Havana Bay

European boats with whole different electrical frequencies and they got to jury-rig a new line for every boat that hooks up, but I'm a fireman and I know hot lines and water. Get this lead in the water and spring a little leak and you will fry yourself some very surprised fish. All I'm saying is, how come Senor Walls has himself the only berth in the entire marina with a new power lead?'

'And if a swimmer was in the water?'

'Kill him.'

'Heart attack?'

'Stop it cold.'

'And there would be burn marks?'

'Only if he touched the line. I've seen bodies in tubs with a hair dryer, same thing. Look at her'-the baron gave Ofelia an approving nod-'like she understands every word.'

The very statement that Teresa had gone back to the country made Ofelia believe that the jinetera was lying low in Havana in the rooms of her friends. Calling from the DeSoto, Ofelia tried the numbers Rufo had listed for Daysi and Susy, and when neither phone answered, Ofelia called Bias.

'It's not like a bolt of lightning but yes'-the doctor agreed with her-'if a live wire falls into water, there would obviously be a charge.'

'How strong?'

'It depends. Submerged in water, power is diffused exponentially depending on the distance from the source. Then there is the size and physical condition of the victim, and the peculiarities of each individual heart.'

'A fatal charge?'

'Depending. Alternating current, for example, is more dangerous than direct current. Salt water is a better conductor than fresh.'

'Leaving marks?'

'It all depends. If there was contact, there would be a burn. Farther away, a person might only experience a tingle in his extremities. But the heart and the respiratory center of the brain are regulated by electrical impulses and an electrical shock can initiate fibrillations without necessarily causing trauma to tissue.'

'Meaning,' Ofelia said, 'that somewhere between too near and too far to a live wire in water, a victim could suffer a heart attack and there would be no entry or exit mark, no burns, absolutely nothing?'

There was a silence at the doctor's end. Traffic rattled on the Malecon. Arkady seemed to be enjoying his cigarette enormously.

'You could put it that way,' Bias finally said.

'Why didn't you say so before?'

'Everything in context. Where would a neumatico encounter an electrical wire in the middle of the sea?' There was a burst of static and Bias changed the subject.» Have you seen the Russian?'

'No.' She met Arkady's eyes with hers.

'Well,' Bias said, 'I notice that he left a new photograph of Pribluda for me.'

'Have you matched it to the body yet?'

'No. There are other murders, you know.'

'But you will try? It's important to him. You know, as it turns out he's not a total idiot.'

Since they'd skipped breakfast, they stopped at a park table for ice cream. Huge leathery trees overhung a playground and a shooting gallery. Ofelia was going after Teresa and Arkady wanted to see Mostovoi's apartment again, but at the moment the detective looked like a movie star on the Riviera, lips pink with strawberry.

'We can meet here later and have ice cream for dinner,' Arkady said.» At six? And if we miss each other, then ten o'clock at the Yacht Club and we'll see what that has to do with Angola.'

Ofelia was suspicious.» What will you do in the meantime?'

'A Russian named Mostovoi has a picture of a dead rhinoceros I want to take a look at.'

'Why?'

'Because he didn't show it to me before.'

'That's all?'

'A simple visit. And you?'

'You said last night when you followed Luna he was pushing a cart of what looked to you like black-market goods. Well, what goods? Maybe they're still there. Someone has to see.'

'You're not going alone?'

'Do I look crazy? No, I'll take plenty of help, believe me,' Ofelia said. She looked very composed for a moment and then pulled down her dark glasses in shock.

Arkady turned to face two girls in maroon school jumpers. They had green eyes and hair streaked with amber and held cones of ice cream close enough to drip on his shoulder. An energetic gray-haired woman in a housedress and sneakers followed with a vengeance.

'Mama,' Ofelia asked, 'why aren't the girls in school?'

'They should be in school but they should see their mother from time to time, too, don't you think?' Ofelia's mother took in Arkady.» Oh my God, it's true. Everyone's meeting a nice Spaniard, a little Englishman, you found a Russian. My God.'

'I just asked her to bring some toiletries,' Ofelia told Arkady.

'She looks unhappy,' Arkady said.

'Don't offer her your chair.'

But the deed was done and her mother was settling in where Arkady had been.

'My mother,' Ofelia muttered as an introduction.

'My God,' her mother said.

'My pleasure,' Arkady said.

With a pride Ofelia couldn't suppress, 'My daughters Muriel and Marisol. Arkady.'

The girls rose on tiptoe for his kiss.

'Where do you even find a Russian?' her mother asked.» I thought they were gone like the dodos.'

'He's a senior investigator from Moscow.'

'Good. Did he bring food?'

'They look just like you,' Arkady told Ofelia.

'You dressed so nice.' Muriel looked Ofelia up and down.

'Those are new clothes.' Ofelia's mother took a second look.

'No hablo espanol,' Arkady said.

'Just as well,' Ofelia assured him.

'He bought them?'

'We are working together.'

'Then that's different, that's absolutely different. You're colleagues exchanging gifts of esteem. I see possibilities here.'

'It's not what you think.'

'Please, don't disabuse me when I have hopes. He's not so bad. A little lean. A week or two of rice and beans and he'll be fine.'

'Do you like him?' Marisol asked Ofelia.

'He's a nice man.'

'Pushkin was a Russian poet,' her mother said.» He was part African.'

'I'm sure he knows that.'

'Pushkin?' Arkady thought he heard something to hang on to.

'Does he have a gun?' Muriel asked.

'He's not carrying a gun.'

'But he can shoot?' Marisol asked.

'The best.'

'The target gallery!' the girls shouted together.

'They see you so little,' Ofelia's mother said.» You shouldn't begrudge them a little fun, and your Russian marksman can show off.'