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“He hung up.”
“Come on, Charley,” Hall said, gesturing for details.
“It was a man. American accent. He asked if I was Major Castillo. I said I was. He said he had a message from Alex, if I would tell him where I had dinner last night. I told him. He said that as of 1700 last night, the 727 was on the ground in Abéché, Chad.”
“Alex being Pevsner?” Hall asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Why would he refer to you as Major Castillo?”
“He knew who I was before he called Otto Görner,” Charley said. “That’s why he agreed to the interview. Before he knew I’m me, he was going to take out Gossinger.”
“He told you that?” Hall asked.
“The way he put it was that Gossinger was going to get an Indian beauty mark,” Charley said. “That’s a small red circle in the middle of the forehead.”
“Jesus!” Hall said. “And he was serious, right?”
“I believed him,” Charley said.
“I never should have let you go over there. At least not alone.”
“If I hadn’t been alone, I don’t think he would have met with me.”
“Permission to speak, sir?” Miller asked.
Hall gave him a strange look but said, “Permission granted.”
“Two things,” Miller said. “I don’t think it was a coincidence that phone call came fifteen minutes after Charley walked in here. That’s the first time it’s rung since I’ve been here. Which means they have somebody here, are paying a bellman or someone.”
“Yeah,” Castillo grunted his agreement.
“Two,” Miller went on, “Pevsner would know where the 727 is because he put it there.”
“I don’t think he stole it,” Charley said. “He told me he has airplanes. That he just bought a nearly new 767 from an Argentine airline that went belly-up.”
“Charley, I think you should take it from the top,” Hall said.
“Yes, sir.”
“And you, Miller, if you have any questions while he’s telling us ask them.”
“Yes, sir,” Miller said.
“Sir, I sent an e-mail saying he didn’t show at the Sacher the first night,” Charley began. “So I went back the next night—that’s last night—and . . .”
“So how did you handle the woman who went to your room?” Hall asked with a smile. “You left it that she showed up at your door with a bottle of cognac and then drove you to the airport in the morning.”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t ask, sir,” Charley said.
“You dumb sonofabitch, Charley!” Miller said.
“Agreed,” Charley said. “And that brings up the equally embarrassing fact that I was at least half drunk, which should be factored into this.”
“You think Pevsner purposefully got you drunk?” Hall asked.
“We all had a lot to drink,” Charley said. “But do I thi
