“That was the only mistake I made: I assumed that the fire would destroy all traces of my presence. As I was fleeing, I stumbled, lost my balance and fell from a cliff. I dragged myself to the village with my leg broken in three places, and I was bedridden for months. I was forced to give up mountaineering. I never got the chance to go up there again and behold my creation.”

“You’re a criminal, just like your father before you, and all those like him.”

“It has been seventy years since the end of that war, and still people like you won’t stop complaining about it.”

“Why don’t you tell that to a jury?”

Wallner burst out laughing.

“Why do you think I didn’t run away?” he asked her. “I could have left as soon as you started getting too close to the truth. But I’m seventy-five, and I have a serious cardiovascular condition. Starting a new life under a false name isn’t as easy as it was forty years ago. The truth is that I will never go to prison. It’ll take years for them to sentence me, and then there is always the court of appeals. Whatever happens, I’ve already won, Superintendent Battaglia.”

Teresa saw Parisi and the rest of the squad lined up behind the doctor’s back.

“I will make it my mission to prove you wrong, Doctor Wallner,” she replied.

He followed her gaze, and realized they were no longer alone. His expression changed completely; all his bravado disappeared. Parisi took his arm and led him away, but just as he was walking out, Wallner turned around to look at Teresa.

“There was only insulin in that needle,” he told her. “You’re not going to die, Superintendent. At least not today.”

Teresa was worried she might faint again, so she sat back down on the bed. Her knees were shaking and her breath was short. She needed a minute to recover.

“Is everything okay, Superintendent?”

She raised her head and saw De Carli.

“It’s over,” she said, as if those two words answered his question.

He nodded and smiled.

“What are you doing here?” she asked him.

“Marini sent us. He told us about Wallner. He’s on the line, he wants to talk to you.”

He handed her a mobile phone. Teresa hesitated briefly, searching for the right words to say, then took the phone.

“I got there first,” she said.

He started laughing.

“What makes you think that?”

“Statistics. You always come in second.”

She heard him laugh again.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

Teresa thought about it.

“I’m fine,” she replied, and it was true.

In spite of everything, and against all expectations, Teresa felt alive in a way she hadn’t experienced in a very long time. She was still, and would still be, the maker of her own destiny.