Chapter 71
Jack and I looked at each other.
Please not now, not again, I thought
”Let’s go call the security”, Jack said.
I hesitated, and Jack repeated, “Let’s go”.
“But…”, I began, feeling that if the police got involved we would have to explain way too many things
Jack waited for a moment, but then he took me by the hand with a sense of urgency. He was about to drag me downstairs when suddenly we saw a man, dressed in hotel staff suit, walking towards us from the end of the hallway. I froze and I felt Jack’s hand become tense and moist with cold sweat. The guy had the appearance of the average Joe who works in a hotel, and I could not explain the rush of fear that was taking us both other than with the fact that our senses were over-sensitized with the avalanche of events swamping us.
When the man was close he looked at us and said, “Is everything fine?”.
It was probably a legitimate question, because we must have seemed oddly disturbed, and yet the idea that he had been following us flashed through my mind. We stared at him without answering, and he repeated the question.
“Our door has been opened”, said Jack at last
The guy turned towards the door and pondered the fact for a moment.
“Did you just get here and found it like this?”, he asked, and I nodded
He seemed hesitant to go in, and after waiting a moment asked us another question.
“Did you have any important things in there?”
I thought about the polymer samples. The first thought I had had is that whoever went in there was after us, but now all of a sudden it occurred to me that perhaps he or she was after the samples instead.
“Just our luggage…”, I replied vaguely
“We’ll call the security”, interrupted Jack
The guy looked at us and after pondering a moment he conceded, “Yes. I think we should”, but stood there without moving. There was something very odd about the scene, as if a movie was being played in slow motion.
“Come on Iris, let’s go”, said Jack, who after a moment of disorientation had reacquired his quick wit.
I was already starting to head away with Jack when the man stopped us.
“Maybe we can go in and have a look first”, he said, starting to open the door.
And there, at the entrance, we saw the cleaning lady who had been following us lying on the floor, a red stain spread on her back. Had it not been for that stain, she could have been alive, lying there with her eyes closed.
Time froze and my thoughts froze. I felt nothing, as if I was under a massive dose of anesthesia. Then there were sirens comings from a distance, getting closer and closer, and finally they were there, right under our room. We heard conceited voices, and a moment later two police officers were walking towards us.
“Polizia”, they said, showing us their badges
One of the two police officers bent on the body and placed his fingers on the woman’s jugular veins. He kept them there for a moment, then stood up, shaking his head. He was a man of about 40, stocky and with large feet, which seemed to ground him down and keep him balanced no matter what. The other policeman was thinner, nervous, and his eyes were mobile and disquiet. The two officers walked around the room, looked around.
“Is anything missing?”, the thin policeman asked me
I shook my head and shrugged. “I don’t know”, I said
“We’ll need to ask few questions”, he said
“Sure”, replied Jack, who was keeping me close to him, a hand on my shoulder
“Did you know this woman?”
I shook my head no, trying to look credible
“We don’t live here”, said Jack, backing me up
The policeman nodded distractedly
We heard another siren. Two Red Cross nurses came, carrying a stretcher. One police officer pulled out a chalk and drew the profile of the body on the carpet. He took pictures from different angles. Then the nurses moved the body on the stretcher and made their way to the elevator.
“You have to vacate this room for a while”, the stocky officer said
I looked at him blankly, so he added, “But we’ll have the girl at the front desk give you another one”.
“Can you check if anything is missing?”, the thin policeman asked
I opened my luggage and saw it had been fumbled trough. I felt around with my hands and looked under my clothing, unfolding them to make sure nothing passed unnoticed. So I was sure: the polymers were missing. I should have been shaken, but too much had happened and I was beyond the point of exhaustion.
I got up with effort and said, “Someone went through my stuff but I think they didn’t take anything”
“Do you have any idea about why someone would try to go through your belongings?”, the thin officer asked, and tired as I was I noticed that the way the guy phrased his sentences in English was more sophisticated than the average guy in Italy would phrase them
“I don’t know…”
“And what about your belongings? Anything missing?”, the policeman asked, addressing Jack
“Not really. They went through my clothing too, but everything is here”, he said.
We had distributed the polymer vials between our two suitcases, in case one of them got lost. I wondered if for a very strange case the polymer vials in his luggage were still there, or if he was lying the same way I had.
The thin policeman landscaped the room with his eyes one more time.
“We will have to ask you few more questions. We will come find you here at the hotel”, he said after a pause
“Ok”, I said, wondering what we would do the next day, but too tired to ponder any possibility for too long
“We’ll have the hotel staff get another room for you. You can gather your belongings now, but do not touch the door handles. Is everything you have in there?”, he asked, pointing at our luggage
Before we answered he gave a quick look at his stocky colleague, who nodded and walked out the room. My gaze trailed behind his steps, my moves and thoughts slow and blurred.
“Yes, we just got here today. We didn’t have the time to move things around…”, I replied after a moment
“Good”, he concluded
By the time we closed our luggage, the stocky policeman came back with a woman in hotel uniform at his side.
“I’ll bring you to a new room. This way”, she said, her plump hips raising and falling vigorously at every step.
“We will need to talk to you in the next days”, the policemen with the nervous temperament reiterated.
Jack and I nodded yes, then turned away, dragging our suitcases behind.