"Thank you, Colonel," Silvio said in Spanish. "Does anyone know what's happened?"
Before anyone could form a reply, Silvio went on, "Mrs. Masterson?"
"She's in the German Hospital ambulance, Your Excellency," Munz said. "She has apparently been drugged. By the villains."
Silvio's eyebrows rose, but he didn't speak. He started for the ambulance. Munz, Darby, and Lowery walked after him. After a moment-what the hell, I'm supposed to find out what's going on-Castillo walked after them.
As they reached the ambulance, Silvio turned to Castillo.
"You're Mr. Castillo?" he asked.
"Yes, sir."
Silvio knocked at the rear door of the ambulance, and then pulled it open and climbed in. There in the van were two men and a woman, all wearing thin blue hospital coats, all of which carried nameplates with their names, followed by "M.D."
Mrs. Elizabeth Masterson was sitting on a chair against the far interior wall of the roomy ambulance. There was a plastic oxygen mask over her nose and mouth, and a blood pressure device wrapped around one arm. The female doctor was taking her pulse.
Silvio went to Mrs. Masterson, dropped to his knees, and took her hand.
"Elizabeth," he said softly in English, "I am so very sorry."
She looked at him, visibly confused, and then looked away.
"She has apparently been drugged," the female doctor said.
"What are you doing about it?" Silvio asked.
"There's not much we can do until we know what drug was used. We suspect a couple, but can't be sure until we get a blood sample to the laboratory."
"Why hasn't she been taken to the hospital?" Silvio asked, and then, without waiting for a response, said, "Please take her there now."
He turned and looked at Lowery.
"Go with her, please, Mr. Lowery. Make sure she is all right."
"Yes, sir," Lowery said.
"Take as many people as you think will be necessary."
"Yes, sir."
As Silvio started to leave the ambulance, Munz shouted, in a parade-ground bellow, "Captain Jiminez!"
One of the men in civilian clothing in the knot of police officers came running over.
"Eight men, two cars," Munz ordered. "One car to precede the ambulance, one to trail. There will be Americans. Make sure of Senora Masterson's safety. Report when she is safely in the hospital. And do not allow the press anywhere near her or the medicos."
"Si, mi coronel." Captain Jiminez turned and ran off, shouting orders as he ran. Lowery ran after him.
"Thank you, Colonel," Silvio said to Munz. "Now, what do we know about what happened?"
"We were about to find out, Excellency, just before you arrived," Munz said. "If you will come with me, Excellency?"
Munz led them to the policeman from the Naval Prefecture.
"You were the first officer on the scene?" Munz asked.
"Si, mi coronel."
That cop's about to piss his pants. He's terrified of Munz.
Ambassador Silvio saw this, too. He smiled at the policeman and put out his hand.
"Good morning," he said, in what Castillo now recognized as a good porteno Spanish accent. "My name is Silvio. I'm the United States ambassador, and we're trying to find out what happened here."
"Si, senor."
"Well?" Munz demanded.
"Mi coronel, I was patrolling in Puerto Madero when I got the call to come here."
"What did the call say?"
"Investigate a possible robbery murder," the policeman said, and added, reluctantly, "and a crazy woman."
"Do we know where that call came from?" Munz asked, looking over Castillo's shoulder. Castillo turned and saw that the Navy commander who had spoken to Munz earlier had come up.
"The truck driver, mi coronel," the commander said.
"Where is he? Get him over here."
When two Naval Prefecture policemen started to hustle the truck driver, a burly, visibly nervous man in his late forties, over toward them, Munz signaled them to stop and walked over to them. The ambassador, Castillo, Darby, and the driver followed. The Navy officer started to, but was ordered with a wave of Munz's hand to stay where he was. Then Munz dismissed the policemen with an impatient wave of his fingers.
"Would you please tell us what you know of this, senor?" Munz asked.
The man nodded, and then turned and gestured toward the street.
"I was coming down Edison," the truck driver began, "toward Jorge Newbery, when I saw the woman. She was staggering in the street. I thought she was drunk."
He stopped, having considered that he might have said something he should not have said.
I don't think he knows who Munz is, beyond being someone of importance to the other police, but he's afraid of him.
"And?" Munz prodded.
"I felt sorry for her and stopped," the driver said, not too convincingly, and then added, "She was in the middle of the street, and I didn't want to run over her."
He waited for a response.
"And?" Munz prodded again.
"So I got out of my truck and she sort of dragged me in here," the driver said. "And I saw the taxi, what was in it-they were both dead-and I got on my phone and called-"
There seemed to be more flashing red-and-blue lights, and now sirens. Castillo saw that a little convoy had been formed and was apparently waiting for the ambulance. Then the flashing lights on the ambulance began to blaze, and its siren started screaming. It backed up, and then left the building. A policeman directed it into the column of lined-up vehicles. Castillo saw that the embassy car had been placed into the convoy behind the ambulance.
Then the whole convoy took off.
When the sound of the sirens had diminished to the point where he could be heard, Munz again said, "And?"
"Yes, sir," the truck driver said. "The lady fell down."
"What?"
"She fell down," the truck driver said. "She didn't pass out, but she couldn't stand up and she didn't understand what I was saying to her."
"What were you saying to her?"
"That the police were coming, and it would be better if she got out of the middle of the street. I tried to pick her up, but she screamed, so I just waited."
"And what happened between then and when the policeman came?"
"Nothing," the truck driver said, and then corrected himself: "What happened was she crawled out of the street-maybe she wanted to go back to the taxicab-"
"Maybe?"
"She was only as far as the curb when the policeman came," the truck driver said. "He said to leave her where she was, and he went and looked into the cab, and came out with the man's wallet-"
"How much money, would you say, was in the wallet?" Munz interrupted.
"I didn't see any money," the truck driver said. "And then he called for an ambulance and an officer, and picked her up and put her in the front seat of the police car. And he told me that the man in the back was a norteamericano diplomat, and to leave my truck where it was, and we waited for the others."
"Who came first?" Munz asked.
"I don't remember," the truck driver said.
Munz looked at him for a moment, then at the ambassador, and then at Darby, Castillo, and the driver, as if asking them if they had any questions. No one did.
"Thank you, senor," Munz said. "What's going to happen now is that as soon as the technicians get here, they will take some photographs of your truck, and otherwise examine it, and then we'll move it out of the middle of the road. Then you will be taken to the Naval Prefecture, where other officers will take a statement from you, and probably your photograph and fingerprints. I will issue orders that your truck will be guarded while you are gone, and that you be allowed to telephone your employer and your wife, if you want. You will tell them that you witnessed an accident, and that the police are taking your statement, nothing more. Nothing about the taxicab. You understand me?"
"Si, senor."
"Thank you," Munz said, and offered the man his hand. And then Ambassador Silvio offered his and said, "Thank you." Darby and then the driver and finally Castillo shook hands with the driver.
Then everybody followed Munz back to where the Navy commander stood with the policeman.