“Meaning the doctors let themselves be corrupted by some pharmaceutical informers. In exchange for money or other gifts, these doctors and pharmacists would choose and prescribe medications indicated by the informers. And when they did this, they were handsomely rewarded. You see how it works now?”
“Yes. The informers didn’t limit themselves to informing.”
“Exactly. Of course, not all doctors are corrupt, and not all informers are corrupters, but the phenomenon has proved to be very widespread. And, naturally, some very powerful pharmaceutical firms are also implicated.”
“And you think that may be why Pardo was murdered?”
“Salvo, do you realize what kind of interests are behind a setup like this? But, in any case, I don’t think anything. All I’m saying is that it’s a lead that might be worth pursuing.”
All things considered—the inspector reflected while driving back to Vigata at five miles per hour—the visit to Montelusa had not been in vain. The lead suggested by Nicold hadn’t remotely occurred to him but had to be taken into consideration. But how to proceed? Open up Angelo Pardo’s big datebook—the one with the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of doctors and pharmacists—pick up the receiver, and ask: “Excuse me, but did you by any chance let yourself be corrupted by the pharmaceutical representative Angelo Pardo?”
That approach surely would not get any results. Maybe he needed to ask for a helping hand from the people who knew all about this sort of investigation.
Back in his office, he called the headquarters of the Customs Police of Montelusa.
“Inspector Montalbano here. I’d like to speak with Captain Aliotta.”
“I’ll put the major on right away.”
Apparently he’d been promoted.
“My dear Montalbano!”
“Congratulations. I didn’t know you’d been promoted.” “Thanks. That was already a year ago.” An implicit reproach. Translation:So,cornuto,it’s been a year since I last heard from you.
“I wanted to know if Marshal Lagana is still on the job.” “For a little while yet.”
“He once helped me out in a big way, and I was wondering if I could ask him for his help again, with your permission, of course…”
“Absolutely. I’ll put him on. He’ll be delighted.”
“Lagana? How’s it going? …Listen, could I have half an hour ofyour time? Yes?…You don’t know how grateful I am …No, no,I’ll come to you, in Montelusa. Is tomorrow evening around six-thirty all right?”
The moment he hung up, Mimi Augello walked in with a dark look on his face.
“What’s wrong?”
“Beba called and said Salvuccio seems a bit agitated.”
“You know something, Mimi? It’s you and Beba who are agitated, and if you keep getting agitated like this, you’re going to drive the kid insane. For his first birthday, I’m going to buy him a tiny little straitjacket made to measure, so he can get used to it from an early age.”
Mimi didn’t appreciate the remark. His face went from dark to downright black.
“Let’s talk about something else, all right? “What did the commissioner want?”
“We didn’t meet. He had to go to Palermo.”
“Explain to me why this business of Liguori coming here smells fishy to you.”
“Explaining a sensation is not easy.”
“Try.”
“Mimi, Liguori descends on us after Senator Nicotra dies in Vigata—from drugs, though we’re not supposed to say so. You yourself thought the same thing, if I remember correctly. Two others died before Nicotra, but they race over here only after the senator dies. My question is, for what purpose?”
“I don’t understand,” said Augello, confused.
“I’ll be clearer. These guys want to find out who it was that sold the, let’s say, ‘tainted’ stuff to the senator, to prevent other people, bigwigs like the senator, from coming to the same end. They’ve obviously been put under pressure.”
“And don’t you think they’re right to do what they’re doing?”
“Absolutely right. It’s just that there’s a problem.” What?”
“Officially, Nicotra died of natural causes. Therefore whoever sold him the stuff is not responsible for his death. If we arrest him, it will come out that the guy sold his drugs not only to the senator but to a whole slew of the senators’ playmates—politicos, businessmen, and other high rollers. A scandal. A big mess.”
“And so?”
“And so, when we arrest him and all hell breaks loose, we’ll get swept up in it, too. We who arrested him, not Liguori and company. People will come and tell us we should have proceeded more cautiously, others will accuse us of acting like the judges in Milan, all Communists seeking to destroy the system … In short, the commissioner and Liguori will have covered their asses, whereas ours will look like the Mont Blanc Tunnel.”
“So what should we do?”
“We? Mimi, Liguori spoke toyou,who are the commissioner’s rising star. I’ve nothing to do with it.” “Okay. What should I do?” “Stick to the finest tradition.” “Which is?”
