Bella Italia (6 page)

The boy looked at him and appeared bored. “Nope, I haven’t seen him yet.”

“Are you his brother?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any idea where Mats is?”

“Probably in the arcade. I’ve had to pick him up there before.”

“But you’re not sure?”

The boy shook his head.

“What about your parents? Or are you here alone with Mats?”

He put down the magazine and waved vaguely with his hand. “My parents are out, having a drink somewhere. They won’t be back until later. I’m supposed to wait for Mats, and when he gets back I can go out. Or not go. It depends on how I feel.”

Hans nodded. “So Mats isn’t home yet and neither is my son.”

The boy casually shrugged his shoulders. “Just relax, they’ll show up later.”

Hans could feel himself becoming very irritated by Mats’s brother, but he knew he had to remain calm. “Is there a way for you to reach Mats? Does he have a cellphone?”

The boy looked at him and grinned. “I don’t think so. He’s not allowed to take it with him on vacation. He is bound to lose it somewhere and that costs money, you know?”

“But he is not later than usual?”

“Nah. Because he knows our parents are out, he may try to make it a half an hour later, but he also knows I will make him pay if he makes me wait too long. He won’t do that. So I’m sure they will show up real soon.”

Hans nodded and said, “Thank you, but we will continue to look for them. If Niels does show up here, will you send him home right away?”

The boy nodded and went back to his magazine.

When they got back to the mobile homes, Berry said, “I’m going to make another round over by the main entrance, and after that I will check this street and the two adjacent streets. That will make it easier on you.”

“Thanks. I’ll go and check out the Arena again and the arcade and then the back of the campground.”

Petra stood up. “I’m going with you.”

After they searched the square, the stage, and the arcade, Hans suggested they go to the rear entrance. It was the only place he had not looked yet, and they could split up there. Quickly they walked across the wide paved path.

Petra stopped dead in her tracks at a small side road and said, “Wait.”

A group of four teens stood in front of a small bungalow. As Petra got closer, she could see that it was two boys and two girls, smoking cigarettes together. They were all older than Niels, but because she wanted to make sure that Mats wasn’t part of their group she continued. Four surprised faces started at her.

“Do you speak English?”

“Yes,” one of the girls answered.

“Have you seen two eleven-year-old little boys? One smoking?”

The four quickly glanced at each other.

“No, sorry.”

“Are you sure? Because they didn’t come home.”

“Yes, sorry, we don’t know. What are their names?”

“Niels, my son, he’s Dutch, and Mats, he’s German.”

“We will have a look here.”

“Okay, thanks.” Petra turned around and called out, “False alarm!”

Hans continued straight in the direction of the rear exit. Petra followed him.

“I’ll go left, and you go right!” Hans yelled.

“Okay!”

Next to the road on her right was a grass field with tents pitched on it. A lot of vacationers were still sitting outside in front of their tents, as there was still enough light. But this wasn’t the case on the road that Hans had chosen. Because the bungalows located along that road backed up to Lake Garda, there was not a lot of light.

Even though she hadn’t made a point about it, Petra was grateful she was on this side of the road. Not that she was afraid of the dark, but she wasn’t exactly fearless either. The light coming from the grass field was just enough for her to see clearly. While she slowed her pace somewhat to make sure she didn’t accidentally miss any details, the guilt began to set in.

This whole situation could have been avoided. Back at home, Niels had asked her if he could bring his cellphone along, which she had found absurd. A cellphone on a campground in Italy was ridiculous. You could easily lose something like that, and if you made a phone call, it would cost a fortune in roaming charges. She had her reservations about a kid his age having a cell phone to begin with, and in the end they had made very clear agreements about it. Now she was sorry she couldn’t reach him.

She focused on the groups of young people sitting between all the tents. Maybe there was a chance they were sitting there with them. Quickly she walked onto the field and asked the young people there if they had seen two eleven-year-old boys. Nobody had seen anything. They had been there all night. Petra walked back to the path, where on the opposite side she noticed bushes that blocked the campground from the road. It looked spooky and threatening. She felt her fear rise. “Niels, are you there?” She waited a few seconds. “Mats?”

