He nodded. He thought he did understand, now.

“What do I have to do?” he asked.

“You have to study. Something they don’t teach you at university: the art of killing.”

The superintendent didn’t wait for him to reply. She stood up and went to the whiteboard in front of her desk.

“Initially I thought he must be quite young, but perhaps we need to revisit our calculations,” she muttered. “I think he might be a few years older.”

Massimo was intrigued. He walked up to her.

“Why?”

“Because there is a significant sadistic element,” she explained, jotting her thoughts down in her unruly handwriting. “He’s had plenty of time, years, to refine his fantasies. I expect he’s somewhere between forty and forty-five years old. Possesses great physical strength. Either a local, or loves the mountains. He knows them well. His tracks stopped at the boulders, and that’s no accident. He’s probably a hunter. Judging by the way he killed, the depth of his psychosis is such that I doubt he drives a car.”

Massimo’s face twisted into a grimace of disbelief he couldn’t hide. The superintendent caught it immediately. “You disagree, then?” she asked.

“Who? Me? I wouldn’t dare.”

“You can speak freely.”

“Yeah, right.”

She took off her glasses and stared at him.

“Don’t waste my time, Marini. If you’ve got something to say, just say it and don’t make me ask again. If not, you can spare me the sarcasm.”

Massimo gestured at the board.

“Don’t you think you’re maybe . . . overdoing it?”

The superintendent followed his gaze, knitting her brow.

“Overdoing it?” he heard her echoing.

Massimo tapped his finger on the points she’d just written down.

“All these details you’re reeling off,” he said, “without even the shadow of a doubt . . . Isn’t that a bit arrogant? How can you possibly tell if he drives a car or not?”

Teresa looked at him askance, a half-smile hovering on her lips.

“Arrogant? Not in the least. As for doubts . . . well, I have plenty of those, but they’re part of the game, they’re in the nature of things. When I stop having doubts, that’s when I’ll start to worry. Don’t you agree?”

Massimo crossed his arms over his chest and didn’t reply.