“‘Only if you write it in Chinese, Mr. Filiberto.’”
“You remember! You remember! From that day on I’ve been thinking about you. . imagining, fantasizing. .”
“Fantasizing what, Marta?”
“. . and asking questions. And that’s when they told me that you were in the police and that. . that you were famous for having killed a lot of people. .”
There was a long pause.
“It’s true, Marta.”
“Like those two men last night, criminals who wanted to kill you just because you were doing your job.”
“Things aren’t that simple, Marta.”
“Now I know I was right, that you are good and I love you and I am going to love you forever. I’m not asking you for anything, Filiberto, nothing at all. I know I don’t have the right to ask you for anything. .”
“You can ask me for anything you like, Marta.”
“You don’t know what it’s like to be afraid, to always be afraid. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been afraid. And when you’re afraid, when everything is filled with fear, you can’t love. You are very brave and you don’t know what it’s like, but it’s horrible. . To always be afraid and alone. .”
“But, I do, Marta dear, I do know, we are all afraid sometimes and we are all alone.”
“You’ve never been married?”
“Who would ever marry a man like me, Marta? With my. . profession?”
“Many women. You don’t know how good you are, the good you do in the world. In these last few weeks, all I did was wait for you to come into Mr. Liu’s store and talk to me. And yesterday. .
yesterday I thought I couldn’t go on living like that, drowning in all that fear and loneliness. Anything was better than that. .
better than being without you. And that’s why I left while you were eating with Mr. Liu and waited for you in the street so I could tell you the truth. Was that bad of me?”
“It was good of you, Marta.”
“I don’t regret doing it, and I’m never going to regret doing it. For the first time, because you’re here, I’m living without fear. . because you know the whole truth. . because you can do whatever you want with me and I’ll accept you. .”
“Marta, I. . also. . I want to tell you —”
The telephone rang.
“García?”
“Speaking.”
“The person we talked to yesterday wants to see you as soon as possible.”
“But —”
“We’re sending a car from the office to pick you up. Wait outside.”
“But, Colonel, it’s just that —”
“Outside.”
He hung up.
“You have to go out?”
“Yes.”
“But that’s not right. You’re so tired, you barely slept last night, I heard you leaving at six this morning. .”
“I went to the Turkish baths. Goodbye, Marta.”
“Should I make dinner for you?”
“I don’t know when I’ll be back, Marta. Go to sleep in the bedroom and —”
“I’ll wait for you in the living room.”
“I don’t know when I’ll be home. Go to bed and we’ll talk tomorrow.”
He went into the bedroom, picked up his hat, and returned to the living room. Marta hugged him and kissed him on the mouth. This kiss lasted a long time. She’s leading the charge. And me acting like a chump, so paternal that she had to be the one to start things rolling. More like a faggot. Oh, dear, don’t say such things, you’ll make me blush! Faggot, fucking faggot! She’s made me bashful. And those Russians, seeing and hearing everything, me being all fatherly and she wanting to get it on. And that fucking del Valle! Just when I’m making headway. And I’ve never done it with a Chinese gal! And she makes my head spin, it’s not like with the others. Maybe all Chinese gals are like this. Or maybe I’m just out of my league. The gringo, the Russian. . and Marta! They’re all in a different league — so professional, so Outer Mongolia, so international intrigue. And me, I’m just a stiff factory — assembly line. And Marta. Damn it! Even people wearing huaraches are digging their high heels into me. And I can’t even make a play. Like I don’t understand anything anymore. Like everything has to be explained to me very very slowly. Get with it, you foolish old man, you won’t get anywhere with words! Then again, all those loving words from Marta make me smell a rat. Fucking Marta! She makes me do the stupidest things. .
Mr. del Valle’s face beamed with goodness. García recounted, in a duly abridged version, what had happened the night before and about the fifty-dollar bills. Del Valle was deep in thought.
“This, Mr. García, does seem to indicate that there is some truth in the rumors.”
“I think so, too, Mr. del Valle,” the colonel said.
“But the evidence is only circumstantial, Colonel, only circumstantial, and, in a case as serious as this one, we must have proof. We have only one day left.”
“We’re doing everything humanly possible, Mr. del Valle. Besides García’s investigation, we have doubled our surveillance on the borders, in hotels.”
“The lives of two presidents are at stake, Colonel. I think we should arrest that Wang.”
García spoke:
“I think it’s better to leave him be and watch him. I don’t think he’s the one in charge, but he could lead us to the person who is.”
“Your opinion, Colonel?”
“García’s right. He’s already being watched, around the clock, without his knowledge.”
Del Valle turned back to García. That perfect political smile had returned to his lips.
“Congratulations, Mr. García. Needless to say, I deeply regret that you were put in a position where your life was in danger and you had to kill those two men. Killing is so repulsive.”
“It was necessary, Mr. del Valle,” the colonel said.
“Yes, yes, I understand. I’m not blaming anyone, I’m simply not used to this sort of thing , but to return to what I was saying before, I would like to congratulate you, Mr. García. In less than twenty-four hours you have given us enough information to confirm our suspicions. Excellent work, excellent.”
García remained silent. His hat was on his lap, his eyes staring at nothing in particular.
“As a result of your brilliant investigation, Mr. García, we can positively confirm that money from Communist China is being used to to carry out an assassination attempt in Mexico.”
“It appears that way, Mr. del Valle,” said the colonel.
“Such a large amount of money, as well as the immediate measures they took as soon as they found out Mr. García was conducting an investigation, show us that we are dealing with a serious threat. The very fact that they tried to kill Mr. García, a Mexican policeman, is proof, in my mind, that our suspicions have been confirmed, without a shadow of a doubt.”
There was silence. The colonel was playing with his gold lighter. García kept staring at nothing. Damn! If we’re going to drum up international conspiracies every time somebody in Mexico wants to kill a cop, we’re really fucked. How about one for every time some thug wants to hurry me on my way. . Damn right I smell a rat.
Mr. del Valle continued:
“Gentlemen, I think we can take as a certainty that there is a conspiracy, originating in Communist China, to assassinate the president of the United States of America during his visit to our country.”
He looked at both of them to watch the effect of his words. The colonel kept playing with his lighter. García kept looking at nothing.
“I don’t need to add, gentlemen, that this conspiracy not only threatens the life of the president of the United States, but also our president, and world peace.”