“When I get back from Galeão, we’ll talk more about it,” said Mattos.
At the bridge to Governor’s Island the first air force patrols appeared, heavily armed. The inspector’s van was stopped three times for identification of its occupants before it was allowed to enter Galeão airport, where the air force base was located, site of the Police/Military Inquiry into the assassination of Major Rubens Vaz. At the beginning of the PMI, the base was mockingly dubbed the Republic of Galeão by supporters of Getúlio. A government within the government. But in the last few days no more jokes were heard about the air force investigation.
At the entrance to the base the van was ordered to stop once more, at a barricade. The officer of the day was called and Mattos said he wanted to speak with Colonel Adyl.
The inspector waited for a long time, in the van, under the watchful eye of a soldier armed with a machine gun standing next to the vehicle. The officer of the day returned, instructed the driver where to park the van, and told the inspector to come with him.
The base had been transformed into a frenetic war zone. Bell military helicopters and P-40 fighter planes, Tomahawks, were waiting on the runway, their pilots at ready. Trucks and jeeps occupied by army and air force soldiers and naval marines, heavily armed, awaited orders to go into action. Cars with searchlights used by army antiaircraft batteries were evident.
“We’ve put together a military operation to catch that outlaw. We know he’s hiding in the Tinguá woods,” said the officer of the day. “He won’t get away now.”
The inspector followed the officer to a room where an air force captain sat, in field uniform and with a.45 pistol in his holster.
“I’m Captain Ranildo. Colonel Adyl asked me to see you.”
The inspector spoke of his suspicions about Gregório Fortunato’s involvement in the killing of Gomes Aguiar. He said it was perhaps a case of a homosexual crime of passion. The captain heard the inspector in silence, controlling his excitement as best he could. While the inspector was speaking, Ranildo had gotten up from his chair behind a desk and picked up the telephone in front of him, without, however, placing any call.
“I’d like to be able to interrogate Gregório Fortunato,” the inspector said.
“Wait here a moment,” said the captain.
Ranildo went to the office of his immediate superior, Major Fraga, and related what he had heard from the inspector.
“That damned Negro is perfectly capable of having done that; it wouldn’t surprise me,” said Ranildo.
“I don’t like this,” said Fraga. “Gregório involved in a homosexual crime? I don’t trust the police; so far they haven’t managed to catch Climerio. Remember Inspector Pastor trying to demonstrate that Rubens Vaz’s fatal wounds could’ve been caused by the shots that Lacerda fired at the gunman?”
“Do you want to talk to the inspector?”
“You said you’ve got a buddy in the DPS. Try to get the inspector’s dossier from him. All on the q.t. Meanwhile I’ll have a talk with him. Advise Colonel Adyl of what’s happening.”
Fraga, who was unarmed, took from a drawer a belt with a.45 pistol, which he buckled around his waist.
The inspector rose when Fraga entered the room.
“Good afternoon, Inspector. Captain Ranildo told me about your investigation. The problem is that authorization to interrogate Gregório Fortunato can only be given by Colonel Adyl, who’s in charge of the PMI, and he’s not in at the moment.”
“I’ll wait,” said the inspector. “My interrogation will take place in the presence of a military officer, if that’s your wish.”
Fraga took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and extended it to the inspector.
“Thanks, I don’t smoke.”
Fraga was slow to light his cigarette and replace the pack in his pocket. “You understand that we’re going through a very delicate moment. A political situation of the utmost gravity. After all, persons intimately linked to the president of the Republic are involved in the most heinous political crimes ever committed in this country.”
Mattos said nothing.
“Gregório is one of those involved,” Fraga continued, “but there are others, above him. We already know, from the confession of the gunman Alcino, that Lutero Vargas, son of the president, is one of the masterminds. We want to discover the whole truth, however horrible and shocking it may be for the Brazilian people. Gregório Fortunato still has a lot to tell about this repugnant crime. You do agree with me that it was a repugnant crime, don’t you?”
“To me all crimes are the same. I’m a policeman.”
“But even for a policeman there are crimes more atrocious than others.”
“It’s not the policeman’s job to make a value judgment about the illicit act.” Pause. “The best policeman would maybe be an automaton who knew the law well and obeyed it blindly.”
Fraga thought about what Mattos had said.
“All authority contains, in a way, the responsibility to judge,” Fraga said.
“All authority contains, in a way, something corrupt and immoral,” said the inspector.
Fraga looked at Mattos in surprise, not knowing what to say. He preferred to let the cop’s observation pass.
“I’m not talking about judging like a magistrate. Judging like a man of integrity,” said Fraga.
“Those who consider themselves men of integrity aren’t always good policemen.”
“But you’re a man of integrity, aren’t you, inspector? You’re not going to tell me that the turpitude, the corruption, the sea of mud that covers our Brazil doesn’t worry you?”
“Colonel—”
“Major.”
“Major, the only thing that worries me is doing my job well.” The inspector’s stomach began to ache.
Captain Ranildo entered the room.
“May I have a word with you, Major?”
“One moment, I’ll be right back,” said Fraga, leaving the room with Ranildo. In the corridor.
“I’ve got the guy’s dossier. When he was in law school, he was arrested twice. First in 1944, during the dictatorship. Then he was arrested again in ’45, after Getúlio was deposed, during the we-want-Getúlio campaign, when the commies went over to the ex-dictator’s side, that disgusting business of Prestes supporting the man who’d been his torturer and the executioner of his wife. It seems that our inspector follows the communist party line.”
“I spoke with him,” said Fraga. “He has some. . strange ideas. He’s not stupid.”
“How do they let a guy with his background into the police?” continued Ranildo. “When all this is over we’re going to have to clean house in the police.”
“The guy may really be investigating Gregório’s possible participation in the murder of a civilian.”
“The story that inspector tells is too fantastic to be true. Do you think Gregório is a homosexual? He’s a cynic, a thief, a killer, but not a homosexual. The information we have is that he’s a womanizer,” said Ranildo.
“Then what’s the inspector’s motive?”
“To stir up the Police/Military Inquiry. I think the police want us to board a leaky canoe. They accuse Gregório falsely, with our collaboration, of having committed a crime, then they declare the black guy innocent, involving us one way or another. Then Última Hora screams in banner headlines that just as Gregório was wrongly accused of that crime invented by the inspector, he also had nothing to do with the assassination of Major Vaz, et cetera, et cetera,” said Ranildo.
“That strikes me as very. . far-fetched,” said Fraga.
“My theory or his?”
“Both.”
“Major, the inspector may even be here in good faith, which I don’t believe. It wouldn’t be good for our investigation, now, to accuse Gregório of anything not linked to the crime of Rua Tonelero. It can get in the way. We haven’t even had time to interrogate the man properly. The important thing is to prove that Gregório ordered Lacerda killed under orders from a group that includes Benjamim, Lutero, Lodi, and Getúlio himself.”