murder in the tremiti isles

Chapter 2 – Holiday finished

Chapter 2 – Holiday finishedThe slow but relentless march of time marked the last hours of his vacation, amidst the colors and perfumes of the Tremiti Isles. Just seven days’ break from work after quite a demanding period was not much, but Rosario Santacroce had enjoyed them anyway as he always loved to do. He lived every moment life gave him as if it was his last and as he always liked to see the glass half full he didn’t feel any regret about the vacation coming to an end. He was satisfied with how long his break had been. He had also been lucky with his choice of company, with the same tastes as himself, giving an additional sense of satisfaction to that momentary escape from daily life.

Lying in the sun, with a good book by his side, he spent his days easing down on the rocks like a lizard, crunching from time to time on some local fruit or tarallini. The calories were always lying in wait favored by a more relaxed lifestyle than usual, a potential threat that he tried to ward off with regular sport in contrast with all the hours he was able to spend lying on a rock without showing any sign of muscle soreness. The time to go back to his beloved job seemed to be rushing towards him at the speed of a gazelle being chased by a lion, but that didn’t bother him much happy as he was to have discovered a new place and curious about the idea of going back to his office so tanned that he would make his colleagues and friends green with envy as usual. His skin, very smooth and already dark, had reached a color that was almost black and as silky as though the sun had caressed him in admiration instead of burning him.

From time to time he too had to plunge into the crystal-clear water of the sea of Puglia, a pleasant way to survive the searing heat. The cool sensation on his skin took Saru’s mind back to his childhood spent in Salento, a time when he wasn’t so keen on the heat and couldn’t understand the tourists that used to spend the days chilling at the beach. When he thought about it he had to smile because at that time he would have considered himself crazy able as he was now to stay out in the burning sun without doing a thing. His memories linked to the sea were made of dives from the cliff, puckered skin from swimming for so long, the screams of joy of all the other boys who like him were always in the water. That night Saru and his girlfriend planned to go to the white island of San Nicola, taking the ferry that left from the dock of San Domino.

The idea was to visit the fortress and then eat at the “Artista”, the restaurant managed by Michelina who had been advised the previous day by Mauro, the owner of the boat on which they had spent the whole day exploring the island, swimming and enjoying the delicious fish that Mauro had caught the night before. At first, looking at the brochure, it had looked like one of those mediocre organized tours that are usually offered to tourists to admire the coast of any island. On the sheet of A4 paper an “unforgettable day” was advertised and the owner of the bar facing the little square dedicated to Sandro Pertini, the president who exulted at the World Cup Finals in Spain, went all out to assure them of the truth of what was advertised.

They boarded feeling rather doubtful because of some similar trips that had disappointed them in the past, but this time they had to admit that the €50 per person was a bargain considering the quality of the treatment received. The vacation had been quite spartan and to conclude it with a flourish they decided to treat themselves to a romantic dinner in one of the best restaurants of the place. But to be able to get there in time they had to come back early from the beach, a bit reluctantly, as that was their last day at the sea. A quick shower and then down to the port to reach the island before sunset. They reached the jetty on foot, walking down a narrow curving street, not more than a kilometer long, with the last part sloping down toward the sea, filling their eyes and touching their heart with the spectacle offered by nature.

«Wonderful» uttered the girl admiring the scene before her, a view she had never seen as she used to return at that time from the beach and she had always taken a different street to get back to her hotel. For a few minutes they stood staring at the island of San Nicola, lit up by the sun, a tongue of white earth surrounded by the crystal clear azure sea and covered in greenery like a bouquet created by an expert florist asked to decorate a room for an unforgettable gala event.

«If I didn’t have you, I would have had to come here more often to see something so beautiful» Saru murmured in her ear with the certainty of someone who is good at playing with words to get what he wants. And in fact he got the kiss he was after but didn’t want to ask for in homage to the seduction game that made them such well-matched accomplices. That exchange of emotions had aroused them to the point that they almost forgot about the ferry, the excursion and the dinner they had planned. Only the deafening noise of a pickup truck and the trail of unbreathable black smoke it left in its wake brought them back to reality, making them realise that that was not the best place to continue with their embrace.

