“Find out for yourself!” said Rocco, and turned to leave the judge’s office.
HE WAS SITTING AT THE USUAL REFRESHMENT STAND, NOW closed, in front of the Arch of Augustus, watching the few cars driving around it, as if it were a sort of merry-go-round. He was thinking back to Enzo Baiocchi and his brother, Luigi. Back to an August evening, hot as a pizza oven in a restaurant full of people, with sweat pasting his shirt to his skin. He had the taste of iron in his mouth, and his heart felt as if it had stopped beating, in an abandoned auto repair shop not far from the Rome beltway. Light poured in through windows filthy with dust and cobwebs. The car door wouldn’t open; there were guns, shaking hands, the stench of piss and fear.
Fear.
Fear had become a person in flesh and blood, and was standing there, among them, to remind them that in any case they were people, made of blood and nerves. And memories that would torment him in the years to come, from morning until the depths of night, until the day finally came when he’d shut his eyes for the last time, forever and ever, abandoning body, brain, and regrets to the earth, to the worms, to the plants.
By now he had reached the banks of the river Dora. He noticed that the sun was out. He took the Ruger that Furio had given him. He threw it out into the river waters. The pistol disappeared, sucked down by a whirlpool. He switched off his cell phone, put his hands in his pockets, and turned around to head home.
Acknowledgments
I want to thank in particular Laura, Giovanna, Francesco, Marco, and Valentina and everyone at the Sellerio publishing house, who work tirelessly beside me. And Cristina and Monica. A special thank-you to Toni and another to Fabrizio.
What follows is a list of Rocco’s friends. The reason they are here is something that they and only they (and Cristina, it goes without saying) know: Carla Zamper, Antonella Imperiali, Antonella Poce, Vesna Draskovic, Miriam Caputo, Francesca Ghiglione, Monica Malpeli, Monica Dal Fante, Simona Donna Rumma, Danilo Fattorusso, Sonia Cremonese, Laura Corvatta, Barbara Corvatta, Annetta Cinque, Giulia Favero, Valentina Azzarone, Sara De Luca, Enrico Magli, Giuliana Di, Marita Lo Iacono.
—A. M.
About the Author
ANTONIO MANZINI is an actor, screenwriter, director, and author. He studied under Andrea Camilleri at the National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Rome. He is the author of five murder mysteries featuring Deputy Police Chief Rocco Schiavone, including Black Run, Adam’s Rib, and Out of Season. Manzini lives in Italy.
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Also by Antonio Manzini
Black Run
Adam’s Rib
Out of Season
Copyright
SPRING CLEANING. Copyright © 2019 by Antonio Manzini. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Originally published as Era di maggio in Italy, in 2015, by Sellerio Editore, Palermo.
FIRST U.S. EDITION PUBLISHED 2019.
Cover design by Sarah Bibel
Cover illustration by Yuko Shimizu
Digital Edition MAY 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-269653-3
Version 03232019
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-269652-6
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