Read Online IM11 The Wings of the Sphinx (2009) by Andrea Camilleri - Free Book Online

reliable you think his testimony really is!”
    “It’s possible that seeing all that divine grace before his eyes, Graceffa’s vision became more keen,” Augello retorted.
    “I, on the other hand, have been thinking about the purpurin,” said Fazio.
    “Good for you,” said Montalbano.
    “Where is it that people work with purpurin?” Fazio wondered aloud, then answered his own question: “At furniture factories.”
    “Do people still make gilded furniture?” Montalbano asked.
    “Of course they do!” said Augello. “The other day I went to the wedding of a distant relative of Beba’s. Well, the furniture was all—”
    “At restoration workshops,” said Montalbano.
    “No, it wasn’t,” said Augello, flustered. “Why do you say that? The furniture was not in restoration workshops, it was all in the house.”
    “Mimì, what I meant was that one could also find purpurin in the workshop of someone who restores antique furniture.”
    “I’ll start having a look around tomorrow,” said Fazio.
    “All right, but you can’t limit yourself to Vigàta. You have to look in Montelusa as well, and in some of the neighboring towns. The dump at the Salsetto is used by people from Vigàta, Montelusa, Giardina, Gallotta . . .”
    “And sometimes even by people from Borgina,” said Augello.
    “Would to God we discovered that the murder occurred in Borgina!” Montalbano exclaimed.
    “Why?”
    “Have you forgotten that Borgina falls within the jurisdiction of Licata? In that case the investigation would be turned over to them.”
    “I was thinking about the purpurin,” said Fazio.
    “You’ve already said that.”
    “Chief, I was wondering why the purpurin was under her fingernails but not on her fingers.”
    “I was wondering the same thing.”
    “But I saw the body and you didn’t. And I had the impression . . .”
    “Of what?”
    “That the girl had been stripped naked and washed after she was killed,” Mimì cut in. “I had the same thought as Fazio.”
    “She was carefully washed, but whoever did it forgot to clean the fingernails,” said Fazio.
    “Excuse me, but why do you both think she’d been washed?”
    “Because there was no trace of blood on her neck,” said Mimì.
    “Not a drop,” confirmed Fazio.
    “Which means that if she hadn’t been washed, we might be able to determine where she was killed?”
    “Probably, yes,” the two said in chorus.
    The telephone rang. Fazio and Augello made as if to rise and leave the room.
    “Wait, I have something else to tell you.”
    “Chief, there’s a lady onna line an’ I canna ’nerstand ’er name.”
    “Try telling me what you think it is.”
    “Cirrinciò, Chief.”
    “Actually, you got it right, Cat. Put her on.”
    The inspector got worried. Want to bet Adelina was going to tell him she couldn’t come to clean house and prepare dinner?
    “What is it, Adelì?”
    “Signore, you gotta ’scuse me but I gotta tell you my boy Pasquali, when I went to see ’im in prison this morning, he said he wanna talk to you.”
    “They haven’t yet granted him house arrest?”
    “Not yet, signore.”
    “Are you coming tomorrow?”
    “Of course, signore.”
    “When you prepare the food, don’t forget that there’s not going to be any fresh fish at the market tomorrow.”
    “Leave it to me.”
    With the threat of vitella alla milanese dispelled, he felt cheered up.
    He leaned back in his chair and, wanting to amuse himself with a bit of playacting, he looked very seriously at the other two.

6
    So seriously that Augello got worried.
    “What is it?”
    “I’ve got some big news about the Picarella kidnapping.”
    “News?” asked Fazio, wonderstruck.
    Mimì instead took a mocking tone.
    “You’re not going to tell me they’ve asked for a ransom!”
    “Does this seem like a laughing matter to you?”
    “Absolutely, because I don’t believe for a minute that he was kidnapped!”
    “What about you, Fazio? If I told you that