Game of Mirrors Read Online Free PDF Page B

mecka me laugh! Isspector Montalbano donna know how to fine a woman!”
    And indeed, at that moment he knew what to do.
    “Listen, I’ll call you back in ten minutes.”
    He called up Francischino’s garage, asked him for Liliana’s number, then rang her.
    “Montalbano here.”
    “Don’t tell me you can’t come tonight!”
    He told her about Adelina’s invitation.
    “They’re rather simple people,” he added.
    He neglected to tell her that Pasquale was a habitual offender and that he’d had to send him to jail himself two or three times.
    “All right. But are her arancini like the ones they serve on the ferryboat?”
    Montalbano became indignant.
    “That’s blasphemy,” he said.
    She laughed.
    “What time will you come to pick me up?”
    “How’s eight thirty sound?”
    “Sounds good, but my invitation still stands.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “You still owe me a dinner at my house.”
    He called Adelina back and told her he’d be bringing Signora Lombardo.
    His housekeeper was pleased.
         
    At Enzo’s, with the evening’s arancini to look forward to, the inspector ate lightly, skipping the antipasto and eating only one serving of the main course.
    But he took a stroll along the jetty anyway, not for digestive but for meditative purposes.
    He was feeling troubled by what Fazio had told him—that is, that he’d seen Liliana’s husband in Vigàta while she was in bed with her lover.
    True, Fazio had admitted that he might be mistaken, but he’d reached this conclusion by way of logic. Because if Lombardo had been in Vigàta, things could not have gone as smoothly as they had. Fazio’s first, instinctual reaction as a policeman, however, was to recognize Lombardo inside his sports car. And Montalbano had a lot of faith in Fazio’s instincts. He therefore had to take into consideration, at least theoretically, the hypothesis that Lombardo was returning home to Marinella that evening, after being away for a few days.
    Then how to explain that he hadn’t caught Liliana with another man? Had he purposely avoided doing so?
    First answer: Lombardo wasn’t going home, but to Montereale or Fiacca or Trapani or only he knew where,and in a hurry, and therefore hadn’t planned to stop at home, not even for a moment, to say hello to his wife.
    But this answer didn’t make sense, because going in that direction he would have had no choice but to pass by his house, and he couldn’t have failed to notice the Volvo parked outside the gate. At the very least, he should have been curious enough to stop.
    Second answer: Lombardo was in fact going home, but saw the Volvo, concluded that Liliana had company, and so drove past unseen. In this case, it was possible that he and his wife had an open marriage in which each did whatever he or she felt like doing.
    But the second answer didn’t make sense either. Because in that case he could very easily have waited nearby for Liliana’s encounter to be over, and then gone home. Whereas there was no trace whatsoever of him when Liliana was waiting to be picked up the following morning.
    Third answer: Lombardo called his wife to let her know that he would be stopping by in the evening, since he had to pass that way. And the call came in when he, Montalbano, was in their house. Liliana tells him he can’t come by because she’s busy. And they have an argument. But in the end the husband does what his wife asks.
    Unavoidable conclusion: Lombardo in any case didn’t care how his wife behaved.
    But all this was predicated on the assumption that Fazio had not been mistaken in recognizing Lombardo.
    “Ahh Chief, ’ere’d be summon ’at calls ’isself Arrigone ’oo amoijently wants a talk t’yiz poissonally in poisson.”
    “On the phone or the premises?”
    “Onna premisses.”
    “Did he say what he wanted?”
    “Nah, Chief.”
    “All right, show him in.”
    Catarella appeared in the doorway and then stood aside, saying:
    “Signor