Death in Tuscany (15 page)

Just after eleven o'clock, Fanti handed him a file.

He kept his word,
Ferrara thought, seeing the heading:

DOCTOR FRANCESCO LEONE UNIVERSITY OF FLORENCE DEPARTMENT OF ANATOMY, HISTOLOGY AND FORENSIC MEDICINE SECTION FORENSIC MEDICINE

He started reading.

1
. Having read the documents and examined the cadaver, we have established that the death of this unknown young
person, which occurred in the resuscitation unit of the Ospedale Nuovo, took place at about 16:00 hours on 2 August 2001.

2.
The anthropometric examination and the X-rays have led us to the conclusion that the young woman had reached 14 but not yet 16. This was confirmed above all by the rate of bone calcification and the dentition (presence of the seventh but not the eighth).

3.
The examination of the body before dissection revealed among other things that the young woman had had sexual relations, including anal relations, confirmed by the discovery of semen, on which laboratory tests will be carried out.

4.
The autopsy did not reveal any significant evidence that death was due to trauma. Elements emerged in the course of the autopsy which, taken in conjunction with the medical report and the observations of the consultant, Professor d'Incisa, would seem to confirm that death was consistent with an overdose of heroin (there should however be further clarification on this point once the histological tests have been completed). This overdose did not cause death immediately on consumption but led to encephalic disorders, principally anoxic, irreversibly compromising the cerebral functions, causing death after five days in a state of irreversible coma.

5.
In the course of the autopsy, samples were taken of hair, nails, body fluids, sections of encephalus and liver, as well as fragments of all the organic remains, for the appropriate chemical and toxicological tests.

6.
It has emerged from the first results that the young woman had not menstruated. The biopsy of the uterus revealed that the endometrium was thickened, which was why the menstrual cycle had not yet appeared. Histological examination
of the mucous membranes of the nose revealed the presence of traces of cocaine, mixed with another substance, on which tests are currently in progress.

7.
.
As soon as possible, a complete report on all the results of the histological and toxicological tests will be issued.

Also included in the file, scribbled in pen, was a
Note for Chief Superintendent Ferrara:

As regards sexual relations, the signs are quite evident and demonstrate that the young woman had probably had them shortly before being taken ill. In that case, the cocaine may have acted as a stimulant.

Ferrara lit a cigar and puffed at it, feeling a certain satisfaction. It was a rueful, purely professional satisfaction, which did not in any way lessen the sorrow he felt over the fate of the child they had decided to call Stella.

Violante came back early in the afternoon from his visit to the emergency services. He confirmed that Stella had been found wearing jeans and T-shirt, but no shoes. The paramedics didn't know anything about her knickers or bra, nor had they been struck by anything unusual in the vicinity.

The switchboard operator had not been able to say anything about the man who had made the call. The fact that he was a man was the only thing they were fairly certain about. The call had come in at about 6.45 on the morning of 29 July. It had been a short call, and there was no recording of it, either because the tape recorder had not been working or because of an oversight.

'We have to go further, Violante. What we need urgently from the Prosecutor's Department is authorisation to ask the phone company for a record of the emergency call and where it came from. And if it's a mobile phone, we need the name of the registered user and the identifying signal of the cell in the area affected by the outgoing call.' 'Okay, chief.'

All police forces were now aware that mobile phone records could very often be important, and sometimes even decisive, in an investigation, especially in identifying the contacts of a crime victim or a suspect. Even though the logs did not reveal anything of the contents of calls, they did indicate the date, the hour, the duration in units/seconds, and the area affected by the call, which allowed the police to identify individuals who might otherwise have remained unknown.

It was already five thirty. Massimo Verga was probably in his bookshop. Ferrara decided to go over there. It would be much better than phoning: he hadn't seen him in a while and it would be nice to greet him in the flesh.

The Via Tornabuoni was not too far from the Via Zara, and he preferred to walk even though the heat and humidity were still unbearable.

He found Rita doing the accounts together with the two other assistants. Massimo had not yet shown up, and she could not conceal her anxiety.

'Have you tried calling him?'

'Of course I have, Chief Superintendent! His phone's always switched off, there's no way to talk to him.'

'Isn't there a phone where he's staying?'

'Who knows? I don't have the number. Do you even know where he's been staying?'

It was true: they knew he had rented a place in Marina di Pietrasanta, but they had no idea of the address. It was supposed to be a surprise, he had said.

'He may have got caught up in traffic, you know how it is in summer
..."
he said, in an attempt to reassure her. But it was Monday afternoon, and if anything the traffic would have been going to the sea, not coming back to the city.

'Let's hope so . . .' she said, although she knew as well as he did that it was unlikely.

'Well, if he comes in or phones tell him to call me.'

'I will, Chief Superintendent.'

With one thing and another, it was nearly seven by the time he got back and he was surprised to find Fanti still there.

The sergeant lived in Prato. If he didn't hurry, he would miss his usual train. Normally he never left later than six-thirty.

'Fanti, what are you still doing here?' he said teasingly, but then realised that the sergeant was looking unusually solemn, and paler than usual. 'What's the matter? Has something happened?'

Without saying a word Fanti handed him a piece of paper with the words
Urgent memo
in the top right-hand corner.

Request help in search for Simonetta Palladiani nee Tonelli, born Carrara
17.11.1967,
and Massimo Verga, born Catania
10.10.1949,
owner of bookshop of same name in historical centre Florence.

Said persons believed missing after suspicious death of Ugo Palladiani, born Florence
30.01.1940,
husband of aforementioned Simonetta Palladiani.

Death probably occurred night of Saturday
4
and Sunday
5
August and discovered this morning.

Police Headquarters Florence, to whom copy of present memo is sent, are asked to supply information regarding aforementioned Massimo Verga who, according to the Interior Ministry data bank, was interviewed at aforementioned Police
Headquarters in 1970. Memo sent urgently by order of Public Prosecutor's Department Lucca.

Signed Marshal Angelo Belsito, Commander
of
Carabinieri station Marina di Pietrasanta.

Ferrara collapsed onto one of the visitors' chairs, closed his eyes and grasped the edge of the desk. His head was spinning.

9

During the restless and often sleepless nights that followed, Ferrara had time to reflect on certain assumptions which are taken as gospel truth, but clearly are not. One of these is the common belief that among the many misfortunes which could befall the relatives, friends or close acquaintances of a police superintendent, that of being suspected, let alone actually accused, of a serious crime is completely impossible.

Why do we assume this? Probably because every police officer believes that those he knows are honest people and that, given his choice of career, they could only be on the side of the law. But even though life had taken it upon itself to show Ferrara that this eventuality was possible, he continued to consider it unlikely, and this gave his days the hallucinatory feel of a nightmare. He had to make an effort to keep a clear head, which had never been as necessary as it was right now.

Another deeply rooted belief now being shaken - with consequences that for him, a true Sicilian, would be devastating - was the sacred, indestructible value of friendship.

Of course he and Massimo Verga were very different. But only in the external choices they had made in their lives, in much of their behaviour and perhaps - although he wasn't

sure of this - in their political beliefs, which they had always avoided talking about for
fear of discovering they were either too similar or too different. What united them were much more deeply held values, which had brought them together and cemented their friendship despite misunderstandings and absences. It hurt him now to think back to those difficult days following his engagement to Petra, which had ended with Massimo leaving Sicily for good. And it made him melancholy to think that one of the things that united them and would always unite them was their love for the same woman, which Massimo had sublimated into his inveterate Don Juanism.

The hours which had followed his reading of that incredible memo had been unsettling and interminable.