The Squares of the City

IX

I didn’t say a word as the big Pegasos carried me back to the traffic department, where I had to call and see Angers for my daily visit. My state of mind approached consternation.

I had come to Vados to do a standard kind of job, one carrying far more kudos than anything I had yet attempted, owing to the special status of the city, but to outward appearance otherwise routine.

And now I found myself faced with a task of moral judgment instead. Or as well.

What Señora Posador had shown me had shaken me badly.

Aside from the questionable ethics of using subliminal perception for political purposes, there was the purely personal reaction against being lied about to the public. That the lies were intended to make me a popular figure merely aggravated the situation. And yet…

For twenty years Vados had ruled his country without revolution, civil war, slump, panic, or any other disaster. He had created peace unprecedented in the century and a half of the country’s checkered history. While his neighbors were wasting time and energy in internecine disturbances, he had managed to build Ciudad de Vados, to raise living standards almost everywhere, to make inroads on the problems of disease, hunger, illiteracy, and poverty. His people respected him for that; probably in the minds of most Vadeanos this city alone excused whatever else he might have done. What was I to do? Quit cold?

If I did that, it would permanently mar my reputation; I had worked for a long time to reach my present level in my specialized profession, and to reject this much-envied job would be construed as a confession of inadequacy, no matter how sound my reasons — because those reasons were not professional ones.

From the financial viewpoint, I couldn’t afford to quit, anyway.

Well, I could get around the last objection somehow. The competition in the field of traffic analysis is seldom so strong that an expert (and I class myself as an expert) can’t make himself employment.

But what weighed heaviest with me at the moment, when I’d reviewed the matter from beginning to end, was this: that if I threw in the job now, it was certain that Angers or someone in the traffic department with a direct emotional involvement in the situation would be ordered to solve the problem to the taste of the government — or rather, of their well-to-do supporters. And Angers for a certainty would botch it.

Ultimately, I told myself, my only responsibility was to my own conscience. Whatever the other circumstances that affected me only indirectly, my job was to do the very best I could and ensure that no one suffered by my actions — or, if not no one, then the least possible number of people.

Carrying the memory of Señora Posador’s bittersweet smile, I went into the traffic department.

Angers’ greeting was curt, and after it he wasted no more time in preamble. “Where have you been, Hakluyt?” he demanded.

I looked at him in amazement. “Visiting a friend,” I said shortly. “Why?”

“Since when has Maria Posador qualified as a friend of yours? I thought I told you she was bad company for you.”

“So you’ve been having me watched,” I said coldly. “I rather thought so. You think I’ve been spending my time in bars, maybe? Think I’m not capable of doing my job unless someone keeps an eye on me? If that’s your opinion, you can damn well hire someone else — and I’ll personally see to it no reputable traffic analyst will come within a mile of the job!”

The snap I put into the words took the bluster out of Angers and made him adopt a more confidential manner. He sat back in his chair, sighing. “Look, Hakluyt, I know you’re not well posted on the situation in Vados — because if you were, you’d avoid Señora Posador like the plague. I have to admit you’re right about your being watched. We arranged it for your own sake. We’re afraid someone may try and — uh — put you out of the way, because to Tezol and Francis and the rest of the rabble-rousers who make up the National Party you’re a major menace.”

“If I’d been told before I accepted this job that I was going to be made into a football between two petty local political parties, I swear I’d never have set a foot in Aguazul,” I declared. “I’m seriously considering taking this as a breach of contract.”

I was, too; if I’d had the copy of the contract with me, I’d have shredded it into confetti and thrown it all over the office. I was suddenly blazing angry.

“Please!” said Angers. “I assure you that so long as you stick to the job you’re engaged to do, you’re in no danger at all. Only, in spite of my warnings, you’re doing just what I told you not to do — you’re getting emotionally involved. Señora Posador is a very beautiful and clever woman, and I’ve no doubt she sells a fine bill of goods. But let me tell you something about her she probably hasn’t told you herself.

“Her husband was the man Vados defeated at the election which brought him to power, and when he heard the news, he shot himself.”

A small cold hand seemed to take me by the scruff of the neck. “Go on,” I said, fishing for a cigarette.

