The Age of Doubt by Andrea Camilleri Read Free Book Online Page A

time before the boat was found.”
    “Thanks.”
    “One more thing about the dinghy. It showed no sign of having been used before.”
    “Meaning?”
    “Meaning that, in our opinion, it was unpacked and inflated for the occasion. It still had little pieces of cellophane stuck to it here and there, traces of the material it came wrapped in.”
    “Anything concerning the body?”
    “No. He was completely naked. On the other hand . . .”
    “Tell me.”
    “It’s just a personal impression.”
    “Tell me anyway.”
    “Before taking the body aboard, the captain had some pictures taken which he turned over to us. You want to see them?”
    “No, just tell me what your impression was.”
    “Inside the dinghy the body’s pallor was even more striking. The guy was definitely not a man of the sea.”

    “Ahh Chief! Fazio tol’ me to tell yiz ’at the minute you got here I’s asposta tell ’im!”
    “Then tell him.”
    Fazio arrived two minutes later, acting as if he had something important to say. He remained standing in front of the inspector.
    “Chief, first we have to make an agreement.”
    “About what?”
    “That you won’t get mad and start yelling at me if every so often I have to look at my notes.”
    “As long as you leave out the Records Office stuff about the names of the father and mother . . .”
    “All right.”
    Fazio sat down in the chair in front of the desk.
    “Where should I begin?”
    “With the owner.”
    “She’s a lady with a nasty disposition—”
    “I already know that. Go on.”
    “Her name is Livia . . .”
    Montalbano, for no reason, gave a start. Fazio looked at him in astonishment.
    “Chief, your girlfriend doesn’t have exclusive rights to the name. Livia Acciai Giovannini, from Livorno, just turned fifty-two though she doesn’t show it one bit. According to her, she worked as a model when she was young; but according to Maurilio Alvarez, she was a prostitute.”
    “And who’s this Alvarez?”
    “The ship’s engineer. I’ll get back to him in a second. So at age thirty-five this Livia meets Arturo Giovannini, a rich man and an engineer, on the beach at Forte dei Marmi. Giovannini falls in love with her and marries her. The marriage lasts only ten years, because the engineer dies.”
    “Of old age?”
    “No, Chief, they were the same age. During a storm at sea, the poor guy fell out of the boat and—”
    “Don’t call it a boat.”
    “What am I supposed to call it, then?”
    “A yacht.”
    “Anyway, the guy falls into the sea and they were never able to recover the body.”
    “Who told you this story?”
    “The widow.”
    “Did Maurilio back it up?”
    “We didn’t talk about the accident. At any rate, she inherits the boat and continues sailing all over the place, which is exactly what her late husband used to do.”
    “What’d he live on?”
    “Giovannini? An inheritance.”
    “What about the widow?”
    “She inherited the inheritance.”
    “Seem legit to you?”
    “Not really. That’s all I’ve got on the lady. The captain’s from Genoa and his name is Nicola Sperlì. When the husband was alive, Sperlì was second-in-command to the captain, whose name was . . .” He pulled a little piece of paper out of his pocket and looked at it. “. . . Filippo Giannitrapani, whom he later replaced.”
    “Did Giannitrapani quit?”
    “No, the lady fired him as soon as she inherited the boat.”
    “Why’d she do that?”
    “According to Captain Sperlì, the two could never get along because Captain Giannitrapani had an even nastier disposition than the lady.”
    “And what’s Maurilio say about this?”
    “Maurilio says Sperlì and the lady were lovers before the husband died.”
    “I guess the husband’s little fall into the sea was—”
    “Not really, Chief. If they chucked him into the sea, it was for another reason.”
    “Explain.”
    “Apparently, after a couple of years of marriage the lady started making the rounds of the