“That’s correct.”

“Has it ever happened to you that you’ve done a test on an individual, not found anything on their hands or face, but have found something in their nostrils?”193

“I should say that I’m not the one who finds the particles. I do the test – the samples are analysed by others. That said, yes, it has happened. Getting gunshot residue out of your nostrils is more complicated, and sometimes people don’t even think about it.”

“If someone fired a shot, let’s say an hour ago, then you do the test and nothing is found on their hands, face or even in their nostrils, what might you deduce from that?”

The assistant prosecutor objected. “Your Honour, the defence is asking the witness for his opinion.”

“Yes, Your Honour, that’s true. I am asking an opinion of the witness, given that he’s an expert witness. I refer in addition, I think correctly, to the conditions laid out in article 194 paragraph 3 of the code of practice, which hypothesizes the impossibility of separating the personal evaluation of an expert witness from a testimony on the facts.”

Judge Marinelli made a gesture of annoyance, as if to dismiss a small object that was bothering him. “Objection overruled. You may answer, Inspector.”

“If I’m certain that someone fired a shot an hour ago and we don’t find any residue on them, I’d conclude that they washed and cleaned themselves thoroughly and blew their nose, maybe even rinsed their nostrils with a saline solution.”

“So an individual who washed themselves so thoroughly would show a remarkable degree of caution and even a degree of knowledge of this test, is that correct?”

“Your Honour, this really is asking for inadmissible speculation,” Gastoni cried.

“Avvocato Guerrieri, this is an observation we could even make ourselves, if necessary. I’d say we’ve gone beyond the provisions of article 194 paragraph 3. Ask another question.”194

“Very well, Your Honour. Inspector, was it you who carried out the test on the person and clothes of Iacopo Cardace within the context of the investigation into the murder of Cosimo Gaglione?”

“Yes, though not alone, with colleagues.”

“But you participated in the whole operation, is that correct?”

“All the test operation. The analysis of the samples is carried out at the central laboratory because you need a scanning electron microscope.”

“The clothes on which you carried out the test were those that Cardace was wearing when he was taken to police headquarters, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“And how many hours after the estimated hour of the murder did this happen?”

“I don’t remember exactly, I’d need to look in the records.”

Judge Marinelli gave him permission to do so. He took a little longer than necessary. In the end he looked up and turned to me.

“You asked me how many hours after the murder the test was done?”

“Yes.”

“About four hours.”