“Well — uh — I suppose it’s only to be expected, because she was rather young at the time, twenty years ago, and not long married… But the fact is that her husband’s death preyed on her mind, and she’s supposed not to be very stable. She fled the country directly afterwards, with a few of her husband’s followers, and for a long time kept up a bombardment of slander about Vados’s regime from other countries. Of course, it eventually became obvious to everyone that there wasn’t a grain of truth in the accusations, and in the end — about five years ago, I suppose — Vados invited her to come back to Aguazul.

“Unfortunately, instead of taking this as a favor — and it was a pretty substantial act of clemency on Vados’s part, after all the things she’d spread about — she kept on trying to stir up trouble. If it weren’t for the fact that her husband had been a personal friend of Diaz even when they were political opponents, she’d probably not have been allowed to go on so long as she has. There is, of course, the argument that it’s better to have her here where one can keep an eye on her than let her go on with her underground subversion from across the border, but people are saying she’s overreached herself now, and it certainly wouldn’t be to your benefit to get involved with her if she does have to be taken down a peg.”

“That I didn’t know,” I said slowly. Angers sensed that I was in two minds, and pressed on.

“She’ll go to any lengths to discredit Vados, of course. She’s a very wealthy woman, and the rumor has it that she’s behind Tiempo, which is a rag if ever there was one, and if that’s so, then it’s only her private pull with Diaz that’s saved the paper from innumerable libel suits. The kind of dirt that Tiempo throws at the president and at government officials is hard to credit unless one sees it. However—” He produced his habitual cold smile. “I don’t think I need labor the point any longer. A word to the wise, and all that. Let’s get on to major business.

“Believe me,” he continued with sudden earnestness, “I don’t want to have to ask you to divert time from your work. It looks, though, as though it may be necessary. You heard — of course you did, from Caldwell — that Sigueiras has filed for an injunction to prevent us dispossessing him from his slum. Well, as usual when it’s a case of foreign-born versus native-born citizen, our secretary of justice, Gonzales, has insisted on an immediate preliminary hearing, and in fact the case is down on the calendar for today.

“We’ve got wind of the fact that Brown, who’s Sigueiras’s lawyer, intends to subpoena you as a witness.”

“Does he now?” I said neutrally.

“So we’re told. We thought we might take the wind out of his sails by asking you to appear as an expert witness on behalf of the city council. It would create an awfully bad impression if you were to appear for Sigueiras; people would jump to the conclusion you were on his side, no matter whether what you said was favorable to his case or not.”

I frowned. “I’m not sure that I fancy appearing for either side, to be honest,” I began.

Angers shrugged. “Oh, I shouldn’t worry unduly. We believe Brown is only trying to pull a stunt; if we call you as well, he’ll probably give up the idea and then there’ll be no need for you to appear at all. Brown’s an ingenious devil.”

“I’ve met him,” I said. “That’s the way he struck me.”

“Oh, yes. He’s handled a previous case for Sigueiras. And being a New Yorker, he has a great advantage — he conducts his examinations in English himself when the need arises, as well as in Spanish. Working through an interpreter has drawbacks, naturally. One has to admit he’s a most subtle lawyer, too. But Andres Lucas is leading for the city, so I don’t doubt which way the case will go. Lucas is far and away the best lawyer in Aguazul.”

“That’s the Lucas who’s secretary of Guerrero’s party?”

“That’s the man. He was largely responsible for drafting the charter of incorporation for the city, so when Brown comes up against him on a question of citizens’ rights, he’ll find he’s met a Tartar.”

“Speaking of Lucas, wasn’t he also involved in this case of dangerous driving someone brought against Guerrero?” I suggested. “I meant to find out what happened.”

Angers scowled. “Dangerous driving be damned. It’s just another move in the National Party’s smear campaign against Guerrero. They can’t bring him down by fair means, so they resort to foul ones. The man who brought the charge — this fellow Dominguez — is another lawyer, as a matter of fact. Legal adviser of the National Party. He’s forever going after either Lucas or Guerrero, and people say he really wants Lucas’s prestige as leading lawyer in the country. I don’t like him at all. Too smooth.”

“What’s likely to happen?”

“I don’t know about the chauffeur, but Guerrero will get off, of course. The Nationals have two or three witnesses, but they’re all well-known party members, and Lucas will make hay out of them.”

