"If you are free, Se¤or Frade, I would be happy to give you a ride."
"That's very kind of you, Capitan," Clete said. "But I'm sure el Coronel Mart¡n is pressed for time."
"Perhaps some other time, Se¤or Frade," Mart¡n said. "Is there somewhere we could talk?"
"Certainly. Why don't we go up to the house?"
"May I offer my condolences on your loss?"
"Thank you very much."
Clete led him back through the windbreak and garden into the house. He told Rudolpho to see that Capitan Birra had whatever he needed, then took Mart¡n into the library. Enrico followed them in and stationed himself in a chair near the door.
Clete waved Mart¡n into one of the armchairs and sat down in another.
"I've never seen you in uniform before, mi Coronel."
"I wear it from time to remind myself that I am an officer, not a policeman," Mart¡n said. "I'm glad to find you here, Se¤or Frade."
"There's a memorial Mass for my father tomorrow. I had to be here for that, of course."
"I meant, arriving unannounced, that I was afraid that you might be out at your radio station," Mart¡n said. "And I don't have much time."
I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. That casual matter-of-fact reference to my supposedly secret radio station was purposefully made by a real profes-sional, and this goddamned amateur doesn't know how to reply.
"How may I be of service, mi Coronel?"
"General Rawson and Coronel Per¢n are coming to see you," Mart¡n said. "Probably before, but possibly after, your father's memorial service."
"I've heard something..."
"What they want is Outline Blue..."
"Excuse me?"
"Outline Blue," Mart¡n repeated, "and the money that has been collected in connection with Outline Blue."
"I really have no idea what you're talking about," Clete said.
Mart¡n did not even acknowledge the denial.
"The reason I wanted to see you before they came was to suggest to you- as one reasonable professional to another-that it would be in everybody's best interest for you to hand it over to them."
"Not, to repeat, that I have any idea what you're talking about, but if I did have something like that, why would it be in my best interests to hand it over to you?"
"What I said, Mayor Frade-"
"Se¤or Frade, if you don't mind, mi Coronel."
"Excuse me. My memory seems to be about as bad as yours. What I actu-ally said, Se¤or Frade, was that it would be 'in everybody's best interests,' not just yours, to turn over Outline Blue and the money to General Rawson. I can understand why you wouldn't want to turn it over to me."
"Not to you? I mean if I knew what you're talking about, and if I had it."
"You're a professional, as I am. You don't know who I'm really working for. If I were in your shoes..."
Clete remembered then that Enrico had said that Mart¡n "was now one of us."
Does this guy really think I'm a professional? Or is that el soft soapo?