The Woodcock Game: An Italian Mystery Novel Read online

  THE WOODCOCK GAME

  BY

  LISA K. ROSSINI

  ACKNOWLDGEMENTS

  I want to thank my doctor Giovanni Panini, who inspired me doctor Nino Canali, Marina Aymo Boot, who helped me with allergic reactions and pharmaceutical researches, Grace Kelsey who edited my English and the Carabinieri in Verolanuova, Italy, who helped me in building credible descriptions.

  Verolanuova is a small town in northern Italy, 70 miles from Milan, near the Garda Lake.

  My Italian doctor, Giovanni Panini, lives there and I give him a Christmas gift every year, when I visit Italy. This year, I wrote this story where he, as the main character, solves the mystery using the woodcock game, the unique strategy this birds uses to escape the hunter’s game. Giovanni thanked me on Facebook and many people wanted to share the story.

  Verdana and Nino Canali come from there.

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  September 16th

  September 17th

  September 18th

  September 19th

  September 20th

  September 21st

  September 22nd

  September 23rd

  September 24th

  September 25th

  September 26th

  September 27th

  September 28th

  September 29th

  September 16th

  Autumn again.

  Not like usual Septembers, that day, hunting season opening, was warmer than usual, at 75° or more.

  Nino had been hunting all of his life, but that was the first warm September as far as he could remember, or at least so warm he could stay without his jacket at five in the morning.

  After one hour, nothing moved, though his dog had sensed something.

  Mark, his English setter, was extremely talented, but the prey could stay motionless, hidden in the woods’ colors.

  She could wait there for hours, even if Mark or Nino were close to her; sometimes, they say, the animal lets hunters and dogs step on her, standing still.

  He knew she was not easy, that’s why he loved her: elusive, clever but classy.

  They called her the queen of woods, for her gull wing flight, discretion and beauty: she was never frightened, but seemed to enjoy the game, playing an imaginative hide and seek, leaving the hunter exhausted, but never defeated.

  Because the Queen does not deceive: she plays, fights, intrigues and challenges, leaving, like love, the feeling it has always been worth it.

  She is the woodcock.

  Nino often tried to explain why he loved such an impossible bird, but one day he realized no one can explain stuff passions are made of.

  You cannot try to tell how they take your soul and how you fight them, hurt by their indefinable power .

  How to explain why you then surrender to the sweetness of capitulation, following what enthralled you?

  He smiled, thinking of emotions calling you out at night, making you drive miles to see someone; feelings that slip into your heart and shake it with brazen insolence.

  He thought back to when he fell in love with Emma.

  He tried hard to fight: after all he was a handsome, smart guy, about to graduate.

  A doctor.

  In short: a great catch.

  But Emma took his heart and he realized that waiting, when you have found love, was a waste of time.

  They got married and had two beautiful daughters.

  His women took his heart and he loved them.

  And right after, there was his woodcock.

  His.

  He smiled again: hunters have their own woodcock, the one they follow for hours, days, weeks.

  Seasons.

  That’s why he was, that September morning, in a rainy and sultry day, waiting for the queen to appear.

  Rain had hampered his dog, erasing tracks, but also a small, crowd, a little farther, was getting in the way, talking lodly and excitedly.

  "Mark, come here!" Nino shouted, as the dog ran at full speed towards the voices.

  But the setter seemed on a mission and even his beloved master wasn’t able to convince him.

  His dog was saving this welcome only to another man, but that man wasn't there, as a slight fever had kept him away, so Nino was really angry with his setter.

  “Mark!”

  Nino moved, following Mark, and reached the animated crew talking near a thicket of brambles.

  "Excuse me, what’s going on?” he said annoyingly, while grabbing his dog’s collar

  "Dogs found something: look"

  The man who had talked was bald and tanned; he used his rifle to move a branch in the bush.

  Below, a woman's hand appeared, with painted nails and a ruby ring, gently resting on the ground; the hand made a small movement, due to the lifted branch, and settled lifeless soon after; as the man moved the branch, Nino saw the rest of the body.

  Nino had startled at that fake glimmer of life, but only for a moment, when he saw that inertia he, as a doctor, knew well, he realized there was nothing he could do.

  "Come on, help me" Nino said

  He turned to the man who had spoken.

  "Help me"

  Together, the two dragged the body from under the bush, while the leaves hiding her slid on the ground.

  The woman wore a light dress, no jacket, and looked like she was ready to go out on a Saturday night: no sign of violence, no tears in her clothing, her long, dark hair combed and perfectly laying on a shoulder, in a single, composed strand.

  Nino looked at her and hoped to find a glimpse of life in that body; she seemed asleep, such was her expression, serene and sad at the same time, as if a wistful dream surprised her, taking her away and leaving only the print of a stolen life.

  Then he took the phone.

  "Hello, this is Dr. Nino Canali, Verdana, Brescia. We found a corpse in the woods around Park Cardone: a woman, thirty years old, 5,9 tall, slender build, no signs of violence ... .

  Ok, I’ll wait "

  Nino looked at her and thought how that creature had, sadly, the majesty of the woodcock, upstanding and elegant even after meeting with her predator.

  September 17th

  Nino was getting ready for his workday, going from 9am to noon, except for Mondays, when he visited his patients in the afternoon.

  That morning, he had his patients home visits, then, at 11am, coffee with his father, a ritual they had even during his practice in the morning.

  All his patients knew that: at 11am, his father Giacomo entered his son’s office, greeted people waiting there and disappeared into the coffee room, after giving a light touch to Nino’ door; his son came out right after and slipped in the same room, reached by the other doctors working in the same hall.

  From there, Giacomo reappeared a few minutes later, followed by doctors and his son, he smiled to those who were the sons and daughters of his old patients and waved goodbye to the little crowd.

  But that Monday, he had to go to the Coroner, so the morning would be spent talking to Thomas Ghidelli.

  Dr. Ghidelli was a man of few words.

  "I chose this job cause I hate those who complain" he often said, and he could hardly bear conversations with police officers and nosy self-proclaimed detectives .

  Everybody knew Ghidelli’s hostile good mornings, but Nino knew it was just the first layer in a good man’s temper, a man who did not like company, but was ready to jump from a cliff to help a friend.

  "Hello," Nino said

  Ghidelli turned: they had helped each other many times and Nino was
welcome, though the word welcome hardly suited the way Ghidelli greeted anyone.

  "Did you get something from the autopsy?" Nino asked

  "I never run, in my job "

  Nino laughed.

  "I did not ask that” he said “What I want to know is if you have a clue, but if you're so sensitive, I guess you feel a rightful sense of guilt for the delay "

  Ghidelli joined Nino’s laugh.

  " Perugini collected the data, I was on vacation; I have to admit, he’s the best assistant I’ve ever had so far.

  I just started and so there is no rightful guilt.

  Not that I usually feel that way, unless the corpse I’m analyzing is someone I killed.

  But, so far, it never happened "

  He looked into Nino’s eyes from above his lenses.

  " But there’s always a first time ... "

  "I'm just here to help"

  Ghidelli sighed.

  "Yes, you have to tell me something"

  "No, You have to tell me something.

  I just found her. I want to know how she died as there are no signs of violence or poisoning."

  "She died from natural causes and someone panicked and made her disappear.

  She was dressed for a date"

  "Why do you guess that?"

  "The neckline dress, not for a dinner with friends; the attention to details is for a date.

  You know, in my job you see so many things and I learned that women have a language in choosing what to wear underneath. And she was dressed for someone she cared for. A lot."

  "And ...?"

  "Look here ..." he said, showing a scratch on the woman’s left arm

  Nino watched closer, bending a bit.

  "This .."the coroner said "is not a nail scratch , but a needle, the depth shows that she moved, while the murderer was trying to inject something "

  "So?"

  "... There are no signs of struggle, or signs of violence that may have killed her.

  As if a thought killed her. "

  "A philosopher in a coroner’s body" Nino said smiling "So, what killed this woman?"

  "Cardiac arrest"

  "And why did the murderer hide her?"

  "Panic, a married man with a beautiful woman he couldn’t explain…..or he believed he had killed her.

  The scratch tells us only that his or her intention was maybe that "

  "Or she was not able to take a life-saving medicine"

  "If she was taking meds, there will be track in my analysis ...if you wait.

  Maybe they were discussing, she was blackmailing him, they fought and she had a cardiac arrest."

  Ghidelli turned back toward the table.

  "This woman had nothing, his young body was perfectly functioning" he said watching a paper he had in his hand.

  He handed it to Nino.

  "Did you discover who she is?" said Nino reading the paper

  "No, no one in the area reported her missing, no woman of about thirty, tall, lean and ...."

  The two doctors turned to the woman.

  "... saying wonderful?" Nino whispered

  "Regal ..."

  "" Nails are long and trimmed, there must be something underneath "

  Ghidelli snorted.

  "Yeah, I love that! Doctors who think they know all about crime just because they read a couple of crime stories"

  Nino was ready to the list of complaints and insults Ghidelli dished to anyone who tried to extort details from him.

  “No, I just watch Law&Order a lot” he said

  "Now a woman with long fingernails must end up holding hair, skin and whatever serves to identify a murderer.

  How could I be so fool not to be the first to think that?

  You know doctor, if there were no crime novelists, my job would be so difficult " Ghidelli said nearly shouting

  Again, he snorted, then took the woman’s hand and turned it palm up.

  "Killers learn what little they need and they use it ...

  Fingernails are clean and when I say clean, I do not mean the this lady cared , but that someone made an accurate cleaning on anything she could hold or hide.

  Look ... " he said showing the woman’s right palm to Nino

  Nino detested to be vulnerable to Ghidelli’s tricks and sometimes he could not stand his annoyed and haughty way; so, he pretended to watch the hand, but he waited for a comment from Ghidelli.