«I think we’d better follow our plan otherwise we’ll never reach the other island if we keep this up» said Saru to the girl thanks to the bit of blood that was still able to reach his head and not follow the main surge flowing downwards. When they got to the port, they boarded a little boat that brought them to their destination in a couple of minutes along with the other tourists who had probably had the same idea. They had booked a table on the terrace to admire the sea.

That evening there were not many people and the sound of the waves lapping at the water’s edge reached them softly.

«These islands are very nice, worth visiting. The only thing that puzzles me a bit is the people who I find rather cold, not very cheerful, hard to talk to, not very “Salentine”. Salento’s actually just another story thanks to the people so warm and welcoming, always ready to help you and make you feel at home» he observed.

«I’d say that’s a good reason to take me there. You talk about it so often and in such glowing terms you’re making me curious. Actually everyone speaks well of it, but I’ve never been there and I’d like to discover it and having met you is one more reason to go there» she said.

«I think I’ll certainly be there by the end of August. It’s months since I went and I’d like to see my parents who are always asking me to come. I think if they met you they’d probably be happy».

«Are you officially inviting me to come to your parents’ place? Aren’t you scared of risking your reputation as a confirmed bachelor? Watch out, I’m starting to like you and if you keep bringing me on holiday in enchanting places like this I might even fall in love» she said with an attitude that was half serious and half joking, actually hiding her real thoughts.

«Do I look scared to you?» he answered readily without giving anything away and leaving the doors open to any possible solution. He liked the girl a lot and he wasn’t against the idea of building a long lasting relationship. It was a long time since he had experienced that strong feeling that can make your heart leap and give you butterflies in the stomach when your thoughts turn to that person who at that moment has the foremost place in everything you do.

«I still can’t work out when you’re joking and when you’re serious. Are you like that even when you’re working?» she asked. During that vacation she had admitted to herself that she wanted to get to know this person who had appeared in her messed-up life like a tornado with his strangeness, his desire for happiness, his way of dealing with problems and situations that could be very difficult. That man, who sometimes was a bit too anti-conformist and thought outside the box, was capable of surprising and for this reason he often came out winning. Many times she stopped to think how he could survive in a world so full of sharks with his frankness and his childish honesty.

«Normally I try to downplay situations because I don’t like grumpy people and the ones that seem to carry the whole weight of the world on their shoulders. Life, which I think should always be lived, often presents unpleasant situations and if we also add some extra stuff we make it even more complicated. That’s why I always try to laugh and smile at the persons I meet. I think a smile makes everything easier and it doesn’t cost anything except in the morning when you went to bed just a couple of hours before the alarm rang and you don’t even want to look at yourself in the mirror».

«Are you ever serious? I mean, when you go on a crime scene what do you do? You laugh?».

«Oh my God. In those cases there’s not so much to laugh about, but at the same time if you’re serious you can’t solve the situation either. You don’t start screaming and you don’t make a drama out of it, as a sign of respect for what happened, but if you can have a chat with your colleagues and with the investigators and maybe laugh a bit you sure do help to make the situation better and make the day a bit more positive. Can you imagine if all day we were so morose as if it were our funeral? It would be too difficult».

«How do you get on with your colleagues? What kind of relationship do you have with them? Are you against one another?».

«Sometimes we meet after work, but it depends on the personal relationship that develops in the sense that having the same job, in my field, doesn’t help because daily stress just ruins relationships and makes them complicated. Anyway there are not many other journalists from my region, but with a lot of carabinieri and policemen I like to organize a dinner or a night out for a drink. We talk, they help me understand the situations better and anyway when we’re eating everything gets less difficult, especially for them because they have so much pressure about not talking to the press. Sure, we have a lot of fun because you have to have a laugh and feel good otherwise why would we go out?».

Elisa was very curious to get to know Saru, but that evening he didn’t really want to talk about himself and he tried to change the subject switching his attention to a small fishing boat that was just passing out towards the open sea, another night at work for the men on board and who knows how long they had been doing the job that forced them to do at night what other people normally did during the day.

«I would like to go fishing, too. But not at night like them and for sure not being forced to come back with something that will pay for their work».

