The Plaza bar was L-shaped. The bar itself, with its comfortable stools, occupied a corner of the room. On either side, there were leather-upholstered chairs and tables under large mirrors and mahogany paneling.
The place was full, but that was not unusual. When the maitre d'hotel saw Mallin and Maria-Teresa, he came quickly to them and led them to a table at one end of the L. He snatched a brass "Reservado" sign from it and held Maria-Teresa's chair as she sat down.
Enrico looked around the room and nodded to several gentlemen of his acquaintance. A waiter appeared a few minutes later, automatically delivering a plate of hors d'oeuvres; a Johnnie Walker Black with two ice cubes and a little water for Mallin; and a gin fizz for Maria-Teresa.
The waiter barely had time to prepare Mallin's drink when Alejandro Kertiz appeared. Kertiz was a lawyer with a pencil-line mustache and a taste for flashy clothing. His Mi?a was cut from the same bolt of cloth. Her clothing was too tight, too revealing, and she apparently applied her lipstick with a shovel.
Enrico Mallin did not like Alejandro Kertiz. His grandmother perhaps even his motherwas probably a Mi?a. You don't need a good family to be a successful lawyer, just a devious mind and a complete lack of morals. Mallin avoided Kertiz whenever possible. He certainly did not want to give the impression that he and Kertiz were anything more than casual acquaintances.
"My dear Enrico," Kertiz began. "Would there be room for us with you? The place is jammed."
"I would be honored," Mallin said.
The two sat down after Kertiz's Mi?a leaned across the table to kiss Maria-Teresa's cheek.
"I was hoping to run into you," Kertiz said, and started looking around for a waiter.
Even the waiters recognize you for what you are and try to ignore you.
By snapping his fingers so loudly and so often that everyone in the room was looking their way, Kertiz finally attracted the attention of a waiter, and grandly ordered "whatever Se?or Mallin and the Se?orita are having, plus a Dewar's White Label, doble, with soda, for the Se?orita and myself."
Good manners require that I protest and tell the waiter to put that on my bill. To hell with him. Let him buy his own whiskey. On the other hand, if I permit him to buy me a whiskey, I am indebted to him.
"Put that on my bill, por favor," Mallin ordered.
Kertiz waited until the waiter delivered the drinks, then said, "Corazonita,"Little Heart"why don't you go powder your nose and take Se?or Mallin's little friend with you? I wish to discuss something in confidence with him."
The young women left the table.
"She's so very attractive," Kertiz said, obviously referring to Maria-Teresa, and then added, "Pity."
"Yes, I think she is," Mallin said. "What do you mean, 'pity'?"
"None of themsadlyseem able to deny themselves the attentions of a young man," Kertiz said. He reached into his pocket, produced a brownish envelope, and handed it to Mallin.
There was a photo inside. It showed Maria-Teresa standing by the railing of the canal across from the English Yacht Club at El Tigre. She was holding the hand of a dark-skinned young man.
His back was toward the camera; his face could not be seen, but Mallin could see his dark skin, and that he was touching Maria-Teresa's face with his hand.
Another goddamned Italian!Mallin thought furiously. A stevedore from La Boca, or a vegetable salesman, all dressed up in his one suit of "good" clothes.
"I took my family out to El Tigre yesterday," Kertiz said. "To the Yacht Club. You know that my wife's grandfather was one of the founding members?"
"I had heard something like that," Mallin said.
While your grandmother was a Mi?a.
"And I had the camera with me, a Leica I-C, with a shutter speed of one one-thousandth of a second. With the new American film and the Leica, one can take photographs with practically no light."
"Fascinating!"
How dare the ungrateful little bitch do this to me!
"I wasn't sure at first that it was actually your little friend, but I took the shot anyway, and I developed the film.... I have my own laboratory, I think you know, complete in every detail."
"How nice for you."
"And I examined the negatives, and then made an enlargement, so I could tell for sure."
"It is her cousin Angelo," Mallin said. "I know the boy well. He works in her father's restaurant."
"Oh, I am so happy to hear that," Kertiz said, making it quite clear that he thought that possibility was remote indeed. "I would hate to think that she does not find satisfaction with you, my friend."
"May I have this?" Mallin asked.
"Of course. I made it for you."
"Muchas gracias."
"De nada."
Soon after the girls returned to the table, without the manners to excuse himself, Kertiz jumped up and walked across the room to invite himself to sit with another gentleman and his Mi?a. A minute or so after that, he rather imperiously waved for his Corazonita to join him.
Of course, you sonofabitch. You accomplished at my table what you set out to do. Rub this disloyal bitch's philandering in my face.
"I didn't think to ask, Teresa," Mallin said when they were alone. "Did you have a pleasant Sunday?"
"Yes, thank you."
"And what did you do?"
"Well, I went to an early mass at San Juan Evangelista, then we had a family dinner, and then visited with relatives."
You are a bad liar.
Did you really go to mass? Or were you in bed all morning with your vegetable salesman? Perhaps in bed with your young man in the apartment I provide for you? After you told your father you were going to mass, did you then take your vegetable salesman into our bed?
"I was thinking that perhaps one day we should drive out to El Tigre," Mallin said.
Well, that caused a reaction, didn't it? Your eyes are frightened.
"El Tigre?"
"I thought we might go out there for lunch," he said. "Get out of the heat of the city."
"That would be very nice," Teresa said.
"It's been some time since I have been there," he said. "When was the last time you were there?"
Teresa shrugged.
"A long time ago. I don't remember."
Mallin stood up, so suddenly it frightened her.
"I am leaving you now, Maria-Teresa," he said.
"Excuse me?"
He threw Kertiz's photograph on the table.
"If you want to go out to El Tigre, have your vegetable sales-boy take you there."
"Enrico!"
"Get your things out of the apartment today," he went on. "And please tell your father that I am no longer able to guarantee his loan at the bank."
"Enrico, amado"beloved.
"Don't 'amado' me, you treacherous little bitch!" Mallin said, louder than he intended. He glanced around the bar. People were looking at him. Kertiz had a smug look on his face.
He marched out of the bar with as much dignity as he could muster.
There wasn't a taxi in sight. There was never a taxi when you needed one.
He felt like crying.
Finally, a taxi appeared and he flagged it down and told the driver to take him to the Edificio Kavanagh. He would get the Rolls and drive around until he had his emotions under control, and then he would go home, where he would have several stiff drinks.