“I suppose something ought to have been done by now,” I agreed.
“Yet it has not. And why not? Because it would be necessary to use troops for the eviction, and our commander in chief General Molinas has declared that he could not trust his men to do the work. Many of them, after all, are peasants like the squatters, who had no better chance in life than to enter our little toy army. Their officers are, most of them, upper-class dilettanti, who would sooner associate with criminals than with common soldiers. Moreover, there is an element of racial prejudice involved; as you are perhaps aware there exists in some parts of Latin America a kind of social hierarchy based on percentage of European blood, and in our army this is quite marked. It is an exceptional man who despite Negro or Indian ancestry achieves advancement.”
“This is most interesting,” I said thoughtfully. “Thank you for telling me.”
“Do not thank me for anything, Señor Hakluyt. I wish only one thing: that we had met under happier circumstances. For as the situation is, I and those in Ciudad de Vados who think as I do are compelled to regard you as a menace, because you reinforce the capacity of our opponents to implement their highly dangerous plans. This is an honest statement, señor; I hope you will take advice, not offense, from it.”
“I’ll try,” I said.
He folded his newspaper so that the article about my plan was concealed, and let it fall to the floor. “So!” he said. “Let us talk of other things.”
“I’d rather ask you a further question on the same subject, if you don’t mind,” I said. “I was talking with Seixas yesterday.”
Dominguez frowned. “I have no doubt what you are going to say. Seixas is a cunning man, but little else than cunning.”
“I was wondering why you — uh — backed down in your attack on him. I can’t make out if he really is an open scandal or simply a target for random criticism.”
“Oh, he is notorious. But we have more important matters to deal with. Flagrant offenders will sooner or later hang themselves. We must expose the subtler forms of corruption.”
After that we did talk of other things, desultorily, until it was time for me to leave. I had been asked to call on Caldwell in the health department, reason unspecified.
I found him in a pretty bad way. He looked extremely tired, and his stutter was the worst I had heard it since his gruelling by Fats Brown during the Sigueiras case. Distractedly, he waved me to a chair and offered me a cigarette. He was going to take another himself when I pointed out that he already had one burning in an ashtray on the desk.
He gave a nervous laugh. “I’m s-sorry,” he said with an effort. “I haven’t f-felt so good s-since that b-bastard O’Rourke went for me — d-did you read about that?”
I nodded.
“S-scandalous!” said Caldwell with vigor. “I’m c-certain O’Rourke has some k-kind of interest in hiding the t-truth. If it weren’t for the sh-shantytowns, m-maybe he’d be out of a job.”
“This sounds like the old one about doctors having a vested interest in disease,” I said when I’d recovered from my surprise.
“Oh, you d-don’t understand!” said Caldwell irritably. “I mean s-someone must be p-paying him what-you-call-it. P-p—”
“Protection money?” I said incredulously. “But what for?”
“Th-that’s right! What f-for? What for? T-to k-keep quiet about what g-goes on in th-these p-places, naturally.” Caldwell thrust his hands through his already untidy hair and gave me a defiant look through his glasses.
“Look,” I said, “you’ve obviously been overstraining yourself. I’ve been to the shantytowns, I’ve been through this place under the station, and I haven’t seen anything half as bad as the things they were putting over on television, for instance.”
“Ah, but you went there in the daytime, didn’t you?” exclaimed Caldwell, pouring the words out in a rush without a hesitation. “I t-told the newspaperman about th-that when I s-spoke to him this morning. I t-told him what the t-truth must be.”
“You mean you’ve told the papers — I mean Liberdad — that O’Rourke is hiding something?”
“I t-told the t-truth,” said Caldwell with dignity. “And now I’m going to p-prove it. You’re an outsider, Hakluyt, s-so you’re an independent witness. I want you to c-come along t-tonight and s-see for yourself.”
I almost said, “You must be out of your mind!” And then I didn’t. Because it occurred to me, watching Caldwell’s wild expression, that that was very probably true.
I changed the remark to, “Well, what do you think does go on there?”
“All k-kinds of vice, Hakluyt! I’ve s-seen it. And if you c-come with me tonight, I’ll sh-show you.”
I frowned and didn’t reply for a moment. It was logical, of course, that there would be at least a few prostitutes operating out of the shantytowns — poverty dictated it. But to accuse el Jefe himself of graft, and to accuse — most likely with justice — a few local police officers of turning a blind eye, were two totally different things.
“You’ll come with me?” he insisted hotly. I yielded with a sigh, and he rose and shook my hand warmly.
“You’ll s-see!” he said.
I went back, frowning, to the traffic department after arranging to see Caldwell at one of the shantytowns at eightp.m., and called in on Angers to consult him about Caldwell’s condition.
He greeted me with comparative warmth, for him. “We’re going all-out on this plan of yours,” he said. “Well done!”
I scowled; this enthusiasm for what I could only regard as rubbish was getting me down. “How does Diaz feel about it?” I asked.
“Well, of course, he hasn’t got a leg to stand on. One almost has to feel sorry for him. I don’t mind saying it’s put me in a pretty sticky position, because of course while Diaz is nominally my chief, Vados is mayor of the city, and in this case it’s what he says that counts. However, I must say the argument has been a very interesting one — it’s a pity you’re not a citizen, because there’s an important principle at stake.”
“It strikes me a still more important principle would have been to make the whole damned city self-governing, instead of crossing it up with the national government.”
Angers gave his barking laugh. “They have a genius for complex things like this in Latin America, Hakluyt. You ought to try Brazil for real confusion.”
“I’ve had enough confusion to last me a lifetime. Angers, what do you make of Caldwell’s behavior lately?”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, he asked me to go and see him, and I’ve just been over there. He’s got some crazy notion in his head that O’Rourke is being paid to conceal some kind of vice-racket — at least, as far as I can make sense of what he says. I’m supposed to be going on a sort of voyeur’s tour with him this evening. Is there any foundation for this, do you suppose? Or is he just suffering from overstrain?”
“Good Lord!” said Angers, blinking. “Well! O’Rourke isn’t exactly a paragon of efficiency — that’s well-known. But I always thought he was a fairly honest man — if he weren’t, I don’t suppose Vados would tolerate him. Who’s supposed to be paying him — anyone in particular, or just individuals?”
“Search me. Frankly, I think the guy’s about to blow his top. Who’s his chief — Ruiz? Someone ought to keep an eye on him. I mean, there’s enough mud being thrown at O’Rourke already, and some of it probably ought to stick, but this is irresponsible nonsense so far as I can see.”
“Well, I don’t know. Caldwell’s young and hard-working; he’s always been the nervous type, but then one can understand that, with that stutter he suffers from. I’d be inclined to think there was something to what he says. But on the other hand it has all been denied by O’Rourke, hasn’t it?”