Read Online The Ways of Evil Men by Leighton Gage - Free Book Online

out of his teeth.
    Barbosa watched him doing it. “I should have warned you about that,” he said. “She boils the coffee in the water and then strains through a cloth, but the cloth has a loose weave, and—”
    Silva cut him short. “What’s his name?”
    “Borges.”
    “Why didn’t he help?”
    “The alleged crime took place on the reservation. Not his jurisdiction.”
    “How about the mayor? Who is he?”
    “His name is Hugo Toledo.”
    “What do you know about him?”
    Barbosa rubbed his lips with a forefinger, thought about itbefore he spoke. “Son of one of the earliest settlers, has one of the larger
fazendas
. His daddy was the mayor before him. Let me see what else.” He scratched his head. “Oh, yeah, he hates Indians. Hell, they all do. Like I said, the town’s growing fast, but they all think it would grow faster without that reservation.”
    “So if that last Indian were to be out of the way—”
    “Toledo sure as hell wouldn’t be shedding any tears about it. But poison a whole tribe? Nah! I don’t think he’d go that far. Matter of fact, I don’t think any of them would. You want my opinion?”
    “What is it?”
    “You’re wasting your time. Either disease killed those people or another tribe did.”
    “That’s not what the survivor says.”
    “The survivor is a murderer. Why shouldn’t he be a liar as well?”
    “I don’t exclude the possibility. Who else pulls weight in the town?”
    “Paulo Cunha.”
    “Who’s he?”
    “The businessman I mentioned. He’s got a
fazenda
as well, but it isn’t one of the biggest.”
    “Who owns the biggest?”
    “I couldn’t tell you. Borges will be able to fill you in.”
    “Okay. Who else might we have to deal with?”
    Barbosa pursed his lips, unpursed them when the answer came to him. “The town doctor, a crotchety old bastard, name of Pinto. You’re not going to find it easy to get along with him.”
    “I don’t have to. We’re bringing our own.”
    “Rodrigues?”
    “No. Someone else.”
    “Wise move. Rodrigues is a pain in the ass.”
    If Silva had shown any sign of agreement, Barbosa, being Barbosa, would undoubtedly play the comment right back to Doctor Rodrigues—and cite Silva as the source. The Chief Inspector already had enough problems with the woman, and judged it better, therefore, not to react to the remark at all.
    “Who else?” he said.
    “A lawyer by the name of Kassab, Renato Kassab. I only met him once, but he struck me as a real shyster. Then there’s the guy who owns the hotel—”
    Barbosa stopped talking when the door opened. Arnaldo came in. “No luck,” he said. “It keeps going to voicemail.”
    “Could be the cell phone tower is down,” Barbosa said. “It happened the last time I was there. It’s the highest thing in town, and it rains a lot, so it’s constantly getting hit by lightning.”
    “No generator?” Arnaldo asked.
    “Are you kidding? This is Azevedo we’re talking about. The town has outgrown its electrical net. The power is off at least a quarter of the time, and in the rainy season, it’s closer to half.”
    “This isn’t the rainy season, is it?”
    “No. You’re lucky. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t rain a lot though. It just rains
more
during the rainy season.”
    “So,” Arnaldo said, “I don’t suppose we can count on the air-conditioning either?”
    “Nope,” Barbosa said, blandly. “And when it comes to air-conditioners, there’s an additional problem.”
    “Which is?”
    “Fluctuations in the voltage. They get fried.”
    Arnaldo took a deep breath. “What other delights await us?”
    “Flies. Billions and billions. Beetles, too—as big as bars of soap, but they don’t bite like the flies do. They’re just scary.And you don’t want to go wandering around in the rainforest. It’s full of snakes.”
    All of Barbosa’s bad news was being delivered with a broad grin, but when he saw the way Arnaldo was looking at him, he tried to suppress