It remained eerily quiet.

Hans checked in between the bungalows to see if maybe the boys were hiding out there. Suddenly he thought he heard a noise and stopped dead in his tracks. The shrieking came from the lake and was most likely coming from a group of teenagers, sitting on the bleachers.

On his walk Hans tried to shake off the disappointment that he had not found Mats and Niels at Mats’s tent. He had really hoped to find them there. He would have loved to believe Mats’s brother and assume that they would simply show up at any minute, but something told him that something must have happened. Niels was almost an hour late now—that was not like him at all. And no matter how big the campground was, it wouldn’t take him longer than fifteen minutes to get to their mobile home from any corner, especially by bike. So even if he had been just a little bit late, it wouldn’t be an hour. His deep concern slowly began to turn into sheer panic.

“Niels, are you there?!”

Nothing. While he continued to walk, he quickly glanced at his watch. He needed to be back in less than two minutes to meet up with Petra at the spot they had agreed to meet. But as far as he could see, he wasn’t even close to the end of this path yet.

“Niels, are you there?”

He froze when he thought he could hear his son’s voice.

“Niels?”

He held his breath. There was a rustling noise coming from the bushes. He didn’t waste a minute and walked straight into the bushes. His heart was racing. It could be an animal he frightened away, but he had to be sure.

Suddenly he could see a dark figure in between the bushes. It was the silhouette of a grown man. Hans took a few more steps so he could see him clearly. Suddenly he saw legs on the ground by his feet. Boy’s legs.

“Non l’ho fatto!”
The man walked back slowly with his arms raised.

“Stay right there!”

The man turned away from him and began to move through the bushes with great difficulty, waving his arms around wildly.

Hans didn’t know what to do. He needed to know if the boy on the ground was still alive, if it was Niels …

“Dad?”

Hans instantly turned toward the sound.

“Niels, where are you?!”

“Here, Daddy.” Niels was sitting on the ground a little farther down.

“What happened? Are you all right!?”

Niels had crawled in his direction slowly. Hans quickly took his son in his arms and looked at him closely. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“There was nothing I could do about it,” Niels whispered in his ear.

Before he could speak to him and reassure him, he swallowed his breath for a moment. The boy, who was lying still on the ground, was not asleep. Stiff as a board and with his eyes wide open, he was just lying there next to them. Mats.

“Oh, my God,” he mumbled. Slowly he pushed Niels away from him, leaned forward, and pressed his two fingertips to the artery on the lifeless boy’s neck. No heartbeat. His own heart was now racing insanely in his chest.

He made a decision; he put his hands over Niels’s ears, pulled him close, took a deep breath, and screamed his wife’s name as loud as he possibly could.

Petra flew across the intersection where she and Hans had each gone their own way earlier. After about a hundred yards she slowed down.

“Where are you!?”

Hans’s scream had frightened her to death. Something was obviously wrong. But what exactly? Her uncertainty was just as crippling as her fear.

“I’m over here. In the bushes.”

She kept up the same pace and remained completely focused on the bushes. “Is Niels with you?”

“Yes, just keep coming toward me. I’m moving toward the road.”

She trotted along the edge of the road next to the bushes. She tried to look deep into the forest of branches obstructing her view.

“I can’t see anything. Where are you guys?”

Because there was no reaction she just kept on walking.

“Here!”

Startled, she looked up. Hans was down just a little farther, he was waving at her. Quickly, she bridged the distance.

“Where is Niels?” she asked, fear building in her voice.

“Over here. Come with me.” Hans turned around and created a path for them. The man he had seen had disappeared in the meantime.

Petra dropped down next to Niels and put her arms around him.

“Oh, my God. What’s wrong with Mats?”

Hans kept walking. “Stay with Niels. I’m going after the bastard who was just here.”

