Deep Sea

Chapter 12 - A friend ready to take risks

- These shoes are very well, miss.-He hadn't repeated anything else, whatever type of shoes he had made her try on.He must have been a particular attraction to feet. You could see it in the way he walked, the way he opened the boxes, the way he put the shoe on his bare foot.- I don't know... it's the colour, and then it's not that comfortable... -- He told me he wears a 35, for me it could be a 36, ​​if you want...-- I don't know, Veronica, what do you say? -Her friend raised an eyebrow and Alberta understood that she didn't like them. After trying five of them, much to the clerk's delight, the girls broke into an apologetic smile and moved on.- He's a fetishist, I assure you, when he put my shoes on he almost frothed at the mouth...-- You who insisted on doing it alone...-- And he pretended not to hear! -The two friends laughed heartily, taking each other's arms and continuing to chirp.- An ice cream? -At the bar table, under an umbrella, they licked their spoons and looked at the street. The afternoon sun was as insistent as ever throughout that torrid summer. The white concrete raised a transparent vibration in the air that reflected everything. Few people, especially tourists in tank tops and Bermuda shorts, were walking through the streets of the centre. Alberta had fantasized about a new pair of shoes. More than a necessity, a diversion from the pain of those days, from the thoughts about Ricky and Furio. She hadn't confided in Veronica yet, and she didn't think she should.- I have to ask you something... it's personal.-Her friend interrupted the din of her thoughts.- I wanted to ask you one too. We are equal.-- Then you start.-- It's a very delicate thing, Veronica, please don't talk about it with anyone.-- Maybe this is not the right place!-Alberta looked around. Next to them the tables were deserted, only an elderly couple a few seats behind and a mother with two children next to the creeper near the wall. There was no danger.- You know those dossiers on which the CIA put the stamp - Top Secret -? -- Movie stuff...-- Exact. We are the good ones, of course.-- Naturally.-The girl felt like laughing, but it wasn't nice to laugh in her friend's face.- I discovered that my father had found some clues regarding the trafficking of illegal immigrants he had dealt with in his last days.--Didn't you tell me you were letting this story go?-- Impossible! Imagine finding your father's notes incomplete. A videotape that they refuse to show you, his deleted notes... sheets torn from his notebook... in short, don't you think there are good reasons to be suspicious? -- Why did all this happen to you? -Veronica no longer felt like laughing and looked worriedly at Alberta who nodded.-And what do you think happened?-- That someone wanted him dead because he was interested in something that absolutely shouldn't be known.-- The obsession with murder... what does your mother think about it? -Alberta shook her friend's hand in a fist.- Promise me you won't tell her anything. She doesn't have to know.-- Yes, but the police... have you notified anyone of your suspicions? -- I tried at first, but I saw that they didn't listen to me. They think I can't believe that my father's death was a simple accident.-- So what? -- Then I turned to the Internet. Furio helped me...-Veronica got closer and closer, staring into her eyes and holding her hands.- We discovered that there is a site where you can register and get in touch with those who organize land trips from eastern countries to our border.-- Computer geniuses! Tells...-- For the moment we still don't know much. However, we discovered one important thing... Veronica, promise me that you are always my best friend.-The girl shook her head, her eyes widening. How absurd, why ask her the obvious, hadn't he given her enough proof of his friendship?- Sorry... It's something that concerns you too. I didn't want to involve you, but it's important for me to know.-- Oh my god! I? What do I have to do with it?-- It seems that the site is registered in another country of the former Soviet Union, that the provider, is that what they say?, is the same as numerous other companies that deal with various activities... To make a long story short, Veronica, we found among these even the company you work for!-A worried silence unfolded on Veronica's forehead as she contracted her eyebrows and sank her pupils into an empty distance.- Ukraine. Our provider is Ukrainian. Many times I have asked myself why...-- It could be a coincidence, but perhaps you have the keys to understanding something.-- There is Vladi, a collaborator of Diana who knows Cyrillic, he is the one who acts as an intermediary.-- No, I don't want anyone else to get involved except us. Promise me again that you won't tell anyone about it.-- Alberta, but it's difficult to understand something if you don't ask those who know more than you.-- The sites we visited are in English. We don't need Cyrillic. We need to figure out how to get to the ghost site. You need a nickname and a password.-- But I... how do you think I can help you? -- I have the name of the site. You should see on your computers if there are any linked documents.--You suspect that my boss is a no-good, right?-- Facts count here. There must be someone based in Trieste to welcome illegal immigrants. I don't know how much your boss knows, but the link between the sites could be a good way to start understanding something...-The ice creams had now liquefied. There remained the straws with which to drink them half a glass. Veronica pulled up. Alberta turned the spoon mixing the various colors into a single depressing-looking mush.- So, what can you tell me? - she asked when her friend reached the bottom, sipping only a suction of air and the last drops of liquid ice cream from the straw.- I'm saying you're asking me something challenging.-No other excuses or motivations were needed, a glance was enough.- But for a friend I'm willing to risk it. Anyway, I bet, we won't find anything...-Alberta stood up and gave her a big kiss on the forehead.- I knew, I knew I could count on you! - he chirped enthusiastically, then sitting down - You are truly a friend. A thousand thanks! And now it's your turn.-- What?-- You said you had to tell me something secret.-- Oh yeah... - Veronica no longer seemed so keen on confiding on the subject.-- Have you thought about it again? Don't you want to tell me?-Confessions are often situations of moments, of atmospheres. Thoughts out loud to share with those close to you in that precise moment, outside of a cold and detached rationality. Talking about your most intimate insecurities with someone, making them share your doubts is not only a test of friendship, but above all a movement of the soul. Making one's thoughts explicit, concretizing it in a word, makes it lose its aura of abstractness by changing into matter. And the subject matter is often more prosaic or terrible than one expects. You are not always ready to do it, you can wait hours, even with your partner, even in the closest intimacy, before hearing yourself say that certain thing. The word that gives body to the dream. If the atmosphere doesn't help, magic can turn the ghost into an eyesore.- Well... You know Furio well... erm... what can you say about him?-