He reached into a drawer of his desk and took out a thick document tied with gold thread… “This is the subpoena to appear as an expert witness for the city council in the Sigueiras case. As I say, I doubt if you’ll actually be called; if you are, we’ll warn you in advance. Oh, and that reminds me: unless you’re absolutely tied up tomorrow afternoon, Vados has said he wants to meet you. There’s a garden party at Presidential House at threep.m. in honor of our local chess champion, who came out on top in the Caribbean tournament the other day. If you can make it, I’ll have an invitation sent down to you at your hotel.”

“I look forward with great pleasure to meeting this president of yours,” I said with emphasis.

Angers smiled. “I don’t mind betting he will impress you tremendously. He really is a remarkable man.”

I was in a more confused state than ever when I left Angers’ office. What he had told me about Señora Posador being the widow of the candidate Vados had defeated for the presidency cast a dash of cold water on my earlier reaction. But then, of course, “going to any lengths to discredit Vados” could hardly imply laying on a superbly elaborate hoax for my exclusive benefit this morning.

I was walking past the Courts of Justice toward the park where I had last left the car provided for me by the city council, deep in cogitation, when a familiar figure caught my eye on the steep, curved steps leading up to the entrance: fat, sweating in his white suit, sucking alternately at a ropy cigar and the straw stuck in a soft drink bottle. He yelled at me as I went by.

“Hey, Hakluyt! C’mere!”

I turned aside and went up the steps, starting to smile — I couldn’t help it. Brown looked a caricature of misery. I said, “Can I buy you that drink now?”

He scrambled to his feet and dusted off his broad behind. “Pal, I feel I could do with something stronger than that — horse urine. You want to know what kind of a country you’re in? Want to know what passes for law an’ order in Vados? Want to see murder?”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“In there” — he jerked a pudgy thumb over his shoulder and sprayed cigar ash down his jacket — “there’s one of the damn finest lawyers in Vados bein’ ripped to shreds by a judge who don’t give a ounce of horse manure for legality, justice, or the rules of evidence. Miguel Dominguez — heard of him?”

“Is that the dangerous driving case — Guerrero’s? I shouldn’t have thought it was important enough to be tried here.”

Brown spat. “Nothin* but the best for Mr. Guerrero, no, sir! If they’d tried to put him on in a ordinary local justiciaria where it belongs, he’d have raised hell from here to Mexico City. It’d do you a heap of good to go inside an’ see what really goes on. C’mon!”

He took my arm and nearly dragged me into the building. As he went, he kept up a running fire of explanations. “This concerns you, y’know, Hakluyt. You been mentioned about six times so far that I heard. I just got so sick I had to go find some fresh air. I was hangin’ around waitin’ for the Sigueiras case to be called over the other side, in the civil court, but there’s a long one ahead of us an’ it looks like we won’t get heard till tomorrow or next day. So I thought I’d see how Mig was gettin’ on, and oh, Christ, it’s murder.”

“Where in hell do I get into the act?” I demanded.

“Old Romero — that’s the judge — he’s about a hundred, an’ he’s forgotten anything they ever managed to hammer into his thick skull about admissible evidence — he started by makin’ it quite plain he thought the case against Guerrero was nothin’ but an attempt to smear him. He gave a fifteen-minute political lecture on the iniquities of the National Party, accused Mig of being a paid perjurer, said it was a damn good thing someone was goin’ to clear out the bunch of peasants the National Party sponged on — that’s you, natch — ach, I’m too goddam’ revolted to repeat it!”

We came to the courtroom door; an usher rolled back a sliding panel for us, and we slipped into seats in the public block. There was a fair audience. In the front row sat Sam Francis, scowling like a fiend, and with him there were two or three other people whom I recalled seeing at meetings in the Plaza del Sur.

In the dock, in a comfortable armchair, sat Guerrero, a smug grin on his handsome face; below him in the lawyer’s seat was Andres Lucas, also smiling. On the other side of Lucas’s table was a man with a very white face, whose jaw was trembling visibly.

