IM8 The Patience of the Spider (2007) Page 6

  Were you able to find out where the phone call was made from? was the first thing Montalbano asked.

  No. It was too brief, replied Minutolo. Now listen up; we can discuss things later.

  Okay.

  As soon as he sensed Montalbanos presence, Fazio, with a kind of animal reflex, opened his eyes and leapt to his feet.

  So youre here, Chief? You want to listen? Sit down here in my place.

  Without waiting for an answer, he turned on the tape recorder.

  Hello? Who is this? This is the Mistretta residence. Who is

  this?

  ...

  Who is this? Listen to me and dont interrupt.The girl is here with us, and shes doing all right for now. Recognize her voice? ... Papa...Papa... please... help... ... Did you hear? Get a lot of money ready. Ill call again day after tomorrow. ... Hello? Hello? Hello? ...

  Play it over again, said the inspector.

  The last thing he wanted to do was to listen again to the fathomless despair in that girls voice, but he had to do it. As a precaution, he covered his eyes with one hand, in case his emotions got the better of him.

  After the second listening, Dr. Mistretta, face buried in his hands, shoulders heaving with sobs, rushed out, almost running into the garden.

  Hes very fond of his niece, Minutolo commented.

  Then, looking at Montalbano: So? That was a recorded message. Do you agree? Absolutely. The mans voice is disguised. Clearly. And there are at least two of them. Susannas voice is

  in the background, a bit far from the recorder. When the man making the recording says, Recognize her voice? a few seconds pass before Susanna speaks, the time it takes for his

  accomplice to lower her gag. Then he gags her again almost immediately, cutting her off in the middle of her plea, which was surely supposed to be Help me. What do you think?

  I think there may only be one of them. First he says, Recognize her voice? then he goes over and removes the gag.

  Thats not possible, because in that case the pause between the kidnappers question and Susannas voice would have been longer.

  Okay. You know something?

  No. Youre the expert.

  Theyre not following the usual procedure.

  Explain.

  Well, what is the usual procedure for a kidnapping? There are the manual laborerslets call them Group B who are given the task of physically carrying out the kidnapping. After which Group B hands the kidnapped person over to Group C, that is, those in charge of hiding her and taking care of hermore grunt work. At this point Group A comes on the scene. These are the ringleaders, the organizers who will demand the ransom. All these transitions take time, and therefore the ransom request is usually not made until a few days after the kidnapping. Whereas, in our case, it took only a few hours.

  And what does this mean?

  In my opinion, it means the group that kidnapped Susanna is the same one that is holding her prisoner and demanding the ransom. It might be a family outfit on a low budget. And if theyre not professional, that complicates matters and makes it more dangerous for the girl. Follow me?

  Perfectly.

  It may also mean theyre holding her somewhere not very far away. He paused, looking pensive. On the other hand, it doesnt look like some fly-by-night kidnapping either. In those cases the ransom demand is usually made with the first contact. They have no time to waste.

  This business of letting us hear Susannas voice, said Montalbano, is it normal? I dont think

  Youre right, said Minutolo. It never happens. You only see it in movies. What usually occurs is that if you dont want to pay up, they wait a bit and then have the victim write a couple of lines to persuade you. Or they might send you a piece of his ear. Thats usually the only kind of contact they allow between victim and family.

  Did you notice how they spoke? How did they speak? In perfect Italian, with no regional inflection. Youre right. So what are you going to do now? What do you want me to do? Im going to call the com

  missioner and tell him the news. That phone call has got me confused, said Montalbano

  in conclusion. Me, too, Minutolo agreed. Tell me something. Why did you let Mistretta talk to a

  newsman?

  To jump-start things, speed up the tempo. I dont like the idea of a girl so pretty being at the mercy of people like that for very long.

  Are you going to tell the media about this phone call? Not even in my dreams.

  That was all, for the moment. The inspector went up to Fazio, who had fallen back asleep, and shook his shoulder.

  Wake up, Ill take you home.

  Fazio put up a feeble resistance.

  Come on. At any rate, theyre not going to call back until day after tomorrow. They told you themselves, didnt they?

  After dropping Fazio off, he headed home. Entering without a sound, he went into the bathroom and then got ready to lie down on the sofa. He was too tired even to curse the saints. As he was taking off his shirt, he noticed, in the dark, that the bedroom door was ajar. Apparently Livia was sorry for having banished him. He went back in the bathroom, finished undressing, tiptoed into the bedroom, and lay down. A short spell later, he stretched out close to Livia, who was in a deep sleep. The minute he closed his eyes he was in dreamland. Then suddenly, clack. Times spring jammed. Without looking at the clock, he knew it was three-twenty-seven and forty seconds. How long had he slept? Luckily he fell back asleep almost at once.

  Livia woke up around seven the next morning. Montalbano, too. And they made peace.

  Francesco Lipari, Susannas boyfriend, was waiting for him in front of the station. The dark circles under his eyes betrayed his agitation and sleepless nights.

  Im sorry, Inspector, but early this morning I called Su- sannas father and he told me about the phone call, so

  What?! I thought Minutolo didnt want anyone to know!

