“Remind me again why you and I know it was not Alleva.”
“Intuition.”
“Come off it,” said Blume.
“You don’t believe in intuition?”
“Sure I do. It’s that mysterious gift policeman have for knowing they’re right when they’re wrong.”
“I know Alleva,” said Paoloni. “He’s too smooth. He doesn’t do violence. That’s the prerogative of the Innocenzi gang. He operates because they let him.”
“No violence?”
“A little light intimidation is all. It only works on some. Look at the names of the guys on this list-how would you set about intimidating them?”
Blume pointed to the list on the table. “So you think we should prioritize these guys before Alleva?”
“Definitely,” said Paoloni. “That already gives us a crossover point where they intersected with Clemente.”
“But Alleva has a motive,” said Blume. “Now don’t get me wrong here. I’m not buying the line that the Holy Ghost is selling, and I don’t even like dogs. But the way I see it, a person who does this sort of thing to dumb animals wouldn’t have too much of a problem doing the same to a human. Give me a strong reason.”
“OK,” said Paoloni. “He called me this morning, said he was worried about this Clemente thing.”
“Alleva called you? He’s a friend?”
Paoloni stuck his fingers into the belt hoops of his jeans and pulled them up. “He called me. It’s my job to know him, and people like him.”
“Go on.”
“He said people were mistakenly connecting him with Clemente.”
“People like us?”
“More dangerous people. It sounds to me like Alleva might already have had an intense little talk with some Innocenzi executives, or the mamma-santissima himself.”
Blume thought back to Manuela and the way she had categorically ruled out Alleva. “Did Alleva say he had spoken to them?”
“No,” said Paoloni. “But he sounded like he had. What I mean is he sounded scared. Innocenzi doesn’t like too much private initiative. Alleva is tolerated, but if he wants to break wind, he has to get permission. And now you say the victim was messing around with Innocenzi’s daughter. Why would anyone do that?”
“Maybe he didn’t know. No reason Clemente should make the connection, not if he was honest. I didn’t make it,” said Blume.
“And you are as honest as they come,” said Paoloni.
Blume ignored the sarcasm. “Alleva wouldn’t have dared touch a person Innocenzi’s daughter was sleeping with, no matter how bad that person was for business. He would have gone through Innocenzi. And that puts Innocenzi back in the picture, except for the nature of the hit. But let’s suppose Alleva didn’t make the connection. Suppose he decided Clemente’s activism was getting too expensive. Suppose he had Clemente eliminated without knowing anything about his sex life.”
“I thought you were not convinced by the Alleva angle,” said Paoloni.
“I’m not. But I can’t rule it out just to spite Gallone, D’Amico, and whoever’s pushing the agenda.”
“They don’t buy it any more than us-at least, your ex-partner D’Amico doesn’t. He’s just following orders, and the order is to close down the case as quick as possible with the minimum of fuss.”
“The widow won’t want that. She’ll want whoever killed her husband,” said Blume.
“Maybe,” said Paoloni. “Then again, maybe not.”
“Why would she not?”
“She’s a politician.”
“That’s pretty cynical,” said Blume.
“Politicians are all the same,” said Paoloni. Suddenly he lowered his voice and put his hand on Blume’s shoulder. “Has Alleva got something on you? Something that might make you want to defend him?”
“No,” said Blume, moving out of Paoloni’s reach. “He does not. What about you? Does he have anything on you?”
He expected Paoloni to react with anger to the counterattack, but Paoloni simply said, “He might. Maybe on others, too.”
“Something big?”
“I wouldn’t go to jail for it, but it wouldn’t help my career any. Tell you something, though: what Alleva’s got on me is nothing compared to Innocenzi’s leverage over half the department and just about all the local politicians. He’s got some pretty convincing political mentors in Parliament, too. So no matter what, this investigation is going to flow right around Innocenzi, like he was a hidden rock. If we lower our sights and move against Alleva, then Alleva is going to get his revenge on people like me.”
“You and others.”
“A few others. I’m not going to advance the case against him, because I don’t think there is one. But I think you’ll help me.”
“What makes you think that?”
Paoloni pulled out a soft pack of MS, extracted a crumpled cigarette and lit it. Smoking was banned in the offices, but no one had ever reported anyone for breaking the rule. “Two reasons,” he said. “First, you’re my superior officer and it’s up to you to look after my interests, just like I look after yours.”
“I hope the second reason is more convincing than the first,” said Blume. “And put out the cigarette.”
Paoloni dropped the cigarette, still lit, on the floor. Its smoke streamed upward toward Blume’s nostrils. He went over and trod on it.
“Second,” said Paoloni, “you don’t believe Alleva had anything to do with it either, so it’s not as if I’m asking you to look the other way.”
“No,” said Blume. “But neither are we going to pretend Alleva isn’t there. He’s going to get detained and questioned. I want to talk to the widow, but, basically, Alleva is our next move.”
14
SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 5 P.M.
'You were absolutely right from the start,” said D’Amico. He had folded his arms on the roof of a gray sedan outside the station.
“We can’t even build a time frame without the help of the widow, politician or no politician. The Holy Ghost appears to have got her to give up her fingerprints and a DNA sample, but we need her testimony. She could even be a suspect.”
“I see you’ve decided you’re coming with me to the widow’s.”
“I brought a car. We may as well go now. We can talk on the way.”
“It’s not the widow I want to talk about,” said Blume. “I’ll drive.”
“That’s not possible, Alec. This is a Ministry car. Insurance thing. Sorry.”
“Fine. While you drive, you can tell me about that pathetic attempt at evidence planting.”
D’Amico opened the door and climbed into the driver’s seat. “What are you talking about?” he asked as Blume climbed in beside him.
“You’re not going to start the game again. I’m talking about you slipping into Clemente’s office and placing files from his home there, just to make sure I saw the name Alleva.”
D’Amico waited till Blume had closed the car door, then said: “You’re right, naturally. But there is no need to shout about it in a public piazza.”
“How wrong of me,” said Blume.
D’Amico calmly reangled the rear-view mirror by a degree or two as he pulled out of the crowded piazza. “It was the obvious connection. The victim campaigned against dog fights, the man who organized the shows has the
