Actually, this was a correct objection. Article 62 of the code of criminal procedure says that statements made by an accused person or a suspect in the course of police inquiries 162cannot be used in evidence. The rule is there to prevent the police or anyone else, having obtained a confession without legal guarantees, from testifying as to its substance, which is completely unusable.

“I think article 62 only applies to statements that are self-incriminating or unfavourable to the accused. The aim of the rule is to safeguard the right to a defence. Interpreted in accordance with this spirit, it shouldn’t prevent testimony about statements made by the accused that might be useful in his defence. Then there’s also another argument.”

“What’s that?”

“In this case, we’d actually be eliciting testimony about a fact, not a statement. Let me explain: Cardace, at a specific and significant moment, said a certain thing. The substance of the statement doesn’t matter as much as the fact that the statement was made.”

They were all silent for about twenty seconds. My argument made sense, but it required a modicum of reflection. At last Consuelo nodded: she also thought it might work.

“Let’s try.”

I turned to Tancredi. “Carmelo, in your opinion, talking about the jacket and the gunshot residue, do we need to call an expert witness?”

“No, we just need the member of the forensics team. All we have to do is explain the procedure and draw attention to the fact that the residue was found on the jacket, but not on Cardace’s hands or any other part of his body. That’s an element in favour of the theory that the contamination occurred a few days earlier.”

“So let’s put whichever forensics person did the test on the list. If we need anything more, we’ll have time during the hearings. Now the two most complicated points: the 163target practice in the quarry and the story of the fight at Chilometro Zero.”

“I talked to an old informant of mine this morning and finally found out the name of the guy who was beaten up by Gaglione.”

He told us it was the son of one Sebastiano Amendolagine, known as Pitbull. A provincial boss active between Cassano and Acquaviva with a group of his own, dealing in drugs and extortion, especially of farmers; those reluctant to pay often found themselves with their grape canopies cut. He was on excellent terms with a few families in Bari, especially with people in San Girolamo. When he found out that his son had been beaten up by a bouncer he’d gone crazy.

“How can we use this?”