The Disappearance of Signora Giulia by Piero Chiara Page A

three-year-old cadaver would reveal nothing, and in fact his report left the cause of death as undetermined. It could have been strangulation or drowning. The internal cavities were full of sand, mould and small algae that had passed through the oral cavity during the body’s submersion, when rainfall had raised the level of the water in the cistern. There were no broken bones in the cervical region. The carotid cartilage had been destroyed by decomposition and didn’t provide any evidence. Signs of breakage could only have been preserved in the event of a natural mummification. But the effects of the water and the airless environment had subjected the body of Signora Giulia to a type of partial saponification. The facial planes were partially preserved, and thanks to their having become waxy it had been possible to identify the dead woman’s face as soon as she was discovered, an identification confirmed by the wedding ring. The cause of death had to be considered violent. Whoever had hidden that body – dead or alive – down in the cistern was the killer or his accomplice.
    While the magistrate gathered the results, Sciancalepre came forward with some news. The grocer Lucchini had spontaneouslypresented himself to the Commissario in order to state that he’d met Esengrini fifteen days before his arrest in via Lamberti, at one-thirty in the morning in the neighbourhood of the palazzo Zaccagni-Lamberti. The grocer, returning home from his shop after having finished an inventory of his goods, bumped into the lawyer. The fact made an impression on him since at M—— everyone knew that relations between the lawyer and his daughter were not good. So when he heard about the arrest and the charge, he felt it his duty to come in. He didn’t mention that he was doing it gladly, since four years before Esengrini had upheld the plaintiff against him in a trial for commercial fraud and he’d been convicted. Apart from these proceedings, the incident could have some bearing on the murder of Signora Giulia; or rather, the wife-killing, as the papers called it, so the grocer had done his duty.
    The judge added Lucchini’s deposition to the record and took the opportunity to speak to Esengrini about other details. Esengrini admitted without hesitation having met the grocer that night; and so as not to tantalize him too much confided another piece of the truth to him.
    ‘At this stage, I must tell you, sir, that my means of entry to the park wasn’t the gate of the palazzo Zaccagni-Lamberti, but the one adjacent to the palazzo Sormani, to which I’d obtained the key. From the courtyard of the palazzo Sormani, I went through to the park, then climbed over the wall towards the back. I went in after midnight, when everyone in the palazzo was in bed. No one could see me go in. There’s a bend in the road there, and before entering I’d stand listening in order to be certain that there were no night-owls around. However, there was someone who saw me…’
    ‘Lucchini,’ the judge offered timidly.
    ‘Lucchini,’ the lawyer confirmed, ‘and not only Lucchini. But this is part of another revelation that I’ll make in a few days. Now I’d ask you to question all the people who came to my office that Saturday morning: the lawyer Berrini, Signor Egidio Rossinelli, his wife and sister-in-law, and the surveyor Chiodetti. That morning in my office must be reconstructed.’
     
    It was no simple feat. The lawyer, Berrini, didn’t remember anything any more, but he didn’t rule it out: he had discussed the Bassetti file with Esengrini. He went to see his colleague frequently as their offices were so close together, and he couldn’t be precise.
    The Rossinelli were more precise. In their entire lives they had fought only the one lawsuit, against some neighbours – the Scardìas, southerners – for damage and unlawful entry. A backyard squabble. That morning – and the date was confirmed by the lodging of the complaint – they’d