"Dibdin, Michael - Aurelio Zen 02 - Vendetta UC - part 02" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dibdin Michael)

Calabria. One of the odd facts still lodged in Zen's brain
from school was that Crotone had been the home of
Pythagoras. This perhaps explained why De Angelis
reminded him of a cross between a Greek philosopher and
a Barbary pirate, thus neatly summing up Zen's uncer-
tainty about his character and motives.
'Frankly, I shouldn't be a bit surprised if they set up the
whole thing,' the Calabrian went on breezily. 'Apparently
the Red Brigades have denied responsibility. Anyway, this
Bertolini had nothing to do with terrorism. Why pick on
him?'
Zen took off his overcoat and went to hang it up. He
would have liked to be able to like De Angelis, the only
one of his new colleagues who had made any effort to be
friendly. But this very fact, coupled with the politically
provocative comments which De Angelis was given to
making, aroused a suspicion in Zen's mind that the Cala-
brian had been deliberately assigned to sound him out and
try and trap him into damaging confidences. Even given
the mutual hostility between the criminal investigation
personnel and their political colleagues 'upstairs', De
Angelis's last remark had been totally out of line.
'Have you seen the papers?' De Angelis demanded.
'"The terrorists return". "Fear stalks the corridors of
power". Load of crap if you ask me. The fucking Red
Brigades don't go round spraying people with shotgun
pellets. Nothing but the best hardware for our yuppie
terrorists. ~zs, Armalites, Kalashnikovs, state-of-the-art
stuff. Shotguns are either old-style crime or DIY.'
He looked at Zen, who was patting his overcoat with a
frown.
'You lost something?'
Zen looked round distractedly.
'What? Yes, I suppose so. But in that case it can hardly
have been the Politicals either.'
'How do you mean?'
Zen's hands searched each of the pockets of the overcoai
at some length, returning empty.
'Well, they'd have used the right gun, presumably.'
De Angelis looked puzzled. Then he understood, and
whistled meaningfully.
'Oh, you mean... Listen Aurelio, I'd keep my voice
down if you're going to say things like that.'
Too late, Zen realized that he had walked into a trap.
'I didn't mean that they'd killed him,' De Angelis
explained, 'only that they'd orchestrated the media
response to his death. I mean, you surely don't
believe...'
'No, of course not.'