Severino served drinks and hors d’oeuvres while the Freitas independents analyzed the situation.
“What do you think about Lutero voluntarily going to the Republic of Galeão”—an ironic reference to the power of the Air Force High Command—“to be interrogated? Lodi refused to accept the writ and invoked his congressional immunities.”
“Getúlio told Lutero to go,” said Freitas. “Lutero voluntarily waived his immunities, temporarily, and went to Galeão accompanied by Adroaldo Mesquita da Costa, vice president of the Chamber of Deputies. Adroaldo told me, in confidence, what happened. Colonel Adyl de Oliveira did not deign to receive the deputy. He sent a subordinate, a major or colonel named Toledo, to interrogate him. When they got there, Toledo handed Lutero a sheet of paper, saying, ‘Read this, deputy.’ It was Gregório’s statement from the interrogation he underwent. Dumbstruck — that was the term he used later with Adroaldo — Lutero read what was written. Gregório said, dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s, that the brains behind the Tonelero crime was he, Lutero. In the deposition Gregório made inelegant references to Getúlio. Lutero protested, claiming that the statements were nothing but vile slander, a plot to involve his name and thus harm his father, that the attack merited the strongest possible repudiation from the president, and that no one was more committed than he to the complete uncovering of the events and the severest punishment of those responsible. Adroaldo says that Lutero was quite eloquent, but knowing as we do that Lutero was never capable of improvising even slightly bearable oratorical flights, everything indicates that he was speaking a text written by someone else.”
“Probably by Tancredo Neves. It’s known that Lutero consulted that sly fox before agreeing to the deposition.”
Severino served more drinks and hors d’oeuvres.
“What else did Adroaldo say?”
“‘Do you want to see Gregório?’ Toledo supposedly asked. It seems Lutero hesitated. It was obvious that Toledo wanted a confrontation to put Lutero in a discrediting situation. He thought he held the trump cards. Toledo took Lutero by the arm: ‘Come along, deputy, I’ll take you to where he is.’ They went down a long corridor, Lutero, Adroaldo, and some military men, among them Toledo, who was hanging onto Lutero’s arm. They opened a door, and there, sitting on a bed, was the Black Angel. Gregório looked at the arrivals with a vague gaze and went back to the gloomy meditation in which he seemed immersed. Everyone was frustrated by Gregório’s behavior. Toledo no doubt hoped that Gregório, obeying some agreement made with his captors, would attack Lutero directly. Lutero hoped that Gregório would stand up, with the deference he had always shown him, and ask forgiveness in some way for the words in his deposition. Toledo, appearing surprised by Gregório’s indifference and alienation, repeated several times, without breaking the Black Angel’s silence, ‘Gregório, Deputy Lutero Vargas is here.’”
“So Gregório accused Lutero! I never thought he’d do that, whether Lutero was behind it or not.”
“According to Adroaldo, Lutero believes that Gregório must have been interrogated under the influence of some drug, scopolamine or some such thing, to force him to say what he said. Lutero also says that they put Gregório on an air force plane and threatened to throw him into the ocean if he didn’t sign that confession.”
A heated discussion ensued among the “independents.” To some, Lutero was innocent; to others, he was foolish enough to commit such a stupid act. All agreed that the political situation was worsening by the hour. When he was caught, some said, Climerio was going to make statements that would cause even greater agitation. If they let Climerio live, others replied.
All the legislators agreed that great interests were at stake. Including their own.
The political machinations in which Freitas had been involved in recent days had pushed his concern with Inspector Mattos into the background. Politics, to Freitas, was a kind of aphrodisiac. The contingency plans he elaborated, by weaving the threads of an intricate tapestry whose objective was to obtain the maximum advantage from the country’s complex and chaotic political situation, left him in a state of euphoria in which sexual desire merged with ambitious dreams of even greater power. The night before, he had satisfied that imperious necessity with a partner who had given him great pleasure and joy, and in so doing had increased his motivation to proceed in the complex schemes he had planned.
That day, the senator had awoken thinking about the problem represented by his adviser Clemente and phoned him to come by the Seabra Building as soon as the meeting of the “independents” ended.
Seeking to be persuasive, Freitas told Clemente that he was going to have to reorganize his staff. A nephew, a young and brilliant lawyer, was about to move to Rio de Janeiro. Freitas couldn’t ignore his sister’s request to find a place for him on his staff.
“Despite his youth, he’s an assistant professor in the School of Law. A young man with several degrees, highly qualified. I can’t help but make him my chief adviser.”
Clemente listened in silence, his face unreadable.
“As I know you wouldn’t enjoy being the subordinate of a younger man — I’m very familiar with your dignity, your pride, my dear — I’m thinking of getting you an appointment as a lawyer for the Bank of Brazil. I’ve already spoken with Souza Dantas about it.”
“I’ll think it over,” said Clemente.
“Help me solve this problem. He’s my only nephew. We’ll go on being friends. . Nothing’s going to change between the two of us. .”
Clemente repeated that he’d think it over. And without another word, withdrew.
sixteen
THE EXCHANGE AND COFFEE MARKETS opened in an air of anticipation; the majority of players were still unsure as to the interpretation of Resolution 99 by Sumoc, the money and credit oversight board, which set the floating rate of the currency.
Prices in dollars for coffee and other merchandise had come to vary in accordance with the free-exchange rates, whose average would be calculated by the Exchange Division of the Bank of Brazil.
As a result of Resolution 99, coffee dropped to sixty-five U.S. cents a pound. Pedro Lomagno had been informed by Luiz Magalhães that the resolution would be forthcoming. Thus, before the new Sumoc provision was published, Lomagno & Co. and other exporters associated with him succeeded in closing sales contracts for 300,000 bags of coffee at the old price of eight-seven cents a pound.
These sales came to the attention of other coffee merchants, who accused the government of protectionism and alleged they had incurred the loss of a billion cruzeiros because of the resolution, for the secretary of the treasury, Oswaldo Aranha, and the president of the Bank of Brazil, Souza Dantas, had guaranteed that the minimum price of coffee would remain unchanged.
The National Confederation of Commerce distributed a note supporting the measure adopted by the government.
The free exchange market proved cautious. The dollar was quoted at sixty cruzeiros.
THE OLD POLICE VAN took Inspector Mattos along Avenida Brasil, spewing black smoke from its tailpipe. He had gone to the precinct very early, picked up the van, and spoken rapidly with Pádua, whom he would replace on duty at noon, about his conversation with Anastácio.
“The fucker wants cover, because he’s afraid to die,” said Pádua. “So, Mr. Ilídio, huh?. .” Pádua gave a short guffaw of scorn while he flexed his arm muscles.