Death in Tuscany (46 page)

Only when the constable was ready to film the scene did Ferrara give the order to start.

The bit went in quite quickly for about four inches, then sank through.

'You see?' Franchi said, looking pleased with himself. 'It's empty underneath.' He pulled out the drill and used the mallet to widen the hole. When it was wide enough, he slid his arm in, then took it out again, holding a small bag of white powder.

'This certainly isn't marble dust,' he said, almost laughing, and his lined face took on the iridescent colours of the fireworks which were lighting up the sky all the way along the coast.

The event was greeted from the big freighter with cries of joy in Japanese and a popping of champagne corks.

Even Ferrara and Lojelo were smiling. This was a good way to celebrate the August bank holiday.

29

Ferrara had spent what little remained of that night in Lojelo's apartment.

With one thing and another, they had stayed at the depot until almost three in the morning. They had extracted all the bags of drugs from their hiding place. Including those that the drill had made a hole in, mixing the heroin with the marble dust, they had calculated that there must be around fifty kilos. If you multiplied that by five, which was the number of blocks, you got an almost unheard-of quantity. Two hundred and fifty kilos. Roughly speaking the equivalent of five or six billion lire. On the market, suitably cut, that might even give a figure seven times higher.

Lojelo was all for seizing the drugs there and then, but Ferrara, who knew from the register that the blocks were due to be sent out on 23 August, preferred to have them put back before Franchi filled in the hole and reconstructed the surface of the marble. Lojelo had given in, reluctantly, and when they were in his apartment he had reopened the discussion.

'I'm sorry, Chief Superintendent, but I think it's my duty to make a report first thing tomorrow morning. This is an extremely serious crime, and I can't just pretend nothing happened. As you know, in these cases there's a legal requirement to confiscate the evidence. Of course I'll mention that it was your initiative, I don't intend to steal the credit, but I'll also have to say that I didn't proceed with the confiscation at your express request.'

'Listen, Lojelo, if this gets out, and it will if you write your report, the real bosses are sure to get away'

He didn't say that if they got away, then his hopes - so steadfastly nourished - of finding Massimo vanished.

'I realise that, and I'll point it out in my report. My chiefs will have to assume that responsibility, but I have to do my duty according to the regulations. I have to inform my Commissioner, my Public Prosecutor and even the National Narcotics Division.'

'The law also allows the Prosecutor to issue an order delaying the confiscation depending on the needs of the investigation, if more time is required to gather evidence, or to identify and arrest the members of a criminal conspiracy'

All right. If you like, tomorrow morning I'll inform the deputy prosecutor coordinating the investigation into the murder of Claudia Pizzi and get his opinion before making my report.'

'There's no need. The Prosecutor's Department of Florence is dealing with the case. I'll make sure you get your order.'

'I don't understand. As you know, for some offences, including those relative to drug trafficking, we don't come under the jurisdiction of Florence, but of Genoa. The murder of Claudia Pizzi took place here, the drugs were found here
...
so how could Florence . . .?'

'Trust me. How do you think the drugs got to the depot? What we did tonight was part of a much wider investigation into organised crime in the whole of Tuscany, including Massa-Carrara.'

This wider investigation had barely got under way, but Ferrara thought it was worthwhile exaggerating a little, in order to convince Lojelo. For the same reason, he also decided to tell him all he knew about the expansion of Sicilian companies in Tuscany.

'The operation is being coordinated by Deputy Prosecutor Anna Giulietti. She'll make sure you get your order. Then everything will be above board.'

All right . . . but we'll have to inform the National Narcotics Division in case we need international cooperation. The drugs seemed intended for the United States, specifically Philadelphia

No problem. We'll do everything we need to do. We're also interested in who the drugs were going to, which means the DEA will have to be involved.'

On the morning of Thursday 16th, as soon as decency allowed, Ferrara phoned Anna Giulietti.

'Good morning. I searched the depot in the port of Carrara with the help of Superintendent Lojelo and some of his trusted men. We did it during the night, to minimise the risk of being discovered. The results exceeded all our expectations. We found at least fifty kilos of heroin ready to be shipped to America. Perhaps five times that. . . two hundred and fifty kilos!'

'Have you gone crazy, Michele? What have you been up to?'

'It's all completely certified and documented. Now I need you to issue Superintendent Lojelo with an urgent order to delay confiscation. As I'm sure you'll appreciate, the secrecy of the whole operation depends on it.'

