The Potter's Field

1) She throws the syringe, which still contains a great deal of blood, into the garbage bin;

2) She forgets to clean the dust off the little table in the entranceway (she said she had left the place clean and in perfect order before leaving);

3) She fails to pick up an electric bill, and actually pushes it under the little table.

When she gets back to the motel, she goes to sleep, then leaves for Vigàta the following morning. A few days later, the butcher sends an anonymous letter to the Antimafia office accusing Balduccio Sinagra of the murder of a courier who supposedly betrayed him. In this way he hopes to prompt an investigation. But Antimafia and Narcotics know this can’t be true, because of the business of the letter Balduccio himself gave to Giovanni, which the two killers know nothing about and destroy along with Giovanni’s other things. I realize you may have trouble understanding all this; I promise to explain it all to you when it’s over. Two months after the murder, heavy rains (aided also, in my opinion, by Pecorini) bring the remains of an unknown murder victim to the surface. Dolores then comes into Vigàta police headquarters to cast the first doubt on whether her husband ever actually boarded his ship. And, indeed, the representative of the shipping company informs us that he never did take ship. I succeed in identifying the corpse by means of a dental bridge that Giovanni swallowed as he was being killed. Incidentally, in my opinion they disfigured him so that he could only be identified through DNA testing, thus giving temporal plausibility to Dolores’s phony concerns over her husband’s likely disappearance. In short, as of that moment, it is Dolores herself directing our investigation, adroitly steering it (especially after I turned it over to my deputy) towards Balduccio Sinagra.

It was the Antimafia’s Musante (whom you know) who convinced me that this was the wrong track. And so I went to Gioia Tauro to inspect the scene myself (I didn’t have much time, and didn’t come to see you, sorry), which gave rise to some doubts and suspicions.

I think what I’ve told you so far should be enough for now. If Dolores reacts the way we hope, the game is over. You’ll have everything you need to interrogate her. And let me repeat again, my friend, that you must never mention my name, for any reason whatsoever, even if you are subjected to torture.