the commissioner didn’t want to put you in charge for even a minute. We can go back to Vigata.” While Gallo was showing his colleague where the helmet was, Mimi, with Montalbano’s help, climbed into the other car.
“What on earth happened to you?”
“I fell into a ditch full of rocks. I must have broken a few ribs. Did you report that you’d found the helmet?” Montalbano slapped himself on the forehead.
“I forgot!”
Augello knew Montalbano too well not to know that when he forgot to do something, it meant he didn’t feel like doing it.
“You want me to call?”
“Yes. Ring Minutolo and tell him what happened.”
o o o
They had just started driving back when Mimi, with an air of indifference, said:
“You know something?”
“Do you do it on purpose?”
“Do I do what on purpose?”
“Ask me if I know something. That question drives me crazy.”
“Okay, okay. About two hours ago, the Carabinieri reported that they’d found the girl’s backpack.”
“Are you sure it’s hers?”
“Absolutely. Her ID card was inside.”
“Anything else?”
“Nothing. Empty.”
“Good,” said the inspector. “One to one.”
“I don’t get it.”
“First we find one thing, then the Carabinieri find another. Tie game. Where was the backpack?”
“On the road to Montereale. Behind the four-kilometer marker. It was pretty visible.”
“In the very opposite direction from where we found the helmet!”
“Exactly.”
Silence fell.
“Does your ‘exactly’ mean you’re thinking exactly the same thing I’m thinking?”
“Exactly.”
“I’ll try to translate your brevity into something a little clearer. Namely: All this searching, all this running around, is nothing but a waste of time, one big fuck-up.”
“Exactly.”
“I’ll translate some more. The way we see it, the kidnappers, on the night of the kidnapping, got in their car and drove around, throwing various things belonging to Susanna out the window, to create a variety of phony leads. All of which means—” “—that the girl’s not being held anywhere near the places where her things have been found,” Mimi concluded, adding,
“and we’re going to have to convince the commissioner of this, otherwise he’s liable to have us searching all the way to the Aspromonte.”
o o o
At the office he found Fazio waiting for him. He already knew about the objects they’d found. He was carrying a small suitcase.
“Going away?”
“No, Chief. I’m going back to the villa. Dr. Minutolo wants me to man the phone. I’ve got a change of clothes in here.”
“Was there something you wanted to tell me?”
“Yessir. After the special edition of TeleVigata News, the phone at the villa started ringing off the hook. . . . Nothing of interest, though. Just interview requests, words of support, people saying prayers, that kind of thing. But there were two that were a little different in tone. The first one was from a former administrative employee at Peruzzo’s.” “What’s Peruzzo’s?”
“I don’t know, Chief. But that’s what he called himself.
He even said his name didn’t matter. And he told me to tell Mr. Mistretta that pride may be a good thing, but too much pride is bad. That was all.”
“Hmph. What about the other one?”
“Some old lady. She wanted to talk to Mrs. Mistretta.
When I finally convinced her Mrs. Mistretta couldn’t come to the phone, she told me to repeat the following words to her:
