'I'm not finished, Mr Addison… The murder weapon, the Sako TRG 21, normally takes a.308 Winchester cartridge. In this case it was loaded with American-made Hornady 150-grain spire-point bullets. They are bought primarily at specialty gun shops and used for hunting… Three were taken from Cardinal Parma's body… The rifle's magazine holds ten rounds. The remaining seven were still there.'

'So?'

' Valera 's personal phone directory was what sent us to your brother's apartment. He wasn't there. Obviously he had gone to Assisi, but we didn't know that. Because of Valera 's directory we were able to get a warrant to search…'

Harry listened, saying nothing.

'A standard cartridge box holds twenty rounds of ammunition… A cartridge box containing ten Hornady 150-grain spire points was found inside a locked drawer in your brother's apartment. With it was a second magazine for the same rifle.'

Harry felt the wind go out of him. He wanted to respond, to say something in Danny's defense. He couldn't.

'There was also a cash receipt for one million seven hundred thousand lire – just over one thousand U.S. dollars, Mr Addison. The amount Valera paid in cash to rent the apartment. The receipt had Valera 's signature. The handwriting was the same as that on the telephone list you have there.

'Circumstantial evidence. Yes, it is. And if your brother were alive, we could ask him about it and give him the opportunity to disprove it.' Anger and passion crept into Pio's voice. 'We could also ask him why he did what he did. And who else was involved. And if he had been trying to kill the pope… Obviously we can't do any of that…' Pio sat back, fingering his glass of mineral water, and Harry could see the emotion slowly fade.

'Maybe we will find out we were wrong. But I don't think so… I've been around a long time, Mr Addison, and this is about as close to the truth as you get. Especially when your prime suspect is dead.'