Are you sure?'
'More or less. It's all starting to fit . . . The Mafia, the Versilia coast . . . maybe the tanker lorries, too, but as I said, I'll have to check in the office.'
'Let's go, then!'
'You too?'
'Yes, but in your car. It's better if they don't see mine.' 'What if we run into Lepri?'
'I don't care. I can make a social call on my colleagues if I want to, can't I?'
On the way, Ciuffi filled him in on the gradual progress they were making with the Albanians thanks to Guzzi. Then Anna Giulietti called him on his mobile to tell him the results of Gianni Fuschi's report on the sample of the fabric of Stella's jeans, which confirmed that on the night of 28 to 29 July, the girl had been gang-raped.
*
'Here it is,' Ciuffi exclaimed, showing him one of the photos showing the two Albanians and Zancarotti loading the spare tyre into the boot of their car. They were half hidden between two heavy goods vehicles — one of which was a tanker lorry.
Ferrara felt a slight shudder at the sight of the inscription MINING EXTRACTIONS.
'Now it's your turn to tell me everything,' he said. And don't leave anything out, even if it takes all afternoon. This is big, and anything could be useful.'
It didn't take all afternoon, but a large part of it, interrupted by a call from Rizzo to Ferrara's mobile.
'I have some news about the Stella case, chief.'
'Go ahead.'
'Doctor Leone has been looking at the medical records, and there's something he says doesn't quite fit. Apparently, two blood tests were done on Stella after she was admitted. The first one didn't show the presence of drugs, but the second one, which was done a few hours later, did. Leone thinks that as the first test didn't confirm what seemed evident after they'd administered Narcan, Profesor d'Incisa wanted to double check. Are you following me?'
'Yes, go on, I'm in a bit of hurry and the battery's running low on my mobile.' It was a lie.
‘I’m sorry. Where are you? Do you want me to call you on a landline?'
‘I’m on the same floor as you are. I'm with Ciuffi, but pretend you don't know. Go on before my battery runs out completely.'
'Well, Dr Leone says that the second blood sample was taken at 9.45. According to him, that's the limit of the time period during which the heroin stays in the bloodstream. After that, the morphine is metabolised and doesn't leave any more traces. Which is a bit strange because it would mean that when
Stella was found that morning she had only just taken the drugs. He'd like to talk to Professor D'Inscisa to get him to clarify it, but no one's seen him at the hospital today and there's no reply on his home number. We managed to trace his wife in Viareggio, but she doesn't know where he is. In fact, she's quite worried because she says it's not like him to vanish like that. We're on our way to his apartment. I wanted to tell you.'
Ferrara had a split-second reaction, related to that shadow that seemed to hang over everything, the one thing that linked Palladiani and d'Incisa: Freemasonry.
'Run, Francesco! Knock the door down if you have to, even if you don't have Anna Giulietti's permission. First, though, send out an alert. Anyone who sees him should stop him on sight. It's obvious Stella wasn't drugged just before she was found. There weren't any syringes there, and anyway she was drugged in the factory, and it would have taken time to get her dressed. True, they were in a hurry and forgot half her clothes, but even so. Then it would have taken time to drive her out to the place she was found and dump her there, don't you think? In my opinion, the man's making a run for it!'
'So ultimately, chief,' Ciuffi concluded, 'everything seems to point to this Zitturi, but we still have no idea who he is.'
After Rizzo's phone call, it had taken a while to resume the conversation where they had left off. But in the end Ferrara had managed to set aside the problem of d'Incisa and they had returned to the Carrara case. For both of them it was the priority, although for different reasons: for Ferrara because he still had to find his friend, for Ciuffi because it was clearly a narcotics operation of major significance.
That name, Zitturi, had rung a bell with Ferrara right from the moment Luigi Ciuffi had first mentioned it in connection with the transcript of the recording from the bugged cell.
It recalled something: something that was struggling to emerge from his fevered subconscious.
He went over and over the transcript, but couldn't find anything.
'Do you still have the tape?' he asked in the end.
