It’s a dish that, for reasons I can’t explain, cheers me up. Maybe, as somebody once said, it reminds me of something I can’t remember.

In any case, I opened a bottle of Cacc’e mmitte di Lucera, a gift from a satisfied client (it does happen sometimes) and had dinner. I was actually in a good mood.

Then I washed up, poured myself another glass of wine, regretted for the millionth time that I’d quit smoking and sat down at the table, with the case file in front of me.

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The ruling was of average quality. Written in the usual jargon of legal documents, a little long-winded but thorough and, at first sight, technically sound.

It began with a summary of the investigation. On the day of the murder, the accused and the victim had spoken twice on the phone. Both the conversations had been intercepted and recorded because the telephone of the victim – Cosimo Gaglione, known as Mino – was being tapped within the context of an investigation by the Narcotics section of the Flying Squad. From these telephone calls, which were quite short, it could be inferred, according to the prosecution and the judges, that there was an unspecified bone of contention between the two men. During the second call, the accused said very clearly that they needed to discuss the matter face to face. The tone of these words was aggressive and suggested a great deal of anger on Cardace’s part and the intention to call the other man to account for what apparently seemed to him an unfair or disrespectful act.

In the afternoon Cardace was seen by a witness in the vicinity of Gaglione’s apartment, not long before the murder took place.

At 7.47 p.m. Gaglione called 118 from his own mobile phone (the one being tapped by Narcotics) asking for urgent help. Speaking in a laboured manner, he said that he was at home, that somebody had shot him and that he was losing a 36lot of blood. A few minutes later, almost simultaneously, an ambulance and two Flying Squad cars arrived at his building. The police officers, having intercepted the call, had heard his request for help.