becoming more impatient. At three, he banished the lawyer from the room and pointed his finger in Giulio’s face. When alone, the younger brother seemed like a child on the verge of tears.
‘You know how this is going to end up? You, Giulio, are going to pay for them all, that’s how. And do you know why?’
The lawyer protested in the corridor, rattling off various articles of the penal code and yelling that he would report the matter to Judge Ginzillo. Bordelli could hear Mugnai trying to calm him down. There was a noise of chairs and then Santelia’s powerful voice again.
‘At least bring me a beer! I’m thirsty, dammit!’
Giulio ran a hand over his eyes, trembling and stammering something incomprehensible. The lawyer’s voice boomed outside the door again, asking for something to drink. Bordelli couldn’t stand the confusion any longer and poked his head out of the door.
‘For Christ’s sake, Mugnai! Buy the man a case of beer and make him shut up!’ He closed the door unceremoniously and turned back to Giulio. He went and stood behind him, putting his hands on Giulio’s shoulders.
‘I’m waiting for a phone call, Giulio. Actually, we’re both waiting for this call. You and I, Giulio. Any minute now …’ he said in a tone that made Giulio shudder.
‘What … phone call …?’
‘You’ll know soon … but there’s no hurry …’
Outside the door, calm had finally been restored. Santelia had probably decided to wait quietly for his damned beer. Bordelli turned to Piras and nodded complicitly. The Sardinian immediately got the message and asked whether he could go to the loo. Bordelli winked at him.
‘All right, but be quick,’ he said, pretending to be annoyed. A minute later the phone rang, and Bordelli picked up.
‘Yes?’
Piras’s voice sounded tinny in the receiver.
‘Here I am, Inspector, calling just like you asked. Now I’ll hang up and come back. If this is what you wanted, say yes.’
‘Yes, of course … of course,’ said Bordelli. Piras hung up, but the inspector carried on by himself, assuming a serious, attentive expression. Every so often he looked over at Giulio’s fat, sweaty face.
‘What’s that? Right, yes, of course, just as I suspected. And in Salvetti’s car, too? Splendid, I knew it. And what about that scrape on the Alfa? Good, good, that’s what I thought. Yes, of course, thanks. Send me the reports as soon as you can. Goodbye.’
He put down the phone and then went and settled comfortably in his chair. He lit a cigarette and folded his hands behind his head.
‘Good, good, good. Now we can all go to bed,’ he said, smiling. Giulio, white as a sheet, moved in his chair.
‘Why to bed?’
‘Your fingerprints, dear Giulio. Your fingerprints on the Asthmaben bottle. Clear as a photograph.’
‘Mine …?’
‘Yours, Giulio. We also found them in Salvetti’s Alfa Romeo. And that’s not all.’
An enormous drop of sweat hung from Giulio’s chin. Bordelli paused deliberately, blew a mouthful of smoke upwards, then turned his stare back on poor Giulio Morozzi.
‘We have proof that Salvetti’s car was scratched on a side street near your late aunt’s villa. Do you know what this means? That my work is finished. One murder. One killer. For me, that’s more than enough. Actually, it’s better this way. I can close up shop and go home to bed. You, on the other hand, are screwed.’
Giulio reared back in his chair.
‘I …? What?’
‘You’ll get life, dear Giulio. You know that, don’t you? You’ll be inside till you die, while the other three will be outside, living it up, free as birds. Of course, I’m sure they’ll come see you at Christmas time and bring you delicious oranges wrapped in tinfoil. Do you like the idea?’
At that moment Piras came in and Bordelli shot him a dirty look.
‘How long’s it take you to have a piss? I told you to be quick.’
Piras turned his back to him to hide the fact that he was smiling, then said in a tone appropriate to their little comedy:
‘Sorry, Inspector, but it wasn’t only pee,’ hurrying back to the typewriter.
Bordelli crushed his butt in the overflowing ashtray and rested his elbows on the desk. He pulled out a friendly smile.
‘You know, Giulio, it doesn’t seem right that you should pay for the others. Think about it. I want to be your friend. Tell you what: I’m going to give you one last chance. Tell me everything you know, right now, or I’ll close the case exactly where it stands, and you’ll go to jail while the others go free. Think it over calmly. I’ll give you …’ He removed his watch and laid it in the middle of the desk.‘… let’s say three minutes. Starting now.’
He lit another cigarette and leaned back in his chair, humming a little tune. Giulio opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out; then he looked down and began to touch himself all over, as if looking for help. He turned round to look at Piras, who returned only an impenetrable stare. A few moments later, Bordelli glanced at his watch.
‘Two minutes left,’ he said. Then he turned and looked at the rectangle of sky framed by the window. Among the millions of stars he hoped to see a shooting star so he could make a wish. To see Elvira again.
Giulio broke down after the second minute. He started slapping himself in the face and making strange noises with his throat, and when Bordelli checked his watch again, he burst out crying like a baby. It was a painful scene. And it was hard to understand what he said, since what came out of his mouth was a kind of wail that only later became comprehensible.
‘The witch … was her … the slut …’s what I said …’s her fault …’s what I said …’
Bordelli strapped his watch back on his wrist and gestured to Piras not to start typing.
‘Who are you talking about, Giulio? Her who?’
Giulio wiped his nose with his hand.
‘Her … Gina!’
‘You mean Gina, your brother’s wife?’
‘Yes, she did it, she organised the whole thing … I kept saying it wouldn’t work … she … She did it.’
Bordelli stood up, dragged a chair over beside Giulio, and sat down.
‘Now I’m going to ask you a question, Giulio, and I want a clear answer. Are you ready?’ he said, in a tone at once severe and protective.
‘Yes,’ Giulio blubbered, drooling.
‘Were you all in it together?’
Giulio couldn’t bring himself to look up, keeping his eyes fixed on an inkwell.
‘She did it, Inspector, she organised everything,’ he said.
‘Of course. But you knew about it and didn’t do anything to stop her, did you?’ he said.
‘Yes, I mean no … I didn’t do anything. I didn’t do it.’
‘All right, you didn’t do it, but if you all got away with it, some of the inheritance would have gone to you, too, wouldn’t it?’
Giulio said nothing and kept dribbling. Every so often a sob shook his whole body from the waist up. Bordelli brought his chair even closer to Giulio’s and made a sign to Piras to resume typing. The horrible clacking began to assail their ears again.
‘Did your wife and your brother know?’
‘Yes, they knew, and I knew too, but it was Gina who did everything.’
‘What do you mean by “everything”? Let’s run through the whole thing. Who was it that switched the medicine bottles?’
Giulio started whimpering again, and sniffling.
‘Gina.’
‘And who put the pollen on Gideon’s back?’
