Castillo got out and waved and smiled at the guard, which seemed to confuse him. Castillo took out a small cigar and lit it.
Five minutes later, a Mercedes-Benz ML350 identical to Castillo's came through the gate, made a U-turn, and pulled in beside Castillo. Castillo had examined it carefully, but the windows were so heavily darkened that it wasn't until the door opened that Charley could see the driver, and then recognize him.
This doesn't give me a lot of time to figure out-even guess-what he's doing here.
"Alfredo! What a pleasant surprise!" Castillo said. "Fancy meeting you here."
"Mr. Pevsner had no idea that you were going to call, Karl," Colonel Alfredo Munz said. "You really should have called first."
"I will offer my apologies for my bad manners."
"I know he's going to be pleased to see you. Would you follow me, please?"
"How do you know that he'll be pleased to see me?"
"Because when I saw you puffing on your cigar, I called and told him who his friend from Vienna was, and he said, 'Wonderful. I really want to talk to him,'" Munz replied, snapped an order to the guards to raise the barrier, and got back in his Mercedes. By the time Castillo got behind the wheel, the barrier pole was already high in the air. Aleksandr Pevsner, wearing riding breeches and boots and a heavy, red, turtleneck woolen sweater, was standing on the verandah of his house waiting for them.
"Charley, how good to see you!" he exclaimed, and embraced him in the Argentine manner.
"How are you, Alex?"
"If you had given the guards your name, I would have had them pass you in," he said. "All I heard was a 'friend from Vienna,' and I have many of those."
"I understand," Castillo said. "You thought it might be Henri Douchon, miraculously raised from the dead."
"Who? I have no idea what you're talking about, my friend."
"Okay," Castillo said, smiling.
"Come on in the house, we'll have a glass of wine. Have you had luncheon? Can I offer you something?"
"I had a small ham-and-cheese sandwich at the airport in Montevideo, and yes, you may offer me something. Thank you very much."
"Anna and the kids are at school. I have been at school. Horse school-"
"Equestrian, Alex," Castillo corrected him. "I keep telling you things, and you keep forgetting them."
"So you do. I was at equestrian school-I wonder, what's the etymology of that word? What's it got to do with horses?"
"It means horses, Alex. From the Latin equus," Castillo said.
"I keep forgetting how smart you are, Charley. At least most of the time."
"You mean you keep forgetting most of the time? Or that I'm smart only part of the time?"
"How about both? Anyway, I am just back from learning how to properly ride a horse, and I was about to have a lomo sandwich. May I offer you the same, or would you prefer something…"
"A lomo sandwich would be delightful, Alex."
"With wine or beer?"
"Beer, please. And coffee."
"Let's go in the breakfast room," Pevsner said, gesturing. "And would you mind if Alfredo joined us?"
"Not at all."
"I thought he would like to hear what you have come to tell me."