“Then that would explain everything!” the lady constable realized. “If he’s a fugitive from justice, then he could hardly say: ‘I’m going to be out of town, so you need to help me hide this man’ . . . It’s clear, isn’t it? These are things that people do in secret!”

“Not so!” Barbara objected. She had taken the reins of this investigation well in hand, and a quick glance at her spirited eyes showed that she was thoroughly enjoying herself. “Who says? If you’re going to do something secret, then it’s best to do it in the light of day, you just call over to the bar, you say that a commitment of some kind—anything will do, you make something up—requires you to go to . . . oh, I don’t know, to Ancona, and you go. Otherwise you’re just going to kindle suspicions!”

“No, that’s right. Barbara has a point,” said Tatiana, who hadn’t touched a drop of her Coca-Cola. “Just disappearing like that, without warning: it doesn’t look good!”

“Did anyone else have the keys to his place?” Ciro broke in.

The Russian woman gestured disconsolately. “Please . . . I can tell. Something’s happened to him!”

Lisa took the situation in hand. “All right. Let’s go in the back office and take down the details of this criminal complaint.”

“Then what happens?” asked Tatiana as she got to her feet.

“We’ll inform the various police headquarters, then the prefect will contact the special commissioner for missing people and the investigation gets under way.”

“Let’s just hope it’s nothing, eh?” said Ciro, opening the door to the office. Barbara and Tatiana went in. The constable looked at his colleague. “You know something? Tatiana is in love with Corrado.”

“Jesus! Luca’s going to kill himself!”

Sunday

Alessandro Martinelli ushered him promptly into his office.

He had spoken with Baldi and he’d been more than willing to help.

“Where do I sleep?” the deputy chief had asked.

“Three rooms right next to the office. It sort of resembles a cell, but all things considered, that’s just part of the package, right?”

“I’d agree. Just one more favor.”

“If I can.”

“I’m going to need a television set in my room, if it’s an old one that doesn’t matter, and a DVD player.”

“I’ll have them bring in the TV set from the rec room on the ground floor. Anything else? I don’t know, a wake-up call at a certain hour? Breakfast in bed?”