He stretched out his arms in order to protect himself from the braches and moved fast. After a few yards, he noticed that the bushes were getting thicker. But he didn’t let the sweeping and snapping branches stop him, even if they were cutting and scraping into his skin. Suddenly a large, solid fence appeared behind all the layers of branches. The fence was about two yards high and ran behind the whole perimeter of the campground. He looked to the left and to the right, but couldn’t see the man anymore. He must have climbed over this fence somehow, but that would be nearly impossible. Besides, the man had moved rather slowly. Was he hiding in the bushes again maybe? He kicked the fence hard, out of pure frustration. A few yards farther he heard the fence tap against something, as if it was loose. He walked toward it, pulled it back, and slipped off the property through the opening.

As he stood on the path, he could see the man walking about fifty yards ahead of him. He zigzagged across the path as if he was drunk. He had long hair, down past his shoulders, and wore a long coat, which was a rather odd sight on such a hot night. Hans turned and ran after the man.

A group of teenagers were walking on the path widely spread apart, blocking the homeless man’s way. The man stopped and raised his hands to the sky. “
Sono innocente
!”

Instead of moving out of the way, two of the teens walked toward him in a very threatening manner. When they got close to him, they shoved him aside harshly. The man wobbled, but remained standing. You could see it took all of his strength. The teenagers laughed at him.

This is my chance
, Hans thought. “Hold him, stop him!”

His scream startled the homeless man, who looked around in a panic. Because the teenagers didn’t appear to be letting him through and Hans blocked his way back, he saw no other choice than to run toward some construction scaffolding right by the lake.

“Hold him!” Hans yelled again.

The homeless man hobbled along with great difficulty toward the end of the scaffolding. The teenagers looked on with some surprise, but also seemed to be very amused by the whole spectacle. They didn’t move an inch, which forced Hans to keep on running.

By the time the homeless man reached the end of the scaffolding, he tripped. Because of his speed he continued moving forward, but eventually lost his balance. At full speed, he hit his head against a pole. Without making a sound he fell into the water.

Hans also ran across scaffolding and stopped at the place where he thought the homeless man must have fallen in the water. He motioned to the teenagers with broad arm movements, indicating he needed their help. No one moved. What should he do? Jump in or leave the man to his own devices? It wasn’t very deep, but he had to look very closely before he could see a leg underneath the scaffolding. Suddenly Mats’s face flashed before him. Murdered by that monster down in the water. Should he even try to save this bastard’s life, was it even worth it?

He hesitated for a moment, but then his conscious and common sense took over. He couldn’t take the law into his own hands, no matter how tempting it was. The man would receive the proper punishment. Besides, he needed to be questioned. Otherwise Mats’s parents would never know why their son had to die. He jumped into the dark water. Far enough not to touch the homeless man’s body. The water came up to his waist, which would make it easy to pull the man back on to the shore. He turned back toward the scaffolding and saw the man’s foot sticking out. He grabbed it and pulled him out from under the scaffolding. Because he was face down in the water, Hans couldn’t see his face right away. When he turned him around and got his head above water, what he saw was the face of a dead man, for the second time that evening.

“Is it going to take much longer, Mom?”

Petra pulled Niels even closer against her. She understood his impatience and thought he had held up remarkably well so far. He had been through something horrible, so it wasn’t strange that he wanted to leave.

She looked at her watch. It had been well over an hour now since the moment when Hans had returned to her while she waited in the bushes. This time he was accompanied by two police officers. After being reunited, they were put in a police car and taken to the police station in Verona. There they were met by the two detectives: Filippo Tardelli and Carlo Martuccia. Tardelli was the eldest of the two and seemed like a mentor to the much younger Martuccia, whom she estimated to be around thirty years old. They were very nice. A little later Karin Goudsbloem introduced herself. She was a Dutch citizen living in Verona and worked as an interpreter for the police.

They asked her and Niels to take a seat in a room with four chairs and a table. Hans went to another room with the detectives for questioning. Even though Martuccia spoke English, Karin joined them.