remember? Except that the word ‘health’ has different meanings for you and Balduccio.”
The coffee was ready. They drank it.
“You see,” the inspector resumed, “Nene Sanfilippo wrote the whole story, and quite clearly at that.”
“Where?”
“In the novel. He starts out by copying the pages of a famous book, then tells his own story, then adds another passage from the famous novel, and so on. It’s a story about robots.”
“It’s science fiction, which is why I thought—”
“You fell into the trap set up by Sanfilippo. His robots, which he calls, say, Alpha 715 or Omega 37, are made of metal and circuits, but they think and feel just like us. Sanfilippo’s robot world is a carbon copy of our own.”
“What does the novel say?”
“It’s the story of a young robot, Delta 32, who falls in love with a female robot, Gamma 1024, who is married to a world-famous robot, Beta 5, who knows how to replace broken robot parts with new ones. The surgeon robot— that’s what we’ll call him—is a man, sorry, a robot, who’s in constant need of money, because he has a mania for expensive paintings. One day he incurs a debt he’s unable to pay. And so a criminal robot, a gang leader, makes him an offer. That is, they’ll give him all the money he wants, on the condition that he perform clandestine transplants on clients of their choosing, first-rate clients from all over the world, rich and powerful people who don’t have the time or the desire to wait their turn. The doctor robot then asks how it will be possible to get the right spare parts in good time. They tell him this isn’t a problem: they know how to find the spare parts. How? By scrapping a robot that meets the requirements and removing the part they need. The scrapped robot is then dumped into the sea or buried underground. We can serve any client, says the leader, whose name is Omicron 1. All over the world, he explains, there are people imprisoned, in jails and special camps. And we have a robot in every one of these camps. And near every one of these camps, there is a landing strip. Those of us you see here, Omicron 1 continues, are just a tiny part of the whole. Our organization is at work all over the world; it’s become globalized. And so Beta 5 accepts. Beta 5’s requests will be relayed to Omicron 1, who will in turn convey them to Delta 32, who, using a highly advanced Internet system, will communicate them to the ... let’s call them operative services. And that’s where the novel ends. Nene didn’t have a chance to write the conclusion. Omicron 1 wrote it for him.”
Augello sat there a long time, thinking. Apparently the full significance of what Montalbano had just told him hadn’t dawned on him yet.Then he understood, turned pale, and said in a low voice:
“Baby robots, too, naturally.”
“Naturally,” the inspector confirmed.
“And how does the story continue, in your opinion?”
“You must start from the premise that the people who organized the whole affair bear a terrible responsibility.”
“I’ll say. The death of—”
“Not just death, Mimi. Life, too.”
“Life?”
“Of course.The lives of those who’ve been operated on. They’ve paid a horrific price, and I’m not talking about money. I mean the death of another person. If this ever came out, they’d be finished, whatever their position, whether at the top of a government, economic empire, or banking conglomerate. They’d lose face forever. Therefore, the way I see it, things went as follows: One day, somebody finds out about the love affair between Sanfilippo and the doctor’s wife. As of that moment, Vanya becomes a danger to the entire organization. She represents the potential link between the surgeon and the criminal organization. The two things must remain absolutely separate. What to do? Kill Vanya? No, that would put the doctor right in the middle of a murder investigation, which would be plastered all over the newspapers ... The best thing is to close down the Vigata headquarters. But first they inform the doctor of his wife’s infidelity. He should be able to tell, from Vanya’s reaction, whether she’s wise to anything. Vanya, however, knows nothing. She’s sent back to her native country. The organization then cuts off all the roads that might lead to her: the Griffos, the Sanfilippos ...”
“Why didn’t they kill the doctor too?”
“Because he can still be useful to them. His name is a guarantee for the customers. Like in advertising. So they decide to wait and see how things work out. If they work out well, they’ll let him start practicing again. If not, they’ll kill him.”
“What are you going to do?”
“What can I do? Nothing, for now. Go on home, Mimi. And thanks. Is Fazio still in Santoli?”
“Yes. He’s waiting for my phone call.”
“Call him, then. Tell him he can go home to bed. Tomorrow morning we’ll decide how to continue our surveillance.”
Augello spoke with Fazio. Then he said:
“He’s going home. There are no new developments. The doctor is alone. He’s watching television.”
At three in the morning, after putting on a heavy jacket because it was cool outside, the inspector got in his car and drove off. Pretending it was simply for curiosity’s sake, he’d had Augello describe the exact location of Ingro’s villa to him. On the way there, he thought again of Mimi’s expression after hearing his account of the transplant story. He himself had reacted the way he did, nearly suffering a stroke. Whereas Mimi had turned pale, yes, but didn’t really seem too upset. Self-control? Lack of sensitivity? No, the reason was clearly much simpler: the difference in age. He was fifty and Mimi was thirty. Augello was already prepared for the year 2000, whereas he would never be. Nothing more. Augello naturally knew that he was entering an era of pitiless crimes committed by anonymous people, who had Internet addresses or sites or whatever they’re called, but never a face, a pair of eyes, an expression. No, he was too old by now.
He stopped about twenty yards from the villa and, turning off the headlights, stayed there without moving. He carefully studied the place through binoculars. Not a single ray of light could be seen in the windows. Dr. Ingro must
