The professor lived on Arcos de Belén. Waking him up wasn’t easy, and García had to bang on the door pretty hard. Finally, it opened. The stench in his room was nauseating.
“So early? What’s gotten into you, Cap’n? Can’t you see I’m nursing a bit of a hangover?”
“I’ve got a little job for you, Professor.”
“Like the one yesterday?”
“I want you to find out everything you can about Luciano Manrique, the thug who had various sources of income.”
“Luciano Manrique? I defended him once, Cap’n. But where he is now, according to the newspapers, even I can’t get him out. Someone did him in, along with Villegas.”
“Look, Professor, you know how things work as well as I do. .”
“I don’t kill, I defend the accused. Acts of mercy. .”
“Guys like him, second-rate gunmen, they always have someone higher up who’s protecting them, who pays for their lawyers. .”
“Priests also must partake of the altar. .”
“I want to know who was protecting this Manrique fellow, and who he was hanging around with lately. Find that out, and I’ll give you another two hundred pesos.”
“Another? You still haven’t given me the first three hundred.”
“Bring me the information at eleven, to La Ópera. Here’s twenty on credit, for your expenses and to treat your hangover.”
“Thanks, Cap’n. See you later.”
The colonel, as always, was in a bad mood. Doesn’t seem like the colonel ever sleeps. And it can’t be because of his faithful departed, because he keeps his hands clean. Just like all of them who’ve come after us. They’ve all got clean hands because we do their dirty work for them. Fucking hands!
“Why did you strangle that gringa?”
“We found her dead, Colonel. The Chinks killed her because she was blackmailing them.”
“Whenever you’re involved in a case, the whole thing fills up with dead bodies. You never leave me anybody to interrogate.”
“I didn’t kill a single person last night.”
“If you say so. Now, before Mr. del Valle gets here. . Those Chinese were lying to you. There are no drugs or money in the warehouses. .”
“No dollars?”
“Nothing. And based on what we’ve been able to find out from our informants, these people have not been in contact with any known drug traffickers. Even Villegas, according to what we know about him, had never been involved in that kind of business.”
“I figured.”
“Why?”
“As soon as we caught them, that older Chinaman, the one who seemed like the boss, he started to blab about the drugs and about moving in on the Mafia in the States. He was talking too much.”
“So, what’s their game? What we thought?”
“The Russian doesn’t want to say anything, but I’m almost sure.”
“Sure of what? It’s harder to get information out of you than a criminal, García.”
“I think the rumor the Russians heard in Outer Mongolia didn’t have anything to do with an attack on the president of the United States. For one thing, there was too much money involved; for another, it wasn’t well organized.”
“So?”
“The Russians heard about something that’s going to come down in Mexico, and they wanted a free hand to investigate.”
“Something like what?”
García meditated for a moment. If I tell him what I think, he’s going to say I’ve been smoking marijuana, but I’ve got to tell him, for silence means consent and that Russian with all his theories was treating me like I’m a moron.
“I didn’t take you for an expert in international politics, García. I thought you applied your talents to purely regional problems.”
“There are a lot of Cubans who don’t like the Russians, and there are a lot of Chinamen in Cuba, Colonel. With a little help, they could plan a coup, throw out the Russians, and turn Cuba over to the Chinese.”
“And?”
“And, the Russians wouldn’t like that.”
“I can imagine. And?”
“That was the rumor the Russians heard. They were preparing a counterrevolution, organized by the Chinese against the Russians in Cuba. And that counterrevolution was being prepared in Mexico, with money from Hong Kong.”
“What about the report the Russians gave us?”
“They wanted our help, and especially the FBI’s. With a story like that, we all had to work together to find out the truth.”
The colonel reflected.
“So, according to you, García, there is no Chinese plot to assassinate the president of the United States?”
“I’m not absolutely sure, Colonel.”
The colonel’s face showed impatience. At that moment, the door opened and Mr. del Valle entered, his beatific smile playing on his lips and gleaming off his teeth. Both men stood up:
“Please, sit down, gentlemen.”
He remained standing and began to talk as if he were giving a speech.
“I don’t know if you realize that the president of the United States arrives tomorrow, and we still do not know what to expect. I am going to have to report to our president —”
The colonel cut him off. He recounted everything that had happened so far and explained García’s theory that a Chinese plot against the Russians in Cuba was behind it all. Del Valle sat down to think. Then he asked:
“So, you are certain, Mr. García, that the only thing these Chinese want is a Chinese coup in Cuba?”
“I believe so.”
“But are you absolutely certain?”
“There are too many people involved, Mr. del Valle. For an attack on the president of the United States, you don’t need so many. All you need are a couple of well-trained fanatics. You also don’t need that much money.”
“I don’t know,” del Valle said. “Your arguments offer no proof. Let me ask you this: Are you sure that the lives of the two presidents are not in danger?”
“No.”
“There you have it, Colonel — we can’t be certain.”
“Another thing that made me suspicious,” García interrupted, “was the Russians’ insistence on taking part in the investigation. It should have been enough for them to give us the warning.”
“I believe, Colonel,” del Valle said without paying any attention to García’s words, “that there is something important going on among the Chinese, and, in light of the report from the Russian embassy, I believe that this something is a conspiracy to assassinate the president of the United States during his visit to Mexico —”
“But,” said the colonel, “García explained —”
“Mr. García is not an expert in international intrigue. The truth is, he is not even an expert in police investigations. Much less can he accurately assess the Chinese and their well-known duplicity. I believe that, and I can even affirm that I am certain of it. Yes, absolutely certain. This investigation has not been properly conducted. Progress was made at first and a Chinese conspiracy was uncovered, but afterward, since yesterday, the investigation has taken a direction that I do not like.”
“The investigation has gone where the investigation itself has led, Mr. del Valle,” said the colonel.
“That direction is the wrong direction and has cost us time. The only sure thing is that the Chinese have received money. Unfortunately, given the methods used in this investigation, we have no witnesses. I notice a certain. . alacrity, shall we say, in the liquidation of possible witnesses.”