Renaldo (14 page)

62

The telegraph operator at the train station in Pergamino sat in disbelief

staring at the notepad on which he had been transcribing an incoming

message.

“Surely there must be a mistake, this could not have happened.” He asked

for verification, for the full transmission to be repeated. The message came

through exactly the same the second time.

‘General Figueroa San Marco, his wife, and three daughters have been

assassinated by a terrorist bomb in front of the Cathedral Metropolitana in

Buenos Aires today, Sunday, 12 November, 1905. Stop. Notify Lonfranco De

Seta to inform the staff at Buenos Recuerdos. Stop. Señor De Seta is then to

make all haste to Buenos Aires. Stop. Contact the sender at once upon arrival.

Stop. Signed Señor Lopez Bucharo, Attorney at Law, 1538 Avenue Paseo Colon,

Buenos Aires. Stop.’

Tears welled in the telegraph operator’s eyes as he called for his young

apprentice to saddle a horse and ride like the wind to fetch Lonfranco De Seta

to the station. He told the boy only that an urgent message awaited De Seta,

and that the Italian must come at once to retrieve it.

The operator refused to transmit any further communication for the next

two and a half hours. He pulled the blind down on the door, locked it, and

hung out the closed sign. He then sat down behind the keypad and wept.

Only when the young apprentice was heard pleading with him to open up did

he rise from his chair. An irritated Lonfranco De Seta stood before him in the

fading sunlight. Silently he handed General San Marco’s executive assistant the

cablegram.

The following week was the bleakest time in Lonfranco’s life. He operated

in a numbing vacuum, always efficient, but somehow detached emotionally

from the events that swirled around him. Throughout the torturous days and

nights, two questions never left his mind.

The first was whether he could have saved the general and his family

had he been present at the cathedral. The second, what should be done about

informing Maria in Paris about the tragedy?

Was it too cruel to inform her by telegraph, so far away and with only a

paid governess to comfort her? What else could be done?

JAMES McCREATH

He would gladly have booked passage immediately to bring her home,

but the newspapers would certainly break the story on the continent before his

arrival. If he didn’t notify her of his plans, he might in all likelihood pass her

traveling in the opposite direction, if she had already heard the news. That was

too great a risk, so he decided to send a cable informing her of the tragedy as

gently as possible. He would remain in Argentina and attend to the mountains

of bureaucratic documentation that was piled on his desk.

He assured Maria that he would stay by her side until she felt that she

had a sufficient grasp of the estate matters, and requested that the general’s

only surviving heir cable him with her travel arrangements, so that he could be

prepared to meet her.

As for his own future, he was certain that his involvement with the

San Marco family was at an end, and that he would be seeking employment

elsewhere as soon as Maria had a working knowledge of the general’s business

ventures.

Señor Bucharo had been most helpful in explaining the terms of the

general’s will in a very broad sense. It stipulated that until any of the San

Marco’s surviving issue turned thirty years of age, their share of the estate was

to be administered by the appointed executors, whose number included Bucharo

himself. What he didn’t tell Lonfranco about was a far more contentious clause

in the will that could change the interpretation of the entire document.

Lonfranco was given the impression that once a reconciliation of the

estate’s assets had been completed, his services would no longer be required

in the management of the San Marco business interests. After all, he was only

twenty-two years of age, with no formal education, and an immigrant as well.

Bucharo was unaware of the faith that the general had demonstrated

in the young Italian’s business acumen. Their personal relationship was not

documented in any of the papers at the lawyer’s disposal. Lonfranco was not

mentioned in the general’s will, an instrument which had been executed some

thirteen years earlier on the birth of his youngest daughter.

The more knowledgeable that Bucharo became about the intricacies of the

San Marco holdings, the colder and more offhand he became with Lonfranco.

He finally told the young man that he should start to look for new lodging

in Buenos Aires, that it would now be inappropriate for him to reside in the

guest suite of Casa San Marco, as he had done in the past, whenever business

brought him to the capital. The general’s unmarried daughter commanded

more respect, he had been told.

Lonfranco took the advice and moved his belongings into a one-room flat

in the San Telmo barrio. It seemed to him that Bucharo wanted the general’s

trusted assistant totally out of the picture by the time Maria arrived from the

continent. She had cabled Lonfranco of her scheduled arrival date and had told

him that she was holding up as well as possible.

64

RENALDO

The last function that Lonfranco would perform for the general was to

carry his saber in the state funeral procession that wound its way through the

streets of the capital.

President Roca had declared two days of public mourning, during which

time the casket would lay in state in the Cabildo, the national legislature.

