Free Into the Killer Sphere by Stefania Mattana Page B

finely furnished with nothing on the walls. It surprised Chase that all the rooms had been tidied except for Rachele’s, where chaos reigned supreme among boxes, bags and piles of clothes.
    With the calm of solitude, Chase could fully appreciate Agata’s style of home furnishings downstairs. The whole house had already been checked out, by Inspector Mecci firstly, and more recently by Angelo. What neither had noted down in their reports was how the villa actually looked. There were little oil pictures, ornaments and display cabinets with cups, dolls, bells, photos from World War II, Masonry emblems and Partisan’s badges almost everywhere. Dusting all that stuff every day had to be a really big job for Ramona.
    Even in the utility room you could recognise Agata’s hand but not in the library, which was Piero’s territory. Chase poked and pried everywhere but he found nothing relevant.
    At the end of his tour he went back to the library. He had to move some furniture to get in, but finally he did it. The room looked like he had left it the day before: clean and in perfect order. Chase was about to sit down on an armchair when it occurred to him to double check if the sets of French doors were locked or not. The west ones were, but not the east ones. Thanks to that Chase was able to notice something very interesting just beyond the curtains.
    A broom and a dustpan still full of shards and soil had been leant against a tree in the fruit garden. How could he not have noticed them when he was outside?
    He grabbed his smartphone and browsed the latest photos in the gallery. While the thoughts were crowding Chase’s mind, his legs led him outside again, next to the dark hidden corner of the patio. Again he wrapped the corner of his shirt around his hand and took the shears from the basket, then looked at them against the light: they were deeply scratched.
    “Interesting,” commented Chase aloud.
    He hurried back into the house to find his phone where he’d left it in the library.
    “Now I need to talk with Doctor Conforti,” he sighed.
     
    Guests arrived at the villa to commiserate with the Gallis. The house was more crowded than Chase expected, so it wasn’t easy to spot Angelo amongst all those people. However, he found him after a while and was asked to patrol the property, keeping a special eye on the suspects.
    “There’re also some plain-clothes police officers around to help me out, but I don’t trust them. I trust you.”
    Chase thanked Angelo for the friendly pressure he put on his shoulders, then they lost each other for about an hour.
    Chase kept walking around the first floor of the villa observing the ritual of Tursenian public relations in high ranking society. All the guests talked quietly and showed off a certain elegance: women were fully bejewelled and not gaudy in their outfits, while men paraded shiny cufflinks, pretty tiepins, antique pocket watches and designer belts.
    It seemed that none of the big names of Tursenia’s elite were missing. Chase met, among many popular faces, the mayor, Bracciali and other politicians or important people whom he often saw on the front page of La Gazzetta di Tursenia . All of them patiently lined up to exchange a few words with Agata; she touched every hand and talked to everyone, sitting on a chair and surrounded by a handful of women of her age.
    When Chase finally caught Angelo again, he was on the patio devouring a sandwich.
    “Any clues? Any news?” asked Angelo.
    “You can’t stop eating, huh? You’re working, man. Get a grip!” Chase accused him.
    “I need to feed myself, stay cool, bello ! I can move my jaw and my eyes at the same time,” Angelo grunted.
    “Have you noticed any of our favourite Gallis acting suspiciously?” Chase changed topic.
    “Yes. I mean, no. Rachele is in the hall with Conforti. She’s been crying the whole time. And Conforti spent the ceremony at the church behaving like a sponge. Agata has been surrounded by all her