Harley and Otto have never gotten involved with informants. Besides being likely targets of violence, they seem drawn by a moral curse that contaminates everyone around them. When a cop pays an X9 and benefits from his information, deep down he reviles the individual serving him. In addition, he considers him unreliable, a potential double agent. Everything happens as if betrayal is an addiction, a sick and irresistible obsession. Otto and Harley prefer to keep their distance from those actors so frequently found in the police universe. Therefore, whenever they need information they contact people proven to be reliable, with whom they enjoy sufficient credibility to share what they know. Friends of that kind, especially those knowledgeable about territories in conflict, represent an extraordinary asset to investigators. Yet it’s also important not to overdo it, because the feeling of being used is discomfiting. They fear losing precious sources by going too far. And they demonstrate absolute loyalty at every opportunity.
Hamilton is one of those partners. As Otto and Harley are not known in Rocinha, they see no problem in going to their friend’s residence. Before asking the question that brought them to visit him, they talk about their respective families and soccer, the lingua franca among Brazilians.
After the second bottle, they are not spared their host’s bitterness: “When safety in the neighborhood becomes a headline, the government’s reaction is only a matter of time, and it’s the favela that pays the price. Armed invasion is usually the political response to the media’s complaints. And in a raid, when the walls are fragile and the weapons military-grade, no one is safe, not even inside their homes.”
Otto agrees, adding, “If such an operation occurred even once in an upper-class part of the city, everybody would be out of a job: the secretary of public safety, the chief of the military police, the head of the civil police, even the governor.”
The elder Mursa would repeat the same phrase at the dinner table. He didn’t raise his son to be a policeman. Despite his love of the institution, he eventually yielded to skepticism. He hoped that the end of the dictatorship and the new constitution in 1988 would change the police, the mind-set, the approaches, priorities, and practices. He died frustrated, a decade later, assassinated by criminals in revenge for extralegal executions. A tragic irony. There had been no one more radical than Elton Mursa in his opposition to police brutality. Otto inherited that skepticism and never fully overcame the desire for vengeance, whether against the murderers of his father or the fellow officers who acted like criminals and ended up provoking Elton’s death.
Harley asks Hamilton if he has any idea what happened, and he relates the same account that Otto has heard from the doormen that morning. To remove any doubt, he says he heard the explanation from one of the leaders of the drug trade. The VW van was stuck in the jam and there was a delivery to be made. He saw the guy go by with a heavily armed group and asked if the lane would be clear soon. That was when he heard the story, though hurriedly and without details. The cop who jacked up the bribe and led the fake ambush was a corporal well known in Rocinha, one Vito Florada, a.k.a. Mindinho, with a record that would be the envy of the most perverse killer. He ran a militia famous for violence in a favela in the West Zone. Rocinha being virtually a sideline for Mindinho. He made a lot more money through his militia, extorting merchants. Rocinha interested him only for the contacts it provided.
They continue the conversation in order to enjoy the scenery and reduce the impression of a professional call, but they already have what they came for.
Otto’s phone vibrates and he descends to a lower level to answer privately. The name Francisca shows on the screen.
“I can’t take it anymore. I’ve had it. You should see Rafa. It hurts. I don’t want to stay here any longer. No one can live like this. She doesn’t want to go to the theater, or go out to play, she says she’s not going back to school. I’m going to sell this apartment even though I know this isn’t the right time to do it. Who’s going to buy a place in the middle of a cross fire? Last year it was one faction against another that was trying to invade Rocinha. Shooting everywhere, we were crawling around inside our home. I’ll sell for whatever they pay, Otto. I’ll take what I can get and leave. I confess that if I could I’d leave Rio. That’s what I wanted. But there’s my job, Rafaela, I can’t do just anything that comes into my head. The thing to do is look for a place that’s calmer, an area with no favela, without gun battles. A decent place to live and raise my daughter.”
Otto says she shouldn’t make any hasty decisions, that the violent episodes are isolated events, that she and Rafa are right to feel bad, but it won’t be long before things return to normal. Francisca doesn’t like her boyfriend’s paternal tone and thinks he underestimates her intelligence and the gravity of what happened, because he doesn’t want to admit that the police have failed in Rio and that the work to which he dedicates himself no longer makes sense.
“You should be here with me if you’re trying to be useful. Don’t give me that idiocy that you’re doing your duty and thinking about the overall good. You’re thinking about yourself. For a change.”
Otto returns heavier than when he descended. He isn’t dazzled by the sea, the mountains, the blue sky dotted with hang gliders. He refuses another glass of beer and says goodbye to Hamilton. The two cops descend via the main artery of the community, dodging the dozens of scooters and mototaxis.
Harley notices his change of mood: “What’s eating you?”
“Francisca’s not okay. She wants to leave the area, sell the apartment right now, when prices are bottoming out, when everybody’s doing the same thing. She’s willing to get rid of the property for a pittance. At least that’s what she says. I don’t know if it’s just drama, or blackmail for me to feel guilty and give up the job and come home. She’s hysterical.”
“Not without cause, Otto. You really should go home, stay with her and Rafa. Let me...”
Otto doesn’t reply but looks at Harley the way he looks at Harley when he’s deeply irritated.