Rubem Fonseca - Crimes of August

Mattos didn’t remember seeing the pantryman when he was at the apartment the day of the crime.

“Are you new here?”

“Yes. All the help is new. Except the cook. I’ll let Dona Luciana know.”

It took Luciana almost ten minutes to appear. She was dressed as if ready to go out, carefully made up, wearing jewels. She had a folded paper in her hand.

“Counselor Galvão told me you had some questions to ask me. Please have a seat.”

“I thought he would be present.”

“I didn’t consider it necessary.”

As soon as the inspector sat down, a pantry maid appeared, carrying a tray with coffee and sweets.

“You may leave it on the table, Mirtes.”

The maid placed the tray on a table and left. Luciana put the paper she was holding beside the tray.

“Sugar?”

“Yes.” He shouldn’t drink coffee; it would increase his hypochlorhydria. He stared at Luciana’s lovely hand stirring the cups.

“Dona Luciana, did Mr. Galvão speak to you about what the doorman Raimundo told me? That you had instructed him not to mention the visit to your apartment, the night of the crime, by a black man?”

Luciana lightly raised the cup to her lips. “I was trying to protect my husband. Foolishness on my part.”

“Protect him how?”

A resigned sigh. “From ridicule. Paulo was a very superstitious man. . At times he would receive a. . visitor. . who would come to the apartment to do some macumba work. . Since I don’t believe in those things, I asked Paulo to receive that individual when I was at our country home in Petropolis. That’s what happened that day. That, that—”

“Macumbeiro.”

“—macumbeiro, had known Paulo for many years. He wasn’t the one who killed my husband, I’m sure of that.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“I didn’t want it coming out in the papers that my husband was given to such vulgar practices.”

“He may be your husband’s killer. You’ve made us waste many days of investigation.”

“Why would he do something like that? My husband gave him all the money he asked for. Mr. Galvão said a thief killed my husband.”

“You said nothing was missing.”

“When I saw you, I hadn’t done an inventory of things that disappeared. There was a lot of jewelry. I have a list of it here.”

She handed the inspector the paper beside the tray.

“The only jewels left are these I’m wearing, which I had taken with me to Petropolis.” Mattos put the paper in his pocket.

“Do you know where I can find that macumba priest?”

“All I know is that he lives near Caxias, where he has a macumba site.”

“Do you know his name?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t.”

AT THE MEETING of Aeronautics Club members held that Tuesday, instead of the four hundred officers at the August 6 meeting, there were more than two thousand, from every branch of the armed services. The attendance of higher-ranking officers — generals, brigadiers, admirals — had surprised everyone present.

Brigadier Eduardo Gomes spoke and received a standing ovation. His words were moderated compared to those of other military men who spoke. “In the sacrifice of this fearless life is symbolized the devotion of the military to the truths most dear to our civilization. It honors the glorious memory of Major Vaz. Let us pray that God will receive him in the peace of the just.”

Maritain was quoted by Major Jarbas Passarinho: “When authority loses its character of legality, it is not he who rises up against it who is illegal, but rather he who bows down to it.”

The military man has a single commitment, that of maintaining and defending the Constitution at the sacrifice of his own life, stated Brigadier Godofredo de Faria, who accused the executive power of extremism, the legislative power of sitting on its hands, and the judicial power of absenting itself. “We do not want to be mercenaries for a perverse and traitorous government. We generals are not complying with our duty. Let us be worthy of the uniforms we wear.”

The division of the country into forces that defended corruption, robbery, and assassination and forces that defended dignity and the fatherland was denounced by Colonel José Vaz da Silva, who appealed for unity among the armed forces to “crush the rattlesnake that has bitten the country for twenty-five years. We shall not hide behind some vague principle of indiscipline. Indiscipline was the movements of the Seventh of September, the Fifteenth of November, and the Twenty-ninth of October in our nation.” October 29 marked the day Vargas was forced to resign, in 1945, in a military coup led by the then secretary of war, General Góes Monteiro. Vaz da Silva concluded his words with an entreaty to Brigadier Eduardo Gomes to once again feel the youthful ecstasy that had impelled him to march from Copacabana Fort in 1922.

Colonel Adyl, who had solicited the secretary of justice to confer police power on the air force men who were taking part in the Tonelero investigation, listened ill at ease to Air Force Colonel Ubirajara Alvim declare, in a fantastic and unlikely account, that he had dressed as a tramp to investigate on his own and had arrested Tomé de Souza, brother of Nelson Raimundo de Souza, who drove the car of the killer. Tomé, it was alleged, had told him that the crime had been ordered by Deputy Lutero Vargas. “It is essential to arrest that music-hall deputy.” His testimony created a sensation among those present.

The only voice raised in defense of the government, received with cold hostility, was that of Air Force Colonel Hélio Costa. The death of Major Vaz, according to the colonel, had provoked spurious demonstrations; when he was killed, Major Vaz was not carrying out an official mission, nor was he in uniform; the offense of the murder hadn’t been directed at the air force; adventurers were trying to lead the armed forces to disorder and indiscipline.

The grumbles following Hélio Costa’s words were replaced by applause when an army captain, after terming as unquestioned leaders Brigadier Eduardo Gomes and General Juarez Távora, exclaimed: “Let us leave to our chiefs the hour of decision!”

Finally, the assembly resolved to invite the lawyer Evandro Lins e Silva to lend legal assistance, as part of the prosecution, to Major Vaz’s family.

AROUND MIDNIGHT, Senator Freitas received a phone call from a “palace friend,” saying that President Vargas was rumored to have met secretly that night with his family and some close friends, among them his son-in-law Amaral Peixoto and Secretary Oswaldo Aranha, in his daughter Alzira’s apartment on Avenida Rui Barbosa. The objective of the meeting was to discuss the political situation in the country. The meetings held that morning between the secretaries and the Army High Command were discussed. Vargas was thought to have said that he considered the situation grave and added that he would resign, if necessary, to avoid a civil war in the country. The consensus among those present had been that the president shouldn’t give in to the government’s political enemies pushing for a coup.

“Thank you, Lourival,” said Freitas, hanging up the phone.

ALICE AND PEDRO LOMAGNO lived in a spacious mansion on Avenida Oswaldo Cruz that had belonged to his father.

Alice was first to arrive at the breakfast area. The pantryman, as always, had set the table for two and was serving Alice when Lomagno entered. He was dressed for tennis and had a racket in his hand. He greeted Alice, kissing her affectionately on the cheek, put the racket away on the buffet, and sat down on the opposite side of the table.

“Has the Correio da Manhã arrived yet?”

“Yes, sir,” answered the pantryman. “I’ll bring it right away.”