A Fine Line Read Online Free Page B

conducted investigations, strictly according to our legal prerogatives. The ways in which we have used the results of these investigations are fully compatible with the defence’s powers of discretion. I reserve the right to provide documentation, where necessary, at the end of the cross-examination. May I proceed?”
    â€œYou may, Avvocato, but try to make it clear where you’re going with this.”
    â€œIt will all become clear very soon, Your Honour. Signora, I repeat: that phone call from Signor Bronzino’s mobile to the Hotel Royal coincides with your partner’s stay in Milan, in that very hotel. If you’ll forgive a direct question, could it be that you were the person who made that call?”
    The pause that followed was a really long one.
    â€œAll right, then, let’s go on to something else. Was your relationship with your partner happy?”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œDid you agree about things, or did you quarrel? Did you quarrel often, or just occasionally? Did you have problems?”
    â€œThe same as any couple.”
    â€œDid your partner ever hit you?”
    I noticed that she was holding the hem of her skirt between the fingers of her left hand and crumpling it convulsively. “Just the occasional slap.”
    â€œDid you ever lodge a complaint following these occasional slaps ?”
    â€œWhat’s that got to do with anything?”
    The judge got in ahead of me and in a sharp tone ordered her to answer.
    She seemed to shrink, and I felt sorry for her. “Once I went to the carabinieri, but then I withdrew everything.”
    â€œCan you tell us what you told the carabinieri?”
    â€œThat there’d been a quarrel.”
    â€œDid you say that you’d been hit?”
    â€œYes, but I withdrew—”
    â€œYou withdrew everything, yes. What else did you tell the carabinieri?”
    â€œI just wanted him to stop.”
    The way she said that made me think of a landslide. No, that’s not right, it made me think of the word landslide. The fragile structure of her testimony, which had held up because nobody up until then had asked her to account for it, was collapsing beneath her like loose earth or clay.
    â€œTo stop what?”
    â€œHis fits of jealousy. Sometimes he hit me even when I hadn’t done anything.”
    â€œWhy did you withdraw everything?”
    â€œHe said he would change.”
    â€œAnd did he?”
    â€œIn a way…”
    â€œAfter the dropping of the complaint, after you withdrew everything, were there other acts of violence?”
    She didn’t reply. She was staring into space now, her face very pale, her lips dry and colourless.
    â€œSignora, I’m sorry to insist, but were there other acts of violence?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œDid you ever need medical attention?”
    â€œMaybe a couple of times.”
    â€œDid you go to accident and emergency?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œDid you tell the doctors there that your injuries were caused by your partner?”
    She shook her head.
    â€œYour Honour, can it be entered in the record that the witness shook her head to indicate no?”
    Basile gestured to the stenographer, meaning that she could write what I had asked.
    â€œWould it be correct to say that you were afraid of your partner?”
    â€œObjection, Your Honour,” Castroni said, leaping to his feet. “The witness is being asked for a personal opinion.”
    â€œObjection sustained. Avvocato, let’s try and get to the point.”
    â€œSignora, you said you met Bronzino outside your office building, where he was waiting for you, and that you accepted a lift home in his car. Can you tell us what time you left the office?”
    â€œThe usual time.”
    â€œAnd what time might that be?”
    â€œFive.”
    â€œAnd you found the defendant waiting for you outside your office building?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œYour Honour,