“I’ll talk about it to the kid. I also think we should look at the area around the victim’s apartment, just to get a better idea. And I repeat, let’s study the intercepts. If we have any doubts about the way they were transcribed, let’s get hold of the recordings. Apart from anything else, they were admitted in evidence under article 270 even though they related to another case, the one against Gaglione for dealing, and we have to decide if there’s any point in requesting the ones that weren’t admitted.”

“Why, do you think there were problems with the way the intercepts were allowed in evidence?” Consuelo asked.

“It wasn’t flawless, but frankly I don’t see any grounds for claiming they’re unusable. But let’s look at them anyway, and maybe we’ll talk about it again. Apart from the request for an extension, let’s try to figure out if we need to add 64further grounds to the appeal, though at first sight I don’t think so: the appeal is succinct, but it contains what we need.”

Tancredi shifted on his chair. “I think I’ll go and talk to a few more of my former colleagues in the Squad, to see if there are any alternative avenues they didn’t follow up on. I want to get a better idea of who the dead man was, how they got on to him in the first place, what circles he moved in, if there were people who didn’t like him. I also want to see what they know about Cardace, apart from what’s written in the file.”

“I’ll check out the area around Gaglione’s place, plus the cafe where he was seen,” Annapaola said. “In the ruling, there’s no mention of any security footage being admitted in evidence. Is it in any of the other documents?”

“I don’t think so. To tell the truth, I hadn’t even thought of it.”

“When I’m over there, then, I’ll see if there are any security cameras. Though of course the footage won’t still be around after two years. But that’s a good reason for you to ask: why didn’t you get hold of it? It’d suggest a shortcoming in the investigation.”

“Provided that is what happened,” Tancredi said, automatically defending his former colleagues. “Maybe they did get hold of it, maybe they viewed it and didn’t find anything important. In the meantime, significant evidence emerged about Cardace, so they dropped the footage and didn’t even mention it in the reports.”

“Let’s check. If there are cameras, and nothing was done about the footage, it might be worth bringing it up.”

I looked around. Nobody added anything else, and we brought the meeting to a close.65