“I’d really rather be thought of as someone who cares about law and order. I’m just trying to keep this place clean.”

“An honorable ambition.” Agostino smiled and took a drag on his cigarette.

“How does this Omar manage to get the narcotics inside?”

“With his little third-world boyfriends on the outside. They smuggle them in through the visiting room. Evidently there are guards willing to turn a blind eye in exchange for gifts. And then Omar, Tarek, and Karim deal the shit. There are two hundred prisoners in here, all of them bored and depressed. An excellent client base, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never done time behind bars,” Rocco replied.

“I think that every policeman ought to spend some time behind bars, actually, maybe in disguise. You can figure out a lot of things by just spending a month or so in prison, and it might come in handy for the work you do.”

“For example?”

“You’d get a much better understanding of the psychology of criminals.”

“I really don’t give a flying fuck about the psychology of criminals.”

“You aren’t following me. I’m just saying that if policemen did a little bit of prison time, they’d work more effectively and they’d be quicker to understand the moves and the intentions of guys like me. But I’m speaking against my own self-interest!”

“There’s no need to serve time in prison to understand you. You all have pretty basic psychological makeups, believe me.”

Agostino put out the cigarette. He smiled. But, again, only with his lips. His eyes remained dark and motionless, like two glass marbles. “But from the way you’re doing your job as a policeman, if you ask me, sooner or later, a little time in here is something you’re going to be looking at.”