  The kid shrugged.

  All right, come inside. But dont tell anyone at all about that phone call.

  As he went in, the inspector told Catarella he didnt want to be disturbed.

  Is there something you have to tell me? he asked the young man.

  Nothing in particular. But it occurred to me there was something I forgot to tell you the last time I saw you. I dont know how important it is...

  In this case, everything is potentially important.

  When I discovered Susannas motorbike, I didnt go straight to her house to tell her father. I took the dirt road all the way back to Vig, then turned around and went back to where Id started.

  Why?

  I dunno. At first it was sort of instinctive. I thought she might have fainted or fallen and lost her memory, so I decided to look for her along that road. Then, on the way back, it wasnt her I was looking for anymore, but

  The helmet she always wore, said Montalbano.

  The boy looked at him, wide-eyed with surprise.

  6

  You thought of it, too?

  Me? Well, when I arrived at the scene, my men had already been there for a while. And when Susannas father told them she always wore a helmet, they looked for it everywhere, not only along the road but also in the fields beyond the walls.

  I just cant imagine the kidnappers forcing Susanna in the car with her struggling and screaming with her helmet on.

  Me neither, as far as that goes.

  But do you really have no idea how things went? asked Francesco, torn between incredulity and hope.

  The kids of today! thought the inspector. They put their faith in us so readily, and we do everything we can to disappoint them!

  To prevent Francesco from seeing his emotion (but was this not perhaps a first sign of senility and not an effect of his injury?), he bent down to look at some papers inside a drawer. He didnt answer until he was sure he could speak in a steady voice.

  There are still too many things we cant explain. The first is: Why did Susanna take a road shed never taken before to come home?

  Maybe theres somebody around ther
e

  Nobody knows her. And nobody even saw her pass by on her motorbike. Of course its possible one of thems not telling the truth. In that case, the person not telling the truth is an accessory to the kidnapping, maybe only as a coordinator. Maybe he was the only one who knew that on that specific day, at that specific hour, Susanna would come driving down that road. Do you follow?

  Yes.

  But if Susanna took that road for no particular reason, then the kidnapping must have resulted from an entirely chance encounter. But that cant be how it went.

  Why not?

  Because the kidnappers are showing that they planned the job in advance and are therefore at least minimally organized. We know from the phone call that this was not a rush job. They seem in no hurry to get rid of Susanna. This means theyre keeping her in a safe place. And its unlikely they found such a place in a matter of hours.

  The young man said nothing. He was concentrating so hard on the words he was hearing that the inspector thought he could hear the gears churning in his brain. Francesco then drew his conclusion.

  According to your reasoning, Susanna was very probably kidnapped by someone who knew she was going to take the dirt road that evening. Someone who lives around there. In that case we need to get to the bottom of this, find out every- bodys name, verify that

  Stop. If youre going to start calculating and forming hypotheses, you must also be able to anticipate failure.

  I dont understand.

  Ill explain. Lets assume we conduct a careful investigation of all those who live on that road. We come to know every detail of their lives, down to the number of hairs on their asses, and in the end we learn that there was never any contact whatsoever between Susanna and any of them. Nothing at all. What do you do then? Start over from the top? Give up? Shoot yourself?

  The kid didnt let up.

  Well, what do you think one should do?

  Formulate and test other hypotheses at the same time, letting them all play out simultaneously, without giving preference to any single one, even if it appears to be the most likely to prove true.

  And have you formed any others?

  Of course.

  Could you tell me one?

  If itll make you feel better...Okay, Susannas on that dirt road because someone told her to meet him or her in that very place, because theres never anyone around . . .

  Thats not possible.

  Whats not possible? That Susanna might have had such an appointment? Can you really be so certain? Im not saying, mind you, that it was some sort of amorous rendezvous. Maybe she was meeting someone for reasons we dont know. So she goes to this appointment unaware that shes walking into a trap. When she arrives, she parks the motorbike, removes her helmet, but keeps it in her hand, knowing that the meeting is supposed to be brief. Then she approaches the car and is kidnapped. Does that work for you?

  No, Francesco said firmly.

  And why not?

  Because when we saw each other that afternoon, she would surely have told me about this prearranged meeting. Im sure of it, believe me.

  I believe you. But maybe Susanna didnt get a chance to tell you.

  I dont understand.

  Did you accompany her on her way to her friends house that evening?

  No.

  Susanna had a cell phone, which we havent found, right?

  Right.

  She could have received a phone call after she left your place, as she was on her way to her friends house, and agreed to the meeting only then. And since you havent seen her since, she had no way of letting you know.

  The boy thought about this for a moment. Then he made up his mind.

  I guess its possible.

  So what are you trying to tell me with all these doubts of yours?

  Francesco didnt answer. He buried his face in his hands. Montalbano threw oil on the fire.

  But we may be entirely on the wrong track.

  The kid jumped out of his chair.

  What are you saying?

  Im merely saying that its possible were starting from a mistaken assumption. That is, that Susanna went home by way of that dirt road.

  But thats where I found the motorbike!

