk you home after we both finish teaching tonight. We can pack and leave together on the Vespa. That’ll mean we’ll have plenty of time to get a late evening boat over to Ischia, and still be able to squeeze in supper. We’ll then be able to decide when we get there whether we should spend one night or two nights on the island.”

  “Ok” said Issy. “I’ll try to stop thinking about things. And Dan, thank you. I am so pleased you are here. I’m sorry I seem to have got myself into a real mess. All I‘ve done through lunch is talk about a murder and some weird attraction I feel towards an underpant salesman. I came here with the intention of sorting out my complicated life and all I’ve managed to do so far is make it ten times more complicated.”

  Dan looked across the table at Issy and smiled. “Don’t worry you owe me one. When we’ve sorted this out I’ll tell you all about me. Maybe you can teach me something about relationships. I’m in need of learning from the ancient Greeks maybe they can provide me with some of the answers I’ve been looking for. And Issy, one other thing – stop beating yourself up it’s not going to solve or change anything.”

  And with that they finished their pizzas and left the restaurant but not before Issy had taken a good look around the pizzeria. As she tried to focus on the faces in the room none were familiar and they all looked totally engrossed in their various conversations. No-one looked up or seemed suspicious.

  “But that could well be a ploy,” Issy thought to herself as they exited and headed back to school. “It could be anyone of these people sitting in here it’s getting more sinister by the bloody minute.”

  Ischia – 9.00pm local time 23 September 1986

  As they finally boarded the ferry to Ischia, Issy got her first glimpse of the Bay of Naples from the sea. And it was a spectacular sight when looked at from this perspective.

  Even at a distance, it throbbed with life and energy. Cars and vespas crawled along, creating a giant caterpillar with illuminated arteries running through the heart of the city and outwards towards the base of Vesuvius.

  As the ferry pulled further out to sea, they watched from the back of the boat as the impressive silhouette of Naples with its jet black volcano stood sentinel over a spectacular coastline against the salmon-pink evening sky.

  A slight breeze washed over t
heir faces as Dan and Issy stood side by side at the back of the boat their hair blown backwards.

  “Ah. That feels good,” Dan said as they pulled further away from the coastline breathing in lungful after lungful of salty air before adding. “The more distance we have between us and Naples the better it is for both of us at the moment as far as I’m concerned.”

  “Um,” Issy said allowing the natural elements to caress her face “just being at sea is making me less nervous. I couldn’t have sat in that hot chaotic city tonight. But here on the water, if I close my eyes I could almost believe the events of this morning did not even happen.”

  “That’s what we want,” said Dan quickly not wanting to dampen the mood. “I’ve got an idea. Let’s agree not to talk about THE UNMENTIONABLE EVENT OF THE DAY until at least tomorrow. I want you to FORGET about things, have a good time and then think about it if we have to later on in the weekend.”

  “It’s difficult not to think of it” said Issy a bit abruptly. “But I will try my best as I’m not sure how thinking about it is going to improve things.”

  “There’s no more that we can do tonight Issy,” Dan said. “All I’m asking you to do, when we get off the ferry, is to just put today and the events that happened in Via Maria Magdala behind you and enjoy the island of Ischia – it’s a special place and I want you to enjoy it.”

  Issy looked up at Dan. “He was trying so hard,” she thought. “Why did the prospect of Ischia not make her feel any better? “

  She couldn’t help what she said next despite Dan asking her not to mention the shooting again. “I just feel guilty Dan. I feel like I shouldn’t be out here with you tonight, about to enjoy a weekend away when someone I may have been able to help died in the most brutal circumstances this morning.”