“Drawing upon his own experience,” I said.
“Yes.”
“A woman was recently killed at the college,” I said. “I understand she had been dating Perry.”
“Perry had been seeing her,” Sheila said.
“Did you know her?”
“Casually,” Lyndon said.
“Police talk to you about the killing?”
“Of course,” Lyndon said. “Police. FBI. Any chance they get to bring Perry down.”
“They think Perry was involved?”
“They are trying to make it look that way,” Lyndon said.
“But he wasn’t?”
“Of course not,” Sheila said. “They just want to smear him.”
“We didn’t tell them one damned thing,” Lyndon said. “And you can print that.”
“Name, rank, and serial number.”
“Exactly,” Lyndon said.
“You say you knew the woman casually,” I said. “You ever, ah, what, go out with them?”
“Now and then for a drink after class,” Sheila said. “She was nice. She taught postfeminist literature.”
I wrote
“I’m not comfortable,” Lyndon said, “discussing this. I am not going to participate in any attempt to smear Perry.”
“Of course,” I said. “I don’t blame you a bit. Did you know she was the wife of an FBI agent?”
“Isn’t that delicious?” Sheila said. “We used to joke about it.”
“Sheila,” Lyndon said. He looked at her in a very unliberated way. “I don’t think we should discuss this any further.”
“Oh, Lyndon, don’t be such a prig,” she said.
Lyndon’s face reddened. In my notebook I wrote
“I’m afraid this interview is at an end,” he said priggishly.
“Oh, Lyndon.”
“Damn it, Sheila, be quiet. The interview is over.”
I winked at Sheila.
“Free to be you and me,” I said.
33.
Iam but a poor peasant,” Chollo said. “But Senor Perry seems to be a hero of the counterculture.”
“Peasant?” I said.
“You never saw a shovel in your life,” I said. “You were born here. You speak better English than the president.”
“Many people do,” Chollo said.
“Good point,” I said.
“I am simply playful,” Chollo said, “like a Guadalajara armadillo.”
“Armadillos are playful?”
“I do not know,” Chollo said.
My cell phone rang.
Susan’s voice said, “We’ve had an adventure.”
“We?”
“Hawk and Vinnie and I,” she said.
“You’re okay?”
“Yes,” she said.
“You’re home?”
“Yes.”
