“Guido Canali,” I say sickly, pointing to his name on the libellus. “The night Ugo was killed, he opened the gates and drove me down to see Simon.”
Mignatto makes a note. “What did he see?”
I’m at a loss. “I made him drop me off before we got close enough to see anything.”
“And this?”
He points to a line of text. Simon’s personnel file at the Secretariat.
“I don’t know. Simon was cited for missing work this summer, but I don’t see how that’s relevant.”
“Why was he cited?”
“For visiting Ugo in the desert.”
But it returns to me now that Michael said Simon was doing something else.
Mignatto glances up. “Should I know anything about their relationship? Your brother and Nogara?”
He doesn’t even try to disguise his meaning.
“No,” I say sharply. “Simon was just trying to help him.”
Mignatto leans back. “Then, with the exception of the security-camera footage, I see no direct evidence here. It’s a circumstantial case, which needs a motive. And if the motive isn’t your brother’s relationship with Nogara, what is it?”
“Simon had no motive.”
Mignatto lays his pen at the leading edge of the page. A boundary separating us. “Father Andreou, why do you think they’re prosecuting him under canon law instead of criminal law?”
“You already know what I think.”
“In two decades of service at the Rota, I’ve never seen a murder trial. Not one. But I can tell you why I think they’re doing it. Because in a canonical trial, the proceedings are secret, the records are classified, and the sentencing is private. At every level there’s confidentiality to protect against uncomfortable things coming to light.”
There is the gentlest lilt in his voice, offering me an opportunity to reveal any information I might have.
“I know nothing about it,” I say.
“And yet,” he continues, “in two decades of service at the Rota, I’ve also never seen a man refuse to defend himself. Which suggests to me that my client already knows what the uncomfortable something is.”
I nod. “I told you. They think Ugo had a secret, and they think Simon knows what it is.”
“What I’m asking you is: are they wrong?”
“It doesn’t matter. You’re agreeing that this trial is a way to threaten Simon.”
“You misunderstand. This trial is a way to prosecute him while guarding against the contingency that something confidential might come up in the proceedings.”
“My brother didn’t hurt Ugo.”
“Then let’s start at the beginning. Why was he at Castel Gandolfo the night Doctor Nogara was killed?”
“Ugo called him and told him he was in trouble.”
“Did they have some kind of exchange on that afternoon, prior to the murder?”
“I don’t think so. Simon said he got there too late to save Ugo.”
Mignatto points to the section of the libellus detailing the evidence. His finger hovers beneath the words video footage from security camera. “Then what is this going to show?”