“He retired last year. And three weeks later he had a stroke. Luckily they didn’t manage to save him, he would have been a vegetable. Ever since it happened, I’ve been scared it could happen to me too. You wait so long for that time of life, you think you’ll be young enough to devote yourself to the things you like. Instead, you die.”68

“Damn, I’m sorry about poor D’Ippolito.” I really was sorry. He was another of those prison officers I’d got on well with. Even the prisoners had spoken well of him. No abuse, no violence.

“Right. Life’s really absurd.”

We got to the lawyers’ room.

“I’ll send you your client now. I’m sorry if I told you a story that’s made you sad.”

“One day I’d like to come and see your dogs,” I said by way of goodbye.

His face lit up. “It would be an honour.”

Sitting down at the desk, I opened my bag, took out the ruling, the trial transcripts and a notepad and laid out everything in front of me.

It was another five or six minutes before a young officer opened the door and admitted my client: Iacopo Cardace.

He was of medium height, and solidly built. He was wearing jeans and a grey sweatshirt beneath which you could sense the muscles. He had light brown, almost blond hair, and his face was marked with acne scars. His expression was evasive, his eyes half-closed as if he’d only just woken up. Overall, he aroused an immediate antipathy in me.

It sometimes happens with clients, but with this young man the phenomenon was particularly intense, and it took an effort to suppress the feeling.

“Good morning, Signor Cardace. As you already know, I’m Avvocato Guerrieri. I think your mother told you I’d be coming to see you.”

“Are you replacing Costamagna?”69

“Not exactly. I’m here because you appointed me, on the advice of your mother. My practice has no connection with that of Avvocato Costamagna.”

I became aware that my tone was a little resentful. It was a result of the hostility the boy aroused in me and of the annoyance I felt at being somehow equated to Costamagna.

He nodded apathetically and sniffed.

“Right,” I resumed. “Let’s see where we stand at the moment. If anything I say to you isn’t clear, just ask me to explain. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“So, on the day of the hearing we’ll request a brief extension. We’ll do this because you didn’t appoint me until after the time limit for presenting new requests for evidence and possible new grounds for appeal had already passed. So that we can formulate these requests for evidence, and generally plan an effective strategy for your defence, we’re going to need your help. So now I’m going to ask you a few questions.”