Juan Domingo Per¢n, wearing a tweed jacket with an open-collared shirt, and Ramirez, in uniform, were seated side by side in identical armchairs drink-ing coffee. Mayor Pedro V. Querro, Ramirez's diminutive aide-de-camp, perched on the cushions of a matching couch, his feet not quite reaching the floor.
"Mi General," Rawson said to Ramirez.
"I wanted to see you, you and Juan Domingo, before you leave for the country," Ramirez said.
"Is everything in order, mi General?" Rawson asked.
"It will be if you can get into Jorge's safe before anyone else does."
Rawson moved his arm around the room, asking with his eyes if their con-versation was likely to be overheard.
"Mart¡n had the place examined yesterday, and has had it under surveil-lance since then," Per¢n said.
"Claudia Carzino-Cormano told me that no one knows the combination to the safe," Rawson said. "We thus have-"
"Juan Domingo tells me he finds it hard to believe that Suboficial Mayor Rodriguez does not have the combination," Ramirez interrupted.
"Claudia told me she asked Rodriguez-or rather the son did, in her pres-ence-and Rodriguez claimed he didn't know where the combination is."
"Juan Domingo believes he has the combination," Ramirez repeated.
"Where does that leave us?" Rawson asked.
"Juan Domingo believes he can talk to Rodriguez, explain the situation."
"I have known Rodriguez since... Jorge and I joined the Second Cavalry in Santo Tome as Sub-Tenientes," Per¢n said. "Asking him to give the combi-nation to me is not quite the same thing as asking him to give it to Claudia."
"Where is Rodriguez?" Ramirez asked. "In the hospital?"
"I don't think so, mi General," Lauffer said. "I'm sure he's... wherever Mayor Frade is."
"You mean in Jorge's house on Coronel Diaz?" Ramirez asked.
"I believe Mayor Frade is driving out to Estancia San Pedro y San Pablo to-day, mi General," Lauffer said.
"Wonderful!" Ramirez said sarcastically. "And what do you think Subofi-cial Mayor Rodriguez would do if Mayor Frade asked him for the combination
to the safe-presuming Per¢n is correct and Rodriguez knows it?"
"Give it to him, mi General," Lauffer said. "Sir, I spent some time with them. Rodriguez has transferred his loyalty for el Coronel Frade to his son."
"Why did Jorge's son suddenly show up down here?" Per¢n asked. "After all these years?"
"Obviously the Americans thought he could influence his father," Rawson said. "And some suspect he is an agent of the OSS."
"Suspect?" Ramirez snorted. "My God! He blew up the Reine de la Mer."
"Jorge's son?" Per¢n asked in disbelief. Ramirez and Rawson both nodded. "And everybody knows this?"
"Everybody is pretending the Reine de la Mer was not a replenishment vessel for German submarines, which makes it easier for everybody to pretend she sank as a result of a spontaneous explosion in her fuel bunkers," Ramirez said.
"The Germans know better," Per¢n said. "They know it was blown up by the United States in an outrageous violation of Argentine neutrality!"
"So, Juan Domingo, was resupplying German submarines in Argentine wa-ters 'an outrageous violation of Argentine neutrality,'" Rawson said.
"Argentina has done no more for the Germans than the Americans did for the British," Per¢n said. "I find it impossible to believe that Jorge had a part in this!"
"And I think, gentlemen," General Ramirez said, "that the less said about the Reine de la Mer, the better."