Death of a Hundred Kisses

Autumn Would Be so Proud

Ah, at last! The smell of the rose seeds was caressing my nose, it was there.

It was him, or her. It was the killer, surely. But what could I do? I was handcuffed, locked in the interrogation room. I didn’t know where they were interrogating Micah. They might think her as my accomplice. I needed to get out of here.

There was nobody in the room, it felt awkward. I could see the glass window, and I could feel the presence of Leone behind that. Maybe he was waiting for me to break down, to confess for the crimes I was unaware of the whole time. It was funny how bad things escalated, was I proud of my innocence?

Leone entered the room, with the case files. He had a posture of a predator; I could feel that predation towards me. Nothing could save a prey from the hunter.

He sat down and chewed a mint. The air was supposed to be more flavored, but it wasn’t.

He opened the file, ‘Can you state your full name again?’

I looked at him, ‘Lazarus Imperia Ephron.’

He started like a kindergarten teacher, ‘Where were you born?’

I felt nostalgic, although this poor sack could never resemble Agent Fender whatsoever, ‘In Sacramento, California.’

He sighed, ‘Bradley Ephron and Enara Imperia Ephron, you parents died when you were too little, right?’

I nodded. That was too much hurtful for me to be questioned about my parents' death. But I was an agent, I was trained to overlook any emotional attachments.’

He turned a page over the file, ‘Your foster family was the Renovese, how odd was that?’

I wanted to laugh, but his face never had the vibe, ‘Well, there was a federal witness in the same flight with my parents. So federal agency took the responsibility of every minors who were orphaned due to the incident, including me. So, here I was with them.’

He cleared his voices, ‘No, not the foster part. I was talking about the family part. The name resembles with one of the most ferocious crime family we knew. The Renovese, no one knows where they are. But the guy who established this reputation, Don Renovese, was a heck of badass.’

‘Oh, you can't even imagine the ferocity,’ I spoke in my mind. Clearly the description of my family was kept secret for my safety. Maybe only the federal agency had that information. I skipped.

He asked, ‘So, what exactly was the reason for your suspension?’

I sighed, ‘Just the same reason for which you are keeping me here.’

I could see that he couldn’t understand. I had to explain, ‘Well, as I was the head of the homicide department, I got a call from my colleague that there was a murder. I went to examine the body. There were plenty of media personnel there. When I got up to the body, I saw this modus operandi. It was weird. The kiss marks, the missing half. You will find after the autopsy that the bodies had been most probably dead for one full year. And that body had a same note like this, addressing me. So, I was interrogated by federal agents, I was suspended for suspicion of involvement. That’s the full story.’

He laughed like a wasted guy on drugs, ‘If you put it that way, yeah. But here we don’t confirm any statement as full story that are given by a suspected person. So, what are your thoughts? What can be the motive? What is your connection?’

It was funny. The irony of that question, it was too much funny. This alive sack slammed my story as a sticky note on the board, and yet wanted to hear the story. Well, what could I say? ‘To be honest, I have no idea about the connection. I have solved some cases, but I don’t think they are relevant here. I also don’t know exactly the motive, but it seems to be highly passionate, deeply personal.’

He nodded, ‘I think we both can agree on only one thing today. I never saw this intimacy in killing. Well, are you Italian by your father or mother?’

I denied, ‘No, but my foster family was, so I learned about one or two things from them.’

He pulled out a pack of cigarettes, ‘Well, you know, Milan, it’s a crime city. Every night here is living through purge. Nobody is accountable for the safety of another man. People sometimes don’t care about their children; every person is breathing to survive this sin city. As a police detective, I have seen many crimes here. Brutal ones, calm ones, psychotic ones. But this Baci di sangue, I can swear this is too much.’

I couldn’t understand, ‘Can you rephrase the Italian words in English?’

The meth head laugh was again, ‘It means kisses of bloods. We try the coping mechanism by giving the criminals fancy names.’

How fancy! I had to cope with whatever I had, some coffee cube, and more cases.

He looked at me, ‘So, why are you here, in Italy? On a vacation in your suspension?’

