“—To go with him, you mean? Inspector, Susanna has always been a sincere, forthright girl. If she’d started up a rela-tionship with someone else, she would certainly have told Francesco and broken off with him.” “So you’re sure we’re dealing with a kidnapping.”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
Fazio suddenly appeared in the doorway of the villa.
“What is it?” asked the geologist.
“I heard the bell ring upstairs.”
Mistretta rushed inside. Montalbano followed slowly behind him, lost in thought. He went back into the living room and sat down in the empty armchair in front of the telephone.
“Poor guy,” said Fazio. “I feel sorry for this Mistretta, I really do.”
“Doesn’t it seem strange to you that the kidnappers haven’t called yet? It’s almost ten o’clock.”
“I don’t know much about kidnappings,” said Fazio.
“Me neither. And Mimi doesn’t either.”
Speak of the devil. At that very moment Mimi Augello walked in.
“We didn’t find anything. What do we do now?”
“Inform everyone we’re supposed to inform about the kidnapping. Give me Susanna’s boyfriend’s address, and the address of the girl she was studying with.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Mimi as he was writing these things down on a piece of paper.
“As soon as he returns, I’m going to say goodbye to Mr.
Mistretta and go to the office.”
“But aren’t you convalescing?” asked Mimi. “I only had you come here to give advice, not to—”
“And do you feel confident leaving the station in Catarella’s hands?”
There was no answer, only a troubled silence.
“If the kidnappers get in touch soon, as I’m hoping they’ll do, let me know at once,” the inspector said in a decisive tone.
“Why are you hoping the kidnappers get in touch soon?” asked Fazio.
Before answering, the inspector read the piece of paper Augello had handed to him, then put it in his pocket.
“Because that way we’ll know that they kidnapped her for money. Let’s be frank. A girl like Susanna gets kidnapped for one of two reasons: for money or for rape. Gallo told me she’s a very attractive girl. In the latter case, the chances she’d be killed after being raped are very high.” A chill. In the silence they could hear the geologist’s shuf-fling footsteps as he approached. He looked at Augello.
“Did you find any . . . ?”
Mimi shook his head.
Mistretta staggered as though dizzy, but Mimi quickly steadied him.
“But why did they do it? Why?!” he said, burying his face in his hands.
“Why?” said Augello, hoping to console him with words.
“You’ll see, they’ll probably demand a ransom, the judge very probably will allow you to pay, and—”
“What will I pay with? How can I pay?” the man cried in desperation. “Doesn’t everyone know that we get by on my pension? And that the only thing we own is this house?” Montalbano was standing near Fazio. He heard him whisper under his breath: “
o o o
He had Gallo drop him off at Susanna’s study-companion’s place. The girl went by the name of Tina Lofaro and lived on the town’s main street in a three-storey building that, like most of the buildings in the center of town, was rather old. As the inspector was about to ring the intercom, the front door opened and out came a woman of about fifty, trailing an empty shopping cart behind her.
“Please leave the door open,” Montalbano said to her.
The woman hesitated a moment, reaching behind her with one arm to hold the door open, torn between courtesy and caution. But after looking him up and down, she made up her mind and walked away. The inspector went in and closed the door behind him. There was no elevator. On the mail-boxes, the Lofaro family’s residence corresponded to apartment number six, and since there were two flats per floor, that meant that he would have to climb up three flights of stairs.
He had purposely avoided letting them know he was coming.
He knew from experience that an unannounced visit from a man of the law always provokes at least a little unease, even in the most honest of people, who immediately wonder: What have I done wrong? Because all honest people believe that at one time or another they have done something wrong, perhaps without even realizing, whereas dishonest people are always convinced they’ve acted honestly. Therefore all of them, honest and dishonest, feel uneasy. And this helps one find the chinks in everyone’s armor.
The inspector thus hoped, when ringing the doorbell, that Tina herself would answer. Caught by surprise, the girl would certainly reveal whether or not Susanna had told her some little secret that might help the investigation.