  That doesnt necessarily mean Susanna took that road when leaving Vig. Ill give you an example, the first thing that comes into my head. Susanna leaves her friends home and takes the road she normally does. This road is used by many of the people who live in the houses before and after the villa, and it ends a couple of miles past the Mistretta house in a kind of rural suburb of VigLa Cucca, I think its called. Its a road of commuters, peasants, and others who prefer to live in the country even though they work in Vig. They all know one another, and probably go back and forth on that road at the same times of day.

  Yes, but what has that got to do with

  Let me finish. The kidnappers have been following Susanna for some time, to see what kind of traffic there is around the hour she comes home, and to figure out where would be the best place for them to make their move. That evening, they get lucky. They can carry out their plan at the intersection with the dirt road. In one way or another, they block Susannas path. There are at least three of them. Two of them get out of the car and force her to get in. The car drives off, probably taking the dirt road in the direction of Vig. One of the two, however, stays behind, grabs the motorbike, and follows the car. Then he leaves the bike at some point along the dirt road. This would explain, among other things, why the motorbike was pointed in the direction of Vig. Then he gets in the car with the others, and they drive off into the sunset.

  Francesco looked doubtful.

  But why bother with the motorbike? What do they

  care? Their main concern is to get out of there as quickly as possible.

  But I just told you that roads full of commuters! They couldnt just leave the motorbike on the ground. Someone might think thered been an accident, another might recognize the motorbike as Susannas...In short, alarm bells were ringing and they didnt have time to find a good place to hide it. And while they were at it, they might as well move it onto the dirt road, where nobody ever drove by. But we can form other hypotheses as well.

  We can?

  As many as you like. After all, were conducting a lesson here. But first I must ask you a question. You told me you sometimes accompanied Susanna all the way home.

  Yes.

  Was the gate open or closed?

  Closed. Susanna would open it with her key.

  So we can also hypothesize that Susanna, having leaned her motorbike against the gate, was reaching for her key when somebody came up to her on foot, someone shes seen a few times along that road, some commuter. The man pleads with her to take him on her motorbike to the dirt road, making up some bullshit story or othersay, that his wife felt sick in the car on her way to Vig and called him on her cell phone for help, or that his son got hit by a car . . . something like that. Susanna feels she cant refuse, so she has him get on the back of her bike and sets out. And in this case as well, we have an explanation for the positioning of the motorbike. Another possibility . . .

  Montalbano suddenly broke off.

  Why dont you go on?

  Because Im bored. Dont kid yourself: It doesnt matter that much exactly what happened.

  It doesnt?

  No, because, if you think about it . . . The more we examine the details that seem essential to us, the fuzzier, the more out- of-focus they become. Take you, for example. Didnt you come to me to find out what ever happened to Susannas helmet?

  Her helmet? Yes.

  As you can see, the more our discussion progressed, the more the helmet receded into the background. In fact it became so unimportant that we stopped talking about it. The real question is not the how, but the why.

  Francesco was opening his mouth to ask another question when the door burst open and crashed loudly against the wall, sending him flying out of his chair in fear.

  What was that? he asked.

  My and slippe
d, Catarella said contritely from the doorway.

  What is it? Montalbano asked in turn.

  Seeing as how you said you dint wanna be disturbed by any disturbers, I hadda come ax you a question in poisson.

  Go ahead.

  Is Mr. Zito the newsman one of them that youda call disturbers, an if he int, int he?

  No, hes no disturbance. Put him on.

  Hi, Salvo, its Nicolorry to interrupt, but I wanted to tell you I just came into my office

  What the hell do I care what your work hours are? Tell it to your employer. No, Salvo, this is serious. I just got in and my secretary told me that ...well, itsabout that girl who waskidnapped.

  Okay, tell me what she said.

  No, Id rather you came here.

  Ill drop by as soon as I can.

  No, right now.

  Montalbano hung up, stood up, and shook Francescos hand.

  The Free Channel, the private television station where NicolZito worked, had their studios in an outlying district of Montelusa. As he was driving there in his car, the inspector tried to guess what could have happened that would make his journalist friend so anxious to tell him about it. And he guessed right. Nicols waiting for him at the entrance to the building, and as soon as he saw Montalbanos car pull up, he went out to greet him. He looked upset.

  What is it?

  This morning, right after the secretary came in to work, there was an anonymous phone call. A man asked her if we had the equipment to record a telephone call and she said yes. He told her to get it all ready, because he was going to call back in five minutes. Which he did.

  They went into Nicoloffice. On his desk was a portable but professional-looking tape recorder. The journalist turned it on. As hed anticipated, Montalbano heard the exact same recording hed heard at the Mistretta home, not one word more or less.

  Its scary. That poor girl . . . said Zito. Then he asked: Did the Mistrettas get this call? Or do the bastards want

  us to act as go-betweens? They called late last night. Zito breathed a sigh of relief. Well, Im glad for that. But then why did they also send

  it to us?

  Ive got a very good idea why, said Montalbano. The kidnappers want everyone, not just the father, to know that the girl is in their hands. Normally a kidnapper has everything to gain from silence. These guys, however, are doing everything under the sun to make noise. They want the sound of Susanna begging for help to scare as many people as possible.