THE WITNESS BY CHANCE

THE WITNESS    BY CHANCE

 Charlie, holding his cap, which he has taken off his head, in one hand, was smoothing with the other the hood of the yellow Maserati with a black roof, and in the meantime he was keeping an eye on the door of the bar , at some meters from him, waiting for that man coming out.

“ Oh, sooner or later he will have to go out “ Charlie was saying to himself. He had been waiting for more than an hour, when that man____Oh, his man, Charlie believed hopeful___came out of the bar and went towards the yellow and black big car.

“ Is this big car yours, Sir? It’s a very beautiful, wonderful car. Ah, it doesn’t happen often to me to see a car like this…..a very wonder , Sir” Charlie said, trying to give a tone of deference to his voice, since (that) he had to know  how to deal with him…..That man, if Charlie had known how to deal with him, but sure, he (it) had been a good stroke of luck, otherwise…..Charlie couldn’t even think what he would have risked if….if he hadn’t be able to deal with that man in the right way.

He had followed that man for days, and he had been damned by how much he had had to work to find out where that man lived and, perhaps, but Charlie couldn’t be sure , who the man was, what was his name.

“ Of course, it’s mine, oh what question” The man said, approaching the car door and grabbing the handle with a decisive gesture. If he got into the car, soon after he would go away , and Charlie couldn’t afford to let him slip away like this, under his nose, after he had worked so much hardly to find him, after he had been waiting long for him. So he ( Charlie) rushed next to him, and he even dared to grab him by the elbow, that (since) he couldn’t absolutely let him, his man, escape. “ Excuse me, Sir, but you see…I would have….I would like to talk with you, that’s it” Charlie said the last phrase in one breath, and suddenly his face became red.

“ Do you want to talk to me? But, first, who are you? I don’t know you” the man said, in a loose, even irritated tone, looking at him grimly. “ I have not time to listen to you, now. I’m in a hurry” the man added, and he started to get into the car. Soon Charlie grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back, to prevent him from getting into the car. “ I’m in a hurry too, Sir” Charlie muttered, giving him a heartfelt look.

“ Ah, so you would be in a hurry to tell me….but what are you in a hurry to tell me? Let’s listen “ the man grumbled, remaining out of the car, but holding his arm on the open door.” On, speak!”

The man ordered him. That tall man, with a massive build, wearing a black coat, looked at Charlie

with a top down look, with his chilling gaze, m more than a cold gaze it was a gaze (look) from motionless eyes, which did not let out or even guess the slightest emotion. And he, Charlie, felt himself shiver under that frozen gaze.  Of course, when it had happened to him to see that man at night , Charlie couldn’t see his eyes , or his gaze. He could see now the terrible eyes of that man. They were very wide , and very clear. Not he would have been able to say exactly of what color they were. Perhaps they were gray, perhaps they were yellow. But even when he had seen, at all by chance, that same guy at night , Charlie had however noticed his head almost entirely bald, if it had not been  for those two hangs of hair along the sides of his face. Those two wisps of frizzy and reddish hair, together with his very large, very clear and motionless eyes, gave to the man a sinister, indeed devilish aspect.

“ Sir, see Sir…because ( since) I….you have to know, Sir, that I walk a lot, even at night. I always go out by night to walk….and walking to go some places  …..which, oh, one has to walk to reach them . Those places, ah, with a big, beautiful car like yours, Sir, you can’t reach some those hidden places in the countryside, in the woods …” Charlie started to say, as he could not stay still while he was speaking, so that he continued to take little steps back and forth, and to swing, and to waving his hands in front, indeed under that man, who looked at him with that motionless, imperturbable gaze of his wide, very clear eyes…Impossible to understand from his gaze what the man thought of him, of his words ,_of what he was saying.

Charlie ,under his imperturbable gaze, couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, intimated and also, yes, rather frightened. He knew he couldn’t be explicit in what he meant to that man, since to be explicit , speaking papal  would mean exposing himself too much, it would be dangerous. And yet, even though he ( Charlie) , couldn’t speak explicitly, clearly, he needed that man  to understand what he was talking about , and what he was proposing to him, or rather what he was asking to him. Then, after speaking, since the big man remained silent for a few moments, Charlie began wondering, breathlessly, his heart in turmoil, beating madly : “ Will he understand? Or will he not understand? How will I be able to make myself understood if he didn’t understand? Ah, but it could also be that he understands, but he pretends to have not understood.”