I wanted to ask him his police badge, to confirm whether the Italian government really gave him this job. This guy was quite far from qualification, ‘Not exactly. I can't go on vacation when I am accused of murder. I came here to prove my innocence.’

He asked me, ‘How?’

I tried to explain him, ‘The first dead guy, he was a known guy of my grandpa. The guy had a friend here my grandpa knew, so I came here to talk with that friend. I needed to solve this for my innocence.’

He looked at me, ‘Okay then, let's believe you are telling the truth. But I think I have an upper hand in this one.’

He pulled a sheet from the file, ‘So when did you come here?’

I told him the truth, ‘Yesterday afternoon.’

He laughed, ‘This is the list of passengers coming from America from last seven days. The airport authority has no database for any Lazarus Imperia Ephron in their system. So, are you saying your name just slipped their system?’

I had no answer for that, I was cornered. I knew I shouldn’t have taken the private plane. It really was a mistake.

I had to improvise, ‘Can I have my lawyer?’

He knew that right. But I knew he wouldn’t care, ‘I mean, can you? I don’t think any lawyer will help you. I know all the defense attorney here. So, you will lose, fucker. Don’t hustle yourself in this. Admit your guilt, it’s easier that way.’

I wanted to punch this autocratic bastard right in the face. But the foreign land restricted me from so many things. I had no choice, but to wait for his mercy.

But, sometimes, people owe people no mercy. The moment proved that. An officer came in the investigation room, ‘Signore, Un avvocato ti sta cercando.’

I couldn’t understand the words, but I tried to follow the atmosphere in the room. It was full of silence, full of tension. What the hell happened? Was I involved?

A well-suited guy came in after that officer, ‘Are you Mr. Ephron?’

I nodded in confusion. Something was happening beyond my understanding.

The lawyer came to shake hand, ‘Good morning, Mr. Ephron. I am Caliendo, your lawyer for this thing. You can call me Cal.’

The Italian accent was always funny and irritating to me, but I think any accent with this amount of confusing information would help you keep the face apiece.

He looked at Leone, ‘I’ll need five minutes of talking with Mr. Ephron, I just need some highlighted events of this killing. Can you come back after that? I will try to make it brief.’

Dazzled, Leone stood up. And by the posture I could tell how badly he wanted to kill this unexpected lawyer. But the lawyer wasn't finished, ‘Fermati, signore. Don Renovese vuole ringraziare per aver lasciato vivere tua moglie ancora qualche anno. Buona giornata, signore.’

I couldn’t understand yet again. But I wasn’t dumb enough to be ignorant even after hearing that name. This old bastard was all over my life.

Leone was s**t scared, he only knew how insecure he felt. I could think of any personal threat for that atmospheric change.

He got out, the new lawyer sat in front of me, ‘So tell me everything. First off, is Durante dead for real, or is he just injured?’

I was pissed off enough to cooperate with him, ‘f**k up with your bullshit. Call the old hag first. I just want him.’

He maybe somehow knew this rage, ‘Okay, right up.’

He pulled out his phone, and dialed a number. I assumed it was for that bastard.

He handed over his phone to me. I kept clinging my eyes for that last presentation. The best work of art, himself.

Grandpa received the call, ‘Next time, please keep a list of your visits in sin city. Keeping a track on you was a great idea after all,

I was pissed, ‘Oh f**k off. What do you want? How many times do you want rejection?’

He wasn’t a guy to get angry so easily, ‘Less words, son. But I must admit, you are perfect in yourself. Using the king to dethrone a king, splendid.’

His knifing in my wounds was far more worse, ‘Just let me be by myself. Get another asshole for your shithole business.’

He laughed a coy laugh, ‘There is, and will be one il principe, either you accept it, or I make you accept it. Don’t force me.’

I laughed back, ‘Well, jokes on you. You already snatched enough from me. No leverage left for you now, so rot in that throne.’

I threw the phone and got out of the room.

I couldn’t think of anything. Not what the lawyer was saying, not what that Leone was doing, nothing. I just needed Micah, we had to go back from this sin city.