The Face of an Angel

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Beatrice looked at me,

her eyes were full

of sparks of love of such divinity.

That, vanquished, my virtue ran away

and I was as if lost, my eyes lowered.

- Hello. This is Thomas Lang.

- Hi. Are you... Are you in Rome?

- Yes.

- Oh, great. We should meet.

Okay. Where?

We could meet at Cafe Rosati.

It's near your hotel.

I'll be carrying a copy of your book.

Good likeness?

Not bad.

- I'm Thomas.

- Hi. Simone. Good to meet you.

- Have you lived here long?

- Fifteen years.

Grazie. This is home now.

It's not enough money

for foreign press bureaus, so...

I cover... Italy for Newsweek,

Daily Beast, CNN, BBC.

- You must be good.

- I do okay.

- You've got family here?

- Yeah. Two young boys.

And a husband.

I was sent your book.

Thought I was going to hate it.

True crime isn't really my thing.

I was flying to New York on the red-eye,

couldn't sleep, so I read your book instead.

Take that as a compliment.

Like it says on the cover,

"Every parent's nightmare."

- You have children?

- Daughter.

I'm separated from her mother.

I know.

How old's your daughter?

- She's nine.

- And what's her name?

Bea. We call her Bea.

Short for Beatrice.

She was conceived in Italy.

Her mom was acting in a film here.

- It's a nice name.

- Yes.

- So, tomorrow's the end of the appeal.

- Yes, round two begins.

We'll need to leave really early.

Can you be at my apartment by 7:00?

Sure.

But one piece of advice. If you're going

to make the film, make it a fiction.

You can't tell the truth,

unless you make it a fiction.

There are so many things I couldn't put

in my book even though they were true.

Okay.

In September, 2007,

two young women arrived

at the university town of Siena.

They were looking forward with excitement

to spending a year as a student in Italy.

Elizabeth Pryce and Jessica Fuller,

both rented rooms in this house,

on the edge of the medieval town.

Two months later, Elizabeth was dead,

and Jessica had been accused of her murder,

along with her boyfriend, Carlo Elias.

The case made headlines

around the world,

and the focus of attention

was the character of Jessica Fuller.

Was she the cunning manipulator

described by the prosecution?

The quirky student

described by her mother...

She's smart. She's artistic.

She's imaginative. She's deep...

...or "Jessica Rabbit,"

as described by the British media.

A sexy, drug-taking student killer.

On Halloween,

Jessica was working in Bar Rumba,

while Elizabeth partied late into the night

with some English friends.

Elizabeth spent the next day recovering.

The last time she was seen alive

was 8:
45 p.m.

No one knows exactly

what happened after that.

The only thing known for certain

is Elizabeth died a brutal

and horrible death.

One year later,

the families of Elizabeth and Jessica

were in court to hear the verdict.

Hello.

- Who's there?

- Is Bea there?

- This is Thomas.

- Who is it?

- Thomas, we...

- No. Bea is out with her mum.

- I'm gonna try again tomorrow.

- Okay, bye.

Yeah. Bye.

- You must know this road well.

- Yeah, every week for a year.

Up to Siena on Thursday

and back on Saturday.

Crazy Italian legal system

totally f***ed up our lives.

You were covering this story

from the beginning?

Yeah. Pretty much. I was due to go

to Modena to test drive a Maserati,

when ANSA, the Italian wire service,

said that an English student

had been murdered in Siena.

Well, I decided to go take a look.

I knew an Italian journalist based there

for Corriere Della Sera, Roberto Feluci.

Look, it's Maria Argento,

head of the local homicide.

That's Polizia, not Carabinieri?

I know. Carabinieri are furious.

We're getting bits

and pieces of information,

but we do know that the victim's

name is Elizabeth Pryce.

A young student has been found

brutally murdered.

She was found dead in the bedroom

of her house that you can see

just behind me down there.

It Is not exactly clear

how she was killed.

Police have contacted the girl's family,

who are heartbroken.

Worst part is, I bumped

into them later that day.

I'm tired.

Hi. Excuse me,

I'm a journalist from Newsweek.

- You were Elizabeth's roommate, right?

- That's right.

- Oh, it must be terrible.

- It's really shocking.

I'm too scared to go back in the house.

I think I put in my notes...

"She's a dud. He looks boring."

I could've had a scoop.

A world exclusive, instead I left Siena

to go test drive the Maserati.

- The one that got away.

- Exactly.

I was still in Modena when I heard that

an American woman, an Italian man

and a Congolese man

had been arrested for murder.

So, I turned around, went straight back.

Hi, can I talk to you?

Have you spoken to your daughter?

At this point, none of us

knew the names of the arrested.

Okay, listen up, everybody.

In the... Elizabeth Pryce

memorial sweepstake,

the runners and riders are...

Jessica Fuller, Carlo Elias,

- and Cedric Bapupa.

- How do you know this stuff?

Sometimes you got to leave

the cafe, mate.

- Even in the rain.

- Okay. Got it. Jessica Fuller,

- 21, from Baltimore.

- Carlo Elias, 25. Likes knives.

- It's like a public confession.

- Yeah, or a suicide note.

Who's Cedric Bapupa?

He runs the bar where Jessica works.

Bar Rumba.

- I get scuppered even in my own town.

- Yes, you do. You get scuppered.

Well, I see your meat-cleaver,

I raise you a gun.

And a YouTube link. She's pretty.

You put this on YouTube, you motherf***er,

I'm going to kill you, okay?

Now, they were unlucky.

The families tried to erase

the Internet info, but it was too late.

All their dirty laundry

was hung out to dry.

We have an appointment

with the public prosecutor.

Okay.

- Doctor Baldini is ready to see you.

- Thank you.

Thomas just wanted to meet,

and get your take on what happened.

Of course. I'm asked many times.

- When did you hear about the killing?

- A phone call.

There wasn't much information.

Just the address of the house.

Murder. The first people to arrive

were the postal police.

The burglary was false.

Glass on top of the disturbed clothing,

wrong way around.

Most importantly, the body.

It was covered by a duvet.

At that moment, I could feel it.

Only a woman would cover a body

when it is already dead.

The following day, I asked Jessica

to show me around the apartment.

She was very calm. Very collected.

When we came to the kitchen,

I asked her to look in the drawer

and tell me if there were

any knives missing.

She became hysterical.

That is when we started to tap

the phones of Jessica and Carlo.

At 23:
00, my father called me at home.

Jessica wasn't there.

We knew Carlo was lying.

He switched off his phone

at 8:
45 that night.

So had Jessica.

They turned their phones on

at 6:
00 the next morning.

He had no phone call from his father.

I was on the net

until Jessica came back.

- What time was that?

- About 1:
00 am.

We checked his computer.

He hadn't even surfed the net.

They hadn't thought

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