FAMILIES OF THE VICTIMS

The next day, Professor Rossi still hadn't returned.

They were in their final year of school, and despite their teacher's disappearance, their Italian lessons had to go on.

Another teacher had taken over the class, and during the lesson, he said, "The only thing your teacher cares about is your academic performance. There are just over two months left until the exam, so don't let yourselves get distracted. The exam is a crucial matter for your entire future."

Lucia's desk mate whispered, "The professor may be missing, but we can't let this affect our exam."

Lucia remained silent.

The substitute teacher, who was quite young, began to lose his composure while speaking; seeing that no one was stopping him, he started venting his emotions.

"You should stop reading all those nonsense posts online. Speaking of this situation, many people have no idea what's going on, and they don't know your teacher at all; they don't even know what kind of person he is, yet they accuse him of being a murderer."

The classmates, naturally, believed that the professor wasn't a criminal. Even though they didn't fully understand the mystery of reincarnation and the bodies that had been found, they were much more inclined to trust their own teacher rather than strangers online.

Lucia's phone, hidden beneath her book, lit up with a notification.

It was a message.

It was from Emanuele.

"Lucia, I don't know the school that well, and I might need your help."

Lucia replied warmly, "Tell me what you need, I'll do everything I can."

"I found some documents in my father's briefcase about serial murder cases, but I don't know where they came from."

Emanuele didn't know, but Lucia did: a classmate of hers had brought them to school, and during an Italian lesson, the professor had confiscated them.

Emanuele continued, "I suspect this might be connected to my father's disappearance."

Lucia didn't admit she was involved, nor did she confess that she did it to entertain others or earn some extra money. She simply replied, "I'll help you ask around."

"Alright, gather some information at school; my mom and I will go search for details on the victims."

"It's impossible to find witnesses now. I think it's best to start with the case from years ago."

Emanuele seemed very organized.

"My father is such a kind person; he's never offended anyone. In all these years, I've never seen him argue with anyone. It must be that portrait of the killer circulating online that's caused all this trouble."

Up until then, no one had been able to really explain what reincarnation meant, and Emanuele couldn't understand why the criminal had targeted his father. He just wanted to clear everything up as soon as possible and publish a refutation online, hoping the kidnapper would see it and release his father.

Emanuele was the pride of Professor Rossi, who often spoke about him in class, praising his intelligence. Everyone knew he was a single dad who had raised his son with great dedication.

Lucia lightly tapped her fingers on the table, unsure whether to confess that it was she who brought the news of reincarnation and the portrait of their teacher into the school.

Lost in thought, her fingers brushed against the rough surface of the stone she was holding.

By the fifth period, Lucia received another message from Emanuele.

"I've searched online for hours; there's little information on the victims' families. I think the main suspects are three."

Lucia replied, "Send me the names, I'll take a look."

The victims' families weren't just three, but many could no longer be found online, probably because they had tried to return to normal life and move on from the pain.

Lucia saw that the first person on the list was a very worn-out middle-aged man, accompanied by a newspaper article.

"A successful businessman lost his son and is now battling terminal cancer."

He was the wealthiest man among all the victims' families. Lucia had read about the case in recent days and knew it was one of the most discussed.

Initially, the man had placed a reward of five hundred thousand euros for anyone who had information on the killer. However, a year ago, he raised the bounty to two million, just to find out where his son was. This made people think that even the killer might be tempted to collect the sum.

The change occurred after the man was diagnosed with terminal cancer two years ago.

Countless people had tried to solve the case, but no one ever claimed the reward; many said only the killer himself could come forward.

This case had happened at a time when there weren't as many cameras, and since these were serial killings, many crimes were solved through the personal connections of the victims. But in a case of indiscriminate murder like this, there were no obvious links or clues, and over time, the victims' families began to lose hope.

The professor's son sent another message: "If he saw my father's portrait online, and considering his illness, he might lose control and kidnap my father."

Lucia was so deep in thought that she was suddenly nudged by an elbow.

