Killer Smile (2005), a Novel by Lisa Scottoline: Summary

In World War II President Roosevelt signed into law a series of presidential orders that all Italian-born Americans as enemy aliens. They were arrested by FBI and relocated them to internment camps. Lisa Scottoline is an American legal thriller writer and a former trial lawyer. According to the author the idea of this novel came from history. It’s not only U.S. history but her family. Though her paternal grandparents had lived in U.S. for three decades and violated no laws, but they were registered as enemy aliens.

The 409-page book is published Harpertorch and imprints of HarperCollinsPublisher New York in 2005. The main character lawyer Mary DiNunzio had a case comes from the past- WWII. The suspicious suicide of an Italian in internment brings some serial murder and endangers Mary. This mystery book is enjoyable one. The plot and the time setting were interesting, and the twist and turns one wouldn’t expect. The twists kept the reader engaged and interested to read more.

Killer Smile (2005), a Novel by Lisa Scottoline: Summary

The office of Rosato & Associates had been closed and blessedly quiet. A local man, Thomas Cott had been calling the office at all hours, and Mary DiNunzio felt sorry for him. Though her boss Benedetta Rosato reminded her employees not to pick up his calls but Mary wanted to stop him. Cott was obviously off his meds. He wanted to sue Philadelphia Police Department and U.S. Conggress. He accused all the judges in City Hall are crooked. He threatened want to kill Mary if she did not take his case.

Mary DiNunzio was in the middle of new case- the strange suicide of Amadeo Brandolini. When World War II broke out, he was arrested by the FBI and imprisoned along with ten thousand other Italian-Americans, under an act better known for authorizing the internment of the Japanese. Amadeo lost everything and eventually committed suicide in the camp. It was Amadeo’s wallet with a lock of hair, an old photograph, and a paper covered with indecipherable doodles. His son’s estate Frank Cavuto hired Mary to sue for reparations. The law firm was founded by Joe Giorno. It was Giorno & Locaro then it became Giorno and Cavuto.

Tony Brandolini was in the army when he died, so he couldn’t have had the body sent back, and his wife was already gone. Amadeo had no other family in the area. Frank Cuvato wanted to fill Tony’s last wish. Justice for his father but Tony’s money for the suit was all gone. Mary had worked that case pro bono for a month. She investigated Amadeo’s house. How many people had owned the house since Amadeo. She found some names and strange transaction between Amadeo and Joe Giorno about the house. Now a Korean woman owned the house.

Mary was a lawyer still trying to understand the meaning of justice. There were dangerous people in that city because one of them had taken her husband’s life. They had married only two years, and Mike had been killed while he was riding his bicycle, intentionally struck by a car. Though his murderer had eventually been caught gave Mary no comfort.

The reception area of Rosato & Associates had been completely destroyed. Mary’s room sign had been torn down, and Amadeo’s file was stolen. Amadeo’s wallet, original photos, and drawings were gone too. She was being followed. The only people who had seen the drawings were Frank Cavuto and reporter Jim MacIntire. When her boss Bennetta Rosato suggested her to take a leave, Mary chose to go to ex internment camp. Fort Missoula was a quaint edifice of soft red brick topped with a red tile roof, which was situated on a preserve on the fringe of Missoula, Montana. She visited the museum and the cashier at the museum gave her a name.

Mr. Milton was a mechanic in internment and he knew about the suicide. The death certificate came after she had applied at the recorder’s office for Amadoe’s death. The cause of death was accidental asphyxiation in Missoula City Hospital. Milton said Brandolini was unconscious when a guard picked him and didn’t die until later in hospital. The rope he hung himself with broke when he tied it. Mary backed to the museum and the cashier at the Fort Missoula museum gave another name. She drove a very flat two hours into the pitch dark to get Aaron Nyquist’s house. The FOR SALE sign on the lawn told her she was just in time, but the lights upstairs was on. Mr. Nyquist’s grandson was about the right age told that his grandpa passed away six months ago. He didn’t know his grandpa worked for government during the war.

The young man led Mary to his grandma. Helen Nyquist was in her early eighties. Her manner was warm, friendly, and fragile with fresh grief. Helen worked as an unofficial secretary at the camp. Her husband Aaron had government hire her for free. Mary showed her the photos. She recognized the men on the photo well. Amadeo was a fisherman from Philly. Giovanni Saracone was fluent in English. Most of internee spoke Italian and the office used Gio as a translator. The girls in the office liked him.

Frank Cavuto was dead. He was killed in his office – shot twice and robed. She had seen way too much crime-scene tape in her career. She investigated Frank’s office and found some bills with large amount under the client name Giovanni Saracone. The bills led her to Saracone’s house. The door was opened by a young African-American woman wearing a nurse’s uniform. Keisha insisted saying that Giovanni Saracone was very ill but Mary used her skill to pursue the nurse. Finally she came face-to-face with Giovanni Saracone himself. She shouted at him as Amadeo’s killer but the guard name Chico bit her. She heard a man shouted and the man who must be Saracone’s son. Justin Saracone spat at her face.

