'Yeah. Funny you should mention that. Ironic, huh?'
Silva was surprised to hear Ferraz use the word, surprised that he even knew what it meant. 'What do you mean by `ironic'?'
'We found a knife next to the body. Ishikawa says it's probably the murder weapon, and guess whose fingerprints are all over it?'
Young Bento Alves, the lad who'd discovered Vicenza's corpse, was good-looking and, for an eleven-year-old, eloquent, so he got to tell his story on the eight o'clock news. Even his dog, Snoopy, had a few seconds of fame and dutifully contributed a bark.
Then it was Ferraz's turn. Preliminary examination, he said, suggested that the victim had been raped. He related the discovery of the knife and revealed that Roberto Pereira's fingerprints had been found on the handle. He concluded that Pereira had committed a sexual assault on the reporter, then murdered her to conceal his crime. When he'd finished speaking, a solemn-faced news anchor headlined the next story, some kind of political flap in Brasilia, and promised to be right back after the commercial break.
Silva picked up his cell phone and waited for it to ring, which it did, seconds later. 'Well, that's one down, no thanks to you or your people,' the director said, getting stuck into it immediately.
'He didn't do it,' Silva said.
'What?'
'Roberto Pereira didn't kill Vicenza Pelosi.'
'What makes you so damned sure?'
'For one thing, Pereira's nine-year-old daughter was killed in precisely the same way. Her throat was slit from ear to ear, just like Vicenza's. It's like a signature. The same person killed them both.'
There was a stunned silence from Brasilia. Silva waited it out. Finally, the director said, 'Maybe he did his own daughter to protect her from being raped.'
'No, Director. He didn't.
'All right. All right. So if Pereira didn't kill Vicenza, who did?'
'I'm working on that, Director.'
'Not fast enough to suit me. Remember that goddamned Nazi? That whatshisname? The one they call the `law-andorder deputado'?'
'Domingos Logullo?'
'Domingos Logullo,' Silva heard the director snap his fingers. 'That's him. He brought the whole business up not two hours ago in the Chamber of Deputies. Now it's a game of political futebol and the opposing team is scoring points off of us like crazy.' The director was in rare form. He went on for another five minutes, made the usual blustering noises, and terminated the conversation as abruptly as ever by slamming down the receiver.
Silva stuck his forefinger into his ear, massaged the lobe, and swore that he wouldn't take another telephone call that night. But he reversed himself, some three hours later, when Hector told him it was Luis Pillar, calling from Brasilia.
'I just heard Ferraz is telling people Roberto Pereira killed Vicenza Pelosi. That's a bucket of shit.'
'I'm inclined to agree with you.'
That brought Pillar up short. After a moment of silence he said, 'You are?'
'I am.'
'Why?'
'I don't want to talk on this line. Call me back on my cell phone.'
'Okay. Give me the number.'
Silva did. Pillar called back immediately.
'I'm not used to having cops agree with me,' he said.
'Well, this one does. Why are you so sure your friend Pereira didn't do it?'
Pillar paused, thinking about it, then said, 'Look, Roberto wasn't an angel, okay? Maybe he did some bad things in his life-'
'Like killing Muniz's son?'
Another pause.
'Maybe. I'm not sure, but maybe. I talked to him before I left for Brasilia. He didn't actually admit to it, but…'
'But what?'
'Well, frankly, I didn't give him a chance to. When he touched on the subject, I told him I really didn't want to know.'
'So you think he did?'
'No, I think he might have, but I know for a fact that he wouldn't have raped and killed Vicenza Pelosi. He was a good family man, loved his wife, had two kids he adored. Not in a million years would he do a thing like that. And besides…'
'Besides what?'
'Vicenza Pelosi was one of the few friends we've got. He liked her. We all did. What do you know that I don't?'
'One more question. Who, other than Orlando Muniz, would have an interest in raiding your encampment?'
'Nobody. There's no doubt in my mind that the murdering bastard is responsible for the massacre. Him and his goddamned capangas.'
'I don't think so.'
'What? Why?'
'I'm going to tell you why, but I want you to keep it confidential. Will you do that?'
'You have my word. Anyone who really knows me will tell you it's good.'
'All right, then, listen: Rolando Pereira, Roberto's son, witnessed the murder of his father. I interviewed the boy. He saw one of the murderers grab Roberto's wrist and do something with his hand. It's my belief that what he saw was someone imprinting Roberto's fingerprints on the murder weapon.'
'Jesus Christ. Can you prove it?'
'No, I can't prove it. Now, think about it. What advantage would Muniz derive from murdering Vicenza Pelosi and going to all that trouble to blame the murder on Roberto Pereira?'
'Maybe to discredit him?'
'Why discredit him at all? All Muniz wanted to do was to get rid of him.'
'Hmm.'
'So that leads me to believe that what was made to look like an attack by Muniz and his capangas was, in reality, something else.'
'Which was?'
'An attempt to lay blame for the death of Vicenza.'
'I see. Go on.'
'So then I have to ask myself who would have had a reason to kill Vicenza and blame it on Muniz?'
'And you think you know?'
'Ah, yes, Senhor Pillar. I think I know. But I can't prove it.'
'Who?'
Silva considered for a moment, and then decided to trust him.
'Colonel Emerson Ferraz.'
'Why?'
'Because he's involved in some dirty business and Vicenza Pelosi found out about it.'
'How?'
'By interviewing a street kid.'
'That whatshisname? Edson? The one she mentioned a couple of times in her broadcasts? The one she asked to contact her?'
'Him. He did contact her. They spoke. Immediately after that, she was murdered.'
There was a long silence on the other end of the line.
'Senhor Pillar? Are you there?'
