Two Drops Of Water. Nicola Rocca

      PROLOGUE

      The room is in semi-darkness,

      the pitch black alleviated only by the dirty yellow light of a street lamp filtering through the window.

      Aldo Martelli stares up at the ceiling.

      It's an ordeal he has endured for years now - in and out of hospital. No particular illness, but he's ninety years old, and there's no cure for old age; it comes for us all, followed sooner or later by its trusty friend, Death.

      His throat seems to be closing up, every breath a laborious wheeze.

      All he needs to do is reach out and press his emergency button. A nurse would come running and fit his oxygen mask.

      Aldo knows there is little point; it would just delay his last breath for a few more hours. He may as well let himself drift off into that deepest of sleeps that he knows so well. A sleep that has been his livelihood for seventy years.

      Martelli Funeral Directors. Two shop windows and a preparation room.

      Thinking about it still brings a smile to his face.

      So much time has passed. It seems like only yesterday, but now his entire life has flown by.

      The weight pressing down on his lungs increases. Aldo may never have experienced his own death, but it is all too familiar to him. He can sense it.

      Now that his time has come, he's not afraid. Life has been kind; he can have no complaints. He has never lacked for money or affection.

      His thoughts turn to Mina, whom he married before either of them had even turned twenty. Gradually, images of their children come into his mind. Then the grandchildren.

      Their faces seem so real he can’t help but smile. Such a beautiful family.

      As his vision begins to blur from a lack of oxygen, another memory pops into his head. He thinks of the little white coffin and the secret he has kept for over thirty years.

      It was so long ago now, but he can remember it as if it were yesterday.

      He still can’t explain why he did it. Could have been greed; could have been a million and one other things.

      He deceived an entire town.

      He opens his mouth wide in an attempt to steal one final breath, and his eyes relax and fall open.

      Just a split second more of suffering, and the secret would go with him to his grave.