Part 21 (1/2)
”No!” I closed the door in case Mordy and Edith came out, and led Mari to the couch. For the next twenty minutes, I walked her through the whole ugly mess as I knew it, including the fact that Delores was probably the one who had tipped off the feds, a tidbit that turned Mari so red with anger I thought she might have a stroke.
”Pinche puta!”
Whatever she just said sounded utterly venomous and I vowed to learn it. I finished my tale by saying I didn't care if any of it was true or not.
”Of course it wasn't true. You know I'd never do anything like that.” Left unsaid was her growing suspicion that maybe Pepe had. She abruptly rose. ”I need to get dressed and go see Pepe. Are you coming?”
We showered separately but otherwise shared the bathroom like an old married couple-an image that was verbally descriptive but not visually desirable, since it conjured mental pictures of Mordy and Edith.
Mari drove so slowly on the way to Coral Gables, I wondered if she was having engine trouble. ”Is something wrong with your car?”
”I guess I'm not in that big a hurry to find out what's going on. What if Pepe did those things? What if he was cheating our investors but got Felix to have it dismissed on some sort of technicality?”
I'd had longer to think about that question than Mari, and I knew the answer. ”I had to ask myself the same thing over and over about you. That kind of disappointment in someone you love and admire is just off the scale. But even when I thought you were using me in your scheme, the thing that hurt most was thinking you didn't really love me. Once I realized you did, I would have found a way to forgive you, because I never want to lose that.”
”You'd have stood by me even if you found out I was scamming my clients?”
”Yeah, but like I said, the disappointment would be pretty hard to deal with. I'd have to know you were genuinely sorry, and I'd expect you to make amends. That's the only way I'd know you were really the person I loved. It's like you told me about that Boston job I didn't take-it's about the future, not the past. If Pepe's done something wrong, what matters now is what he does next.”
The grand house in the Gables gave off quite a different atmosphere from the night of Emilio's birthday party. Pepe's big Mercedes was the lone vehicle in the parking circle, the only sign anyone was home.
As we neared the steps, the front door swung open to reveal her beloved uncle, dressed casually in gray slacks, sandals with socks and a white Panama s.h.i.+rt.
”You don't seem surprised to see us,” Mari said drily.
”I'm only surprised it took you so long,” he answered, smiling with what looked like a combination of mischief and pride. ”Good morning, Daphne.”
We traded kisses as if getting arrested together was the most normal thing in the world.
Lucia made the moment even more surreal when she appeared in the foyer and did the same. ”Cafe con leche,” she told the housekeeper, along with a few words I didn't understand.
Nothing rejuvenated like strong Cuban coffee. Two shots of scalded espresso with four sugars and whole milk would have me awake until day after tomorrow.
Pepe led us all through a set of double doors off the living room that had been closed the night of the party. It obviously was his study, and it held a sofa, several leather chairs, bookcases and an enormous carved mahogany desk. We'd just gotten settled when Mima's caretaker rolled her into the room in her wheelchair.
It was sweet how they included Mima in all their important family discussions, as if to a.s.sure her that despite her age and declining health, she would always be their matriarch. Mari and I greeted her as the coffee was delivered, and the housekeeper closed both doors on her way out.
Pepe sipped his coffee and cleared his throat. ”I should first apologize, especially to you, Daphne, for the events of last evening. In hindsight, we should have antic.i.p.ated that our actions might trigger an investigation, but we had no inkling they would involve you.”
So there was something. I could see Mari stiffen beside me on the couch, as though bracing herself for bad news.
”I was advised by my attorney, who happens to be my younger brother, to tell no one of the events of last evening, but I cannot leave those I love in such darkness. However, it is absolutely essential that what I'm about to tell you never leave this room. Is that understood?”
Mari and I both nodded eagerly. I'd promise anything if it meant someone would finally lift this veil of ignorance.
He leaned back in his leather chair, so far that I feared he would fall over. ”Mari, the Iberican Fund is real. Several of our investors-and one of our companies-are not.”
”Pepe, that's fraud!” Mari exploded from her seat and stomped across the room.
”Sientate,” Mima said firmly.
From the speed with which Mari returned to her seat, I took that to mean something like, ”Sit down, you impudent child.”
”It's more complicated than that, nena. There are things that are not strictly legal, yet must be done. When the Castro regime falls, America must fill the void. Not Russia, not China, not Venezuela. The companies that make up the Iberican Fund are a vital part of America's preparations for democracy in Cuba. We are poised to infuse an almost endless supply of building materials, along with agricultural equipment and mining machinery that will jump-start the Cuban economy and put the Cuban people back to work to rebuild their country. We cannot let America's enemies gain a toehold in that revitalization.”
