The Age Of Doubt

Mimi Augello came back out onto the deck of the Vanna just after six o’clock, accompanied by Captain Sperli. Mimi descended the gangway; the captain remained on board.

The moment he set foot on the wharf, Mimi pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket and blew his nose. Then he started walking towards his car.

He’d taken barely three steps when a police car, siren blaring, cut off his path with tires screeching loudly. In a flash he sprang forward, circled round the car, and started running madly towards the northern entrance of the port.

Meanwhile Fazio and Gallo got out of the car, pistols in hand, and started giving chase.

“Stop! Police!” Fazio cried at a certain point.

And since Mimi kept on running without paying any notice, Fazio fired a shot in the air. Mimi continued running.

At this point, as soon as Mimi came within range, the Customs policeman standing guard at the northern entrance pointed his carbine at him.

“Stop or I’ll shoot!” the man shouted.

Augello got scared.

For all he knew, the guy might very well shoot in earnest, unaware that the whole thing was staged. Mimi suddenly stopped and put up his hands.

“Couldn’t you have run a little less fast, Inspector?” a panting Fazio asked as he slapped the handcuffs on him.

Flanked by Fazio and Gallo, Augello retraced his steps back to the police car. The entire crew of the Ace of Hearts, having heard the shot and the shouting, were now out on the deck, watching him walk past. On the Vanna, there were instead only two spectators: Giovannini and Sperli. But they were enough.

“Matre santa!” Mimi said, out of breath, to Montalbano, who had stayed in the car. “That Customs cop scared the life out of me!”

Back at the office, Inspector Rollo was already waiting for them. Montalbano introduced her to Augello and Fazio and explained who she was.

Mimi then turned to Montalbano.

“But, earlier today, did you come aboard the Vanna?”

“Yes. I wanted to make them a little nervous, so that when you arrived around five, they-”

“Well, you certainly succeeded! Talk about nervous! Livia…”

It had slipped out. He stopped in midsentence, blushed, and looked at Roberta Rollo, who smiled amicably.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Montalbano.

“At a certain point, La Giovannini told Sperli she was positive you’d figured everything out and that they mustn’t allow you any time to act. But what did you say to him?”

“I didn’t say anything. I just let him notice, as if by chance, that I had some printouts on the Kimberley Process, which you’d mentioned to me, in my pocket. And so it must have looked to them as if I knew more about it than I actually do… But tell me what happened.”

“Well, as soon as I got there, La Giovannini was already very upset and told me she had changed her mind.”

“They’d decided not to take you on?”

“No, they’d changed my function, but only temporarily.”

“In what sense?”

“I was to carry a suitcase to Paris, taking an itinerary that they were going to explain to me tonight, shortly before they left. They plan to set sail at dawn. Then, after turning over the suitcase, I was to take a flight to Sierra Leone.”

“And what did you say?”

“I said okay.”

“What excuse did you use for leaving the ship?”

“I said I had to go to the police station to get my passport before the office closed at six.”

“Did they specify whether the suitcase was actually a suitcase and not an overnight bag?” Roberta Rollo asked.

“Yes. It was a rather large and heavy suitcase whose contents I was supposed to transfer later to two smaller suitcases.”

Inspector Rollo whistled through clenched teeth.

“Apparently they put all the diamonds that were on both boats into a single suitcase. And they were going to have Inspector Augello do what Lannec was supposed to have done. That much is clear. However… They were entrusting him with a cargo of immense value… a suitcase full of uncut diamonds… with no guarantee. Seems strange to me.”

“Just a minute,” said Mimi. “Giovannini told me I was going to leave for Paris late tomorrow morning. A car would come and pick me up, with another person besides the driver.”

“So you were going to go all the way to Paris by car?”

“Yes.”

“So, to conclude,” said Inspector Rollo, “we know for certain that the diamonds are still on board. We must take immediate action.”

She looked at her watch. It was quarter to seven.

“Now let me tell you what we’re going to do.”

18

At eight o’clock sharp, when there was still sufficient light, a Harbor Office car was going to stop in front of the Ace of Hearts’ gangway, and an officer, using some pretext or other, would go aboard to see how many crew members were present and then relay this information to Inspector Rollo via his cell phone.

Rollo, meanwhile, would direct the operation from a car parked on the wharf, far enough not to be seen but close enough so she could see everything. The information the officer was to give her would be very important, because the crew of the Ace of Hearts had already killed at least two people and were criminals capable of anything. There was no need to do the same with the Vanna, since there were only three people implicated in the illegal traffic: Giovannini, Captain Sperli, and old Alvarez.

Rollo, in turn, would then communicate the number of people on board to Montalbano, who would be in the first of the two Vigata police cars, driven by Gallo. The first as well as the second car-the latter directed by Fazio-would each have four policemen inside.

The two cars were then supposed to drive into the port through the north entrance at high speed but without sirens. The first would pull up in front of the Ace of Hearts, the second in front of the Vanna. The men would then pour out of the cars, weapons in hand, climb onto the boats in every way possible, like pirates, and take control of the two craft.

The greater the element of surprise, the better.

The more difficult task would fall to the first car, since they would have to deal with the crew of the cruiser and would likely encounter some resistance.

Once everyone on board the two boats was immobilized, Inspector Rollo would call the Customs Police, who would already be waiting at the north entrance, and tell them to search for the large suitcase with the uncut diamonds.

Not knowing how things would really play out, however, Montalbano had arranged for Mimi Augello to go with two men to all the bars and taverns in Vigata and arrest any sailor from the Vanna or Ace of Hearts that they encountered. All of them, even those who Inspector Rollo said had nothing to do with the plot. It was best to play it safe.