The Paffutos were a normal family, to be bland. Once there was a mother, a father, two sisters, and two brothers, but now only the brothers remained. The brothers, Machavelli and Sqaulo, were twins, identical twins, who dressed the same, looked the same, and acted the same. The only difference was Machavellis’ wife, Puttana, had passed many years ago. Squalo was happily married to Cagna, a beautiful woman with a fierce temper. Squalos and Cagnas' relationship was healthy and fruitful, and they had given birth to seven kids, the brothers were inseparable. The only fight that was ever had between the two was when Machavelli caught Squalo snorting cocaine. Machavelli told him to stop, but Squalo then swung at his brother. Things went down, and then Machavelli knocked one of Squalos teeth out which was then replaced with a golden replica. After that they promised never to fight again and were closer than ever. When Putanna died Squalo even offered his brother the guest bedroom upstairs, but Machavelli preferred his own domain. They did not live a perfect life, but they were happy, for now.
One day Machavelli went missing. There was no warning, no foul play suspected, or any signs pointing to anything other than he just got up and left. Squalo immediately was distressed. He kept building roaring fires in his mansion's fireplace and burning himself horridly. He later took up smoking, a nasty habit his brother had fallen victim to after his wife died. But worst of all, he turned abusive. In a good mood, he would roll a cigar, pour a drink, and tend to the fire. But in a bad mood, Cagna carried the bruises for weeks. She was also worried for his health. Cagna knew this could not be easy for him, but he was in such an awful state she wondered if something else was going on. He was usually a jolly and positive man, but he just was not himself. She was disturbed when he pulled out his gold tooth and swallowed it but did not say anything for fear of being attacked.
The twins were very well to do, both owning impressive and gargantuan estates. After months of searching for his twin, Squalo gave up and started to disperse his brother's belongings. Squalo and Machavelli’s son worked together on clearing out his mansion. One day, as he was going through antiques in the attic, Squalo discovered a suit of armor, resting in the most awkward position. Squalo then lifted the face guard and looked right back into his twin brother’s dead, unmoving, and glossy eyes, but the rest of his face was a messy pulp, the result of a 50 caliber round fired through the back of his head. Right next to the suit of armor laid Machavelli’s very own revolver, and a box of hollow points. Who would do such a thing? Could it have been Putanna’s sister, who still blamed Machavellis for his wife's fatal car accident? Maybe it was Machiavelli's very own son, who had never gotten along with his father? Or maybe, just maybe, it was something more scandalous and sinister than either of those.
Squalo was never the same. The self harm by fire, drinking, and abuse stopped, but the smoking only got worse. Before he would smoke two, occasionally three cigars a night, but now he was going through two boxes a week. He also would repeat “Something’s gonna’ happen, something’s gonna’ happen” in his sleep. Eventually he lost it and left Cagna. He moved away to a remote cabin and then disappeared altogether two months later. Nobody knew where he went or why he left. All they knew was that something did not add up. Then two weeks later Cagnas body washed up on a shore somewhere.
Part two: The Soldier
Mr. Soldatessa was a good friend of the Paffutos, but he had the strangest background. Soldatessa was once a professional hitman but turned from his ways when the twins hired him as a personal bodyguard and security consultant. Soldatessa grew up in Russia during WWII and was drafted into the army as a sniper. He was a fearless man and was credited with over fifty confirmed kills. Shortly after the war, the Russian mafia, known as Bratva, hired him. He eliminated over 200 enemies of the gang and was a respected figure.
Soldatessa trained many assassins, but Grande Palle was extraordinary. Soldatessa was a six foot five mountain of a man while Grande Palle was five foot two and as round as could be. Mr. Palle was also a technical wizard and impressive scientist. Looking at them you would think they were polar opposites, but they were brothers at heart. They were both snipers in the war, only Grande Palle fought with the Germans. Mr. Palle was a quiet man, speaking only to Soldatessa and select others. He was like a son to Soldatessa, and they were an incredible team.
Once they were on an assignment together hunting a Chinese gang member, and things went bad. The plan was to silently break into the gang members apartment and slit his throat, but they set off an alarm. They spent the next week running from the law and trying to find a way out of the country when they finally were trapped in an abandoned factory with fifty officers outside. At that time Mr. Palle started tugging at his second of three chins and lifting it over his face. It kept stretching until it came off, revealing a much younger man, who was in the finest condition. He repeated the process until there was a blob of rubber stuffing on the ground. He then picked it up, piled it against a door, and tossed a match into it. He flashed a grin as it explodes and opens a way out. From that day they never operated alone and were a deadly duo.
One day Soldetessa and Palle were on an assignment near the twins' residency, and Soldatessa was shot 17 times in the leg, arm, and chest. The twins cared for him and hired a private doctor, while Palle returned to Russia. Genio miraculously survived and was instantly like a brother to the twins, now triplets. He was not brilliant, genius, or incredibly deductive, but he knew one thing for sure: whoever killed Machavelli would pay.
Part three: The Case
Soldetessa lived about thirty minutes away from the twins’ neighboring homes. As soon as Squalo had called, he was over there in twenty minutes and was trying to calm him down. Squalo soon left, but Soldetessa wanted to figure things out. Once Soldetessa saw Machavelli’s body, he knew this was no ordinary crime. He wanted to find out everything he could, but then the authorities showed up and escorted him out. Soldetessa was determined to find out the killer but was not especially good at puzzle solving, so he called his friend Palle.
Mr. Palle caught the next flight over and was ready to help the moment he landed, but he needed suspects. A few people came to mind immediately, but he had no evidence. Later the autopsy report came back, and the mortician said the round was fired point blank with a gold plated bullet. Palle then wondered about the motive. Machavelli had a healthy life insurance placed on himself with all benefits to go to his son, yet he was out of town when his father was murdered. Then there was Puttana, who was at home with no alibi. Mr Palle looked into her, but she answered every question and suspicion faded.
The case started to look hopeless when every idea led to a dead end, but then there was a turn around. Squalo came back. He said he wanted to help but needed time to process everything. Palle asked Squalo hundreds of questions and tried to get an idea what was happening, but nothing came together. The only interesting answer was when Squalo mentioned the huge amount of life insurance money on both his brother and wife. (you can figure it out from here back :) That is when things started to fall into place. Machavelli was shot with a hollow point, not a golden bullet. Squalo started smoking, something only Machavelli did, and was a completely different person. After weeks of sleepless nights Palle cracked the case. The golden bullet was Squalo’s gold tooth, and the Squalo right next to Palle was Machavelli. Machavelli had killed his very own brother, stole his identity, then later killed Cagna just for the life insurance claim. After many polygraph tests and interrogations Squalo...no...Machavelli broke. He confessed to double homicide and was carted off to prison. Palle and Soldatessa now run a private investigative company in Russia and occasionally take an assassnation job.
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