The Discordant Note by Claudio Ruggeri Read Free Book Online

looking for in the middle of the list.
    He rang the intercom and, a few moments later, a woman's voice said something in German, words that sounded absolutely incomprehensible to the commissioner, who found no better thing to do than trying to say something in his own language, as a reflex.
    “I speak Italian, I'm a Police Commissioner and ...”.
    Germano heard the click indicating that the door had been opened and then the same voice that had answered the intercom, invited him to climb up to the third of the five floors of the building.
    As he went out of the elevator, he faced a girl with brown hair, green eyes, fair skin and at least fifteen inches higher than the commissioner.
    She introduced herself as Corinna Adler and led Germano into the second apartment they met continuing along the corridor; the German girl opened the door that had been left ajar and motioned to the commissioner to go in.
    The apartment size was markedly different from the one he had visited just before and that it was actually inhabited by the girl’s mother. Here, the furnishings appeared quite spartan but highly functional; everything, indeed, from chairs to the kitchen utensils, did not seem to be there by accident.
    Once Germano sat on one of the chairs resting by the table that filled the room, it was the same Corinna Adler to break the silence and to remove him from embarrassment.
    “You won’t believe me but I was expecting your visit, Commissioner”.
    “It was your mother to tell you I would have come, wasn’t she?”.
    “No, I've read some articles in the newspapers where it was said that you were the officer in charge for the investigation about my father’s death, so I figured out that sooner or later you would have found me... maybe not so soon, though”.
    “Why, then, didn’t you show up on your own accord? Maybe getting me a phone call to the police station in Italy? ... Am I wrong?”.
    “You are not wrong, Commissioner, it's just ... the useful information I have to tell you are little and then ... I am a perfect stranger to Mr. Ralf Brandenburg, legally speaking ... how could I come to you and ask questions about the investigation?”.
    “You could have done the same thing I actually did; look, I'm not here officially , I have no jurisdiction in your Country and I can not force anyone to open his house to me nor question anyone ... but, maybe because I had nothing in my hands to investigate on, and thanks to the cooperation of the German Police and your own mother, I decided to play this card as well”.
    “The truth is that you Italians, Commissioner, have much more imagination and ability to improvise than us Germans”.
    “A little bit too shallow as an explanation, don’t you think Mrs. Adler?”.
    “Maybe ... feel free to ask me anything you want”.
    “Um ... where do you think the murderer of your father is now?”.
    “I would say in Italy, my father was loved by women and I think he went out with more than one woman there in Italy, that's where I would think to look for the murderer, but since you’re here now, Commissioner... it is reasonable to think that things are not like that”.
    “You are a smart girl ... I see you know many details of your father’s private life, in which relationships were you?”.
    “Let's say a cordial respect, some time ago he began to fear he might die at any moment, so he thought to show up with me to make me aware of his heritage and income from royalties he wanted me to inherit”.
    “He was still young, your father, I mean ... you do not think so assiduously to death at sixty, unless ..”.
    “Look, Commissioner, I believe the story that he was going to die was nothing more than an excuse to get closer to me, after he had decided to leave thirty years ago”.
    “What did you tell him about this?”.
    “I told him that I did not care about money, that he could also devolve all his money to charity; it was money, the one he didn’t have at the time and he was