Hector asked. The telephone connection was, for once, a good one. Silva could even hear the rumble of traffic on the street in front of Hector’s office. “The ones who turned in that complaint about a missing family,” he said. “You bet I do.” “We got a call from a lady by the name of Alcione Camargo. Clarice Portella cleans for her on Tuesdays.” “And?” “And Clarice is on her way back from Pernambuco.” “Wasn’t she supposed to stay two weeks?” “She was. But no more. According to what she told Dona Alcione by telephone, there’s a family feud going on up there. It seems that Ernesto, that’s Clarice’s husband, fancies himself a member of the oppressed masses. His brother-in-law, the guy they were staying with, owns a shop and has a couple of employees. The two of them, Ernesto and the brother-in-law, downed a bottle of cachaça the night before last.
