question! Of course she’s dead, if I say she had and she lived!”
Augello didn’t breathe.
“Margherita hadn’t spoken to her sister since they were young. An inheritance squabble. One day, however, the two sisters get back in touch. When Margherita learns that Giuliana is dying, she goes with her husband to see her. They’re put up at Giuliana’s house. Also living with the dying woman, from time immemorial, is a friend of hers, Miss Baeri.The Griffos learn that Giuliana, in her will, has left her sister a former stable with a bit of land around it, in a district of Vigata called ‘The Moor.’ Which is where we’re now going. It’s only a token of affection, worth nothing. The day after the funeral, when the Griffos are still in Trapani, some guy calls up, saying he’s interested in the former stable. He doesn’t know that Giuliana is dead. Miss Baeri passes the phone to Alfonso Griffo. Which makes sense, since his wife now owns the property. The two men talk over the phone. As to the contents of their conversation, Alfonso seems evasive. All he tells his wife is that the guy who called lives in the same building as them.”
“Christ! Nene Sanfilippo!” Mimi cried out, letting the car swerve.
“Either you drive safely or I’m not going to tell you anything else. The fact that the stable’s owners live on the floor above him seems to Sanfilippo a fantastic coincidence.”
“Wait. Are you sure it’s a coincidence?”
“Yes, it’s a coincidence. And, incidentally, if I have to put up with your questions, they have to be intelligent. It’s a coincidence. Sanfilippo didn’t know that Giuliana was dead, and he had no reason to pretend otherwise. He didn’t know that the former stable had been bequeathed to Mrs. Griffo, because the will hadn’t been made public yet.”
“Okay.”
“A few hours later, the two men meet.”
“In Vigata?”
“No, in Trapani. As far as Sanfilippo’s concerned, the less he’s seen with the Griffos, the better. But I would bet my balls that Sanfilippo fed the old man some line about a stormy, dangerous love affair ... where, if they’re found out, there could be a massacre ... Anyway, he needs the stable, to turn it into a pied-a-terre. But there are rules that must be respected. The inheritance tax won’t be declared; if this is discovered, Sanfilippo must pay; the Griffos are not to set foot on the property; from that day forward, if they should cross paths, they’re not even to say hello to each other; and they must not speak to the son about any of this. As fond as they are of money, the old couple accept the conditions and pocket the first two million lire.”
“But why did Sanfilippo need a place that was so isolated?”
“Certainly not to turn it into a slaughterhouse. Among other things, there’s no water, there’s not even a toilet. If nature calls, you have to do it outside.”
“And what then?”
“You’ll figure it out for yourself. See that little chapel there? Just past it, there’s a dirt road, on the left. Turn there, and go very slowly, ‘cause it’s full of holes.”
The door was still leaning against the jamb, exactly as he had left it the previous evening. Nobody’d been inside. Mimi moved it aside, they entered, and the room immediately looked smaller than it was.
Augello looked all around in silence.
“They’ve cleaned it out,” he said.
“See all those outlets?” said Montalbano. “He had electricity and a phone put in, but not a toilet. This was his office, where he came to work each day for his employer.”
“Employer?”
“Of course. He worked for some third party.”
“And who would that be?”
“The same people who told him to find a secluded place, far from everyone and everything. Shall I venture a few guesses? First, drug traffickers. Second, pedophiles. Then you have the whole gamut of weirdos who use the Internet. From here Sanfilippo could connect with the whole world. He would surf the Web, make contact, communicate, and then report back to his bosses. The setup went on without a hitch for two years. Then something serious happened, and he had to clear out, cut all ties, and cover his tracks. On the instructions of his superiors, Sanfilippo convinces the Griffos to go on a nice excursion to Tindari.”
“But for what purpose?”
“He probably fed the poor old folks some bullshit, like maybe the dangerous husband had found out about their affair and was going to kill them too, for being accomplices ... So he had this great idea: Why don’t they go on Malaspina’s excursion to Tindari? It would never dawn on the enraged cuckold to look for them on the bus ... They need only stay away from home for a day, and in the meantime some friends would intervene and try to pacify the jealous husband ... And he, too, would make the same excursion, but in his car. Scared out of their wits, the old couple agree to do it. Sanfilippo says he’ll keep track of the situation’s developments by cell phone. But before getting back to Vigata, the old man must ask the bus driver to make an extra stop. That way Sanfilippo can bring them up-to-date on things. Everything unfolds as planned. Except that at the last stop before Vigata, Sanfilippo tells the two that nothing’s been resolved yet; they’d be better off spending the night away from home. So he takes them in his car and then turns them over to their executioner. At that moment he doesn’t know yet that he, too, has been marked for death.”
“But you still haven’t told me why it was necessary to send the Griffos away. They probably didn’t even know where their property was!”
“Somebody had to get into their apartment and remove all documents pertaining to that same property. Their copy of the will, for instance. Or some letter from Giuliana where she says she intends to remember her sister with this bequest. That sort of thing. And the guy who goes looking for this stuff also finds the postal passbook showing a sum that looks too high for two impoverished retirees. So he snatches that, too. But it’s a mistake, because that’s what will arouse my suspicion.”
“To be honest, Salvo, I don’t find this business of the excursion to Tindari very convincing, at least not the way you tell it. What need was there to do it? Those guys, with the slightest excuse, could’ve marched into the Griffos’
