“Well, since you strike me as a bright young man” – a bright young man? Why the hell are you talking like that, Guerrieri? I thought in a flash – “you’ll have realized that it’s well thought 77out and persuasive. To attempt to attack a ruling like that we need something concrete, not vague tales without any indication of places, people or circumstances.”

He was looking at me, again with the obtuse expression he’d had at the beginning of the interview. He shook his head in silence.

It occurred to me that this expression had been studied and practised at length, however unconsciously, just to make whoever he was speaking to feel nervous. Even when it wasn’t a good idea to make the person he was speaking to feel nervous. The silence lasted a couple of minutes. Then I told myself that, for many reasons, now was not the time to insist. I’d be talking just to satisfy my bruised ego. Which made it a very bad idea. It’s always a bad idea to satisfy your ego, and very bad when you have to convince somebody, especially if serious consequences may follow from whether or not you convince them. Knowing when to keep quiet is an essential talent. Few things so wrong-foot a person who’s trying to provoke you as a neutral and therefore indecipherable silence. This type of silence sends a very clear message that the provocation hasn’t succeeded.

Leaving at that moment was the most appropriate thing to do, even though keeping quiet cost me quite a bit of effort.

“It’s up to you. In that case, we’re done for today. We’ll meet again in a few days, at the hearing.”

As I imagined, he looked disoriented. “But what happens at the hearing? Does the trial start immediately?”

“No,” I said, putting my papers back in my bag and getting to my feet. “I’ll ask for an extension in order to evaluate the possibility of adding new grounds to the appeal drawn up by Costamagna’s people, and above all to have more time to submit evidence. The possibility of our succeeding 78in this depends on many factors. The main one is whatever information you have and can tell us.”

I shook his hand and said goodbye.

It wasn’t Smaldino who saw me out, back through corridors, bays, gates and bolts – he must have finished his shift. It was a tough-looking young officer with bulging muscles and a shark tattooed on his neck, just under his high tapered hair.

79

Lorenza

Verio came to pick me up with a friend of his I didn’t know, a guy named Antonello, who succeeded in the not very easy enterprise of immediately striking me as irredeemably unpleasant.