Newspapers hailed San Marco as a great hero, a man of the people who

gave his life so that Argentines everywhere could be free of terrorism. The

funeral procession was the most elaborate seen in the capital in many years.

Full military honors included squadrons of soldiers on foot and on horseback,

military bands playing sorrowful laments, and dignitaries and socialites in their

carriages. In addition, masses of common citizens marched to the cemetery to

pay their final respects.

Lonfranco marched beside President Roca, carrying the drawn saber

at waist level, horizontally, between his two hands. They followed directly

behind the casket that sat on an artillery caisson, covered by the national

flag of Argentina and surrounded by elaborate wreaths of flowers. Behind the

President and Lonfranco followed the hearses carrying the remains of the four

San Marco women.

The Italian’s distraught mind thought most often of the younger daughters,

and how they had played and laughed during their all too short friendship. He

would have laid down his life for those beautiful children, but now they were

gone from him forever.

Lonfranco was distressed to see Lopez Bucharo standing on the pier the day

that Maria’s ship arrived in Buenos Aires. The two men eyed each other coldly,

then Bucharo broke the silence with his condescending upper-class accent.

“You need not stay but a few minutes, Lonfranco. Señorita San Marco will

accompany me directly to my office to attend to certain legal matters that are of

urgent importance. Please keep your condolences brief. I am sure that she will

be in touch with you once she is has adjusted to her new circumstances.”

“Perhaps we should let Maria decide where she wants to go and with

whom,” Lonfranco replied curtly.

“I have been in touch with Señorita San Marco prior to her departure from

Le Havre. She is aware of the importance of a smooth transfer of the family assets

to the trust that the executors have set up. She will keep this appointment, and

I will not tolerate any interference from you. Good day to you, sir!”

The lawyer turned on his heel and walked haughtily down the quay.

65

JAMES McCREATH

Maria looked surprisingly composed as she descended the gangway.

Lonfranco had ingeniously tipped a porter several hundred pesos to borrow

his red cap and jacket. These would enable him to gain access to the restricted

embarkation area. He was standing at the foot of the ramp as she touched

Argentine soil again. At first she did not recognize him in his disguise, but as

soon as he removed the cap she fell sobbing into his arms. Bucharo, who was

watching the scene in a rage from behind the fenced visitor’s area, tried calling

her name as loudly as possible, but to no avail.

As soon as Maria regained her composure, Lonfranco spirited her and the

real porter to the baggage area where they were able to engage in a lengthy

conversation while they awaited her luggage. Señor Bucharo had little success

in bribing the police officer that stood at the entrance to the secured baggage

compound. He was told that he would be arrested if he tried to enter the restricted

area and to remain with the other visitors behind the fence. Humiliated and

seething with anger, he retreated as ordered.

The lawyer was able to control his temper, however, when he introduced

himself to Señorita San Marco with a great flourish as she and her two porters

swept past him on their way to the carriage that Lonfranco had hired for the

day.

“Señorita San Marco, my deepest sympathies. I am Lopez Bucharo,

attorney-at-law. We were in communication before you left the continent. I

trust you had as pleasant a crossing as possible under the circumstances. I am

the chief executor of your father’s estate, and as I informed you, we have some

very pressing matters to address right away. If you would be so kind as to

accompany me in my carriage, we can proceed directly to my office where the

documentation is all prepared and awaiting your signature.”

Maria could barely control her disgust at what she considered an untimely

intrusion.

“Señor Bucharo, I realize that this is all very important to you, but I am

tired and heartbroken, and I am going home now and nowhere else. I will see

you at Casa San Marco tomorrow morning at ten, if you can make it there. If

not, you may call and book an appointment at a later date. Good day, Señor.”

Bucharo stood slack-jawed in amazement as Maria and the two men

continued on their way past him. Never had he been talked to in such an

insulting manner by a mere snippet of a girl.

This must be De Seta’s influence
, the attorney ruminated.
He must be removed

from the picture at once. As for the señorita, I will deal with the haughty little puta in

my own way, when the time is right!

66

RENALDO

Lopez Bucharo stood in the entrance portico of Casa San Marco at exactly

ten o’clock the following morning. He was shown into the general’s den and

asked to wait. Several minutes later, Maria entered the oak-paneled room with

Lonfranco De Seta right behind her.

“Señorita, thank you for seeing me so promptly. I do hope that you found

your homecoming comforting. This business will only take a short time. I do,

however, insist that we have our discussion in private. There is no assistance

that Señor De Seta can provide for me.” Bucharo could not mask the look of