Mary regained consciousness in the driver’s seat of her car in the dark. The bills were gone. Detective Gomez didn’t believe her report and asked her to stay away from the Saracone. Gomez had told her and her office, there was no chance proving that Frank’s murder was connected to Saracone. The detective hadn’t gone out to Saracone’s house, and the Frank case was officially clear. Since Giovanni’s death, the nurse went missing. Keisha sent voice message to Mary and asked her help. Keisha’s throat had just been slit. Blood bathed her neck, somebody tried to kill her.

Mary investigated Saracone’s business. She searched the Saracones’s funeral’s guests and finding their home addresses. Giovanni didn’t fish and owned boats. Boats were about showing off. According to Giovanni Saracone’s friend, he invented the hatch and patented it. Amadeo had three fishing boats when Saracone was driving a lunch truck. Amadeo had invented this hatch, and Saracone had strangled him for it, under a lonely tree in Montana, in the midst of a world war. The patent brought in millions of dollars- first to Giovanni Saracone then to Justin.

Saracone hadn’t filed the original patent application on his owned, it had been filed by Joe Giorno. That’s why Giorno made Amadeo the gift of the house and later went to Missoula to tell him about his wife’s death. Giorno and Saracone were pretending to be his friends, cultivating him for invention. Then Amadeo’s son Tony had died, both ordering and funding by the lawsuit by his will. Frank Cavuto took over for Giorno, when Mary started to expand her investigation into Amadeo’s death and close in on the truth. Frank must be panicked and Saracone killed him. Saracone had killed Amadeo and only ten days later had told Giorno to file application for the patent his name.

Giorno and Saracone had to have been planning this for long time. After several blind dates Benni Rosato had set up with a good friend of hers named Gary Haddon. The man pretended to be Gary, and he worked for the Saracones. He followed her to restaurant then stationed himself at the bar. Her mouth was taped and her hands were tied behind her back. Her head was bleeding. He was going to kill her but now he was dead.

Helen Nyquist appeared at the court and her testimony shocked Justin Saracone. It was the contact of Giovanni and Amadeo Brandolini. Amadeo agreed that Gio will make a translation into English for an invention of Amadeo’s. Mrs. Nyquist typed the contract. Amadeo was smart mechanic but he was illiterate in English. Mary won the court and had the bond in large amount. She remembered how tight money was for Mrs. Nyquis so Mary thanked Mrs. Nyquist with some cash, but the old lady refused it and she did it for Amadeo. Mary remembered the FBI memo from the National Archieves, monitoring Amadeo’s meeting with Giorno and his wife Theresa Brandolini.

Amadeo wasn’t monitored by government but being watched on orders of Aaron Nyquist, who wasn’t worried about betrayal of his country, but the betrayal of his wife. Amadeo was her one true love. Mary gave her the lock of hair that she found from Amadeo’s wallet. It was hers and she still recognized it well. Aaron Nyquist knew, she couldn’t deceived him, he raised Amadeo’s son as his own. Her son didn’t know his real father until he died. The money that followed from the original patent for the hatch had been going to Justin Saracone all these years would now go to Amadeo’s grandson.

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Sekapur Sirih

Ketika Perang Dunia Kedua pecah, Presiden Amerika Roosevelt mengeluarkan peraturan jikalau semua warga negara Amerika kelahiran Italia dinyatakan musuh sekutu dan bahkan dikirim ke penampungan “internment” bersama warga kelahiran Jepang dan Jerman. Lisa Scottoline adalah penulis thriller hukum berkebangsaan Amerika dan seorang mantan pengacara pengadilan. Menurut pengakuannya ide cerita ini dilatari oleh sejarah, bukan hanya sejarah Amerika saja, namun sejarah keluarganya. Kakek dan nenek dari sisi ayah penulis kelahiran Italia. Walau mereka sudah menetap tiga puluh tahun tinggal di Amerika dan tidak pernah melanggar hukum namun mereka dikategorikan sebagai musuh negara dan dikirim ke pengasingan.

Buku setebal 409 halaman diterbitkan Harpertorch New York pada tahun 2005. Novel misteri ini menarik dinikmati, semakin membuat penasaran demi halaman dan memberi kejutan di luar dugaan di akhir cerita. Berkisah kegigihan seorang pengacara Mary DiNunzio menyibak kasus misteri bunuh diri janggal dari seorang Italia di penampungan interment pada masa Perang Dunia Dua (PD II). Serangkaian pembunuhan pun terjadi akibat penyidikan kasus ini. Tetapi wanita tangguh Mary DiNunzio tidak menyerah walau hampir saja dia terbunuh.