It was a good thing that Anna Giulietti was a smart woman - a prosecutor with balls, as he had once called her.

She understood immediately. She asked him if Lojelo was there, and he put him on to give her the address where the order should be sent. Then she spoke to Ferrara again.

'I can't mention your name on the order, Michele. You're still officially suspended. I'll stick to generalities.'

'It doesn't matter. Don't worry'

'I want you in my office as soon as possible. You need to tell me the whole thing in detail. I get the impression this is all much bigger than we thought.'

'That's my impression, too.'

Now that he had set Lojelo's mind at rest, Ferrara was able to leave for Florence, secure in the knowledge that for a few days there was no risk that the gang would be alerted. Not too many, though: the operation would take its course and sooner or later their sins would find them out.

Back in Florence, Ferrara did not go straight to see Anna Giulietti. He went to his apartment first, filled Petra in on what had been happening, and then called Rizzo. He did not tell him about the heroin, but did mention that the request for his reinstatement had been sent off and that he expected to be back at Headquarters soon. He asked him if there was any news, but there wasn't. Then he asked to speak to Fanti.

Anything new on Bellomonte di Mezzo?'

'I'm in contact with my colleague in Trapani, chief. He's doing the best he can, but he told me again that I shouldn't be under any illusions. The town is practically all in the hands of the Mafia, from the mayor to the local councillors to the court ushers.'

'We're in a mess, in other words. Tell your colleague to keep at it, but not to expose himself. Life is cheap in a place like that. Listen, is Ciuffi there by any chance?'

'I'll check, chief

Ciuffi was the most suitable person to talk to about the developments in Carrara, and Ferrara, preferring not to go to the office, arranged to meet him at the Belvedere. He would go to see Anna Giulietti after that: he'd probably have more to tell her after talking to Ciuffi, who was his expert in the field.

They met an hour later, in Ferrara's parked Mercedes. Ferrara had kept the engine running, so that the air conditioning could still function.

Ferrara told Ciuffi everything, right from the beginning. When he mentioned the amount of heroin they had found in one block of marble, Ciuffi, mentally multiplying by five, let out a prolonged whistle of admiration.

'It's the haul of the century, chief! They're bound to reinstate you now, unless they transfer you to Rome to be Head of the State Police!'

'I don't know about that, Florence is more than enough for me. But I didn't call you so you could flatter me. There's something about all this that doesn't feel right. If these people are using the blocks of marble to ship the drugs to America, what in your opinion do they do with the marble dust, which is supposedly their main activity? They can't use it all to cut the heroin, surely?'

Ciuffi thought about it for a while, then said, 'It's certainly ingenious. I'd never have thought of using the marble quarries, and I've been in lots of seminars, including international ones, where we've come up with all kinds of scenarios . . . Supplying the American market with drugs from Asia is one of the most lucrative businesses in the whole of the underworld. This has to be a very powerful organisation, chief, which means they're also extremely dangerous . . .' He seemed to be thinking aloud. 'But even the national market isn't bad, and if these people have quantities like that at their disposal, you can bet they're exploiting the stuff for all it's worth . . . The marble dust could be a good excuse for transporting it freely around Italy, don't you think? It's used in the building industry, isn't that right?'

'Not just that. Paper mills, farms, everything

'In the whole of Italy. What more could you want? You drive around in a lorry full of marble dust and in the back you carry sachets of samples
..."

'Tanker lorries, actually' Ferrara corrected him.

'Works out the same, doesn't it?' Ciuffi said, frowning.

'Yes, works out the same.'

'You did say tanker lorries?'

'Yes, why?'

'Nothing. Just something I remembered, I'll have to check up on it in the office . . . but I'd wager those Albanians we took in last week were using the same suppliers.'

Are you sure?'

'More or less. It's all starting to fit . . . The Mafia, the Versilia coast . . . maybe the tanker lorries, too, but as I said, I'll have to check in the office.'

'Let's go, then!'

'You too?'

'Yes, but in your car. It's better if they don't see mine.' 'What if we run into Lepri?'

'I don't care. I can make a social call on my colleagues if I want to, can't I?'

On the way, Ciuffi filled him in on the gradual progress they were making with the Albanians thanks to Guzzi. Then Anna Giulietti called him on his mobile to tell him the results of Gianni Fuschi's report on the sample of the fabric of Stella's jeans, which confirmed that on the night of 28 to 29 July, the girl had been gang-raped.