police inspector! Have you forgotten? You reproach the police for not obeying the rules, and you’re the first to break them! You go out on a dangerous mission, and you bring along not one of us, but a Swedish lady! It’s insane! You should have informed your superiors of all these things, or at least filled us in, instead of going out and playing the bounty hunter!”
“So that’s what’s bugging you?”
“Why, isn’t that enough?”
“No, it’s not, Mimi. I’ve done worse.”
Mimi’s jaw dropped in horror.
“Worse?”
“And ten,” said Fazio, reappearing.
“To continue,” said Montalbano. “When Ingrid cut in front of Marzilla’s car, he thought we were his boss and were going to liquidate him, perhaps because at this point he knows too much. He pissed his pants as he begged me not to kill him. And without even realizing it, he blurted out his boss’s name: Don Pepe Aguglia.”
“The builder?” asked Augello.
“That’s him, all right,” Fazio confirmed. “There are rumors around town that he’s been loan-sharking.”
“We’ll take care of him very soon—tomorrow, in fact—but somebody should keep an eye him starting now. I don’t want him to slip away.”
“Leave him to me,” said Fazio. “I’ll put Curreli on his tail. He’s a good one.”
Now came the hard part of the story, but he had to tell it.
“After Ingrid brought me home, I decided to go back to Spigonella and have a look at the villa.”
“Alone, naturally,” Mimi said sardonically, stirring in his chair.
“I went there alone and I came back alone.”
This time it was Fazio’s turn to squirm in his chair. But he didn’t open his mouth.
“When Inspector Augello asked you to leave the room,” said Montalbano, turning to him, “it was because he didn’t want you to hear him calling me an asshole. Would you like to call me one, too? You could form a little chorus.”
“I would never dare, sir.”
“Well, if you don’t want to say it, I give you permission to think it.”
Reassured by Fazio’s silence and complicity, he described the little harbor, the grotto, and the iron door with the internal staircase. He also talked about the crabs that had eaten the flesh off Errera’s corpse.
“Okay, that’s the part that’s already happened,” he concluded. “Now we need to think about a course of action. If the information I’ve received from Marzilla is correct, tonight there will be more arrivals, and since Zarzis has taken the trouble to come this far, it means there’s new merchandise for him on the way. We have to be there the moment it arrives.”
“All right,” said Mimi. “But, whereas you know everything about this villa, we know nothing about either the villa or its surroundings.”
“Have a look at the video I made of it from the sea. Torrisi’s got it.”
“That’s not enough. I’m going to go there in person, I want to see for myself,” Mimi decided.
“I don’t like it,” Fazio cut in.
“If they spot you and get suspicious, we blow the whole thing,” the inspector seconded him.
“Calm down, both of you. I’ll go with Beba, who’s been wanting a breath of sea air. We’ll take a nice long stroll and see what there is to see. I don’t think they’ll get alarmed if they see a man and a pregnant woman walking along the beach. We can meet back here by five at the latest.”
“All right,” said Montalbano. Then, turning to Fazio, “Listen, I want the core squad ready. A few trusted, decisive men. Gallo, Galluzzo, Imbro, Germana, and Grasso. You and Augello will be in command.”
“Why, won’t you be there?” asked Augello in amazement.
“I’ll be there, but I’ll be down below, in the little harbor, to stop anyone who tries to escape.”
“Well, Augello will command the squad, ’cause I’m coming with you,” Fazio said dryly.
Surprised by his tone, Mimi glared at him.
“No,” said Montalbano.
“Look, Chief—I—”
“No. This is a personal matter, Fazio.”
This time Mimi glared at Montalbano, who was glaring at Fazio, who was glaring right back. It looked like a scene from a Quentin Tarantino movie, except that they were aiming their eyes instead of guns at each other.
“Yes, sir,” Fazio said at last.
To dispel the bit of tension still in the air, Mimi Augello asked a question:
“How will we know for sure whether or not there will be any landings tonight? Who’s going to tell us?”
“You could find out from Commissioner Riguccio,” Fazio suggested to Montalbano. “They usually have a pretty clear picture of the situation by six P.M.”