  

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia: Ringkasan Novel The Killer Smile (2005) karya Lisa Scottoline

Kantor pengacara “Rosato dan Rekan” telah tutup dan senyap, telepon dari Thomas Cott sudah berjam-jam berdering dan tidak satupun  yang menghiraukan. Mary DiNunzio sangat iba. Ia mengangkat telepon itu dan berniat menghentikan  lelaki yang sudah menghubungi banyak kantor pengacara. Lelaki psikotik yang tidak minum obatnya, dia ingin menuntut Kantor Kepolisian Philadelphia, Kongres Amerika, dan menuduh semua hakim yang bekerja di Balai Kota adalah koruptor dan bisa disogok. Mary dalam ketakutan atas ancaman lelaki itu. Dia mengancam ingin membunuh Mary bila kasusnya tidak ditangani dan juga mengaku telah mendatangi rumah bosnya Benedetta Rosato.

Padahal Mary tengah menangani sebuah  kasus unik yakni kasus bunuh diri Amadeo Brandolini pada PD II. Rekanan kerjanya menjuluki kasus itu sebagai Mistery Channel. Sebuah firma hukum bernama Giorno & Cavuto menunjuk Mary dalam kasus ini atas permintaan terakhir dari almarhum putra Brandolini. Ketika  PD II pecah, Amadeo Brandolini adalah salah satu penghuni kamp pengasingan internment Italia-Amerika bersama sepuluh ribu tawanan lainnya. Amadeo dinyatakan bunuh diri namun putranya seorang tentara tidak mudah memercayainya. Hanya ada barang asli dari dompet Amadeo yakni foto lama bersama teman-temannya, secarik kertas dengan sketsa doodle, dan pengunci rambut wanita.

Kematian suaminya akibat kecelakaan masih menjadi cambuk baginya. Kecelakaan yang diduganya sebuah kesengajaan. Atas keprihatinan teman-teman kantornya bahkan bosnya mengatur kencana buta (blind date) untuknya. Beberapa kencan pun dilaluinya namun tak satupun yang cocok. Walau sudah tua ayah dan ibunya sangat perhatian dan menyayangi Mary. Kedua orang tuanya tinggal hidup di lingkungan keturunan Italia. Bahkan teman gereja orang tuanya menanyakan perkembangan kasus Amadeo.

Kantor pengacara yang dimiliki Frank Cavuto adalah pemberi kasus itu dan seharusnya dia membayarnya. Kantor yang sebelumnya bernama Giorno & Locaro dan kini berganti menjadi Giorno & Cavuto. Kantor ini didirikan oleh Joe Giorno. Tetapi kenyataannya sudah sebulan Mary mempelajari kasus itu Frank tidak membayar sesen pun, pro bono. Frank juga masih tetangga dan saling mengenal. Mungkin karena marah dengan sikap Mary yang terlalu mendesak, lelaki itu memecat Mary dan keesokan harinya Frank mati terbunuh di kantornya.

Walau pihak polisi sulit menghubungkan kematian Frank erat kaitannya dengan kasus Amadeo. Tidak hanya itu, meja Mary juga diacak-acak dan mengambil semua data tentang Amadeo termasuk dompet Amadeo. Karena kas kasir juga dibongkar maka polisi mengkategorikannya sebagai kasus perampokan biasa dan bahkan mereka sedang mengejar pelakunya. Oleh atasannya dia diberi ruang untuk berlibur sementara. Dalam masa liburnya, dia pun mengunjungi museum dan tempat pengasingan internment itu.

Pada awalnya agak sulit, namun akhirnya dia mendapat sejumlah petunjuk dari seorang wanita tua bernama Helen Nyquist yang ketika itu menjadi juru ketik kantor kamp dan lelaki montir yang dahulu bekerja di kamp. Dari dua saksi yang hidup sangat membantunya mereka membenarkan bunuh diri itu ada, dilakukannya siang hari ketika jam istirahat, dengan menggantung di pohon setelah mendapat berita kematian istrinya di Phildephia. Istrinya dinyatakan tewas terjatuh dari tangga.

Serangkaian penyelidikan pun dilakukan dari penyidikan rumah Amadeo yang kini dihuni wanita Korea, penggalian arsip di Badan Kearsipan Nasional, dan sejarah transaksi kepemilikan rumah Amadeo di Balai Kota. Dari saksi pula Mary mendapati, lelaki yang ada dalam foto di samping Amadeo adalah sahabatnya Giovanni Saracone. Sebuah mobil pun sering mengintai Mary dan dia yakin kematian Frank pasti bukan perampokan biasa. Dia dibunuh berkaitan dengan kasus Amadeo. Mary menyelidiki kantor mendiang Frank dan menemukan beberapa lembar tanda terima pembayaran jasa pengacara itu dengan nama Giovanni Saracone. Mary pun berhasil menemukan rumah Saracone, lelaki berumur delapan puluhan yang kini terbaring sakit di kasur kematiannya. Walau dihalangi perawat Keisha dengan kelihaiannya akhirnya Mary berhasil masuk menemui Saracone. Dari pertemuan singkat itu Mary semakin yakin Amadeo tidak bunuh diri tapi dibunuh Saracone.

