Chapter Four

A tiny sob escaped her lips and out of the corner of his eye he could see they were covered in blood, she had bitten them so hard to stop from crying out he was amazed at her stoicism, He sighed, she was such a beautiful little thing, far to young to have witnessed all this brutality, his estimated she was probably about six years old but no more. ‘I’m sorry’

He began gently taking hold of her tiny cold hand,

‘Tuo padre è morto e i miei uomini devono spostarlo. Non puoi stare qui e non puoi andare con lui. Devi venire con me' [Your Papa is dead and my men need to move him. You cannot stay here and you cannot go with him. You must come with me]

He stood up and held out his hand and was surprised when the little girl pushed herself to her knees and kissed her Papa’s cheek and whispered in his ear.

‘Ti amo papà e prometto che un giorno quell'enorme uomo grasso pagherà per quello che ti ha fatto.‘ [I love you Daddy and I promise one day that huge fat man will pay for what he did to you.]

It was the tiniest of whispers and the Police Commander did not hear her speak, all he saw was a very brave little girl, who was so angelically beautiful she took your breath away. Bending down he picked her up and for a brief second he entertained the idea of taking her home to his wife, she would adore having another child to care for. Their own three children had all grown up and left home and now led busy independent lives that rarely included going home to visit their mother. He knew it was just the way of the world, all their friends suffered the same loss but he did not begrudge his children living their own lives he just wished they would remember their lonely Mother occasionally. She had given her whole life over to caring for them and now she had nothing to fill the empty hours of each long day while they led hectic lives full of social activities. With another heavy sigh he placed the little girl into a car and told the driver to take her back to the station he knew this raid had been a total waste of time and resources which meant someone, him, would be made the scapegoat.                                                                                                                He was correct, the Police Inspector was hauled before the Board to explain why his so called informant had got it so badly wrong. Don Giovanni had got away with all his men and Don Carlos was one of the bodies. It was supposed to have been an easy hit, surround the house and pick up the two most wanted Dons in Italy along with their men. The fiasco that had occurred had seen them waste almost a years budget on the overtime alone to collect two dead bodies, it took them four days to discover the bloody woman was just the child’s Nanny. It never crossed any of their minds to talk to the tiny girl, left alone sitting on the hard uncomfortable chair for hours.                                                                                        She had been handed over to one of the two female Police Officers who worked in this station and who was furious at being used as a baby sitting service just because she was a woman. The Officer left the little girl alone, isolated on that hard chair and she never moved silent and still. Even though she was desperate for the toilet, starving and thirsty, no emotion on her face as the Officers came and went about their business, hours passed and they finally began to notice her. Mutters went around the room about how the two female Officers could leave such a small child by herself for so long and one of them approached her,

‘Ehi piccola signora, stai bene, hai bisogno di qualcosa?' [Hey little lady, are you okay do you need anything?]  

She looked at him with her big azure blue eyes,

‘Sono, s, mi dispiace, b, essere un fastidio ma, ma, ho davvero bisogno di usare il bagno.’ [I’m, s, sorry, to b,be a bother but, but, I really need to use the bathroom.’]

She whispered and his heart went out to her, she had been sat on that chair for the past four hours and none of them had thought the poor little kid might need to use the bathroom.

‘Fanculo ragazzi, nessuno di voi ha parlato con questo povero bambino?' [Fuck guys, hasn’t any one of you spoken to this poor child?]

He growled angrily lifting her off the chair and carrying her across to the facilities, he set her on her feet and she gave a little cry of relief pushed the door open and ran inside. He turned to the two women,

‘Rimettetevi d'accordo, puttane egoiste, è solo una ragazzina, non è colpa sua se vi è stato chiesto di prendervi cura di lei, smettetela di tenere il broncio e di prendervi cura di lei o il capo lo saprà.’ [Get your fucking act together you selfish bitches, she’s just a little girl, it’s not her fault you got asked to look out for her, stop sulking and fucking care for her or the Boss will hear of this.]

His angry growl made the the little girl whimper when she came back out of the rest room and back away from him in fear, quickly the Police Officer picked up the little girl and smiled gently,

‘Hai fame piccolo?’ [Are you hungry little one?]

She looked up at him with unblinking azure eyes,

‘Non voglio creare problemi.’ [I do not wish to cause any problems.]

She said far to formally for such a young child,

‘Oh tesoro, non stai causando problemi, se hai fame sono sicuro che possiamo trovarti qualcosa da mangiare.’ [Oh sweetheart you are not causing problems, if you are hungry I am sure we can find you something to eat.]