Ciuffi had it. They put it on the tape recorder and listened. The bits of dialogue in Albanian irritated and distracted him, but when Emilio Zancarotti spoke he paid careful attention.
When they reached the phrase, 'Nor will Zitturi - we've fucked it up for him, too . . .' he cried, 'Stop! Go back a little, let me hear that bit again,' he said.
The sound was not good and the pronunciation not very clear. There seemed to be a slight stress on the first syllable, and a doubling of the final V as if the man were saying 'Zitturri'. Suddenly, it all became clear. It was as if a chain reaction had been set off in his mind.
Zi Turri . . . Zi Turi . . . Sicilian for Uncle Salvatore . . . Salvatore meant saviour . . . The Saviour of the quarries . . .
Without saying a word he leapt to his feet, raced along the corridors of Police Headquarters, leaving everyone he passed open-mouthed, and ran into his office.
'Fanti!' he called, going directly into his secretary's room. Fanti went white, seeing him materialise like that in an unsettling role-reversal. 'Get on the phone and call your friend in Trapani right now! I need to know which Mafia family controls Bellomonte di Mezzo.'
The sergeant dialled the number.
'Hello? Could I speak to Inspector Cavallari, this is Police Headquarters in Florence . . . Yes, thanks, I'll wait.'
'Pass him to me as soon as they put him on.'
'Giuseppe? This is Nestore, I'm passing you Chief Superintendent Ferrara.'
'I need a great favour, Inspector. Which family runs Bellomonte di Mezzo?'
'The Lapruas, Chief Superintendent.'
'Never heard of them . . . who are they?'
'Three brothers. The father's not around any more.'
'What are their names?'
'Tonio, Vito and Alfio.'
'No Salvatore?'
'That's the father's name. Salvatore Laprua, known as Zi Turi.'
Ferrara could feel his heart beating faster. 'What happened to him? Is he dead?'
'No one knows. He vanished.' 'When?'
'At the beginning of the Nineties.'
'Was he ever charged with anything? Is he wanted?'
'No, they weren't a leading family. They've only really emerged in the last ten years — in fact, since the sons took over. We've had our eye on them for four or five years, but we've never been able to pin anything on them.'
'Thanks very much, Inspector. That's all I need for the moment. Forget about Mining Extractions, I know who's behind it now. And don't expose yourself, okay?'
He hung up and turned to Fanti.
'I have another little bit of research for you. I want you to find out if there's a Salvatore Laprua anywhere in Tuscany and what he does. Concentrate particularly on the coast. I think this time we're almost there!'
Now at last he was ready to go and see Anna, but before he could leave there was another phone call from Rizzo.
'We found d'Incisa, chief. He's at home. Dead. The woman who's standing in for the caretaker let us in, though she had to phone the professor's wife first to ask permission.'
'How did he die?'
'To judge by the syringe next to the body, I'd say drugs this time, too. Dr Leone and Forensics are on their way. I've already informed Anna Giulietti, she's on her way there too.'
He was the only one missing, but he realised he couldn't go. There would be too many professionals there in their institutional roles, all of whom knew by now that he had been suspended. His presence would have
been an embarrassment to them. Especially to Anna.
'Okay. Keep me updated. I'll be at home.'
30
Since Ferrara had not yet been reinstated, Anna Giulietti decided to summon everyone to her home instead of to the Prosecutor's Department.
Her apartment occupied the entire first floor of a fifteenth-century building in the Via de' Sassetti, and had high frescoed ceilings that inspired respect and admiration rather than awe. The study, a brightly lit room large enough for receptions, contained furniture from various periods, all strictly Florentine. Apart from the seventeenth-century walnut desk, there were enough sofas and armchairs to easily accommodate about ten people.
Ferrara, Rizzo and Leone arrived separately but punctually at nine in the morning, and she welcomed them with a silver pot full of steaming coffee.
To start the meeting off, Ferrara had them tell him about the discovery of the body.
