Montalbano conceals the truth about Giorgio killing Rizzo

Salvo Montalbano conceals his conclusion that Giorgio Zicari murdered Pietro Rizzo, leaving his colleagues to pursue a plausible Mafia explanation rather than the truth he has reconstructed. His decision is not presented as a courtroom victory: he acknowledges that his account rests on deductions a lawyer could dismantle, then chooses not to resist the possible closure of the case. The concealment places the limits of proof beside the consequences of choosing which version of a killing will stand.

The reconstruction and its limits

Montalbano explains to Livia that Rizzo had gained his political objective by bringing Angelo Cardamone under his influence, but had misjudged Giorgio’s reaction. Giorgio, described as extremely beautiful yet emotionally fragile, was devastated. He went to the Capo Massaria house, took Luparello’s pistol, tracked down Rizzo, beat him severely, and shot him at the base of the skull. The sequence gives a concrete account of the killing and identifies its weapon, setting, and assailant; it also links the murder to the upheaval surrounding Rizzo’s political maneuvering.

Montalbano does not present this reconstruction as established fact. When his companion recognizes the intelligence of his reasoning, he accepts the more damaging assessment beneath the compliment: he has no proof. The account might be interpreted differently, and a capable lawyer could pick apart its deductions. That admission defines the boundary between what Montalbano believes happened and what he can demonstrate. His certainty about Giorgio’s role does not make the case legally secure.

A choice not to intervene

Asked what he intends to do, Montalbano says he will tell Lo Bianco the next morning that he has no objection if Lo Bianco wishes to close the case. The phrasing matters: Montalbano does not claim to have formally closed the investigation, nor does he say that the truth has been proven. He elects not to oppose closure, converting the weakness of his evidence into a practical decision about what the investigation can sustain.

That decision follows his recognition of the extraordinary number of people who might have wanted Rizzo dead. In Montalbano’s view, Rizzo’s character had created a broad field of possible enemies, making a murder by the Mafia a plausible explanation to people who knew him. The abundance of potential killers does not disprove Montalbano’s account of Giorgio; it makes that account harder to isolate and substantiate. The competing explanation can therefore survive not because Montalbano endorses it as true, but because it fits the surrounding circumstances and cannot readily be displaced by proof.

What the colleagues believe

Montalbano tells Livia that his colleagues in Montelusa believe Rizzo was killed by the Mafia, and that their hypothesis is not mere invention. He has not told them what he believes to be the truth. His silence preserves the gap between the official working theory and the private reconstruction he has shared with Livia; the colleagues’ belief is not corrected, while Giorgio is not arrested by Montalbano.

The concealment has two distinct parts: Montalbano withholds his suspicion from fellow investigators, and he declines to press for the case to remain open. The text makes the first explicit and records the second as his intended course. It does not supply evidence that the case is in fact closed or specify what the other investigators do afterward. What it does establish is that the Mafia explanation remains available to them while Montalbano’s account, for all its detail, remains unproven.

Disclosure and unresolved responsibility

When Livia asks whether Montalbano arrested Giorgio, he answers that he has done worse than destroy evidence: he has not told his colleagues what he thinks happened. Asked why, he does not answer, instead throwing up his hands. The gesture leaves his reason unstated. The scene offers no definitive justification that would dissolve the conflict between his knowledge, his doubts about proof, and his responsibility as an investigator.

The disclosure to Livia makes the silence more than a missing piece of investigative information. She knows the reconstructed chain of events and the decision Montalbano intends to take, but his response to her final question does not turn that decision into a fully explained moral position. The episode ends with her going to the bathroom and Montalbano later asking permission to enter as she sits in the full tub, chin on her raised knees. Their exchange closes without resolving why he has chosen not to expose Giorgio. The result is a deliberately uneasy distinction: the reader is told whom Montalbano believes killed Rizzo, while the investigation is left with another plausible account and no proof strong enough to secure his conclusion.