Marinelli nodded and I intervened.

“In the spirit of not weighing proceedings down with pointless wastes of time, let me just say that the name Sabino Arcidiacono isn’t in any of the documents relating to the investigation. Just as, for clarity’s sake, there’s no mention of 186the height of the inner balcony or the possibility of entering the apartment from the back.”

Marinelli looked at me and his eyes told me he was starting to get annoyed. Montesano had his hand on the papers he had started leafing through.

“If it’s not in the papers I don’t know what to tell you.”

“So maybe, before going on to the specific point that interests me, it’ll be necessary for you to give us a brief recap of the investigation.”

His face registering a mixture of impatience and resignation, Montesano started recounting things we all knew already. This would usually have been pointless, but in this case hearing the list of what had been done would help – at least I hoped it would – to give an idea of what hadn’t been done.

It lasted about a quarter of an hour and I was surprised that neither Judge Marinelli nor Assistant Prosecutor Gastoni made any comments or asked where I was going with this. Maybe the simple reason was that they had understood. When the account of the first day of the investigation was over, I cut in again with a question.

“So, Assistant Commissioner Montesano, if I understand correctly, a significant element in the investigation conducted in the immediate aftermath of the murder, when you had not yet returned to your post, was the questioning of the woman named Antonia Sassanelli, who worked in the cafe. Is that correct?”

“Yes. The statement she made allowed us to place Cardace in the immediate vicinity of the victim’s apartment at a time that matched our working hypothesis.”

“What was your working hypothesis?”

Montesano sighed ostentatiously. “That Cardace had quarrelled with Gaglione over something to do with narcotics, 187that he had gone to Gaglione’s apartment to get even for some unspecified slight and that he had shot him, probably just with the intention of kneecapping him.”

“This was the working hypothesis.”

“Precisely.”

“Were there any others?”

“No, there was no reason for any others.”

“Let’s see if I’ve got this right. A few minutes after the murder had been committed, you formulated a hypothesis to explain what had happened, which then, after the initial stages of the investigation, remained the only one. Is that correct?”

“That’s correct.”

“Do you know what work Gaglione did? I mean legitimate work.”

“If I remember correctly, he worked in security, I think he was a nightclub bouncer.”

“I see. Why isn’t this mentioned in the papers?”

“Right now I don’t remember if it’s in the papers or not.”