ON A WOBBLY PLASTIC CHAIR, THE WARDEN HAD HAD AN OLD television set with a cathode tube set up, along with a DVD player that had been repaired with duct tape. Perfectly in keeping with the room around it. A bed, little more than a cot with a small, flat pillow, and a nightstand made out of an old filing cabinet, were the only furnishings in the room. On one wall hung a Carabinieri calendar and a terrifying painting that depicted a smiling clown with a handful of juggler’s balls. The deputy chief had put the DVD with footage of the brawl in the player. He hit PLAY.

Here was Omar being beaten by the murderous trio to the left of the screen; here were Tarek and Karim running to his rescue. Then Aziz’s arrival. But there was no sign of Mimmo Cuntrera. And none of the inmates were going anywhere near that blind spot to the right of the TV screen where the Calabrian might have already been breathing his last. From that corner he saw an inmate emerge, hurrying to put down the brawl, followed by a guard and two other inmates. He froze the picture. He knew just how pointless it would be to ask around whether anyone had seen anything. Anyone who knew anything said nothing. Or else they’d present themselves of their own free will when the time came.

“Shall we go to dinner?” asked Marini, poking his head in the door. Rocco nodded.

“Marini, come here for just a second, please . . .”

The other man came over.

“Look carefully.” And he pointed to the still on the TV screen. “Who is this?” And he pointed to the spot behind which Cuntrera must have been already lying on the ground. “Who’s this inmate?”

Marini looked at the still picture. “That’s Radeanu.”

“What about this great big guy here, this guard running from the right of the screen, where I’d expect Cuntrera to be, who’s that?”

“That’s Federico Tolotta, a colleague. He was on duty in Wing 3 and in fact he’s coming from the right of the TV screen.”

“And instead, over here, on the left of the screen, this is you . . .”

“Right.”

“Congratulations, you look good on TV. So who is this other guy?”

“My colleague Abela. We were both coming from outside the courtyard, near Wing 2.”

Rocco let the video run. The figures resumed movement. While Abela and Marini put down the brawl with the help of other convicts, Tolotta picked up a bunch of keys from the ground and used it to hit the Nigerian in the back of the neck. Agostino Lumi and Erik the Red were immobilized by Abela, while three other guards came running to help their colleagues. The last punch was thrown by Marini, and it caught Erik square in the jaw and knocked him flat.

“Nice right hook, Marini!”

“Thanks!”