"Edith just had a potty potty mouth didn't she?" Kore asked with an exasperated sigh.
Mary sat with a frozen expression, her face shivering as beads of sweat overrun her face.
"Are you hot Mary?" Kore asked, wiping her face with a bloody towel that she had used to wipe her hands. The smell of rust hit her nostrils, and she skipped a beat.
"Please" she muttered.
"You know Mary, You say please a lot for someone who was being such a racist cunt" she chuckled.
Mary looked at the girl, her wide blue eyes meeting Kore's brown narrowed ones, "You're doing this, because of ra-"
"Oh no! No!" she held the lady's face in her hands softly," No sweetheart, it's that tongue of yours... That hurtful, scandalous tongue" she looked at her tongue.
Mary stayed silent, the hum of the air conditioner filling the heavy room. Her chest felt heavy as if the air were too dense to breathe," Please" was the only word that rang clear in her foggy brain.
Kore's lips turned up in a smile before dropping," beg harder" she whispered.
---------------------------------------------------
"Did you hear the speech?" Chiara rubbed her eyes.
"No, what was said?" Enzo asked.
"He explained that these were a series of murders that had occurred and were not related to each other. The press knew he was fibbing and that's a dangerous thing, trust me. The uh, Carabinieri is not going to be involved yet, but they'll be watching our progress carefully. Wait, why didn't you hear the speech?" she asked, looking up.
"I had some tutoring to do" he replied and sat down by her.
She stayed silent and watched as he pushed the coffee cup toward her.
"Thank you" she muttered," the uh witness had a car crash yesterday so no sketch. Just have to wait I guess. Wait for the sketch and for a murder to show up, So that's pending. "
"What uh, did you do about
The phone rang, and she picked it up almost immediately," Detective Caruso speaking" she said in a formal voice.
"I... my name is Bianca Romano... the uh they told me to call..." the girl on the line shuddered as she spoke.
Chiara sat up," Okay... miss Romano. May I know who told you to call me?" she asked.
"The ... uh person who killed them," she said, her voice barely a whisper.
"Killed who? Ma'am where are you?" she asked.
Bianca blurted the name of the hotel and asked Chiara to arrive as soon as she could.
Chiara placed the phone down and wondered if she should actually go or not, but it could be a clue to Kore, and the girl wasn't known for luring out her victims.
"I think we just got another murder, " she muttered and stood up, taking her phone in hand," Can you make calls for me?"
"Who do I call?" he asked, standing up with her.
"Uh, paramedics, police, and Salvatore," she instructed and briskly walked toward her car. The ride over was barely 25 minutes long.
---------------------------------------------
"What happened?" Salvatore asked as Chiara picked the phone," I heard there was a murder"
"There was...." she sighed," Two old women... tourists. Their tongue was cut out"
"Why the tongue this time?" he asked.
"I have a theory about it, but I need more information from the witness. She was the one who discovered them and was told to call me"
"Told?" he asked.
"There was a note left on one of the victim's head" She replied looking at the forensic technicians who had swarmed the room.
Bianca was being questioned by a police officer while the bodies were bagged.
"I have to go... can I call you later?" Chiara asked.
Salvatore agreed and cut the call while the girl walked up to Bianca," You said you were a tour guide, Miss Romano?"
"Yes uh, my tour finished yesterday, but the group had decided to visit the beach and ...." the girl said, her face flushed.
"The group?" she asked.
"Yes..."
"You have any Italians in the group?" Chiara asked on a hunch.
"Just one...Kore"