He thought about Caterina. It was a sweet thought, fresh and clean like the flowers that dotted the balconies on the buildings across the way. He would have liked to walk with her through those streets, stop for an espresso, fill his lungs with the May air. Maybe right at that moment she was looking out her window, just like him, thinking the same things. He looked over at the cell phone on the table in the living room, but his hands remained frozen in the pockets of his trousers. Because it was different with her. He couldn’t behave the way he had with Nora, or with Anna. Caterina was a very different matter. Every time that he saw her, he had the impulse to hug her, to hold her tight and protect her from the bad things in the world. He got lost in that young woman’s eyes.

Well? What are you afraid of?

Of a word. Of a simple word that he wasn’t even capable of imagining. He felt as if he were being watched by the shadows, by that mist that wouldn’t disperse from his mind and his home, from the years past that weighed like boulders on his shoulders and his eyes.

Go on, say it! It’s not like it’s all that hard.

All he had to do was say it out loud and everything would change. It would all become simple and straightforward.

I’m just an old man who’s got some crazy idea into his head.

He stepped away from the window. Despite the fact that it was Sunday, Maurizio Baldi had summoned him to the prosecutor’s headquarters, and Rocco got ready to go to his office.

“ALL RIGHT, THIS IS THE WAY THINGS STAND RIGHT NOW. We’ve found withdrawals from Berguet’s account for no less than fifty thousand euros, the president of Edil.ber is in Brignole and he’s hiding behind a team of three lawyers. Federico Tolotta was found and arrested at his mother’s house in Catanzaro, Daniele Abela has already made a full confession. Let’s just say that the Cuntrera case is closed now.”

Rocco nodded.

“Don’t you have anything to tell me?”

“About what?”

“What happened in Rue Piave. Why did you go to Rome twice recently?”

“To investigate.”

“And have you had any luck?”

“No,” said Rocco. “I’m fumbling in the dark.”

The judge gazed at him seriously. “I don’t believe you.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is. I went and delved into the mud, but I couldn’t find the snake.”

“Do you feel safe here?”

“Safe enough.”

“Whoever it was, they might come back, right?”

“You’re right. But you see, now I know they might come back. And it’s very unlikely that they’ll catch me off guard this time.”

“Shall I tell you how I see things?”