much.”
The police were convinced that Amanda was talking about the killer. They were sure that she was protecting someone.
On November 5, the police decided to call Raffaele in for questioning one more time. They had a lot of information that didn’t make sense. Phone records showed that Amanda and Raffaele had turned off their cell phones at 8:30 P.M. November 1. According to the records, it was the first time Amanda had ever turned off her phone for the night. The same records showed that they then turned the phones on again the next morning just after 6, although they had told police they slept until midmorning. The police didn’t want to tip them off, so neither Amanda nor Raffaele had been asked about the phones yet.
Raffaele, the police felt, was the weaker of the two; if he knew anything, they thought they might get it out of him first. Raffaele arrived at the police station at 10:40 P.M. Amanda had not been called in for questioning, but she did not have any other friends in Perugia and she did not feel comfortable staying at Raffaele’s alone, so she came along. She brought her homework and sat in the waiting room studying while Raffaele was questioned. The chairs were stiff and uncomfortable. At one point, she got up to stretch her back. She did a back bend and then she bent forward and did a cart-wheel and splits. Two of the police officers on duty told
Amanda to stop. They told her that it wasn’t the right behavior for the situation.
While Amanda was performing gymnastics in the waiting room, Raffaele was destroying her alibi in a tiny room down the hall. His version of events of November 1 jibed with hers for most of the day; they slept in after a late night on Halloween, then spent the afternoon at via della Pergola, napping, smoking joints, playing the guitar in Amanda’s room. Then they went for a walk around town for a couple of hours and split up near the basketball courts so that Amanda could go to work at Le Chic. Later, they would change their story to say that they had both stopped by Raffaele’s house before Amanda left to go to work. But at the police station, he told a different story.
“I went home on my own. Amanda said she was going to Le Chic because she wanted to see some friends. That’s when we said good-bye. I went home, smoked a joint and had dinner but I can’t remember what I ate.” He also couldn’t remember Amanda being around, although she had told police, days earlier, that when Patrick Lumumba sent her a text message telling her not to come to work, she went straight over to Raffaele’s and spent the entire evening there. In Raffaele’s version, he was home alone around 11 P.M. when his
father called on the mobile phone, as he did every night. But the police already knew from phone logs that neither this call, nor one his father made at 8:40 P.M. to the land line, had been answered.
“I remember that Amanda hadn’t come back yet. I surfed the net for another two hours after babbo called and only stopped when Amanda got back, at about 1 A.M.”
Raffaele didn’t offer up any of the details that Amanda had given police about their evening—that they had watched Amélie, made dinner, smoked a few joints, and had sex. That was the break the police were looking for. Raffaele had not corroborated Amanda’s alibi. And Amanda had not corroborated his. One or both were lying. The police asked Raffaele to remove his shoes, which they checked against a bloody footprint found in Meredith’s bedroom. The print appeared to match and, unbeknownst to Amanda, who was still in the waiting room, Raffaele was arrested and taken into custody.
BY NOW IT WAS AFTER 1 A.M., but with Raffaele sitting in a jail cell, Monica Napoleoni decided there was no time to waste in bringing Amanda back for questioning.
Detective Napoleoni, forty-six, the head of the Perugia homicide squad, would make the perfect sex-flick dominatrix. She is a thin woman with long, jet-black hair that
The police were convinced that Amanda was talking about the killer. They were sure that she was protecting someone.
On November 5, the police decided to call Raffaele in for questioning one more time. They had a lot of information that didn’t make sense. Phone records showed that Amanda and Raffaele had turned off their cell phones at 8:30 P.M. November 1. According to the records, it was the first time Amanda had ever turned off her phone for the night. The same records showed that they then turned the phones on again the next morning just after 6, although they had told police they slept until midmorning. The police didn’t want to tip them off, so neither Amanda nor Raffaele had been asked about the phones yet.
Raffaele, the police felt, was the weaker of the two; if he knew anything, they thought they might get it out of him first. Raffaele arrived at the police station at 10:40 P.M. Amanda had not been called in for questioning, but she did not have any other friends in Perugia and she did not feel comfortable staying at Raffaele’s alone, so she came along. She brought her homework and sat in the waiting room studying while Raffaele was questioned. The chairs were stiff and uncomfortable. At one point, she got up to stretch her back. She did a back bend and then she bent forward and did a cart-wheel and splits. Two of the police officers on duty told
Amanda to stop. They told her that it wasn’t the right behavior for the situation.
While Amanda was performing gymnastics in the waiting room, Raffaele was destroying her alibi in a tiny room down the hall. His version of events of November 1 jibed with hers for most of the day; they slept in after a late night on Halloween, then spent the afternoon at via della Pergola, napping, smoking joints, playing the guitar in Amanda’s room. Then they went for a walk around town for a couple of hours and split up near the basketball courts so that Amanda could go to work at Le Chic. Later, they would change their story to say that they had both stopped by Raffaele’s house before Amanda left to go to work. But at the police station, he told a different story.
“I went home on my own. Amanda said she was going to Le Chic because she wanted to see some friends. That’s when we said good-bye. I went home, smoked a joint and had dinner but I can’t remember what I ate.” He also couldn’t remember Amanda being around, although she had told police, days earlier, that when Patrick Lumumba sent her a text message telling her not to come to work, she went straight over to Raffaele’s and spent the entire evening there. In Raffaele’s version, he was home alone around 11 P.M. when his
father called on the mobile phone, as he did every night. But the police already knew from phone logs that neither this call, nor one his father made at 8:40 P.M. to the land line, had been answered.
“I remember that Amanda hadn’t come back yet. I surfed the net for another two hours after babbo called and only stopped when Amanda got back, at about 1 A.M.”
Raffaele didn’t offer up any of the details that Amanda had given police about their evening—that they had watched Amélie, made dinner, smoked a few joints, and had sex. That was the break the police were looking for. Raffaele had not corroborated Amanda’s alibi. And Amanda had not corroborated his. One or both were lying. The police asked Raffaele to remove his shoes, which they checked against a bloody footprint found in Meredith’s bedroom. The print appeared to match and, unbeknownst to Amanda, who was still in the waiting room, Raffaele was arrested and taken into custody.
BY NOW IT WAS AFTER 1 A.M., but with Raffaele sitting in a jail cell, Monica Napoleoni decided there was no time to waste in bringing Amanda back for questioning.
Detective Napoleoni, forty-six, the head of the Perugia homicide squad, would make the perfect sex-flick dominatrix. She is a thin woman with long, jet-black hair that
Similar Books
