Pino and Saro discover Luparello’s body

Pino and Saro discover Silvio Luparello’s body in a green BMW hidden among the bushes at the Pasture. The discovery establishes both that Luparello is dead and that the men who find him recognize him; their pause before notifying the police, and their call to Pietro Rizzo first, make the scene an opening glimpse of the pressures surrounding the death.

The car in the bushes

Pino is working the stretch of the Pasture nearest the beach when he spots the nose of a car about twenty yards away, protruding from bushes denser than those around it. At seven in the morning, he thinks it unlikely that anyone could still be there with a sex worker. He approaches cautiously, bent forward and moving a step at a time. Reaching the taillights, he straightens quickly, but no one calls out and the car appears vacant.

As he comes nearer, Pino makes out a motionless man in the passenger seat, his head thrown back as if he were deeply asleep. The appearance and smell of the scene make him suspect that something is wrong. He calls for Saro, who runs over, out of breath and initially sharp in his questions. Pino directs his attention to the car.

Recognition of the dead man

Pino tries the driver’s door, but it is locked. The men cannot reach the other door because the large green BMW is parked too close to the shrub; leaning in for a better view, they are scratched by the brambles. From there they see the man’s face clearly enough to realize that he is not sleeping: his eyes are open and motionless. The recognition of the dead man is what freezes them. Their terror is not simply a response to death, but to the identity of the person they have found: Luparello.

The call before the police

After recovering from their paralysis, Pino and Saro agree that they must make another call before alerting the police. Saro knows Deputy Cusumano’s number by heart and dials it, but Pino stops him before the phone rings even once. The discovery therefore leads first not to an official report but to a deliberate pause in contacting the authorities.

Instead, they telephone Pietro Rizzo. Pino tells him that they have found Mr Luparello and that he appears dead. After a pause, Rizzo asks why they are telling him. The exchange ends without explaining Rizzo’s significance or the reason for contacting him, but it leaves the discovery marked by an unanswered question: even at the first report of the death, the route to the police is interrupted by a private call.