«Have you ever done it?».

«I used to go with my friends every Sunday morning and we were good at it. We had fun and we brought home lots of beautiful fresh fish. The only satisfaction after getting up at such an ungodly hour» he explained thinking about all the times he had gone fishing. For a moment he went back to his Salento and to those mornings when his childhood friends threw the boat on the water and pushed out to the open sea looking for fish. Sometimes it was very good and they came home with lots of fish, but other times the current was so strong that the fish wouldn’t bite and their day was boring and they regretted not staying in bed. Her smooth hand touching him lightly and her smile brought him back to reality.

«We’d better order otherwise it will get late and we might not get any dinner» she said focusing on the menu. Elisa had already tried to enter his private world and she was curious to know more about his relationships at work which surely went deeper than what he had told her, to learn his jokes better and his way of thinking, typical of the area he came from, often used to downplay things or to solve complicated situations. Smiling to himself, Saru imagined the comments of his friends if they could have seen him.

They would certainly have placed Elisa at the end of a long list of names and they would have given the relationship a few days used as they were to always seeing him with someone different, all girlfriends as he said. Saru had dated lots of women and they all seemed perfect for a long future together, able to giving him the physical and mental involvement which he believed indispensable. His best friend Ercole, a lawyer he had met through work and with whom he had a deep bond, never tired of repeating that he had to stop getting into relationships with married women. That it was not a good idea to start a relationship with someone that already had a family or someone much older than him because, knowing him, falling in love was not only dangerous because he could get hurt, but also because he could run pointless risks.

And he thought about that time when he had to hide in the closet because the husband (who had come home earlier than they thought) almost caught him. He thought about the fear he had felt that summer afternoon and that now made him laugh. He was really young then and he would probably not have been smart enough to get away with it considering that at that time he was not as good at using words as he was now when words were his daily bread. He swore to himself that he would never be found at a married woman’s place with the risk of having to give explanations to an angry husband. The passion for the other half of the sky was too important for him. He loved women, something that linked him to the famous Casanova whom he greatly admired and never thought he might resemble.

The wait seemed longer than it really was, but maybe it was just the desire to go back to the hotel and spend another night of wild passion. As often happened, he had met Elisa thanks to his job and their relationship was favored by the circumstances as at that moment they were both looking for a relationship which could give their life more edge. An overwhelming passion which would let them get out of situations they had been carrying on for too long partly out of habit and partly out of fear of hurting their partner even though the story was clearly wearing out. A brunette, not tall but slim, with a body like a model, a beautiful face maybe even more glowing thanks to something between the charming and the wicked which a careful look could not help noticing in her eyes. A “femme fatale” was the description given by a common friend who for this reason decided to stay away from her so as not to get hurt even though he liked her a lot. Saru knew about this but it didn’t scare him, in fact it encouraged him to court her given his propensity to risk, a necessary way to give more flavor to life in his opinion.

Elisa had been in politics for many years, sitting on the opposition benches in the Provincial Council and she had met Saru while he was reporting on a raid by the Guardia di Finanza at Palazzo Malvezzi, the seat of the Province of Bologna, when some councilors had allegedly falsified their expenses and wasted public money. Despite their time problems and their former partners who resisted the break-up, their relationship turned out to be quite deep and explosive and that vacation was proving even more useful for them to realize how similar they were, above all in bed. And who knows, maybe she really was the right woman for Saru who had reached the forty-mark, still single and maybe a bit too old and set in his ways to build a classic family.

He didn’t dislike the idea of having Elisa next to him forever, even though he was horrified by the idea of seeing the same person in his house for more than a week, a woman who could occupy his hard-won and jealously-guarded space. For him his house was like an untouched and untouchable temple where he could take off the titanium armor which protected him day and night and which, like everyone, he built and reinforced to cope with the situations life gave him often without a break. Taking off that armor when he entered his temple was a kind of esoteric ritual which allowed him to find himself without any limit, any mediation, any faking. Entering that temple was possible but the presence was not allowed for more than one night which could be repeated if the feeling was very strong, but certainly not within the next 24 hours as Saru could not wear his armor at home for so long.