I took out the Florence phone books and called all the Castelvecchios I could find, but none of those who answered had any connection with Graziano. I made a mark with my pen next to those numbers that didn’t answer so that I could try them again later and told Rosario he could go. I wanted to get straight down to work, but as soon as he was gone I realized I’d made a mistake. I was too tired to put up with our correspondents’ inanities, but it was too late now, so I started to answer the calls. Every time I finished transcribing an article I tried to call Florence.

Around midnight I got hold of Graziano’s father. He was a taxi driver and had been on his shift until eleven. Although he had an old man’s voice, it wasn’t so unlike his son’s. He listened in silence to what I had to tell him and remained silent even when I’d finished. When he spoke again, he was crying. He said he would leave right away, he would inform the garage and leave right away, but I told him he didn’t have to leave until the following morning, it was better for him to rest.

It was only after talking to him that I remembered I hadn’t called an undertaker. I looked in the phone book for the ones with the flashiest advertising. They were very helpful, even at that hour of the night, and assured me they’d go to the hospital and get everything ready in time.

I didn’t have anything else to do. The phones were quiet. So I went to the window to smoke and look at the deserted street and the streetlights. Every now and again a car passed, breaking the silence of the night. Then, with indescribable slowness, the sky started to lighten until it was time to go home.

The funeral was the next day. All morning I stayed by the phone with Graziano’s notebook in my hand but couldn’t get hold of anyone to inform and in the end gave up. His father arrived around noon in his taxicab. He was a pale, nervous little man, his eyes red from tears. He immediately wanted to see his son and I left him alone in the morgue and waited for him in the courtyard. There were cats roaming between the parked cars.