Chapter 43 Chapter 41: The Family of Cuse Bastiana

"Are you Cuse Bastinat?" "It's me." Gusai stood at the door in his pajamas, with a suspicious expression on his face.He was holding a nine-month-old baby in his arms, and it was nothing unusual for this little baby to be woken up at this hour. "I'm Officer Paula, and this is Father Fowler. Take it easy, you're in no trouble, and neither is your family. We just want to ask you a few questions, it's urgent." They were standing in the foyer of a not-too-luxury but well-decorated apartment, where someone had placed a rug with a drawing of a smiling frog welcoming visitors.Paula guessed that they were probably not included in the ceremony of welcome, and she was right: Goose showed no sign of empathy for them.

"Can't you wait until morning? The baby has to eat and sleep at a fixed time, and we try our best to keep her on time." Paula shook her head. "It won't take you long. You had a post this afternoon, didn't you? An envelope, delivered to Ramameau Street, remember?" "Of course, I remember. What do you think? I remember all my routes," Guse said, pointing to his forehead with his right index finger.He held the child tightly with his left hand, and the child was very quiet at this time. "Can you tell me where you received this letter? It's important, it's about a serial murder."

"They called the company, like they usually do. They told us to go to the Vatican post office, where they said there was mail in the lobby." Paula couldn't help taking a step back. "You mean more than one?" "Yeah, 12 in all. The client asked us to send the first 10 to the Vatican Press Center. One to the Vatican Police and another to you." "No one personally gave you these letters? Where did you go to get them back?" Anthony was a little irritated by this man's words. "At that time, there was no one in the post office. In order to make it easier for someone to drop some international letters in the post box, the hall outside them was open until 9 o'clock."

"So how do they pay for it?" "They will put a small envelope on top of the envelope and put 370 euros in it, express is 360 euros, plus a tip of 10 yuan." Paula was confused.She looked at the roof with some despair.Kaloski thought of everything.The line is broken again! "So you didn't see anyone?" "No." "Then what did you do?" "What do you think I can do? I will rush into the press release center and deliver all the letters to the recipients and the police station." "Who are the recipients?" "It's the reporters, foreign ones."

"Have you handed it all over to the recipient?" "What are you asking all these questions for? I'm serious about my job. Hope it's not because I screwed up? I need this job, really, so please stop asking. My baby is going to eat, My wife also baked cookies in the oven." "You see, this has nothing to do with you. But it's not a joke either. Tell me what happened and we'll be off. If not, I'll make every Roman traffic policeman remember you. Do you understand, Mister Guse? " Guse was cornered, and the baby began to cry in his arms, startled by Paula's voice.

"Okay, okay. Don't talk like that, it scares my child. Why are you so cold-blooded!" Paula was tired and bored.She didn't want to speak to him in that tone in his own home, but it was frustrating that the investigation was so difficult. "Sorry, we need your help. It's a matter of life and death, trust me." Guse also took a step back, scratching his chin with his free hand while gently rocking the child.The child gradually calmed down and stopped crying. "I gave the letter to a lady in charge of the press center, okay? The door was closed at the time, and if I handed it to each recipient in person, I would have to wait another full hour. The express delivery must be in one Delivered within the hour or they don't pay. I've been in trouble a few times already, you know? If anyone finds out, I'm fired."

"Nobody's going to know this from us. Guse, I promise." Gu Sai looked at her and nodded: "I will try my best to believe you." "Do you know the name of the person in charge?" "No, no, she has a Vatican card with a blue stripe saying 'News'." Anthony stepped back and whispered to Paula down the corridor.Paula tried to pay attention to what Anthony was saying rather than the feeling of his breath on her ears.It's not easy. "The kind of ID card this guy just mentioned is not a Vatican employee's pass. It's a journalist's pass. Those CDs weren't given to the recipients. Guess how I know?"

Paula tried to imagine it with the mentality of a journalist.She pictured herself sitting in a press center receiving one of these letters, surrounded by fellow competitors. "They didn't receive it, because if they had, the contents of the CD would have been broadcast in newspapers and TV stations around the world. If these letters had arrived at the same time, those reporters would have edited and dealt with them immediately. They should have questioned Vatican spokesman." "That's right. Kaloski tried to get his message to the press, but it backfired. Thanks to the rush of the messenger, and the person he entrusted with the letter wasn't interested in sending it to the reporters. Unless I'm wrong, but I guess The woman likely opened an envelope, saw its contents, and then withheld the other letters. She was reluctant to share this alarming news with other journalists."

"You're right, somewhere in Rome right now, that woman is writing the amazing news of the century." "We need to know who she is. The sooner the better." Paula understood what Anthony was thinking.They went over to Gousse again. "Guse, tell us what the recipient looks like?" "Of course. She's a pretty girl with blond hair and twenties. Blue eyes. Wearing a light jacket and gray trousers." "It seems that you have a good memory." "That's the way it is with pretty girls." Guse is the kind of boy next door, and he's a little offended, as if they're questioning his own worth. "I'm from Milan, officer. Really, I hope my wife is sleeping now, if she hears me say this... She's going to give birth again in a month, and the doctor told her to try to relax."

"Do you remember anything else that would lead us to this lady?" "Yes, she's Spanish, I'm sure of that. My sister's husband is also Spanish. You can easily see that in the way they try to imitate Italian." Paula had seen it, and she knew it was time to leave. "Sorry we bothered you." "Don't worry, I just don't like the same questions being asked of me twice." Paula was taken aback.There was a red alarm in my mind, and I almost yelled at Gu Sai again. "Have you been asked already? Who are they? What do they look like?"

The child cried again.His father tried to quiet the baby by rocking him in his arms, but it didn't work this time. "Come on, you two! You're making my baby cry again!" "Tell me and we'll go," Anthony said, trying to calm everyone down. "It's one of yours. He showed me his Vatican police pass. At least he still has a pass. He's short, broad-shouldered, and wearing a leather jacket. He left an hour ago, okay? Now you go Don't come again!" Paula and Anthony looked at each other nervously.They got on the elevator quickly, hoping to figure out what it meant before the doors opened. "Do you think as I do, Paula?" "Same, Dante disappeared around 8 o'clock tonight, and made up an excuse." "After answering that call." "Because the Vatican Police had already received the letter and read it. They must be in a hurry. How come we didn't think of two things together sooner? Damn it, the Vatican keeps a record of every vehicle that comes in and goes out. That's Routine procedures. If this express company has a long-term cooperative relationship with them, they will easily know all the employees of the company through registration, including Gu Sai." "They'll be able to find out where those envelopes went." "If those reporters were in the press center at the same time and opened that envelope at the same time, some people would put the CD into their laptops, and the whole center would be turned upside down. No one would cover up the news. That's ten famous media." "But now it's only one reporter who got this." "That's right." "This one will be easy to deal with." Images flashed through Paula's mind.A group of people, those street policemen, they quietly cross the street when they are on duty, often when they raid the third bar, there will be some shady things and accidents. "Do you think they will..." "I don't know, anything is possible. It depends on the flexibility of the reporter." "Father, why are you still playing around with me? Did you tell me that if the reporter gave them the CD, they would pay her off?" Anthony didn't speak, but the silence said it all. "Then we'd better find her first and be nice to her." She pointed to the car and let Anthony get in. "We have to hurry back to headquarters to check hotels and airlines." "No, Paula, we're going somewhere else." He gave her an address. "This is on the other side of the city, who is there?" "A friend who can help us."