there had to be a press nearby, at a higher level. But why hadn’t they bothered to remove the thermometer? Perhaps they hadn’t paid any mind to it, having got used to seeing the vat the way it had always been. If you see something enough times you often end up not noticing it anymore. Whatever the case, this discovery greatly reduced the area of the search. They were no longer looking for a secluded country cottage, but a veritable farmstead, one perhaps partially in ruin.
He immediately got on the phone to Minutolo and told him of his discovery. Minutolo thought this was a very important development and said that since this considerably lessened the number of targets for their search, he would immediately issue new orders to the men out scouring the countryside.
Then he asked:
“What do you think of the news?”
“What news?”
“Didn’t you see TeleVigata’s eight o’clock report?”
“Do you think the first thing I do in the morning is turn on the TV?”
“The kidnappers phoned TeleVigata, and the TV station recorded everything, then played the recording on the air.
The same disguised voice. He says that ‘the person concerned’
has until tomorrow evening. Otherwise nobody will ever see Susanna again.”
Montalbano felt a cold shudder run up his back.
“They’ve invented the multimedia kidnapping. Didn’t they say anything else?”
“I’ve reported the whole call to you word for word. In fact, they’re sending me the tape in a little bit, if you want to come hear it. The judge is up in arms, he wants to put Ragonese in jail. And you know something? I’m starting to get seriously worried.” “Me too,” said Montalbano.
So the kidnappers no longer deigned to call the Mistretta home. They had achieved their goal, which was to involve Antonio Peruzzo without ever mentioning his name. Public opinion was unanimously against him. Montalbano was now certain that if the kidnappers ended up killing Susanna, people would hold it not against them but against the uncle, who had refused to do his duty and intervene. Kill? Wait a second. The kidnappers never used that word. They clearly spoke good Italian and knew what to do with the language. They’d said that nobody would ever see the girl again. And when speaking to common folk, a word like
Perhaps the kidnappers intended to leave a margin for negotia-tion and did so by avoiding the use of a verb from which there was no return. Whatever the case, one had to act fast. But how?
o o o
That afternoon Mimi Augello, who’d got sick of lolling about the house, popped up at the office with two bits of news.
The first was that late that morning, Signora Valeria, Antonio Peruzzo’s wife, when about to get in her car in a Montelusa parking lot, was recognized by three women, who surrounded her, shoved her, knocked her to the ground, and started spitting on her, screaming that she ought to be ashamed of herself and should advise her husband to stop wasting time and pay the ransom. More people, meanwhile, had gathered round to lend support to the three women. What saved Signora Valeria was a patrol of Carabinieri that happened to be passing by. At the hospital, the engineer’s wife was found to have contusions, bruises, and cuts.
The second bit of news was that two large trucks belonging to Peruzzo Ltd. had been set on fire. To avoid any misun-derstandings or misinterpretations, on a wall nearby someone had written pay up now, asshole!
“If the kidnappers kill Susanna,” Mimi concluded, “Peruzzo’s gonna get lynched.”
“Do you think the whole thing’s going to come to a bad end?” asked Montalbano.
“No,” Mimi said at once, without having to think twice.
“But, say the engineer doesn’t pay a cent? The kidnappers have sent him a kind of ultimatum.”
“Ultimatums are made to be violated. They’ll come to an agreement, you’ll see.”
“How’s Beba doing?” asked the inspector, changing the subject.
“Pretty well, actually. By the way, Livia came by to see us, and Beba told her we were planning to ask you to be our son’s godfather at the baptism.”
No, come on! Was the whole town set on making him godfather?
“And that’s the way you inform me?”
“Why, you want a notarized document or something? Did you somehow imagine we wouldn’t ask you?”
“Of course not, but—”
“Anyway, Salvo, I know you too well. If I hadn’t asked you, you would have felt offended and pulled a long face on me.”
Montalbano realized it was best to steer the conversation away from his character, which lent itself to contradictory interpretations.
“And what did Livia say?”
“She said you would be overjoyed, especially since it would even things out, though I don’t know what she meant by that.”
“Me neither,” Montalbano lied.
Of course he knew exactly what she’d meant: a criminal’s son and a policeman’s son, both with him as their