  “I knew that," Ghidelli chuckled "Four episodes of Law&Order and you all pose scientific questions.

  This hand .. " he said, taking a bored scientist attitude, as a teacher who repeats the lesson to a naughty pupil " ... is clean, even softened " he concluded rubbing a finger and smiling under his mustache, looking forward to the obvious question Nino would make and answering him in a perfect so bored-scientific tone.

  Just to put these Law&Order’s enthusiasts in their place.

  "Softened? Hmm… " Nino said, knowing all too well Ghidelli’s psychological games

  "And are you going to ask me why?"

  "Because someone cleaned them to hide something, right?" said Nino

  "Not entirely, Nino, not entirely. But I’m impressed " he chuckled "What I do not understand is why hiding a corpse in the woods knowing that the next day there will be hunters"

  "It is not a popular place, or known as a woodcock place, so maybe he hoped no one would find her"

  Nino looked at her.

  “Or they wanted them to find her, someone who knew the cream would attract dogs" said Ghidelli "and could ward off other animals that could attack her body"

  "Someone who loved her, then a crime of passion?"

  "His executioner had her confidence and, perhaps, her love"

  Nino looked at the corpse.

  "What is this?" he said, pointing at her right ear

  Ghidelli looked where Nino indicated.

  "Oh," he said "I didn’t see those stains"

  Her left ear showed a slightly browned area, who almost blended in with her olive complexion.

  "It seems like…nicotine stains" Nino said

  Ghidelli looked.

  "... Nicotine….what is it doing on her ears?"

  “I have to investigate. I’ll let you know if it’s nicotine or not”

  Nino reached the door, waving Ghidelli goodbye

  “I let you find leads and…”

  "And? ..." Ghidelli said annoyingly

  "... If you find something, let me know right away" Nino said heading for the door

  "Why? You don’t work for the police, I’m not required to inform all aspiring detectives in the area "

  Nino turned.

  "I found her and I ... well ... now yes, I work for the police, at least in my spare time"

  September 18th

  " A woman’s body found in woods outside of Rome.

  A group of hunters, including a well-known doctor, discovered her. The victim’s name still to be known. "

  Emma prepared dinner, listening to the news and waiting for her husband to come home, as she had been doing for many days, for many years.

  They met in Parma, where he was studying to become a doctor like his father, and she was studying law, as expected from the daughter of an attorney .

  They lived in the big house in front of his parents since he had bought from Genofri, a large family that moved abroad.

  She heard the front door and smiled: it had to be her daughter Monica, Nino did not use that entrance.

  "Hello Mom, have you heard the story of the woman Daddy found?"

  "How not to? They talk about it everywhere " she replied smiling

  " Where’s dad?"

  "Don’t know, somewhere chasing the murderer" Emma said laughing

  "I can imagine him investigating as a kind of Doctor Who"

  "Who’s mocking my Doctor?"

  That was Lisa’s voice, the younger of Nino’s kids.

  Monica, the eldest, was a brunette, with lightblue eyes like her mother and her same smile,
while Lisa had platinum blonde hair and looked so amazingly like her grandmother Angela, Giacomo’s wife.

  Angela was an introverted woman, who lit up when seeing her grandchildren: in that moment, they looked incredibly like, giving her youthful enthusiasm and increasing the allure Lisa inherited.

  The family was well known in town: three generations of doctors had made them popular.

  Nino's father had recently retired, to rest and enjoy the tranquility old age deserves.

  He was a family doctor when doctors had to be always available and he remained home in the evenings, as there were no cell phones at that time.

  So he had made the habit to invite friends to play cards and every night his three friends Mario, Angelo and Filippo joined the doctor.

  Giacomo had helped Nino, when on vacation, and he had kept the older patients, who resented having to change their doctor, though his son.

  Slowly, the older patients had gone and he was getting tired even visiting the few ones that remained. He preferred to go on holidays with his wife, they had a cottage on the beach and loved spending their weekends with friends.

  But even now, however, the eighty-year-old Giacomo was accompanying his son when he went hunting, more carefully, walking less, but always with the grit of the golden days, immortalized by his son on Facebook: he was not used to these social networks, but he loved to pose like a star, with his gun and his dogs.

  Hunting always helped him, even in the darkest hours of life and was a passion that put him back in place with the world.

  Nino came in while Lisa was hugging mom and he smiled.

  "Leave a little for me" he joked, as he kissed his wife.

  Lisa surrounded him with her arms and planted a kiss on his cheek.

  "So, doctor Who…any news?"

  "Yes," he said, and looked at his women laughing “But I won’t say more until you show a little respect”

  "Well?" Lisa asked

  "The victim is an American woman, on vacation in Venice and ended here. Her name is Charlize von Berger "

  "Charlize? As your favorite actress? "Emma said, continuing to set the table.

  "Yeah ... what a coincidence, right?" he said