‘I finished filling up her tank, I told her how much she owed me, and she paid me with a one-hundred-thousand-lire bill, which she took from her purse. As I was giving her change — I like to kid around with the ladies, you see — I asked her, “Anything special I can do for you?” I sort of expected her to answer with an insult, but she just smiled and said, “For the special things I’ve already got someone.” And she continued on her way.’
‘She didn’t turn back towards Montelusa? Are you sure of that?’
‘Absolutely certain. The poor thing, when I think of how she ended up!’
‘OK. Thanks’
‘Oh, one more thing, Inspector. She was in a hurry. After I filled up her tank, she drove off”
really fast. See down there? It’s all straight, I watched her car till she rounded the bend. She was really speeding’
‘I’d planned to come home tomorrow’ said Gillo Jacono, ‘but as I got back today, I thought I’d check in with you right away’
A distinguished man in his thirties, with a pleasant face.
‘Thanks for coming.’
‘I wanted to tell you that with something like this, you think about it again and again.’
‘Do you want to change the statement you made over the phone?’
‘Absolutely not. Although, after playing the thing over and over in my head, I would like to add one detail But just to be safe, you probably ought to preface what I’m about to say with a very big “maybe”’
‘Go ahead and talk.’
‘Well, the man was carrying his suitcase without effort, in his left hand, and that’s why I had the impression it wasn’t very full Whereas with his right arm he was supporting the woman’
‘Did he have his arm around her?’
‘Not exactly. She was resting her hand on his arm. It seemed to me — seemed. I repeat — as if she was limping slightly.’
‘Dr Pasquano? Montalbano here. Am I disturbing you?’
‘I was making a Y-shaped incision in a corpse. I don’t think he’ll mind if I stop for a few minutes.’
‘Did you notice any signs on Mrs Licalzi’s body that might indicate that she fell sometime before her death?’
‘I don’t remember. Let me take a look at the report.’
He returned before the inspector could light his cigarette.
Yes. She’d fallen on one knee. But she was clothed at the time. In the abrasion on her left knee we found microscopic fibres from the jeans she was wearing.’
There was no need for further confirmation. At 8 p.m., Michela Licalzi fills her tank and heads inland. Three and a half hours later she’s on her way back with a man. Sometime after midnight she’s seen with a man again, certainly the same man, walking towards her house outside Vigata.
‘Hi, Anna. Salvo here. I dropped by your place early this afternoon, but you weren’t there.’
‘Mr Di Blasi called and said his wife was unwell’
‘I hope soon to have good news for them.’
Anna said nothing, and Montalbano realized he’d said something stupid The only news the Di Blastis might consider good was the resurrection of Maurizio.
‘Anna, I wanted to tell you something I discovered about Michela.’
‘Why don’t you come over?’
No, he shouldn’t. He realized that if Anna brought her lips to his another time, no good would come of it.
‘I can’t, Anna. I have an engagement.’
Good thing he was on the phone, because if he’d been right in front of her, she would have immediately realized he was lying.
‘What did you want to tell me?’
‘I have worked out, with a convincing degree of certainty, that at eight o’clock on Wednesday evening, Michela took the Enna—Palermo road. She may have been going to a town in the Montelusa province. Now, think hard before answering: as far as you know, did she have any other acquaintances in the area, aside from the people she knew in Montelusa and Vigata?’
The answer didn’t come immediately. Anna was thinking about it, as the inspector had asked
‘Look — friends, I doubt it. She’d have told me. Acquaintances, on the other hand, yes, a few.’
‘Where?’
‘For example, in Aragona and Comitini, which are both along that road’
‘What kind of acquaintances?’
‘She bought her floor tiles in Aragona. And she got some other supplies that I can’t remember now in Comitini.’
‘Therefore only business dealings.’
‘I’d say so. But, you see, Salvo, you can go just about anywhere from that road. There’s a turn that goes to Raffadali, for one; the captain of the Flying Squad could have spun something out of that, too.’
‘Another thing: sometime after midnight, she was seen in her drive, after getting out of her car. She was leaning on a man.’
‘Are you sure?’
I’m sure.’
The pause this time was very long. So long that the inspector thought they’d been cut off. ‘Are you still there, Anna?’
‘Yes. Salvo, I want to repeat, clearly, once and for all, what I said before. Michela was not the kind of woman who went in for fly-by-night affairs. She confided to me that she was physically incapable of it. Will you understand that? She loved her husband.
And she was very, very attached to Serravalle. She could not have consented, I don’t care what the coroner thinks. She was horribly raped.’
‘How do you explain that she didn’t phone to let the Vassallos know she wouldn’t be coming to dinner at their house? She had a mobile phone, didn’t she?’
‘I don’t understand what you’re getting at.’
‘I’ll explain. When Michela left you at seven thirty, saying she was going back to the hotel, she was telling you the absolute truth at that moment. But then something happened that made her change her mind. And it can only have been a call to her mobile, since when she was travelling up the Enna—Palermo road, she was still alone.’
‘You think she was on her way to an appointment?’
‘There’s no other explanation. It was unexpected, but she didn’t want to miss that appointment.
That’s why she didn’t call the Vassallos. She had no plausible excuse that might justify her not coming, and so the best thing was to give them the slip.
Let’s set aside, if you want, the possibility of an amorous rendezvous; maybe it was a work-related appointment that somehow turned tragic. I’ll grant you that for the moment. But in that case I ask you: what could have been of such importance as to make her behave so rudely towards the Vassallos?’
‘I don’t know,’ Anna said dejectedly.
FIFTEEN
What could have been so important? the inspector asked himself again after saying goodbye to his friend. If not love or sex, which in Anna’s opinion were out of the question, that left only money. During the construction of the house, Michela must have handled some money, and a fair amount at that. Might the key lie hidden there? The conjecture, however, immediately seemed to him without substance, a thread in a spider’s web. But he was duty-bound to investigate all the same. ‘Anna? Salvo again.’
‘Did your engagement fall through? Can you come over?’
There was such happiness and eagerness in the girl’s voice, the inspector didn’t want a note of disappointment to spoil it.