Read Online Adam's Rib by Antonio Manzini - Free Book Online Page B

thing?”
    Rocco shrugged. “Why not? Maybe they did it just to throw us off the trail. Still, there’s something about it I don’t like.”
    â€œDo tell.”
    â€œActually, two things. The first thing, you see, is that we have a kitchen that was turned literally upside down, like there’d been a tornado. A real authentic mess. But the bedroom, where the valuables were hidden—in a small velvet box containing the family gold—was searched scientifically. They might have opened a couple of drawers, at the very most.”
    â€œAs if they knew where to look. So what about the mess in the kitchen?”
    â€œExactly. It doesn’t add up. Plus, I think the burglars had been in that apartment before.”
    â€œWhy do you say that?”
    â€œThere was no sign of breaking and entering on the door or on the windows. If they got in, either it was because Signora Baudo knew them or else because—”
    â€œBecause they had the keys,” concluded Judge Baldi, getting to his feet. He was hyperactive: he couldn’t sit listening for more than five minutes at a time. He walked over to the window and stood drumming his fingers on the glass. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to work solo, Schiavone. I’ve got some problems on my hands.” Immediately an image flashed into Rocco’s mind: the wife’s picture dumped into a drawer, if not actually tossed in the trash. Baldi stopped drumming and started whistling softly. Rocco recognized the Toreador song from Bizet’s Carmen . “We are on the trail of one of the biggest tax evasion cases I’ve ever worked on, me and the finance police and the Carabinieri. There’s just an endless supply of tax evaders, you know that?”
    â€œI can imagine. I can’t do a lot of tax evading with my paycheck.”
    Baldi turned around and smiled. “If we all just paid our taxes, the tax burden would be much lighter. You know that, I know that. But it seems as if the Italians aren’t interested in the fact. This really is a strange country, isn’t it?”
    Rocco braced himself for another pearl of wisdom from Judge Baldi, who always seemed to have some solution for the nation’s political and economic problems on his mind. His notions ranged from drafting cabinet ministers and secretaries from other countries, more or less the way that soccer teams are assembled, in order to have serious, well-trained, honest people running the government, to the elimination of banknotes so that all transactions would have to be conducted through credit cards. This would make all purchases traceable and make it impossible to conceal one’s income and evade taxes. “It’s a strange, deeply wasteful country,” Rocco said, encouragingly.
    Baldi didn’t have to be asked twice. “True. Let me give you an example. Public funding of the political parties. Right now, they take the money as an electoral reimbursement, right?”
    â€œRight.”
    â€œAnd I don’t actually disagree with the idea. Better for them to receive public money than get funds from some powerful, manipulative lobbyist or other. But follow me closely here.” He turned away from the window and went back to his seat at his desk. “I say what we do is take parliamentarians, cabinet ministers, and undersecretaries off the state payroll,because that’s clearly a waste of public money. Instead, we should have deputies, senators, and everyone else paid directly by the parties that run them for office. In that case, politicians would get the proper salaries. And just think of how much money the treasury would save. What do you think? Wouldn’t it be a great idea?”
    â€œBut that would mean finally just giving up and bending over to take it from behind, and admitting that this country is in the hands of the political parties.”
    â€œWell, are you saying it isn’t? Deputies and