Pengawal Saracone bernama Chico memukul wajah Mary hingga lebam tak sadarkan diri. Dia telah melaporkan pada polisi tapi malah dia yang diancam ditahan karena memasuki rumah Saracone dengan paksa. Mary semula berbohong pada semua orang termasuk bos dan teman kerjanya Judy, namun tetap saja ketahuan. Polisi mendatangi kantornya. Gadis pemberani itu tetap saja gigih melanjutkan penyidikannya. Lembaran tanda terima kaitan Frank Cavuto dengan Saracone dari kantongnya raib, diambil anak Saracone.

Benni Rosato mengaturnya kencan dan meminta Mary menghentikan kasus itu. Ternyata lelaki yang ditemuinya salah orang, lelaki itu mengaku teman kencan butanya. Hampir saja membunuhnya dan rupanya merupakan anak buah Saracone. Dia bahkan sudah menguntiti mary sebelum masuk bar. Pesan misterius datang dari perawat Keisha yang tiba-tiba menghilang. Gadis berwarna itu didapatinya hampir mati. Gadis cantik itu telah dianiaya dan disiksa anak buah Saracone. Polisi mulai sedikit serius kali ini. Seorang reporter bernama Jim MacIntire tertarik dengan kasus Amadeo. Sebuah artikel tentang kegigihan pengacara Mary dalam kasus Amadeo. Keduanya pun berteman.

Saracone akhirnya meninggal. Mary mendapati sederetan nama-nama penting pada tamu undangan pada upacara pemakaman Giovanni Saracone. Dari nama itu Mary berhasil menyusuri asal-usul harta kekayaan Saracone berasal. Rupanya dari bisnis pembuatan kapal dan memiliki hak paten pembuatan kapal. Dokumen Badan Paten menorehkan nama Gionanni Saracone sebagai penemu kapal. Dia pun mengingat bukti doodle di dompet Amadeo. Dari keterangan saksi hidup, Amadeo ahli dalam permesinan dengan hobi memancing dan memiliki usaha kapal sebelum dikirim ke pengasingan. Sementara Saracone tampan yang lancar berbahasa Inggris hanya dikenal sebagai pria magnet bagi gadis-gadis. Walau Helen muda sudah menikah, dia menyukai Amadeo.

Dengan bukti kuat Mary dan kantornya menuntut keluarga Saracone atas pembunuhan dan pengambilan hak paten Amadeo Brandolini. Dalam sidang itu kesaksian dan bukti yang dibawa Helen Nyquist pun mengejutkan Justin Saracone yakni putra mendiang Sarcone. Wanita tua itu bersaksi bahwa dialah yang mengetikkan kontrak tentang pengajuan hak paten itu karena si pendiam Amadeo Brandolini tidak mampu berbahasa Inggris baik membaca dan menulis. Amadeo meminta Saracone menerjemahkan. Dia juga yang mengetikkan kontrak perjanjian antara Brandolini dan Saracone tentang paten itu dan menyimpannya selama ini. Rupanya Saracone curang telah mendaftarkan atas namanya sendiri. Dia membunuh Amadeo dan direkayasa bunuh diri.

Lewat sidang, pihak Mary pun menang dengan mendapat uang dalam jumlah besar. Helen Nyquist dengan malu-malu berterus-terang pada Mary bahwa hubungannya dengan Amadeo tidaklah sekedar teman, tetapi kekasih terlarang karena saat itu Helen sudah menikah. Suaminya Arthur adalah pegawai pengasingan dan Helen bekerja secara sukarela pada bagian administrasi. Walau sang suami Arthur mengetahui anak dikandungnya adalah anak Amadeo tetapi dia menyayangi anak itu hingga cucunya. Itulah alasan almarhum Arthur Nyquist tidak pernah mau membahas masalah pengasingan pada anak dan cucunya. Helen pun tidak pernah memberitahu putranya tentang ayah biologisnya dan begitu juga pada cucunya. Mary memperlihatkan kunci rambut dari dompet Amadeo pada Helen, dengan terharu Helen tidak menyangka Amadeo masih menyimpan kunci rambutnya. Helen tidak begitu mengerti akan paten dan royalti, dia hanya ingin cucunya yang yatim piatu itu bisa kuliah. Mary pun mengatur royalti hak paten itu untuk cucu Amadeo.

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