Free The Patience of the Spider by Andrea Camilleri Page A

she approaches the car
and is kidnapped. Does that work for you?
    No, Francesco said firmly.
    And why not?
    Because when we saw each other that afternoon, she
would surely have told me about this prearranged meeting.
Im sure of it, believe me.
    I believe you. But maybe Susanna didnt get a chance to
tell you.
    I dont understand.
    Did you accompany her on her way to her friends house
that evening?
    No.
    Susanna had a cell phone, which we havent found,
right?
    Right.
    She could have received a phone call after she left your
place, as she was on her way to her friends house, and agreed
to the meeting only then. And since you havent seen her
since, she had no way of letting you know.
    The boy thought about this for a moment. Then he made
up his mind.
    I guess its possible.
    So what are you trying to tell me with all these doubts
of yours?
    Francesco didnt answer. He buried his face in his hands.
Montalbano threw oil on the fire.
    But we may be entirely on the wrong track.
    The kid jumped out of his chair.
    What are you saying?
    Im merely saying that its possible were starting from a
mistaken assumption. That is, that Susanna went home by way
of that dirt road.
    But thats where I found the motorbike!
    That doesnt necessarily mean Susanna took that road
when leaving Vig. Ill give you an example, the first thing
that comes into my head. Susanna leaves her friends home
and takes the road she normally does. This road is used by
many of the people who live in the houses before and after
the villa, and it ends a couple of miles past the Mistretta house
in a kind of rural suburb of VigLa Cucca, I think its
called. Its a road of commuters, peasants, and others who prefer
to live in the country even though they work in Vig.
They all know one another, and probably go back and forth
on that road at the same times of day.
    Yes, but what has that got to do with
    Let me finish. The kidnappers have been following
Susanna for some time, to see what kind of traffic there is
around the hour she comes home, and to figure out where
would be the best place for them to make their move. That
evening, they get lucky. They can carry out their plan at the
intersection with the dirt road. In one way or another, they
block Susannas path. There are at least three of them. Two
of them get out of the car and force her to get in. The car
drives off, probably taking the dirt road in the direction of
Vig. One of the two, however, stays behind, grabs the motorbike,
and follows the car. Then he leaves the bike at some
point along the dirt road. This would explain, among other
things, why the motorbike was pointed in the direction of
Vig. Then he gets in the car with the others, and they drive
off into the sunset.
    Francesco looked doubtful.
    But why bother with the motorbike? What do they
    care? Their main concern is to get out of there as quickly as
possible.
    But I just told you that roads full of commuters! They
couldnt just leave the motorbike on the ground. Someone
might think thered been an accident, another might recognize
the motorbike as Susannas...In short, alarm bells were
ringing and they didnt have time to find a good place to hide
it. And while they were at it, they might as well move it onto
the dirt road, where nobody ever drove by. But we can form
other hypotheses as well.
    We can?
    As many as you like. After all, were conducting a lesson
here. But first I must ask you a question. You told me you
sometimes accompanied Susanna all the way home.
    Yes.
    Was the gate open or closed?
    Closed. Susanna would open it with her key.
    So we can also hypothesize that Susanna, having leaned
her motorbike against the gate, was reaching for her key when
somebody came up to her on foot, someone shes seen a few
times along that road, some commuter. The man pleads with
her to take him on her motorbike to the dirt road, making up
some bullshit story or othersay,