“How do you know?”
He has just enough strength to give me a withering look. “The people of Turin didn’t go murdering each other after the radiocarbon tests, so they’re not doing it now.” He takes a gasping breath. “Find your brother. I want answers.”
He gestures at Diego for help, then hobbles into the darkness of his bedroom. The door closes after him.
Diego murmurs to me, “What the hell is this about?”
I whisper, “They think Simon killed Ugo.”
“I know that. Where were they taking him?”
“Into house arrest.”
“In whose house?”
I hadn’t even registered this point. Simon has no house, no home. He lives in a Muslim country a thousand miles away.
“I don’t know,” I begin to say. But Diego has already followed my uncle into the darkness.
* * *
“COME,” MIGNATTO SAYS TO me, stepping back toward the negotiating table and closing the door. He lifts the libellus and says, in a low voice, “You really think this is another threat?”
“Yes.”
He clears his throat. “Then I’m willing to discuss it. But to do that, there’s a bit of procedure we need to get out of the way. Will you agree to be your brother’s procurator?”
“His what?”
“The procurator receives court documents and acts in the defendant’s interest.” Mignatto gestures at the papers on the table. “It entitles you to see the libellus, which I otherwise can’t show you.”
How strange the world of canon law is. Procurator is the title Pontius Pilate had in the gospels. The title of the man who signed Jesus’ death warrant. Only lawyers would resurrect a word like that.
“My brother should make those decisions,” I say.
“To judge from what we just heard, your brother isn’t interested in making decisions.”
Mignatto rummages in his briefcase and finds a pack of cigarettes. Here, in the home of the Cardinal President, in the world’s first country to outlaw smoking, he lights up. “What’s your answer, Father?” he says.
I lift the page. “I’ll do it.”
“Good. Now look carefully at the judges listed there, and tell me if any of them are familiar.”
Morbid fascination pushes my eyes through the text.
August 22, 2004
Rev. Simon Andreou
c/o Secretariat of State
Vatican City 00120
DECREE OF CITATION
Dear Rev. Andreou:
This letter is to inform you that a formal ecclesiastical penal process has begun against you in the Diocese of Rome. You are requested to identify an advocate who will represent you in this process. Your immediate response is required to the charge established in the enclosed document.
Sincerely,
Bruno Card. Galuppo
Vicar for Vatican City
Diocese of Rome
cc: Presiding Judge: Rev. Msgr. Antonio Passaro, J.C.D.
cc: Associate Judge: Rev. Msgr. Gabriele Stradella, J.C.D.