Donna Leon - Doctored Evidence

Brunetti walked towards the boat, the paper still dangling in front of him, as if it were a fresh fish he had just caught and wanted to give to Bocchese. When the technician saw Brunetti, he reached down and opened one of the cases on the pavement. From it he pulled a transparent plastic sleeve and held it open while Brunetti lowered the letter into it.

'Up in the attic. Someone's gone through it and tossed things all over the place. I'd like a complete check: fingerprints, whatever you might find that would allow us to identify him.'

'You know who it was?' Bocchese asked.

Brunetti nodded. 'Can I take the boat?' he asked Bocchese.

'If you send it back for us afterwards. We've got all this stuff to carry’ he said, gesturing down at the cases at his feet.

'All right’ Brunetti said. Before he stepped aboard, he turned back to Bocchese and said, 'By the way, there are none of my fingerprints on any of the stuff in that attic'

Bocchese gave him a long, speculative glance and then said, 'Of course’ He bent down and picked up one of the cases and started towards the door of what had been Signora Battestini's house.

Brunetti resisted the impulse to ask the pilot to take him to Ca' Farsetti for an impromptu meeting with Rossi. The voice of good sense and restraint told him this was not the time for cowboy theatrics, one-to-one confrontations where there were no witnesses and no one to overhear save the two men involved. He had given in to that impulse in the past, and it had always worked against him, against the police, and ultimately against the victims, who had, if nothing else, the right to see their killers punished.

The boat took him back to the Questura, where he went up to the officers' room. Vianello looked up as his superior came in, and his face broadened in a smile that at first spoke of embarrassment, but then, when he saw Brunetti's answering grin, of relief. The inspector got to his feet and came towards the door.

Signalling him to follow, Brunetti started up towards his office, then slowed his steps to allow Vianello to walk beside him. ‘It's Rossi,' he said.

'The man from the school board?' a surprised Vianello asked.

'Yes. I found the reason.'

It was not until they were seated in Brunetti's office that he said, 'I went up and took another look at the junk in her attic. There was a letter from the University of Padova hidden in one of Signora Battestini's statues; rolled up and stuck inside. I stumbled on it,' he concluded, giving no further explanation. Vianello watched him but said nothing. 'It was dated about twelve years ago and said that no one named Mauro Rossi had ever studied in the Department of Economics, had certainly never earned a doctorate.'

Vianello's eyebrows pulled together in unmistakable confusion. 'But so what?'

'It means he lied when he applied for the job, said he had a doctorate when he didn't,' Brunetti explained.

‘I understand that,' said a patient Vianello, 'but I don't see how it makes any difference.'

'The whole thing, his job, his career, his future, all of them would be lost if Battestini showed anyone the letter,' Brunetti explained, puzzled that Vianello seemed not to understand.

Vianello made a gesture as though he hoped to scare away flies. 'I understand all of that. But why is it so important? It's only a job, for God's sake. Important enough to kill someone?'

The answer came from his conversation with Paola, surprising Brunetti as it came back to him: 'Pride,' he declared. 'Not lust and not greed. But pride. We've followed the wrong vice throughout,' he said to a completely perplexed Vianello.

It was clear that Vianello had no idea what Brunetti meant. Finally, he repeated, ‘I still don't understand,' and then, 'Are we going to go and get him or not?'

Brunetti saw no reason for haste. Signor – no longer Dottor – Rossi was not going to abandon his position and family. Instinct told him that Rossi was the kind of man who would brave it out, who would maintain up to the very last that he had no idea what any of this was about or how his name possibly came to be associated with that of an old woman who had the misfortune to be murdered. Brunetti could all but hear his explanations and was sure they would, chameleon-like, change as more and more incriminating evidence was presented by the police. Rossi had fooled people for more than a decade: surely he would try to continue to do so now.

Vianello shifted restlessly in his seat, and Brunetti attempted to calm him by saying, 'We need his fingerprints to be on the things in the attic. As soon as Bocchese has them, we can think about bringing him in for questioning.'

'And if he refuses to give us a sample on his own?'

'He won't refuse, not once we have him here,' Brunetti said with absolute certainty. 'It would create a scandal: the newspapers would eat him alive.'

'And killing the old woman won't create a scandal?'

'Yes, but a different sort, one he thinks he can talk his way out of. He'll claim that he was a victim, that he didn't know what he was doing, that he was not himself when he killed her.' Before Vianello could ask, he went on, 'Refusing to be fingerprinted, when he knows it's inescapable – that would look cowardly, so he'll avoid that.' He glanced away from Vianello and out of the window for a moment, then returned his attention to his colleague and said, 'Think about it: he created a false person years ago, this false doctor, and he won't move from that role, no matter what we do or can prove about him. He's lived within it so long he probably believes it by now or at least believes that he has earned the right to special treatment because of his position.'

'And so?' Vianello asked, apparently bored with all of this speculation and in need of practical information.

'And so we wait for Bocchese.'

Vianello got to his feet, thought about saying something but decided not to, and left.

Brunetti remained at his desk, thinking of power and the privileges many of those who had it believed accrued to them because of it. He ran through the people he worked with, hunting for this quality, and when his train of thought brought him into company with Lieutenant Scarpa, he pushed himself to his feet and went down to the lieutenant's office.

'Avanti’ Scarpa called out in response to Brunetti's knock.

Brunetti went in, leaving the door open. When he saw his superior, the lieutenant half stood, a movement that might as well have been an attempt to find a more comfortable position in his seat as a sign of respect. 'May I help you, Commissario?' he asked, lowering himself again into his chair.

'What's happening with Signora Gismondi?' Brunetti asked.

Scarpa's smile made a mockery of mirth. 'May I ask the reason for your concern, sir?' Scarpa asked.

'No,' Brunetti answered in a tone so peremptory that Scarpa failed to disguise his surprise. 'What's happening with your investigation of Signora Gismondi?'

'I assume you've spoken to the Vice-Questore and he's given you his permission to involve yourself in this, sir,' Scarpa said blandly.

'Lieutenant, I asked you a question,' Brunetti said.

Perhaps Scarpa thought he could stall for time; perhaps he was curious to see how far he could push Brunetti. 'I've spoken to some of her neighbours about her whereabouts on the morning of the murder, sir’ he said, glancing at Brunetti. When Brunetti failed to react, Scarpa went on, 'And I've called her employers to ask if this story about being in London at the time is true’

'And is that how you phrased it, Lieutenant?'

Scarpa made a tentative little gesture with one hand and said, 'I'm not sure I understand what you mean, Commissario.'

'Is that how you asked them: whether the story she's been giving the police is true? Or did you merely ask where she was?'