I’d heard this kind of story before, not just in my work. So when Tancredi paused for a moment, I cut in. “After they started living together he changed. He wasn’t as nice to her as he used to be, then he started to turn violent. Just verbally at first, but after a while physically too. To cut a long story short, their life together became hell. Am I right?”

“More or less. As far as the first part of the story goes. Maybe Sister Claudia would like to tell you the rest.”

Good idea, I thought. That way she’ll stop staring at me like that, which is making me nervous.

Sister Claudia had a soft, feminine, almost hypnotic voice. In complete contrast to the way she looked. I bet she’s a good singer, I thought, as she began her story.

“In my opinion, he didn’t change after they started living together. He was like that before too. He just stopped acting because he thought he didn’t have to any more. From now on, she was his property. He started insulting her, then hitting her, then doing other things she can tell you herself, if she wants to. Then he started hanging around the place where she worked, convinced she had a lover. Trying to catch her. Of course, he never did catch her, because it wasn’t true. But that didn’t calm him down. It just made him worse. One night, she told him she couldn’t stand it any more and if he didn’t stop all this nonsense she’d leave him, and he beat her up.”

She broke off abruptly. I could tell from her face that she’d have liked to be there when those things had happened. And not just standing and watching.

“The next day, she packed a few of her things, just the things she didn’t need any help with, and moved to her mother’s. She’d had her own apartment before, but she’d let it go when she went to live with him. And now the harassment started. Outside her office. Outside her mother’s place. Morning, noon and night. He followed her. Called her on her mobile phone. Called her at home. At all hours of the day, and especially at night.”