The Killer in My Eyes by Giorgio Faletti Page A

ago, you killed a man.’
    Silence fell for a moment. The man bent his head and moved the earth with his foot as if a body was buried there.
    ‘Yes. We’re in Manziana forest. Strange, the way we keep coming back to certain places, isn’t it?’ He looked up again. ‘My name is Arben Gallani. The man you murdered, Avenir Gallani, was my brother.’
    ‘I didn’t murder anyone. You have no idea what happened.’
    Arben threw the cigarette butt beyond the cone of light created by the cars’ headlamps. ‘Oh yes, I do. I was there.’
    He put his hand under his jacket, took out a gun from the back of his belt and held it flat on his palm so that Maureen could get a good look at it.
    ‘Do you recognize this?’
    ‘I’ve never seen it before in my life.’
    ‘Oh, but you have, even if only for a moment. It was the one Avenir was holding when you shot him.’
    He dropped his arm down at his side, as if the gun had suddenly become too heavy.
    ‘I was with him that day. I didn’t agree with the operation, and he knew it. But he asked me to go with him and I couldn’t refuse. We’re always weak when it comes to the people we love, aren’t we, Maureen?’
    His gaze shifted to Connor for a moment. For the first time in her life, Maureen understood the true meaning of the word fear.
    ‘I’d been waiting for him in the car, but then I’d gone into the forest to take a leak. I heard all the noise, assumed that something had gone wrong, and decided to stay hidden. Then you appeared.’
    He took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one. He spoke calmly, as if the things he was talking about had nothing to do with him.
    ‘Avenir was an impulsive boy. Too impulsive, sometimes. Maybe it was my fault. I should have kept more of an eye on him, made sure he didn’t fuck up.’
    Arben paused. He was looking straight at her but Maureen understood that he was not seeing her. He was reliving what had happened that day, just as she had relived it dozens of times in her mind.
    ‘I threw a stone into the undergrowth to distract you. When you moved away, I came out, took the gun and hid again. I know you’ve had a few problems because of that, but that’s not my concern.’
    He smiled at her, quite gently, and that was the moment Maureen knew he was crazy. Crazy and dangerous.
    ‘And now we come to the reason for this encounter of ours. Do you think I want to kill you? No, my dear.’
    As he talked, Arben Gallani had slowly approached Connor.
    ‘I think it’s time you found out what it means to lose a person you love.’
    Oh no.
    Maureen started screaming, without realizing she was doing it only in her mind.
    no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no
. . .
    Arben Gallani quickly raised the hand holding the gun and aimed it at Connor’s temple.
    no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no
. . .
    At the contact of the cold barrel, Connor instinctively closed his eyes. Maureen saw, or thought she saw, Arben’s knuckle turn white as he pressed the trigger.
    no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no
. . .
    One shot and Connor’s head exploded, splattering blood and brain-matter over the car next to him, blotting out the light of the headlamps. Maureen’s voice at last welled up out of her dry throat and, as Connor’s lifeless body slumped to the ground, taking with him their dreams and plans, she screamed, screamed endlessly with anger and despair and powerlessness.
    Arben turned and looked at her with one eyebrow slightly arched, an expression of sick pity on his face. ‘Nasty, isn’t it?’
    Angry tears poured from her eyes as she gasped, ‘I’ll kill you for this.’
    Gallani shrugged. ‘That’s possible. But you’re going to live. In order to remember. And not only that . . .’
    He dropped the gun on the ground and moved lazily towards her. When he came level with her, he struck her across the face with the back of his hand. Maureen fell back, surprised not to have