That day there were several hearings involving prisoners, in various courtrooms, and not many guards. So the head of the escort had asked Mirenghi for permission to take Paolicelli back down to the holding cells so that he could use his men in other courtrooms. When the judges were ready to give their decision, the clerk of the court would call the head of the escort and Paolicelli would be brought back up to the courtroom for the ruling to be read out.
Only Natsu and I were left in the courtroom. We sat down behind the prosecution bench.
“How’s Midori?”
She shrugged, a forced smile on her lips. “Well. Quite well. She had a nightmare last night, but it didn’t last long. They’ve become shorter and less violent lately.”
We looked at each other for a few moments and then she stroked my hand. Longer than was advisable, if we wanted to be careful.
“Congratulations. It wasn’t an easy speech, but I understood everything. You’re very good.” She hesitated for a moment. “I didn’t think you would go to so much trouble.”
It was my turn to give a forced smile.
“What’s going to happen?”
“Impossible to predict. Or at least I can’t. Anything can happen.”
She nodded. She hadn’t really expected any other answer.
“Can we get out of here, go for a coffee or something?”
“Of course; it’ll be a while before the decision.”
I was about to add that if they came to a decision straight away it wasn’t a good sign. It meant that they had upheld the sentence without even taking into account the things I’d been trying to say. But I stopped myself. It was pointless information, at this stage.
We left the courthouse, had a coffee, then had a little stroll and went back. We didn’t talk much. Just enough to give a bit of direction to the silence. I don’t know what she was feeling. She didn’t tell me and I couldn’t figure it out. Or maybe I didn’t want to. I felt great tenderness for her, but it was a sad, resigned, distant, intangible tenderness.
At five, the courthouse emptied. Doors closing, voices, hurried footsteps.
And then silence, the strange, unmistakable silence of deserted offices.
It was just before six that we saw the escort coming back into the courtroom with Paolicelli. They passed close to us. He looked at me, searching for a message in my eyes. He didn’t find one. In all my years as a lawyer, I’ve rarely felt so unsure of the result of a case, so incapable of making predictions.
I went back to my seat, while the guards put Paolicelli back in the cage, the prosecutor came back into the courtroom, and Natsu returned to the now deserted public benches.
Then the judges came out, without even ringing the bell.
Mirenghi read out the decision quickly. Before I’d even had time to adjust the robe on my shoulders. He read it with a very tense expression on his face, and I was sure that they hadn’t been unanimous. I was sure that Mirenghi had fought for the sentence to be upheld, but that the other two had outvoted him.
The court overturned the previous sentence and acquitted Fabio Paolicelli of the charge against him on the grounds that the act does not constitute an offence.
In our jargon the expression the act does not constitute an offence can mean many different things. In this case it meant that Paolicelli had indeed physically transported the drugs – that was a fact, there was no doubt – but without being aware of it. There was no motive, and an absence of criminal intent.
The act does not constitute an offence.
Acquittal.
Immediate release of the defendant if not held for other reasons.
Mirenghi caught his breath for a moment and then resumed reading. There was something else.
“The court asks that the ruling and the transcripts of the appeal hearing be sent to the regional anti-Mafia department for examination.”
That meant the affair wasn’t over. It meant that the anti-Mafia department would deal with my colleague Macri and his friend Romanazzi.
It might mean trouble for me. But I didn’t want to think about that now.
Mirenghi declared the hearing over and turned to leave. Girardi also turned.
But Russo hesitated for a moment. He looked at me and I looked at him. His back was straight and he seemed ten years younger. I’d never seen him like that before. He nodded, almost imperceptibly.
Then he, too, turned and followed the others into the chamber.