Apparently, once they had gone in, Rizzo and his men had immediately noticed that there was only one light still on in the whole apartment: in Ludovico d'Incisa's bedroom. They had found the professor lying on his back on the bed, fully dressed, his left shirtsleeve rolled up and a syringe not far from his open right hand. Pending the autopsy, Leone was inclined to think that the death was due to an overdose and had probably occurred late in the evening of 15 August, probably between seven and midnight.
The professor's bedroom was relatively tidy, as was the rest of the apartment. The body bore no apparent signs of violence. In a cabinet in the bathroom, not very well hidden, they had found a few grams of heroin and cocaine, no more than five in all, sufficient for a few doses.
‘I’d rule out an accident,' Rizzo said in conclusion. 'The man was no beginner, and he was a doctor, too. And the drugs were normal, not badly cut. At the present stage, suicide looks the most likely hypothesis.'
Leone and Anna Giulietti nodded in confirmation.
A suspicious suicide, to say the least,' Ferrara observed, 'given what we've found out about the two blood tests.'
'Which would confirm your initial suspicion of malpractice, wouldn't it?' Anna Giulietti remarked, with an admiring smile for both Ferrara and Rizzo.
Ferrara, however, did not seem pleased. 'But what if there was something else?' he said, and it was clear it had cost him some effort to ask the question.
They all looked at him uncomfortably, waiting for him to continue.
Again Ferrara remembered the head nurse's words: he got quite angry when he saw the girl. They put d'Incisa in a very sinister light if read as evidence that he already knew the girl before she was brought in to the Nuovo that morning, which in turn might mean that it would have been convenient to him if she died without talking. But if d'Incisa was the killer, and the Stella case was solved, where did the cufflink fit in -or was Captain Fulvi right after all? — and, above all, what became of their jurisdiction over the Palladiani case?
Of course, it was possible that Palladiani and d'Incisa, both Masons, were accomplices. d'Incisa might have finished off what Palladiani had started: Palladiani had dumped her at the edge of the clearing thinking she was dead, and the consultant had found her in hospital still alive . . . But this was conjecture within conjecture. So far, there was no evidence of any connection between Palladiani and d'Incisa. It was a point he would have to insist on, but later.
'Doctor Leone's discovery,' he resumed, 'suggests something more than an error, don't you think?'
'What do you think, Doctor?' Anna Giulietti asked Leone.
Taken by surprise, Leone hesitated. 'Frankly, I don't know. I wasn't intending to arouse any suspicions. The way I see it, there's no doubt that Stella was taken to hospital in a critical condition due to an overdose. Her reaction to the Narcan, which is documented in her medical record, confirms that absolutely. No, the fact that the first blood test revealed nothing is probably due to laboratory error, which is what I would have liked Professor d'Incisa to clarify. Unfortunately that won't be possible now
'But don't the traces of heroin in the second test place the taking of the heroin too close to the time when her body was found?' Ferrara objected.
'Yes, half an hour before, at the most. Possibly a little more, it depends on how each organism reacts, but not much.'
'That isn't proof of anything,' Anna Giulietti retorted. 'Theoretically there was time to take her there from the factory . . .'
'Very theoretically' Ferrara commented sarcastically, thinking of the distance from the warehouse, the time it would have taken for the drug to take effect, then the time to dress her again, load her in the car . . .
Anna Giulietti silenced him with a cutting look. 'Let's stick to the facts, if possible. We've asked for you to be reinstated, Chief Superintendent, since there is a well-founded suspicion, on the basis of his ownership of the factory and the letter P on the cufflink, that it was Ugo Palladiani who killed Stella . . .'
'And Palladiani was about to run away' Rizzo said, unexpectedly.
'What do you mean?' Anna Giulietti asked.
'We've checked his bank account, as you asked, chief, and you authorised, Prosecutor. Palladiani's account is practically empty. Almost everything has been transferred to an account in his name in a bank in Nice, France.'
'If he was afraid his paedophile ring was about to be discovered, I'm not surprised,' Anna Giulietti said with satisfaction. 'One more clue, if we like. d'Incisa is another matter. It's true he also had dealings with Stella, but there could be several reasons for his suicide . . . Let's investigate and then we'll decide. But they're separate investigations, there's nothing specifically connecting d'Incisa and Palladiani.'
