Emanuele Stefanori & Michela Guida, translated into English by Ruth Stephens
Chapter 6 – Panic!
“It was like this, Inspector: we were trapped inside the restaurant and we couldn’t even call the police.”
“Why not?” asks Benvenga.
“Because when it hit my wife the phone fell on the floor and was broken.”
“I see…. and what happened next?”
“The owner of the restaurant came to our table and shouted “What’s going on?”
Then he said something to a waiter, I couldn’t hear what, but a few seconds later they came back together carrying a very strange object…. I was afraid, Inspector! Our lives were in danger!”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know, but the atmosphere was very tense and those two men were menacing.
I lost my head, Inspector! I got up and punched the waiter. I pushed the owner away and he fell onto a table. By now everyone was watching; some people started shouting, others got up from their seats….it was chaos!”
“And the strange object…..? enquires Benvenga, “was it a weapon?”
“It was ice, Inspector!” cries an almost desperate Signora Malintesi, “a bag of ice for my eye!”