“ Ah, then (so) you were in a hurry  to talk to me to tell me that you at night, every night, go out for….for walking( for a walk). Well, it seems a bit too little (to me) for you expect me to listen to you” the man said, slightly lowering his head above Charlie, whom he exceeded a lot in height.

  But even If, It might seem  at first to Charlie that the man___oh, his man__didn’t understand, really  that tall and massive man had understood perfectly well what that ridiculous, small old man, with his barrel body, with his short crooked legs meant to tell, but indeed to deal with him.  He had understood very well. But he couldn’t make it clear, even less say openly to the little old man, standing in front of him, who….dared to come forwards, that he had understood, because he ( that man) too had to be careful, to move carefully. Certainly between the two, who was running the greatest dangers, including the danger of being killed, was the old little man….that, who knows, somehow, had found the daring to step forward to…to propose him a deal, that is to blackmail him. Who knows if that little old man, almost funny ,was alone , or if he could count on the company, on the support of other people, maybe other village old peeping Toms like him, who were usually drunkards too. Even if he didn’t know who was that old little man, who was going to blackmail him, and, besides, it wouldn’t take him long to know, sure that between them the one who had more power was he, the tall, massive man, almost completely bald, if had it not been for those two bands of frizzy, reddish hair , which hung down the sides of his  large, squared face.  That man, who also had an imposing appearance, an aspect that alone was enough to inspire awe, to make one feel inferior, was Niccolò C. of Treviri, belonging to a very important family, not only for wealth, but also for intellectual level and cultural merits. Niccolò C. was a bigwig, well known not only in his country, but internationally. He was in the ideal position so that no one would even remotely think of suspecting him as the perpetrator of atrocious crimes committed by him together his best friends, which had been taken places for years. Victims of those crimes had always been women who, whatever reason, had been out at night. These women, whether it was a girl who came out of a nightclub, or a nurse who came home after the work shift, or a prostitute who waited for clients, had always been convinced to follow those who soon after have killed them. The bodies of these women, horribly mutilated, had always been found in uninhabited, out of the way, almost unknown countryside places, where hardly someone went, but places where they could happen to arrive, the peeping Toms, in their nocturnal explorations looking for exciting shows. And the small old man, with his crumbled, paltry appearance, yet with sharp eyes, which flashed with cunning, who was standing in front of him, was one of them. Then it was probably he lived in one of the village where he and the team of his very notable friends had….butchered one of their victims. Yes, that little old man had the look of a peasant. Who knows what was the amount he would have asked….He, Niccolò C. would have wanted to say him: “ Okay, I understand…how much do you want?” But it wouldn’t be prudent, there was the possibility, however remote, that the old little , almost paltry, even pathetic peeping Tom might one day testify against him.

“ Ah, Sir…I believe instead that oh, a gentleman like you, with this beautiful car and ….even with a very good life, eh, a gentleman like you, must be very interested in what I told you….in my walking at night” Charlie said, while he was standing slightly bent in front of Niccolò C. holding his rumpled cap by the brim.   As Niccolò would have liked to go fast and, after making sure of how much the little old man knew, since he had seen it with his own eyes, immediately hear the request the old, pathetic voyeur would have made him, even Charlie would have liked to speak without reticence, and tell him when and where he saw him, and what he saw him do. But Charlie knew he couldn’t.

“ Look, so should I be interested in  your night walks?” Niccolò asked.

“ Sir, it is not so much my walks at night which are of interest for you, sir, but rather….certain places, out of the way, where I, walking by night, arrive, completely by chance” Charlie declared.

“ Oh, unfortunately I am in a really great hurry…” Niccolò said. “ I think we will have to meet again, to find an agreement”

“ Okay, when we will meet again?”

“ We can meet tomorrow at seven in the evening here, in this bar”

“Okay”

Niccolò C. got into the car and drove off. He had to decide how to solve …..that problem, that is he had to decide if that ridiculous old peeping Tom had to be killed, or he had instead be involved in the crimes of his group of friends.

Charlie, who remained looking at the car, which started at great speed, though instead that the next day, when they  would meet again, he would be generously paid for his silence, which was precious.