'Did you search the apartment thoroughly?' Ferrara asked Rizzo. 'Weren't there any documents, diaries, anything suggesting a connection between the two of them?'
'It wasn't a thorough search,' Rizzo admitted. 'We followed standard practice, and only collected things relevant to d'Incisa's death for later analysis. Since there was no suggestion of a crime, at least as far as we knew, we weren't authorised to confiscate documents or any personal material belonging to the dead man.'
'For the moment that's certainly the case,' Anna Giulietti confirmed. 'Unless his wife gives her consent, which I doubt she will. Don't forget that Professor d'Incisa was a high-profile figure with powerful connections: you know what I'm talking about.
His wife has been informed and is coming back to Florence today. She's not in a condition to drive and there was no one to bring her back last night. I'm sure she'll ask us to handle the affair as discreetly as possible. She certainly won't want a scandal to blemish her husband's memory and his family's reputation. I'll go and see her today. Superintendent Rizzo, I'd like you to go with me. I somehow don't think she'll ever agree to a search like the one you suggest, Chief Superintendent Ferrara. That's why I say we should concentrate on what we have and draw conclusions from that as to how to proceed with the investigation.' ‘I’ll come, of course,' Rizzo said.
'I've authorised the autopsy. I'd like you to do it as soon as possible, Doctor Leone, and get the results to me immediately. You can call me any time on my mobile.
'Let's keep any idea that d'Incisa was murdered out of the equation for the moment. We'll only consider that as a last resort, if our other inquiries don't yield anything. Assuming that we're dealing with suicide, it was either motivated by a sense of guilt, or by something else we don't know about. If we manage to establish that it was guilt, we'll be able to proceed as Chief Superintendent Ferrara would like, but only if we're certain that d'Incisa really has something to do with the death of Stella. At this stage there's not much to suggest that, do we all agree?'
They all nodded.
'If he killed himself out of a sense of guilt, we'll have to reconstruct his movements and his network of acquaintances, and try to demonstrate that he had connections with Palladiani. I trust you and your men, Superintendent Rizzo.'
'Of course.'
'Finally, and this is the most important
thing, we need to trace any other possible accomplices of Palladiani - in other words, the people who were present at the party where Stella the victim may have been drugged.' 'I agree,' Rizzo said.
'Good. I think we've covered everything and now we can get down to work. We all have a lot to do. You can go, but if Chief Superintendent Ferrara would be so kind as to stay, I still have something to discuss with him. Superintendent Rizzo, I'll call you as soon as I know when we can go to see Signora d'Incisa. Thank you, everyone.'
When they were alone, Anna Giulietti retained her formal tone: they still had official matters to discuss, and a rule was a rule.
'First of all, I'd like to confirm that the request for your reinstatement was presented to the Head of the State Police this morning. As soon as they tell me it's approved, I'll be able to put you back on the case.'
'Thank you, Deputy Prosecutor.'
'But now I want you to tell me in detail this story about the drugs in the port of Carrara.' Ferrara did so.
Anna expressed her anxiety over the size of the find, which made this a particularly serious, difficult and dangerous case and placed an extra burden on all of them. 'How do you intend to proceed now?' she asked.
'First of all I have to locate this Salvatore Laprua. Then I have to figure out how Simonetta Palladiani fits in to all this, if they killed her and why.'
Even though he had avoided mentioning the name of Massimo Verga, Anna Giulietti knew perfectly well what such a discovery would mean for him. She hesitated before replying.
'Why would they beat up and almost torture her husband?' she asked at last. 'You do realise, don't you, that this latest turn in the Palladiani case makes it all the more unlikely that it has anything to do with the Stella case? I can't imagine two things more different than a criminal organisation of that size and a bunch of perverts. If it then emerged that it was d'Incisa and not Palladiani who killed Stella, as you seem to believe and were stubbornly trying to get the others to believe as well, then you can forget about our jurisdiction over the Palladiani case!' Her tone had become less formal now.
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