Without looking up, she quietly pulled the book closer to herself and pretended to read it.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the substitute teacher walk past her; Lucia breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that if her phone had been confiscated, it would have caused trouble.

When the lesson ended, she finally had time to respond.

"What do you plan to do?"

"I can't find the man's home address, so I'm going to wait for him outside his company."

"I'll come with you; it's always better to have someone with you." Lucia added, "If you show up alone, they might misunderstand your intentions and think you're out for revenge. I can help you communicate with him."

Emanuele thought for a moment, then agreed.

When Lucia returned home, she told her mother everything.

Elena was not pleased. As she sliced carrots, she said, "Why are you getting involved in all this? The exams are coming up. Don't you want to go to university anymore?"

Yes.

The exams were more important.

Both the school and parents thought the same.

Lucia replied, "I'm just going to take a look, I won't fall behind on my studies. I'll bring my error notebook and study while walking, okay?"

Seeing her mother's displeased expression, Lucia raised her error notebook and promised, "I swear, I'll read it twice and memorize every single mistake."

Elena responded dryly, "When you get there, your mind will be somewhere else. What will you actually manage to study?"

Lucia retorted, "I read that people remember things better when they're emotional."

Elena paused for a moment, as if lost in a memory.

People remember more in extreme conditions.

Lucia grabbed her error notebook and two bananas to fill her stomach; when she saw her mother wasn't answering, she left the house.

Lucia quickly arrived at the agreed meeting spot. Emanuele handed her a notebook with printed information.

It was everything he had managed to find on the victims.

"Take a look too; let's see if you can find any new clues." Even though Lucia was just a high school student, Emanuele didn't underestimate her at all. In his opinion, high school seniors were among the smartest people around.

Lucia started flipping through the documents on the victims' families.

Most of the victims from that time were children. Due to the one-child policy, all the victims were only children, and without having caught the culprit, the families struggled to move past the shadow of the tragedy.

She flipped through page after page until finally, she stopped.

"The last victim was a single mother with her little girl; they were selling ice cream outside a factory. The girl was sleeping in the back of a rickshaw, and the killer tried to kidnap her. The mother noticed immediately and chased after the rickshaw, but she was stabbed. She was only found when the workers finished their shift. It's said that the wound was so deep it split her belly open, with her intestines exposed." The industrial area had few people around, and it was late that night; the mother was just waiting for the night shift workers to finish.

"However, some reports say that this mother didn't die, but she has never appeared in public again. No one has seen her since."

Lucia didn't say a word; Emanuele, too caught up in his emotions, didn't notice her silence.

Emanuele added, "How could my father be the killer? When these crimes happened, I was just a kid. I couldn't sit still for a minute, and my mother didn't take care of me; everything was on my father's shoulders."

Lucia kept staring at the words in the document: "split open," "intestines exposed."

She had never seen a trauma so recent, but she had seen scars of that severity.

The minds of high school students work incredibly fast; she closed the document and changed the subject: "Were you really that insufferable as a child?"

"I'd say no one in our neighborhood could stand me. My mother wanted to strangle me more than once. In the end, it was partly my fault they separated. But my father never hit me, nor did he ever say anything offensive. How could someone like that be a killer?"

Lucia nodded without giving her opinion; her mind was still focused on those scars.

At Lucia's house, in the darkened room, Elena was getting dressed. She put on a black, waterproof raincoat, with a sweater underneath. From beneath the sweater, running from her chest down to her belly button, a long scar was clearly visible.

She put everything in order and remembered something. She picked up her phone and sent a message to her daughter: "Remember to study your error notebook, and don't forget about your exams. At your age, the exams are the most important thing. Your teacher's situation will be handled by the adults; you don't need to worry about it as a senior student."

A little while later, Lucia's response came through.

"Mom, I understand. I'm studying and memorizing the English phrases with full concentration."

Elena looked at the message and, after a moment of hesitation, went back down into the basement.