”But why is any of that illegal?”
”The complication is we don't know when Castro will fall. There has always been a plan for Cuba, but America's priorities and resources have s.h.i.+fted over the past decade to other fronts. Five years ago, I was asked by someone from the State Department in Was.h.i.+ngton to take up those preparations. They put me in touch with their CIA contact, someone inside Cuba who's building support for the transformation. I met with that person in the Caymans, and once I understood Cuba's needs, I set out to meet them-with your help, I should add-by pulling together those companies that form the Iberican Fund.”
Mari shook her head. ”I still don't see what the problem is, and why we've brought on bogus investors. The embargo applies only to Cuba, not to companies who might want to do business there after the old geezer croaks.” She said something to Mima in Spanish that caused her to chuckle.
”The problem, as I said, is not knowing how long it will be before the fund takes off. It will ultimately be wildly successful. Of that, there is no doubt. But our investors want returns now, not, as you say, when the old geezer croaks. So in order to hold their investment, we must pay dividends. That's where our friends from the State Department come in. They invest a few million dollars in our sh.e.l.l company-which we pay out in dividends-in order to keep billions of investment dollars in place.”
I could see from her fidgeting hands and feet that Mari wanted to get up and storm around the room again but didn't dare.
”You're telling me all the work I've done for the past three years on this fund has been bogus, that I've been lying to everyone about the financials and performance indicators. None of it ever mattered.”
”Mari, before I ever agreed to this, I went to Mima for her blessing. I told her it could blow up in our faces, and might cost us everything if our work was discovered to be a front for a political cause not everyone cares about. She said yes, and she sold this house to Lucia and me so she could be the first to invest because of what it represented-a free Cuba. But she wanted you kept clean, so we agreed to set the investment bar out of your reach.”
Commiserating with Mordy about how silly the Cubans were in their hatred of Castro seemed so foreign to me now. Even after fifty years, seeing the dictator fall was still the reason many of those in Miami's exile community got out of bed each day.
”If you wanted me clean, why did you let me sell it? You could have managed the fund on your own.”
”I needed your help, because I knew that would guarantee the fund's success. But I also knew you'd never be dishonest with your investors, so I hid the details from you.” Pepe smiled softly and looked at his mother. ”And there was someone else who wanted you to be a part of this historic effort, and he helped convince Mima to let me bring you in.”
I felt as if I'd been dropped into a spy novel, though for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what I had to do with any of this. But the shock and confusion in my head probably paled next to what had to be going on in Mari's.
”Mari, my CIA contact in Cuba is my older brother, Eduardo...your father.”
Cue the kettle drums. Even I felt like standing up and waving the Cuban flag.
”He has been working secretly from within the country to advance the causes of freedom and democracy for the Cuban people. It is because of his work that those dreams will someday become reality.”
If Mari was thrilled by the revelation, her twitching jaw hadn't gotten the news. She looked as angry as she had when I told her about Delores. ”You expect me to believe after all these years that he's one of us? Not one word from him in thirty years, Pepe.”
”He has made some bad decisions, and he doesn't expect your forgiveness. But his love for Cuba is genuine, as is his love for you. He's risking his life to make Cuba free. It is very dangerous for him, and would be even more so if he reached out to you. If his efforts are discovered, he will be thrown in prison or possibly worse. Therefore, we must commit ourselves to holding these secrets from all, as Castro has eyes and ears throughout the region, even here in the exile community.”
Mima reached out a shaky hand to Mari, and spoke again to her in Spanish. I understood hijo-son-and the last words, which she spoke with tears in her eyes. Te quiero tambien. I love you too.
Lucia clasped her hands and blew out a satisfied sigh. ”Very well. Mariana has prepared lunch for us all. Shall we?”
Even if Mari didn't fully accept the story of her father, I couldn't help but find it touching and n.o.ble. As difficult as it would be for her, I liked knowing that someday- ”Wait a minute.” Before we all ran off to digest this startling news along with a few fried plantains, I needed answers too. ”Did I have anything at all to do with this, or was the IRS just using me to get to Mari?”
Pepe looked truly baffled. ”I believe you were approached because you accompanied us on the dinner cruise with Michael, whose money, by the way, we decided to accept after all when he became insistent. We couldn't afford to raise suspicions.”
”Besides,” Lucia added, ”it pleased Pepe to know his investment allowed the firm to continue its support of things like your Miami Home Foundation, whether he approved of it or not.”