by Paolo Copparoni, translated into English by Ruth Stephens
Chapter 3 – Murder!
The dead woman is Signora Rocchi, widow of Marco Rocchi, one of the richest businessmen in Milan. A socialite and active participant in Milan’s high life, Signora Rocchi, now retired for some years, has spent a week every year in this small provincial hotel and is known by all the staff.
The hotel has never been very crowded and she loved the tranquillity, preferring to be away from the crowds that fill the hotels in the centre of Agrigento.
The maid, noticing that the door of Signora Rocchi’s room was open, had gone in to check that everything was in order and found her dead in her bed, stabbed in several places.
When the police arrived, soon after the alarm was raised, they found a gold earring in front of the murdered woman’s door which led to the belief that the motive had been theft that had ended in a murder.
At the time that the killing was believed to have taken place the hotel reception was closed and none of the hotel’s other clients heard any suspicious noises.
And Signor Ricetti, having attended many similar crime scenes during his years of service with the police, agrees with the hypothesis of the police officers here. But he is not particularly interested in the case; now that he is retired the only thing he is interested in is to enjoy the rest of his life in peace. “Let the police get on with it,” he thinks, “it’s their job, not mine.”
So, the following day, he returns to Syracusa to collect his things before taking the first available flight to Bologna.
But his sudden departure has the appearance of fleeing the scene of the crime and it is not long before he realises his mistake….