Rocco nodded and crossed his arms on his chest, ready to listen.

“You know perfectly well who it is. But you won’t tell me. And you want to know why not? Because whoever it is that wants to kill you is interested in revenge for something from your past. Something that you did, something that you’re keeping secret, something that”—and here the judge drew closer, lowering the volume of his voice—“it might be better to keep hidden, Schiavone. Tell me if I’m wrong.”

Rocco did nothing but shrug his shoulders.

“You’ve been here since September. Nine months. And by now I know a lot about you. I haven’t been sitting around twiddling my thumbs. We know the reason for your transfer, we know about your rather unorthodox methods. And we also know about your dubious friendships down in Rome. Sebastiano Carucci, Furio Lattanzi, and Brizio Marchetti. Three real pieces of work. You meet them in Rome, and not only in the past two days. No. You have ongoing relationships with them and you frequent them assiduously. In particular with Sebastiano Carucci, Adele Talamonti’s boyfriend. And it’s my belief that the four of you have uncovered something. Something that you have no intention of sharing with us.” Baldi picked up a pen and started twirling it between his fingers. “Do I need to remind you that your first and primary allegiance is to the established institutions of this country? That your duty ought to be that of bringing a killer to justice? Or when something touches you directly and personally, do you forget that detail and act like an ordinary street thug, like one of your friends from Rome?”

“Are you done?”

“I could go on for hours.”

“Why don’t you judge my performance in terms of what I do. Not what you presume I’m doing. And if you don’t like what you see, you can always file a complaint with the big bosses and get me transferred somewhere else. What do I know? To Sacile del Friuli or to the Gennargentu. Believe me. This city, you, these mountains, I won’t miss any of it. Now if you’re quite done lecturing me like a concerned head of household, I’ve got places to be.”

“This hardening of attitude on your part tells me that I hit the bull’s-eye.”

“This hardening of attitude on my part is due to the fact that I don’t like having my balls busted on a Sunday.”

“Why, did you have anything better to do?” asked the judge.