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"Go sit down somewhere. Meanwhile, I'm going to find the bathroom," he grumbled and rose, while I dropped into the armchair in front of his desk.
It took a few minutes for him to return. Minutes that I used to calm down further and fall back into the almost lethargic state of mind I had been in when I had left to go shopping.
When Dario re-entered the room, he had washed all the blood from his face. Only a few splashes on his white shirt reminded of his beating.
"It's best to start from the beginning. Did you notice anything when you went shopping?"
"No. Everything was normal."
"And where did you go shopping?"
"Carrefour. Around evening," I replied. "Everything was fine until I got to the parking lot. Suddenly a car stopped right next to me. A guy got out and before I could even react, I was in the trunk. He injected me with something and when I woke up, I already had this device on my upper body."
"Is anyone causing you troubles?"
"No." I stayed away from hassles of that magnitude.
"Then what happened?"
"He told me what to do and that he would let me go if I showed up at the meeting place on time with the money."
"We know the bomb wasn't a dummy," Dario muttered before turning his gaze to me. "That guy. Can you describe him?"
"A little older. Well groomed, but somehow you could still tell he was from the gutter. Didn't know Italian. His English was broken. Had a heavy accent. French, I guess? He was armed and I was afraid he would kill me on the spot if I refused. So I got in my car and drove to the place he had programmed on the navigation system."
"You could have gone to the police."
"And then?"
"They would have called the bomb squad."
"He told me exactly how long it would take them and that they would be much too late to save me," I replied. "I was scared! I couldn’t think straight and I broke at least thirteen traffic rules during the trip to the port."
Dario said nothing.
"You don't think I had anything to do with it, do you?"
"If I felt that way, you wouldn't be sitting in the chair. You'd be lying tied up on a table so I could coax honest answers out of you. But I believe you. So don't worry."
For whatever reason, I exhaled in relief at his words, and this although he had just told me he would torture me if he felt I was lying to him.
"Currently, he's assuming you're dead. That means you're safe for now. But if he finds out you're alive and the rest of us too " A thoughtful sound escaped him. "I think we should monitor your place. From what I can tell, it fits our so-called business partner. If Emilio gets his hands on that " He left the sentence unfinished.
"So, do you have a plan?"
"At least an idea. The only question is, what am I doing with you? Is there any safe place for you?"
I shook my head. I owned nothing but my apartment, and that it wasn't safe didn't need Dario's assessment. It wasn't even safe if I didn't have an enemy of the mafia after me.
"Anyway, you can't stay here. That's too dangerous, too," he explained with a raised eyebrow.
"I can go to a hotel if you lend me some money for it. I'll pay you back, too." It was stupid to ask a man like Dario for money and to assure him I'd be able to pay it back.
There were so many stories about what happened to people who couldn't fulfill their end of the bargain. And I still needed my knees. That's what the mafia did to people who didn't pay their debts, wasn't it? At least, if you believed the rumors.
Dario shook his head. "We have to keep an eye on you. There's no way around it. If my instincts have deceived me, I don't want to look for you all over Italy first."
"It's unnecessary to threaten me between the lines," I returned. By now, I had understood that it made no sense to lie to Dario.
