“How do you know?”
“I caught the guy on the telephone. I heard him with my own ears.”
Step turned off the shower and let go of Babi’s hand. Babi, her hair hanging forward, drenched to the bone, said, “I hate you…”
Step looked at her with a smile. “Come on, no you don’t…I know you don’t. Anyway, you should dry off, otherwise you’ll catch your death.”
Babi lifted the long, wet hair that draped over her face. She uncovered her eyes. They were angry and determined.
Step acted afraid. “Uh-oh, pretend I didn’t say it. I understand, you wanted to take a shower with me, and now you’re mad because you had to take one alone. Maybe we can do it some other time.”
Step took a towel and gave it to Babi, who threw it at him.
Step laughed. “What manners…you’re never nice to me!”
“Fuck off.”
“What vulgar words you use! How could that be, a nice young woman like you spouting things like that? Remember that, the next time we take a shower together, I’m going to have to wash your mouth out with soap. Understood?”
He wrung out his T-shirt and tied it around his waist. Then he left the bathroom.
Babi watched him go. On his still-wet back, a few drops of water slid around sinews and bundles of muscles, taut and clearly delineated. Babi picked up a bottle of shampoo that she found on the floor within reach and hurled it after him.
Hearing the noise, Step ducked instinctively. Babi hadn’t managed to hit him, even though his broad shoulders presented an easy target.
Step bent down to pick up the plastic bottle bearing the image of a pretty blond girl with long, lustrous hair. “Hey, now I understand why you’re so mad. I forgot to shampoo your hair. I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Get out of here! Don’t you dare…” Babi quickly yanked the glass door, shutting herself in the shower.
Step looked at her small hands, pressed against the glass. “Here!” He tossed her the shampoo over the top of the shower stall. Then, with a shameless laugh, he walked out of the bathroom.
* * *
At the sound of the word police, there was a stampede for the door in the living room while Roberta sat sobbing in a corner.
Bunny, with the strange clanking sound of silver, went out at a dead run, a little heavier than usual. Behind him came Pollo, silent as he ran because what he had in his pockets might have made less noise but it held a lot more value. The Sicilian was next through the door, followed by Step and Schello. They galloped down the steps quickly, making the railing shake where they placed their full weight on it as they jumped down the last clusters of steps.
They all reached the ground-floor atrium, everyone laughing, and they strode off into the night.
* * *
Out of the front door at number 1130 on the Via Cassia emerged a group of guests. They were all discussing what had happened. After a number of stupid and pointless questions, the police had finally left Roberta’s home. The only one who knew anything, a certain Francesca, had made her escape as soon as she saw that the party was skidding off the rails, taking with her an emptied purse and the names of the guilty parties.
In the midst of the general mayhem, Babi, completely drenched, had lost her sister, Daniela. On the other hand, Roberta had found Babi a pair of shorts that fit her perfectly, as well as her older brother’s sweatshirt, in which she could easily swim.
“You really ought to go to parties more often dressed like that. You’re captivating,” Chicco teased Babi.
“Chicco, do you still feel like joking around?” The two of them walked out the front door. “I can’t find my sister, and I’ve ruined the Valentino dress.” She held up an elegant plastic shopping bag emblazoned with a name that was different from that of the drenched dress but still every bit as famous. “And as if that weren’t enough, if my mother catches me coming home with wet hair, I’m in trouble.”
“There he is. That’s the one who made the call.” From behind the dumpsters, Schello confidently pointed at Chicco Brandelli.
Step looked at him. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack. I heard him with my own ears.”
Step recognized the girl who was with that stinking rat. You don’t soon forget a woman who insists relentlessly on taking a shower with you. He smiled at his friend. “Let’s go tell the others.”
Babi and Chicco turned down a narrow street. “But what about you? Why didn’t you say anything when that idiot put me under the shower?”
“How was I supposed to know? Right then I was in the hall, calling the police.”
“Ah, so that was you?”
“Sure. I could see the situation was getting out of hand…Did you see the fat lip that someone gave Andrea Marinelli?”
“Yes, poor guy.”
“Poor guy? It’s the best thing that could have happened to him, are you kidding? I can’t even imagine the stories he’ll tell. All alone, taking on the barbarian horde. The hero of the night. Here we are, this is it.”
They stopped when they got to a car. The emergency lights flashed rapidly, and the door locks popped open in unison. The security system was a fairly common model but the same couldn’t be said of the brand-new BMW.
Chicco opened the passenger door for her. Babi peered in at the pristine interior, the dark wood paneling, and the soft leather upholstery.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes, a lot,” Babi said.
“I bought it just for you. I knew I’d be driving you home tonight.”
“You did?”
“Of course I did!” Chicco said. “Actually, the whole thing was planned down to the last detail. I actually hired that gang of idiots. Just think, the whole mess was contrived just so I could be alone with you.”
“Well, then, you could have skipped the part with the shower because, at least for once, my clothes weren’t up to the occasion.”
Chicco laughed and shut her door and then walked around the car and got in on the driver’s side. He put the key in the ignition and turned it. The powerful engine immediately roared to life. A small hatch slid down at the center of the dashboard, revealing an expensive car stereo that had been concealed from thieves until that moment. A song started up, smooth in all its tones, in complete fidelity to high notes and low. The car pulled away silently.
“All things considered, I had a lot of fun this evening. If it hadn’t been for that crowd, it would have been the usual grim funeral,” Chicco said.
“I doubt that Roberta feels the same way.” Babi carefully laid the plastic shopping bag at her feet. “They wrecked her house!”
“Oh, come on, it’s no big deal, strictly minor damage. She’ll just have to have the sofas scrubbed and send the carpets to the cleaners.”
A loud, sharp thump erupted, shattering the atmosphere of elegance and harmony inside the car.
“What just happened?” Chicco looked in his side mirror. Suddenly, he glimpsed the face of Lucone, almost completely filling the disk of glass. He was laughing like a maniac. Behind him, Hook climbed onto the motorcycle seat and, standing upright, delivered another kick to the bumper of the car.
“It’s those lunatics! Hurry up, step on the gas,” Babi said.