Fantasy Whatever Gets You through the Night by TMaskedWriter

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"The child is at headquarters with our psychiatrist. The Poldouris boy says he saw a blond man with a suit get into a car and doesn't recall much else." LeGrasse said. "There was some confusion. He was covered in blood. By the time it was over, the vehicle was gone. Nobody else saw anything, they were all focused on him."

"His father's a butcher." Helen replied. "He helps out in the shop, that'll happen." She remembered at this point that she'd silenced her phone before going onto the set. Having done multiple tourism commercials, Helen was familiar with some of the procedures before she'd acquired a studio. She took it from her purse and checked it; four missed calls from Maria and a text from Jeanne stating that Maria had called her, forgetting that she was in America with the twins currently.

"This was his habit every day while making a film? Go home and eat these Spaghetti-Uhs?" LeGrasse asked La Contessa.

"SpaghettiOs, and yes." She replied, calling Maria. "He was a sweet kid. Brought me a can when we first met; said he knew they weren't big outside the US and thought I might've missed them. He was right." They looked at her, seeming to recall them fondly. She noticed their looks. "Hey, it's a bowl of spaghetti you can microwave in two minutes, and even I can figure out a microwave. I'd have starved without them."

"Then this was his routine." The Prefect continued. "And the killer knew it."

"And he was American." Ramirez commented. "The diplomats are going to be busy. I am going to be busy."

Maria picked up on her end and Helen began speaking Italian to her immediately.

"Maria, are you with Stavro? I'm with the Prefect now and he says he's ok."

"Si." Maria replied. "I am at his home. He is fine. He wishes to speak to you in person, Great-Grandmama. He has asked me to ask you for an audience."

That caused Helen to stop and put out her cigarette. She saw Stavro all the time, both because he was dating Maria and because his job at the Citizens' Grievance Office was determining if a complaint was worthy of La Contessa's direct attention and, if so, bringing the matter to her himself. He wasn't normally talkative and asking Maria to request her presence wasn't something he'd normally do.

"Well, as it happens," Helena replied. "I'm just around the corner. I can be there in a few minutes. Love you." She hung up and looked up and down the street again. LeGrasse saw that she was paying attention to the light posts.

"It is a residential area, Contessa. Not much in the way of tourist traffic. The nearest cameras would have been the ones on the statue itself."

"So, maybe we'll catch a look at the car going by, if we're lucky." She completed the thought. She looked back over at where coroners were hauling Eliot Silverman's body into a van. "And I think we've already learned today where belief in luck gets you. My next stop is right around the corner, and that's where I'm expecting mine to end. Until I or your people can tell you something else about all this, Martin..." She trailed off to let him complete the sentence.

"Mugging gone wrong. Oui, Contessa." He replied with a nod. He motioned to some cops that La Contessa would be leaving in that direction and they moved to prevent onlookers from following her. Helena nodded back and turned to Ramirez.

"We've both got people to call and get off their asses and on this, Hernando. I'll take the Tourism Board if you take the Ambassador."

"If I am being given a choice, I prefer to deal with the Ambassador, Si, Contessa. Does this mean the film is cancelled?"

"No." She replied. "It delays things, but that's what they have assistant directors and second-unit directors for. And it means a bunch of people are going to get paid today to hang around Vincenzo's home dressed as Nazis and Wehrmacht for nothing."

The two men bowed their heads and muttered "Forever does he reign in our hearts."

"I'll get a ride back to the castle with Maria. Gentlemen."

The Prefect went back to the crime scene and the Generalissimo went back to his car.

Helen watched the coroner's van proceed down the street and turn left before following it and turning right to go see what Stavro needed.