The captain slapped out a fast rhythm on his knee, and stood up briskly and started touring the room.
‘Another time, Caterina. I need to go.’
‘Wait. He did have a wedding ring. His wife told me. For some reason he threw his ring away or they stole it from him.’
‘Probably the latter,’ said Blume.
‘No, I don’t think that fits the…’
‘Later. Tell me later.’ He hung up. Massimiliani was now strolling around the room, picking out books at random, looking at them, putting them back.
‘A lot of art books. History, too.’
‘My parents’.’
‘They were art historians. I read your file. But three of the books I just looked at were published after their death, so you must have bought them.’
‘It’s a hobby.’
‘No novels.’
‘Stories are a waste of time unless they’re true,’ said Blume.
‘Or unless they serve a purpose. We all tell stories to ourselves that we know aren’t true. The Ndrangheta, for example, has a lot of stories that are useful. That Tree of Wisdom you were just talking about with…?’
‘They make stories up as it serves their purpose,’ said Blume, ignoring Massimiliani’s cue.
‘That’s just what you did with that confession, isn’t it?’
Blume tried to keep his gaze steady, but he felt disoriented. He had reckoned it might take two or three days for his falsified transcript to leak through the system. Instead, it had been a few hours. Even by the lousy standards of secrecy in the force and among the magistrates, that was far too fast.
‘Look, Blume, I admire your enterprise here. It tilted the scales in your favour. But let’s not waste time in denials. If there had been a confession from Curmaci’s wife, I’d have heard about it from Arconti. He mentioned that he had called her, fishing for information, but there was no talk of a confession. It had to be you. I think it was a good idea, and I like the way you both buried it in your office and in the Palaces of Justice. You made us look for it so that when we found it the thrill of discovery would make us reluctant to consider that we were led to it. I think you might be a natural.’
‘You keep saying “we”. Who else was with you?’
‘Your direct superior, the Vice-questore. Well, he accompanied one of my men. So he sort of knows, but he is not aware it was a forged document. Let’s hope he never finds out.’
‘Great. So my office was searched. Was Arconti relaying everything back to you? I trusted him.’
‘And you were right to, and you should continue. Casual chats. Of course, he’s not in a fit state to talk at length, but if we were to phone him now and ask whether he had received a confessional phone call from Curmaci’s wife, what would he say?’
Blume stayed silent.
‘We soon found out you were planting the story in the press, too, along with hints of a break-in and a cover-up. If we try to deny or kill the story, it will only gain more credibility. So it’s out there, now, with a life of its own doing whatever you wanted it to do. So, tell me, what did you want it to do?’
‘Disorient Curmaci, maybe force him back into Italy to defend his family before he’s ready. Get him in trouble with his associates. Just get back at him some way. Drag him into the open, discomfit the bastard.’
‘I like that. We can let it run its course,’ said Massimiliani. ‘Curmaci was probably planning to attend the Polsi summit anyhow. But for all your cleverness, Blume, you made a mistake that, to my mind at least, makes it incontrovertibly a forged confession.’
The nagging doubt Blume had had from the start in the back of his mind seemed to step forward and take an ironic bow. ‘I got the tone wrong,’ he said.
‘I was really hoping you’d recognize your own mistake — another good sign. You kept to the same tone of the original denial. But that was a prepared statement full of insinuation and warning. If she really had been confessing and seeking help, the tone would have been less coherent.’
‘Ah, well,’ said Blume. ‘She’s still in the shit, though, isn’t she, once this gets known?’
‘Probably,’ agreed Massimiliani. ‘Her name’s Maria Itria.’
‘I know.’
‘She’s got two children.’
‘So had the unfortunate insurance salesman, Arconti.’
‘He was an actuary.’
‘Whatever.’
‘You seem convinced it was Curmaci. Any particular reason?’
‘Well, Magistrate Arconti is the main reason. He told me a bit about Curmaci, and this seems like the sort of thing he might do. But I am not assuming it is Curmaci.’
‘So why did you go to all that trouble of falsifying his wife’s statement?’
‘If it wasn’t Curmaci, it was one of them. Getting Curmaci will do fine, since they’re all the same.’
‘Interesting attitude. You don’t care whether this really was Curmaci or not?’
‘Like I said, it may as well have been him,’ said Blume. ‘Curmaci or someone else in the organization. All the same. Only the name changes.’
‘Now I’m on your side in this, Commissioner, be assured of that, but can’t you see a slight similarity between your approach and Curmaci’s carelessness about killing an innocent man just because his name happened to match the magistrate’s?’
‘No, I see no similarity at all,’ said Blume. ‘But I did notice you attributed the killing to Curmaci.’
‘Suppose the murder was not even related to the Ndrangheta?’
‘It is,’ said Blume. ‘It’s too symbolic. It fits with how Curmaci operates. Killing a namesake, putting the body next to Via Falcone e Borsellino in remembrance of martyred magistrates, the torn page.’
‘What torn page?’
Blume hesitated, then told Massimiliani about Caterina’s discovery.
‘You think that was some sort of calling card left by Curmaci?’
‘I looked up the name Curmaci a while ago. It means “tree trunk”, so the symbolic gesture fits. Then there were the victim’s dirty stained fingers.’
‘What does that signify?’
‘I haven’t the slightest idea,’ said Blume. ‘But it’s bound to have some sort of symbolic meaning.’
‘Maybe you’re right. But it is not nearly enough for an international arrest warrant.’
‘Nothing ever is,’ said Blume. ‘Which is why forcing him down to Calabria gives us a chance to pick him up.’
‘Us?’
‘You. Someone.’
‘Curmaci would be worth getting. The Ndrangheta reproduces like a cell. First, they make a copy of the rules for building another cell; then, they send someone like Curmaci with the rules abroad. Once the rules are laid down, other members of the original cell start moving abroad, too. You could compare Curmaci to a string of DNA.’
‘A string of RNA would make a more accurate metaphor,’ said Blume. ‘And Arconti compared him to a Catholic missionary. Anyhow, priest or protein, it still seems to me getting rid of him would be a good thing. When I say get rid of…’
‘No need to reassure me, Commissioner. I know you’re not in favour of assassinations, even of the worst. That emerges from your files. But wouldn’t you say Curmaci is too important to be carrying out assassinations in person?’
‘Like I said, do we care if it was him? He killed in the past, at least that’s what Arconti told me.’
‘Oh, he did that,’ said Massimiliani. ‘Definitely. He was an executioner for Old Megale in the 1990s. Then he stopped. It would be unusual for him to start again now.’
Blume shrugged. ‘So he ordered it.’
‘Possibly. Every Ndranghetista who goes abroad, Curmaci included, has to leave family members at home. That way they can operate more freely in the new territory. Their family members gain respect and wealth, but basically, they are hostages. The local Calabrian Ndrangheta can get to them at any time.’
‘That sounds like a weakness waiting to be exploited,’ said Blume.
‘Which is what you are trying to do with your forged confession.’ Massimiliani walked over and tapped Blume lightly on the shoulder. ‘I like that attitude, too. You have convinced me we can work together, now can I convince you?’