One Floor Below

Sandu Patrascu is an ordinary Romanian citizen, living in a comfortable apartment in Bucharest. He has a good job (in the vehicle registration business), a wife (no-nonsense Olga), a teenage son (computer-obsessed Matei) and a (trained) dog. On the whole, he feels good about himself. One day though, he gets upset by an incident he is the witness of: a violent quarrel taking place on the other side of a female neighbor's door. Worse, Vali, another neighbor, leaves the apartment while Sandu stands in the staircase listening. Even worse, Laura, the young woman he has heard shouting is found murdered. What will Patrascu do under such circumstances ?—Guy Bellinger