The third and fourth episodes of Young Montalbano are brilliant for their connection between the young and the old. Back to Basics begins with the arrival of Mimi Augello as a brash young man who cannot resist flirting with every young woman who comes into his field of vision whether they are single or married. Salvo takes an immediate dislike to his manner, especially towards him although they are of the same rank one is the body and the other deputy. They are then called to a break in where the only thing that appears to have been removed are the tops of some beer bottles.
The victim lives in a large house which he has filled everything from his life which he does not throw away and which he catalogues and organises in boxes on shelving...sounds familiar to what I am doing with artwork.
Just as at new Years Day Salvo decides to stay home on a Feast day and eat a great meal delivered by his favourite Trattoria with wine, water, starters and main courses and no doubt a sweet or two while Fazio and his family entertain Mimi at the Festival However just as he is about to tuck into the meal Fazio rings because a three year old girl has vanished and the weather has deteriorated into a rain storm. If the girl is not immediately found they will have to organise and official search, so Salvo has to immediately leave. The child is found by a couple alone outside their home and cared for after the parents have been informed When Salvo visits he finds Mimi already there and already taking an interest in the friend of the girl’s mother staying with them holiday one Livia Burlando. She and Salvo immediately take an interest in each other. When he calls the following day the husband says everything is Ok, the child is not harmed and he wants no further action. Salvo sees the child with Livia and tries to find out if the child has said anything to explain the period of her disappearance. The child draws pictures.
Meanwhile the theft of the bottle tops is being followed up with the growing belief after some research that the tops contained drugs in the bottle top had a supply had been delivered by mistake to the owner horder and a visit reveals that he had the boxes with their incriminating red cross. The plan is to keep watch on the premises where the special boxes should have been delivered
Meanwhile a grocer called Bonsignore and not Monsignor as introduced by Catarella, under pressure from Mrs Bonsignore asks if a child has been abducted before explaining an incident when the couple and attended the fiesta A man had rough handled a child into a car. This suggests it was not a random abduction but planned by someone who knew the family would be attending the fiesta. Mimi offers to take Livia out to find if she child has revealed more. Salvo accuses Mimi of trying to mix business with pleasure while Mimi retaliates that Salvo is jealous and he will drop out, stand back if Salvo is interested in Livia, which is denied.
Mimi subsequently advises Salvo of the outcome of the meeting that the wife’s brother and husband had quarrelled over the way their company was being managed. Salvo visits the maternal grandfather and find that the son and son in law have reached break down in their relationship over the future of the company.
His daughter and son in law and child have gone back home. Livia has stayed behind. He shows a pure rubber ball which he is to paint like the one that the child lost and we come to something which I thought at the time was significant. He visits the son and finds that he has now bought out his brother in law, he goes to dine at the Trattoria in the evening and see Livia with Mimi and she insists he joins them and they talk about the kidnapping which he should not have discussed with the young woman. Before going off he advises Mimi that he will pick him up at 5 for the stake out on the delivery of more wine which they hoped will included marked boxes containing drugs in the caps. His order ensures Mini and Livia do not spend the night together.
They find the drugs but he driver runs off and in the chase Fazio has a heart attack and this becomes the priority concern of everyone at the station. He survives much to the relief of Salvo and his colleagues. The drugs were under the cap as such but solidified as part of he cap. On returning to the police station Salvo encounters an angry building contractor who complains that he cannot win a contract because the mafia have influence on who gets contracts. A member of one mafia family had come to see him on behalf of the other who head has been on the run for many years and wanted to have a seat on the board as a way for the owner to get contracts, he had shown the emissary the door. That it appears the two Mafia families are doing business with each other is a great worry but it suggests a way into finding out about the kidnapping and the drug distribution if the head mafia man on the run is using other to front companies for him.
Livia comes to bring drawings from the child which show the abduction and that she had the coloured rubber ball with her. Because the child had not been wet when returned this suggests they she had been kept in a garage somewhere in the area during the rain storm,
He takes Livia on a search for the garage but they are unsuccessful. He returns the bottle tops to the hoarder who can do better than tell Salvo of those with garages in the area, he can show the house plans which he has kept from his period in office and there are three houses with garages in the area. He has a meal with Livia with Mimi making fun of him afterwards. Mimi Investigate the owners of the three properties and find that one has rented the house for a year to someone who not only has a criminal record but in related to one fo the mafia families.
From the previous episode the woman who son Salvo did not arrest bring some of the delicacies she sells to add to her income and Salvo finds he has a cleaner cook who is to serve him over the years and where he takes an interest in the sons, both petty criminals and where he has agreed to become the Godfather of the son of one to Livia‘s consternation until he agrees to become the Godfather also of Mimi‘s son. The grocers cannot identify the photo of the man renting the villa as the one who abducted the child. Salvo has another meal with Livia and she cannot remember if the child had not returned with something she had on her. She is going back to work the following day. Then Salvo has the brainwave. The ball, the girl had with her and he rushes back to the station promising to contact Livia in the morning before she leaves.
He then uses a bluff to get the son owner of the business to admit that he had been forced to bring in a representative of in Mafia families to his board as part of the expansion an another front company as the one using the bottle tops of beat to distribute the drugs. Salvo pretends that the fake ball is the original found in the a garage of the man who abducted the girl and who he brings into the room with Mimi having arrested on what looks a drink and fighting charge. He uses the replacement ball painted by the grandfather. He did not have grounds for searching the garage on the hunch the ball was there. He remembers Livia is leaving and rushes to the bus stop where he stop the vehicle and she offers to stay another day, They have a passionate kiss. The romance and relationships begins.
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