For hours the suspect, without giving in, had said and repeated, in a correct idiom that made one think he had at least attended primary school classes, very strict at that time, that he was an unemployed cook, that he lived as was written on his license, in Vicolo Santa Luciella and that he was on his way home when he had seen the door of the dead woman's house ajar and had heard moans coming from inside. Out of mere altruism he had gone in, asking for permission, had seen the woman on the ground in the entry still moaning. Having noticed a telephone on a wall, he had decided to call an ambulance; but at that very moment the Public Security patrol had entered and had handcuffed him.
The Deputy Commissioner had kept at it and shortly after 7 am he had finally obtained a new detail, that the man visited the prostitute regularly and that he had gone into her house, because he was expected, to have some quick sex so he could leave early and get to his own house before the curfew. When asked, he had specified that he had made the appointment by phone from a bar, as he had done many other times. When asked to recite Demaggis telephone number, he had said that he no longer remembered it and, when D'Aiazzo showed his skeptiscism, he had justified the amnesia because he was in a state of mental turmoil due to the situation. Otherwise he had not changed his version reiterating that, once he went in the door left ajar especially for him following the phone call, he had seen the woman on the ground and had immediately decided to call for help from the telephone in the apartment, but then the patrol had arrived and had detained him.
Just like the the patrol officers, the Deputy Commissioner could not believe that the man was a client of the pricey hooker, taking into account his cheap shabby clothing and no money in his pockets. Considering that the door had ostensibly been left open for him, he had conjectured that he was an accomplice in the black market. He had therefore accused him of killng her because of some argument: "Confess and Ill let you go to sleep!"
"It isnt true, it was definitely an accident that took place before I went inside," the other had denied.
"If you weren't an accomplice at loggerheads, then you were sent to kill her by a competitor," the officer had pressed.
"Commissioner Im telling you again that it is not true!" the man had become angry, abandoning the docile attitude he had kept until then.
Without being asked, Brigadier Bordin had snapped: "Busòn!16 Be respectful to the commissioner or I'll kick you where you like to get it!"
The Deputy Commissioner did not allow bad manners and had reprimanded him: "Marino, keep the kicks and the insults to yourself." He had resumed: "Gennaro, provided that Gennaro Esposito is really your name, and you can be sure that well check at the Registry Office tomorrow ... no, this morning, seeing the time, listen up: I too, like you, would like to finish this, so I'll make you a proposal," the man had visibly raised his attention threshold, half-opening his mouth as his pupils dilated a little "if you confess guilty to homicide, which means that you killed going beyond the intention you had ..."
"... I know."
"Then listen: you could tell me for example that you had no money and that the victim didnt want to concede herself on credit, so in an irrepressible impulse of anger you pushed her, without wanting to kill her but, unfortunately, she fell and was fatally injured; well, you know what I mean: in this way you dont end up in front of the firing squad17 , you just get a little jail time. Instead, if I write in my report for the investigating judge that I suspect youre the hitman for some camorra blackmarketer who wanted to eliminate her, or a direct competitor of the woman on the black market who wanted to take her out once and for all, you are already good and shot."
Even though he was more tired than the Deputy Commissioner, the man had not confessed: "Not only will I repeat yet again that I am not a murderer and, as far as I know, the woman died from an accident which took place before I entered her apartment, but now Im also telling you that I am a sergeant major gunner and that I crossed the lines and arrived in Naples yesterday evening."
"Hmm... tell me more."
"I am also a cook, I was serving as kitchen manager in the officers' club of the 3rd battalion, 1st Coastal Artillery Regiment, stationed five miles north of Paestum, in the province of Salerno."
"I know where Paestum is... okay, assuming that youve told me the truth now, its in your own interest that we check your military identity, so tell me about the school for cadet non-commissioned officers you come from and which course." In reality, that verification would probably have been impossible in the chaos following the armistice and D'Aiazzo knew it, but he had counted on the fact that if the other lied to him, he would give himself away.
The man had not turned a hair: "My career started with an apprenticeship: at twenty-eight, after I lost my job of assistant cook in a trattoria ..."