The Man in the Woods by Ilaria Tuti
Author:Ilaria Tuti [Tuti, Ilaria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00
41
âStay right where you are.â
Parisi hadnât even looked at Marini as heâd spoken, concentrating on his game of pool with De Carli. He was winning fairly easily, but De Carli wasnât about to give up, and every now and then he even made a decent pot.
âShe can look after herself,â said Parisi with a smile. âIf you go to her, youâll only piss her off.â
âAnd it doesnât take much to piss her off,â De Carli added while trying to work out the best angle for his next shot. He got it wrong, and missed.
Massimo looked at Teresa Battaglia. Her altercation with the mayor had turned every head in the room in her direction. Marini had been about to head over to make sure that awful man knew she had back-up.
âI havenât even moved,â he said. âHow could you tell?â
Parisi shrugged, potting another ball.
âBecause youâre not the first. Weâve all been through it, and sheâs made it clear to each of us thatâs not what she needs.â He looked at Massimo. âIf even her own team starts to treat her like sheâs weak, how can we expect people who donât know her to do any different?â
âItâs harder for a woman,â De Carli concurred. âShe has to prove over and over again that she is not on the verge of collapse, and that she has the authority to keep us all under control.â
Massimo drank a sip of his beer.
âIâm not in any danger of underestimating her,â he said. âShe steamrolls over me every day.â
Parisi burst out laughing.
âItâs obvious that youâre her favourite. She ignored yours truly for almost two years before she learned my name.â
âIt must be all those sweets he brings her,â De Carli teased.
Massimo grimaced.
âSheâs a woman,â he said. âThey usually like that sort of thing.â
âAh!â said Parisi. âThatâs exactly the kind of thing you mustnât say: if you think of her as a woman rather than just a person, thatâs already a form of discrimination in her eyes.â
Marini found that he was rather confused about everything to do with Superintendent Battaglia.
âI have to say, itâs the first time Iâve ever been made to feel sexist about an act of kindness,â he protested.
The two officers looked at each other and laughed.
âSheâs your superintendent,â said De Carli. âCompletely asexual. A superior being who could make your life very, very complicated â and, I should add, would be delighted to have a reason to do so.â
âSo Iâve noticed. Doesnât she have a family?â
Massimo saw the expression on his colleaguesâ faces change, as if theyâd suddenly been troubled by some dark thought.
âShe did,â said De Carli, but his colleague silenced him with a glare.
Massimo couldnât understand the secrecy.
âThatâs it?â he asked.
Parisi potted another ball.
âIt didnât end well,â said De Carli, murmuring again. âLet it go.â
âWhat happened? What did she do?â Marini asked, feeling increasingly baffled.
Parisi placed his cue stick on the pool table.
âSuperintendent Battaglia does have a family. We are her family.â
De Carli copied him.
âWe might never say it to her face, but weâll always be there for her.
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