“That’s him,” whispered Brown. “That’s Mig.” The judge was a wizened man — not perhaps a hundred, as Brown had claimed, but certainly seventy or more. His gavel seemed almost too heavy for his clawlike, shriveled hand. His voice was reedy and penetrating, and he was using it now. I got the gist of his remarks; he was saying:

“—cannot, of course, entertain the evidence offered by the prosecution when it is so plainly colored by personal animosity and political considerations of the basest kind. I have heard cases in this court and others for upward of thirty years; never before have I been faced with such a farrago of rubbish. I shall, of course, report Lawyer Dominguez’s conduct to the appropriate professional body, and I look forward to the day — which cannot be far distant — when the persons responsible for this unprincipled attack on the good character of one of our leading citizens are swept away along with the repositories of filth and immorality where they were spawned. It only remains for me to pronounce the formal verdict — not guilty. Court adjourned.”

The gavel banged; as if it had been a trigger, Sam Francis leaped to his feet and, forgetting his languages in the heat of the moment, shouted at Romero in English.

“Why, you unprincipled old bastard! You’re just a—”

The gavel rapped again, but a storm of booing drowned it and the rest of what Sam Francis said. Beside me, Fats Brown scrambled to his feet, yelling execrations. The judge signaled to the clerk of the court, who ran to open the door behind the dais for him, and the ushers struggled to restore order.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Brown at length. “I couldn’t face Mig in the state he must be in. He’s just been legally slandered to death, so far as his career’s concerned. Like this country, Hakluyt? I think it’s a wonderful country. It’s just got some stinkin’ bastards in it.”

“But how can Romero get away with it?” I demanded.

“Who’s to stop him?” Brown snarled. “Romero’s the senior judge in the country, bar the chairman of the supreme court, an’ he’s a rubber stamp for Vados. Ugh! Fresh air — and quick!”

He led me through the corridors to the entrance so fast that he was panting when we halted at the head of the steps. He hauled out a large bandanna and mopped his face with it. “Well, like I was sayin’, you’ve seen what passes for law an’ order in Vados. Like it?”

I didn’t get a chance to answer, for at that moment Sam Francis came up to us and started to rail at Brown for what had happened. Brown took it calmly, realizing that Francis merely needed someone to listen to him and didn’t care who it was.

After minutes, the flow of Francis’s vituperation was cut short as a group of laughing people came from the interior of the building, I did not have to look around to tell that Guerrero and Lucas were in the middle of them; there was also Guerrero’s girl friend of the previous evening, and others I recognized as supporters of the Citizens of Vados party.

They halted at the top of the steps not far from us, and a man who had been half in the background — the driver of Guerrero’s big black sedan — slipped past us to collect the car. I nudged Brown. “What about him?” I said. “Wasn’t there a charge against the chauffeur, too?”

“Dismissed by Romero,” said Brown thickly. “Said it was only a cover for the real purpose of the case, which was to slander Guerrero.”

“Slander Guerrero!” echoed Sam Francis loudly, in a voice that was meant to carry. “How could you paint the bastard any blacker than he is?”

Guerrero stopped in midsentence and began to approach Francis with even steps. He stopped a pace or two distant, while his companions came up behind him. His eyes locked with Francis’s, and there was a long, cold silence.

“Coming from you,” said Guerrero at long last, “that is a ridiculous remark. You’re the black one here!”

Francis’s face contorted into a snarl, and he closed the gap separating them with a single stride. His thick fingers folded over into his palm with a clapping sound, and he drove his fist like a hammer into Guerrero’s mouth.

Literally, the violence of the blow lifted Guerrero from his feet — literally, because the act of falling carried him back over the lip of the steps beneath us. He seemed to be diving backwards like a ridiculous dummy, and time stopped.

I had a half-conscious memory of a crunching sound that had mingled with the thud of Guerrero’s body striking the foot of the steps. Then we were jostling and stumbling down toward where he lay.

One of Guerrero’s companions — I think it was Lucas — bent down and touched his head. His fingers came away sticky with blood.

“Oh, you fool!” whispered Brown, his eyes on Sam Francis’s heaving chest. “Oh, you double god-damned fool!”

People rushed up from every side. Guerrero’s girl clutched his limp hand as she knelt beside his body. In a moment she was weeping. A policeman shouldered between us, ordered us to stand back, and felt expertly for a pulse. Then he got up and started menacingly to climb the steps toward Sam Francis, who was standing like a man in a nightmare, unable to move hand or foot.

Brown looked at me, with no vestige of humor in his expression. “Sorry, Hakluyt,” he said in a low tone. “When I asked you to come an’ see murder, I didn’t figure it would turn out literally.”