The secrets of the lake

Rome

– That twenty-first of August, we all had to go to dinner with my aunt who lived near Piazza dei Sanniti; we wanted to celebrate my sister's birthday, albeit one day early, with my cousin Giacomo and aunt Francesca. Elisa had left the hotel around five to buy some presents for her friends. Cell phones did not exist at the time. We agreed to meet everyone at nineteen thirty near San Lorenzo but Elisa never arrived at that appointment.

- Let me understand, would I be the last person who saw you alive?

- Probably yes, for this reason I asked her to tell me everything she remembers of that evening. But ... wait a minute!

Marina felt a shiver on hearing that sentence. Cold in the bones, a feeling of chill. She did not immediately realize what Alexander had said. His eyes became two sharp slits.

- What would be the last person who saw her alive! What did he do to my sister?

Alessandro sat down again. His head in his hands, his face pale. He plunged into a dark silence, a halo of despair enveloped him. A tension filled with a thousand questions descended between them. Marina did not know exactly what to ask, she felt so stunned, astonished by that confession thrown there, almost by chance. From that distant day, the family knew nothing of Elisa. 

Alessandro, perhaps betrayed by the time passed, had, in fact, admitted that he was the last to have seen Elisa VIVA. Family members never recovered from that dramatic episode. Marina's father died two years after Elisa's disappearance, probably of heartbreak; his mother joined him the following year, also devoured by another immense pain. Marina herself, following the tragic events, had had a terrible depression from which she had emerged thanks to substantial and expensive sessions with the psychiatrist.

- Now he has to talk, he has to tell me everything! Now I understand his need to come up here!

The man, more and more gripped by feelings of guilt, was sitting rigid, his waxy face revealed all his anguish. The serene atmosphere of just before had vanished, in that room not even the fireplace could melt the chill that had fallen between them. Marina felt more and more agitated, her eyes were shining with anger, pain but also disappointment. Alexander no longer appeared to her as the charming and gallant man on the day of his arrival. After confession, she considered him a vile man. Everything she had ever wanted to know was there, in front of her. The nightmares that had undermined his mental clarity had materialized through Dr. Alessandro Alessandrini.

He could no longer hold Marina's gaze, he could no longer pretend nothing had happened, he only found the courage to say: "I apologize for all this time".

Hearing those words uttered the woman became a fury, threw the saucer with her slice of cake on the ground, throwing it towards him. That form of admiration, or rather infatuation, felt just by reading the email, had turned into disgust and anger.

- So, how did things go! - Screamed the woman.

Alessandro cleared his throat, a long night awaited him dedicated to a liberating declaration.

- When Elisa went away I continued to observe her; her walking was graceful, the skirt of her dress fluttered around her tanned legs. A few moments before taking my eyes off her, who was turning her back to me, I realized that two boys had approached her. I knew one well, we were classmates in middle school and even then he behaved like a petty criminal, the other, I had happened to medicate him in the emergency room a few weeks earlier. He had arrived accompanied by two carabinieri after being arrested for a fight in an infamous place in Trastevere. He had a deep cut wound on his neck that nearly severed the carotid artery. The next day I read in the newspaper that the boy was a dangerous guy, already convicted several times for inciting prostitution, drug dealing, kidnapping and sexual violence.

Alexander began pacing nervously up and down the room. He didn't know whether to tell the whole story, he didn't know how Marina would react. After all he had been silent all that time, he could continue to do so again.

- Then? Didn't she do anything? Didn't he run to my sister to warn her of the danger, to try to save her? What did he see? Where they went?

- I ... I, no. I have not done anything. The fear of being involved, the fear of my career didn't make me move a step. I was young, I had recently started a trial period at the Gemelli Polyclinic. I stood still as I witnessed the ... the ... kidnapping of his sister.

- What? Was Elisa kidnapped?

- Yes, those two shady guys forcibly loaded her into the car. I also remember the model, the brand, I memorized the license plate number that I wrote on a banknote.

- But why didn't he go to the police, he also had the license plate number! How could she let them take her away!

- I behaved like a coward. I admit.

- My God, I can't believe it! How could he have done nothing in the face of the kidnapping of a girl! How could she, she's a ... a ...

He was beside himself. With a desperate cry he shouted: "And with what courage did he come to my house! With what courage, tell me!"

- Because I have had this weight on my heart for thirty years, I don't want to die with this remorse, I came here, to apologize and ...

Alessandro took a five thousand lire banknote from his wallet.

- And to give you this.