Free The Colombian Mule by Massimo Carlotto, Christopher Woodall Page B

sooner or later it’ll affect Nazzareno.’
    I let it go. Rossini was a gangster of the old school. He took the view that the need to abide by certain rules extended to prisoners’ family members.
    We got up and left the club, having decided we had spent enough time nosing around among drug dealers for one night. We went back to La Cuccia. It had already closed and I was relieved to discover that Virna had gone home. We knocked on Max’s door. ‘I was expecting you,’ he said, handing us a couple of glasses, Calvados and vodka.
    â€˜How did it go?’ he asked.
    â€˜Badly,’ I replied. I gave him a quick summary of our investigations, concluding with an account of the way Rossini had laid into Corradi’s woman.
    â€˜It’ll have done her nothing but good,’ Rossini growled. ‘How many kids in prison have we seen go out of their minds before trial because their girlfriends or mothers and fathers put it into their heads that their lawyers are not defending them properly? They end up doing something stupid, like insulting a screw, and pick up a conviction for defamation or, worse, get knifed in the back during a brawl.’
    Max glanced at me and shrugged. ‘Rossini’s right, damn it. A prisoner’s mental balance is a delicate thing, especially just before trial.’
    â€˜Look,’ I snorted, ‘right now I don’t particularly want to get bogged down in the intricate psychology of prisoners awaiting trial. I’d rather we decided how to proceed with this investigation. We can’t waste any more evenings on wild goose chases.’
    Max switched on his computer. He had dug out all the articles from the local press on investigations into Colombian cocaine trafficking and saved them in a file.
    â€˜The only interesting snippet I came across relates to the arrest of a schoolteacher in a discotheque in Dolo, near Venice.’ An article from
Nuova Venezia
, published a couple of months previously, came up on the screen.
    Â 
    SCHOOLTEACHER ARRESTED WHILE SELLING
    COCAINE TO CHILDREN IN DISCO—EDUCATION AUTHORITY CONVENES EMERGENCY SESSION
    Â 
    From classroom to cell block in a matter of hours, all thanks to the Carabinieri!
    Annibale Tavan, 42, a math and science teacher at the Sandro Pertini secondary school in Chioggia, was arrested yesterday at a discotheque in Gaia di Dolo where he was caught selling cocaine. During the week, Tavan was a respected schoolteacher, above all suspicion. But on Saturday nights, he allegedly turned into a drug dealer, selling top-quality cocaine and ecstasy to children little older than those he taught in class. The arrest was the result of prompt action taken by the Carabinieri of Chioggia.
    Â 
    The article continued with statements from Carabiniere officers, Tavan’s staffroom colleagues and some of the parents of his students. Max had underlined in red the section of the article that was of most interest for our investigations: ‘The Carabinieri are now looking for Tavan’s supplier. So far their enquiries indicate that Tavan has not travelled abroad at all in the last four years.’
    I poured myself some Calvados. ‘What makes you think this is worth following up?’
    Max scratched his paunch with his fingertips. ‘It’s just possible that the schoolteacher gave the cops a tip-off, enabling them to arrest the Colombian at the airport. It’s only a hunch, but none of the other investigations covered by the press are of any interest at all.’
    I turned to Rossini. ‘What do you think?’
    â€˜It’s worth a try,’ he answered.
    I moved back to the computer screen and read the article through again, taking my time. Alongside the report of the arrest, there was an interview with the man in charge of drugs rehab programmes in Mestre:
    Â 
    COCAINE NOW THE MOST POPULAR DRUG—
    9% OF ALL SCHOOL STUDENTS IN MESTRE
SAY THEY HAVE TRIED IT
    Â 
    Cocaine use