“Yes, it seems Gaglione worked as a nightclub bouncer. A few weeks before the murder, he beat up the wrong person outside a place called Chilometro Zero and was apparently very worried about reprisals. That’s why he didn’t go out much and was even thinking of getting away from Bari for a while.”

“This is a serious lead, if it’s true. Who did he beat up?”

“Cardace says he doesn’t know. I got the impression he was telling the truth.”

“This didn’t come out at the trial,” Annapaola said.

“Costamagna advised him not to mention it. Too vague. It wouldn’t have helped in court. And on the other hand it might have alarmed these dangerous individuals, or worse. People involved with organized crime, that’s what Cardace understood from what Gaglione told him. The argument makes sense.”

“Anyway, it’d be good to check it out,” Annapaola said.

“Yes. We need to know if the fight really happened. And if it did, who was involved. Maybe somebody ended up in Emergency, which means there’d be a record. I don’t think it’ll be easy, but if we can prove that Gaglione got in a fight with somebody dangerous, there’d be a glimmer of hope we could suggest an alternative to the narrative that’s in the ruling.” I turned to Tancredi. “Have you talked to your former Flying Squad colleagues?”

He placed the shell of the last oyster on his plate and heaved a sigh before answering. As if it was a burden to go from that sublime taste to trivial matters of work.

“I went to Headquarters today. The boys in Homicide and Narcotics are totally convinced it was Cardace. Without knowing about the fight in the disco, I asked them if as far 91as they knew Gaglione had been having problems with anybody, but there was nothing like that. So, if this fight did happen, they never knew about it. They told me everyone knew Gaglione was dealing Ecstasy and cocaine. The investigation that involved them tapping his phones was aimed specifically at him – they’re weren’t keeping an eye on him to get to anybody else. In fact, after the murder they stopped the intercepts and the case was closed.”

“The fact that the Squad didn’t know if Gaglione was having problems with anyone,” Annapaola said, “doesn’t mean he wasn’t.”

“No, of course,” Carmelo said, “it doesn’t mean he wasn’t. Normally, if a member of an important family is involved in a fight and somebody actually takes the liberty of beating him up, the news gets around. But obviously that’s not an absolute rule. So let’s find out who provides, or provided, security at Chilometro Zero and have a chat with them. Although these guys aren’t usually especially cooperative.”

“Now that I come to think of it,” Annapaola said, “I know a disc jockey from Chilometro Zero.”