Viper - Michael Morley [115]
‘Sliced him up so bad that the guy had to have one of his balls removed.’
Jack flicked through the rest of the notes. There were police black and whites buried in there of Valsi as a kid and as a teenager. He looked young and innocent. No hint of the evil within. Jack had seen dozens of pictures of apple-fresh kids who their mothers worshipped. Perfect sons. They’d all grown up to become monsters far worse than Valsi.
‘Have you got anything against him for attacks on women, or was it all macho shit?’
‘Some of both.’ Lorenzo drew breath as he recalled his next story. ‘Same girl. When she did finally come to her senses and dumped him, was kidnapped and taken to an old school building. There, six of Valsi’s goons sat on her arms, legs and chest while he personally sewed up her vagina.’
‘Christ! And you couldn’t put him away for that?’
Lorenzo shrugged. ‘Wish we could’ve. Kid didn’t even come to us. We heard it on the street. Local doctor who treated her even denied he’d seen her for as much as a cold. We guessed Valsi had threatened to do much worse to anyone who said anything.’
Jack looked down at the photographs again. Strong face, good teeth, most women would probably say he had nice eyes. All proof that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. ‘How old was he at this time?’
‘I think the coffee’s about there.’ Lorenzo headed back to the Gaggia. ‘He was eighteen, maybe nineteen. Not long after that he hooked up with Gina Finelli.’
‘Don Fredo’s daughter?’
‘The very same. Not that she had much of a calming influence on him. Sometimes marriage and babies settle a guy down. Not Bruno. His reputation for meanness and cruelty just kept growing. We all heaved a sigh of relief when we took him down. Now the bastard is back out there, the air is poisoned again. You want sugar?’
‘No, thanks. Thick and black’s fine.’ Jack searched for more pictures. ‘You got surveillance on him at the moment?’
‘Best we can. But he’s savvy. And we don’t have unlimited funds. Plus, there aren’t many officers keen for that kind of chore.’
Jack found a couple of long-range telephoto pics at the back of the briefing pack. They were all similar. Smart suit jacket dangling over his right shoulder, crisp expensive shirt partly opened, sunglasses on, head turned to the side. The guy sure took a good shot.
‘Here you go.’ Lorenzo handed over a small off-white espresso cup.
‘Thanks.’
Thoughts as thick and dark as the coffee brewed inside the profiler’s head. Bruno Valsi was clearly an egotist, confident and sure of his power. He was also a brutal sadist, devoid of emotion. Worse than all that, he was clever and charismatic enough to command others to follow him. The Tortoricci case was proof that he was the kind of man who could torture and kill a woman. The cold, efficient and breathtakingly arrogant murder of Sorrentino was also very much his style. All in all, he was a formidable package of trouble.
‘You’re thinking that you want to interview this guy?’ asked Lorenzo.
Jack looked up from the photographs and sipped the espresso. It was hot, sharp and good. ‘No, not at all. I’m thinking I want to interview his wife.’
‘His wife?’
‘Valsi won’t tell us anything more than his records already do, or his father-in-law already did. But get me half an hour with his wife and I promise you we’ll have everything we need on him.’
‘Finish your coffee, and we’ll fix it. I know exactly where she’s going to be this morning.’
84
RIS, Raggruppamento Carabinieri per la Investigazioni Scientifiche, Napoli
Sylvia couldn’t believe what she’d heard. She pushed the files back across the table to her friend and looked dismayed.
‘All results are progress. Think of the positives,’ said Marianna Della Fratte.
Sylvia flipped open a notebook and rubbed the ballpoint up and down on the page to get it to write. ‘Go through it again – the good news and bad news. Maybe second time around it comes out better.’
‘Gladly. Which do you want first?’
‘The good.’
‘The ammunition in both the Sorrentino case and the Pompeii shootings is the same.’
Sylvia scribbled.