Actually, there is one thing I have to do here that won’t wait until morning.
My back teeth are floating.
“Claudia, I’m going to go directly into the hangar, get in the Horch, and when you get to the house I’ll greet you at the door.”
He pointed to the automobile, which was sitting just inside the door, and then at Rodríguez.
“Enrico, have someone throw my bags off the Connie and put them in the Horch. We’re going to Coronel Díaz. Señor de Filippi can get the ladder built. Right, Guillermo?”
“Of course, Señor Frade.”
“And then bring everybody to my house on Coronel Díaz. You know where it is?”
De Filippi nodded.
Claudia eyed Frade suspiciously.
“I trust that that will be satisfactory, Claudia?” Frade asked with a smile.
She examined his face carefully and finally said, “All right.” Then she added, “Be there, Cletus.”
He grabbed her, kissed her wetly on both cheeks, and then walked quickly toward the hangar.
He walked past the Horch until he found the men’s room.
A moment after he had reached one of the urinals, someone walked to the adjacent fixture. Frade looked to see who it was.
“Please don’t say it, Cletus,” el Coronel Alejandro Martín said.
“But people will talk, Alejandro, if you keep following me into men’s rooms.”
He sighed. “I should have known better than to ask.”
“Humberto said you were looking for me,” Frade said.
“We have to talk.”
“Okay.”
“Not in here.”
“I presume you’ve been invited to Señora Carzino-Cormano’s cocktail and small buffet?”
Martín shook his head.
“Not to worry. It’s her party, but my house. You’re invited. So we can talk there. Or better yet, ride into town with me. We can sit in the back of the Horch and wave at our loyal subjects.”
He turned slightly away from the urinal and well mimicked the regal flat-handed slow wave of British Royalty.
Martín smiled and chuckled.
“I think I should warn you, Cletus, that I have learned you are at your most dangerous when you’re playing the clown.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, mi coronel.”
“Okay, I’ll ride in with you. What we need to talk about has nothing to do with what happened here today. But I want to talk about that, too.”
[FOUR]