D’Amico ran his hand over his chin, then stooped a little as if to examine his stubble in the car wing mirror. “Who says that’s where I was?”
“What were you doing there?”
“Helping. It’s not as if you’ve got so much manpower you can do without help, is it?”
“You are not a judicially appointed investigator.”
“This attention to rules, Alec. Is it something new? Because I don’t remember you being averse to closing an eye now and again.”
“If it helped a case to progress, sometimes. This is different.”
“No. It’s not. Anyhow, your grunt Zambotto was there. He seemed surprised to see me. I can tell you right now, there’s no point in considering the place a secondary crime scene. Nothing there.”
“How did you get in?”
“We picked up the keys from Clemente’s secretary on the way. Ferrucci found her address for us.”
“Is she still there?”
“No.”
“Where is she?”
D’Amico consulted his wrist. “In bed I suppose. It’s almost one in the morning. We brought the keys, not her. We’ll question her tomorrow.”
“We?”
“You, then,” said D’Amico.
Blume pulled out his mobile and called Ferrucci.
“Who are you calling?” said D’Amico.
“Shut up.” Blume let it ring until the young man’s voice came on the line. “You gave D’Amico the address of Clemente’s secretary?”
There was a pause as Ferrucci worked out the tone of the question.
Blume repeated it.
“I shouldn’t have?”
“Answer yes or no.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“About half an hour after you left.”
“And why didn’t you tell me?”
“Commissioner D’Amico told me not to.”
“And you did what D’Amico said?”
“He’s a superior officer…” Ferrucci’s voice trailed off.
“Did he say why you weren’t to tell me?”
“He said you had enough on your plate already. He wanted to do you a favor, not force you halfway across town.”
“That was thoughtful. From now on, Ferrucci, everything, and I mean everything, filters through me first. Got that?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Where are you now?”
“Almost home.”
“Get to bed before you do any more damage. Give me her name.”
Ferrucci did so, and Blume hung up.
“Satisfied?” said D’Amico.
“No. I am the opposite of satisfied.”
“That is part of your character. Now I think we should be going.”
“You will go when I say.”
“Alec, I think you’re forgetting I am not your junior partner anymore. You can’t order me. If anything…”
“Shut up, Nando. I want you to go and get that secretary. Go back to wherever she lives, drag her out of bed, bring her straight here. If she protests, threaten her. Just get her here. Then I want you to promise me you’ll keep out of my investigation.”
“I’m sorry, Alec. Really. But I can’t keep out… I see you haven’t changed yet.”
“What do you mean yet?”
“You’re still dressed for jogging.”
“Oh, that.”
“You should bring a change of clothes into the station. Almost everyone else does. Come here.”
D’Amico hooked his elbow under Blume’s arm. Blume felt his entire body stiffen in response. Italians touched too much. Especially southerners like Nando.
D’Amico led him out of earshot of the two uniformed policemen.
“It comes all the way from the top. I have to monitor the case. I was just hoping I could be useful to you while I did it.”
“Was taking the wife’s mobile phone your way of being helpful?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact it was.” D’Amico’s handsome profile went from black to blue and back again as the light bars on the police car flashed. “You know why they sent me?”
“Because you are my former partner and I’m supposed to trust you?”
“You can trust me, but that’s not what I meant,” said D’Amico.
One of the policemen came over to ask D’Amico permission to move the cars off the middle of the road.
“Fine,” said Blume. “And turn off the flashing blue on your vehicle, too. It’s pointless.”
The uniformed officer hesitated, awaiting a nod from D’Amico.
“Move it, for God’s sake,” ordered Blume.
D’Amico gave a quick nod of sanction. When the policeman had left them, he said, “I didn’t mean why they sent me in par ticu lar. Why do you think they assigned someone to monitor the case?”
“The wife is a politician. She’s got contacts,” said Blume. “She’s applying pressure to some important people.”
The flashing lights went off. D’Amico spoke into the darkness. “I was worried you hadn’t grasped that fact.”
“It’s not that hard.”
“No, it’s not, but sometimes you act as if you didn’t know how things work here.”
“Here where?”
“Here in Italy.”
Blume laughed. “Like I haven’t lived here?” I’ve been on the force for longer than some of the recruits have lived. Or almost. People who vote weren’t even born when I came here.”
“The Ministry doesn’t want talk about a proper investigation not being done into the murder of an opposition MP’s husband. She has friends everywhere. Did you know her father was an MP, too?”
“No.”
“Christian Democrats. And she’s got an uncle who helped found Forza Italia, and a cousin who’s something big in local politics in Mantua. It doesn’t matter that her own partic ular political party is small. She’ll change when it suits.”
“So she is piling the pressure on,” said Blume. “What does she want?”
“We’re not sure. For now, it looks like she wants as little publicity as possible. She was estranged from her husband. At least that’s what I heard.”
“Sounds to me like she could have something to do with it.”
“I doubt it, but that’s why I took her phone. To check the records on it, see who she called, what numbers she has, what numbers she deleted.”
“That was my work.”
“Or Principe’s. Anyhow, the work has been done for you. The Ministry has to know if there is any likelihood of her turning out an embarrassment. Nobody wants to be found out doing favors for someone who had her husband killed.”
