Cosi Fan Tutti - 5 Read Online Free PDF Page A

desperately.
    ‘Well, the individual responsible …’
    Caputo held up his arms, crossed at the wrist.
    ‘… is in custody…’
    Caputo ran one finger across his closed lips as though tugging at a zipper.
    ‘… but has so far refused to talk.’
    Caputo was now pacing up and down the floor, darting glances this way and that, one hand shading his eyes.
    ‘My men are conducting a thorough search of the scene …’Zen went on.
    Caputo made writing motions on the palm of his left hand.
    ‘… and taking detailed statements from witnesses.’
    ‘What leads are you working on?’ demanded the Questore.
    ‘What leads are we working on?’
    ‘Must you repeat everything I say? Yes, leads! Theories, ideas, hypotheses. Something which might begin to explain this incident and which I can communicate to the Prefect for subsequent transmission to Rome.’
    Caputo stood on the other side of the desk, his arm thrust forward, holding up three fingers.
    ‘We are working on three main theories at the moment/ Zen replied evenly. ‘The first is that the perpetrator…’
    He glanced at Caputo, who was waddling bow-legged around the room with his hands clutched like claws beside his hips.
    ‘… was a cowboy/ concluded Zen.
    ‘AwhatT
    Caputo shook his head furiously. Zen covered the mouthpiece of the phone.
    ‘An AmericanV hissed Caputo.
    ‘… that he was an American/ Zen told the Questore.
    ‘But the United States naval authorities have explicitly denied that he was one of their men!’
    ‘Exactly!’ retorted Zen. ‘According to this theory, the suspect was an undercover CIA agent who had been entrusted with the mission of murdering one of the Greek sailors, the son of an influential Communist politician.’
    He looked triumphantly at Caputo, who gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up.
    ‘And the second theory?’ pursued the Questore after a pause which suggested that he was taking notes.
    ‘The second…’
    Caputo had transformed himself into a smaller, slighter, quicker individual moving around the room with exaggerated naturalness, glancing furtively from side to side, his hands occasionally darting out to one side or the other as though of their own accord.
    ‘… is that the man was a common pickpocket/ Zen went on, ‘who had infiltrated himself into the port area disguised as an American sailor. He approached the
    Greek sailors, intending to make a touch, and when they started roughing him up under the mistaken impression that he actually was an American, he reverted to type and pulled a knife.’
    “I don’t like that one so much/ the Questore replied neutrally. ‘Reflects badly on the city. What about the third theory?’
    ‘The third?’ replied Zen. ‘Ah, you’re going to love the third.’
    He gazed helplessly at Caputo, who was prancing gaily about, his hands indicating the contours of a generous bosom and rearranging the folds of an invisible skirt.
    ‘According to this theory, the man was in fact a woman/ Zen informed his superior.
    ‘A woman?’
    ‘A prostitute. We try to keep them out of the port area, of course, but…’
    ‘Surely to God you can at least ascertain the sex of the individual in your custody?’ demanded the Questore icily.
    ‘His sex? Yes, of course.’
    Caputo quickly sketched an enormous male organ in the air,
    ‘He’s a man. No question about that.’
    ‘But you just told me that you were working on the theory that he was a prostitute!’
    Zen hesitated a moment.
    ‘Exactly, a transvestite prostitute.’
    ‘But he was dressed as a manY
    ‘Outwardly, yes. But he was wearing female undergarments.’
    The Questore was briefly silent.
    ‘In other words …?’
    ‘In other words, he was a man dressed as a woman dressed as a man.’
    ‘But that’s absurd!’
    ‘Oh, there’s a demand for that sort of thing/ Zen replied in a worldly tone. ‘But unfortunately on this occasion he had mistaken his clientele. They started beating
    him up, and he drew his knife in