Black Run Read Online Free PDF Page B

hastened over to the waiting car.

    Pierron shook his head. “What are we going to do, head back to town?”
    â€œI want to have a talk with the guy who found the corpse,” Rocco replied, and turned toward the cableway administrative offices. Italo followed him like a bloodhound.
    The offices of Monterosa Ski were deserted at that time of night. Aside from a young woman in a skirt suit and a policeman dressed for skiing, both seated in the lobby. The fluorescent lights made their faces look worn. But while the policeman had the handsome tan of someone who spends hours on the slopes, the shapely young woman looked pale and exhausted. Slightly overweight, but not someone you’d kick out of bed , thought Rocco as soon as he saw her, coming in through the double glass doors with Pierron. The skiing policeman snapped to attention. At his feet was a small puddle of water, evidence that the snow clinging to his Nordica ski boots had melted. And an unmistakable sign that the officer had been sitting there for quite some time now.
    â€œOfficer De Marinis.”
    Rocco looked him up and down. “So why aren’t you with your Neapolitan colleague, Caciuoppolo, guarding the scene of the murder?”
    â€œI was here with Amedeo, the one who found the corpse,” the cop explained.
    â€œWhat are you, a babysitter? Get your skis and go on up and lend a hand.”
    â€œRight away, Dottore.”
    With the loud clapping of ski boots on the floor, De Marinis left the building.

    â€œWhere is he?” Rocco asked the young woman.
    â€œCome this way; Amedeo’s in there,” the clerk replied, pointing to a shut door behind her. “I brought him a cup of hot tea.”
    â€œGood work . . . Margherita,” said Rocco, reading the name on the badge pinned to her lapel. “Good work. Could you bring a couple more for the two of us, please?”
    The young woman nodded her head and left.
    Amedeo was sitting in a Naugahyde chair. His eyes were puffy, and his hair was flattened to his head. He’d set his cap and gloves down on the table, and he was staring at the floor. Rocco and Italo grabbed two office chairs with wheels and sat down facing him. Finally Amedeo looked up. “Who are you?” he asked in a faint voice.
    â€œDeputy Police Chief Schiavone. Do you feel up to answering a couple of questions?”
    â€œChrist on a crutch. I still can’t believe it. I heard a crack and—”
    Rocco stopped him with an upheld hand. “Do me a favor, Amedeo. Let’s take things one at a time. So, now, you work on the thingies, the . . . snowcats, right?”
    â€œYes, for the past few months. Luigi, my boss, got me the job. He’s a good friend of mine.”
    â€œHe’s the one who took us up, Dottore,” Italo added. Rocco nodded.
    â€œI’d just finished doing the piste near the top. There was a wall and—”
    â€œA wall?” Schiavone asked with a grimace.
    â€œWhen the slope turns really steep, that’s what we call it. A wall. Or a black piste,” Italo offered, coming to his aid.
    â€œGo on, Amedeo.”

    â€œThe wall is just too steep. You can’t take it. It’s dangerous, and narrow, and if you’re not super-skillful and experienced, it can end badly. Luckily my boss, Luigi, gave me a call and told me I could head down and finish the last part of the piste, where it comes into town.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œAnd so I headed back. It’s just that to go back down to town, we don’t drive over the runs we’ve just groomed. We take the shortcut, the Crest shortcut.”
    â€œDo all of you use it?”
    â€œUse what?”
    â€œThis Crest shortcut,” replied Rocco.
    â€œWhen our shift is over, yes. Otherwise we’d ruin all the work we’ve done. I got done early, because basically I’m the one with the least experience. So you take the shortcut through Crest, which is that