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“Then we’re back to square one,” Clete said. “And we can’t have that.”

“My mother belongs in a hospital. Not for what that woman did to her, but for her . . . that uncontrollable, irrational rage.”

“Colonel,” Frade said. “You know that’s not an option.”

“Well, then,” Oberstleutnant Frogger replied, “what do we do, put her in chains?”

“That is one option,” Clete said.

“Cletus, you can’t be serious,” Father Welner said.

“I’m perfectly serious,” Frade said. “She’s made it clear that she will do anything—she could have killed Dorotea—to get away. She has decided that both her husband and her son are the enemy. And, for that matter, that you are. And since putting her in a hospital is out of the question, what other option is there?”

“Actually, I can think of one,” the priest said.

“Well, let’s have it,” Frade said, more sharply than he intended.

“When your Aunt Beatriz became unstable after your cousin Jorge’s passing—”

“He didn’t pass, Father,” Frade said. “You know what happened to him.”

Oberstleutnant Frogger looked at Frade.

“He was an Argentine army officer, Colonel,” Frade said. “A quote unquote neutral observer at Stalingrad. The damned fool went flying around in a Storch and got himself killed when it was shot down.”

“That’s a bit cruel, don’t you think, Cletus?” the priest asked.

“It’s the truth. Cruel? Maybe. We’re in a cruel business. Let’s hear your possible solution. The other options I can think of start with chaining her to the floor.”

“At the risk of Major Frade taking offense at my defense of him, Father,” Oberstleutnant Frogger said, “there are things in play here involving many lives.”

“Are you going to tell me what they are?” the priest asked.

“No,” Frade said. “And ‘things in play here’ was a very bad choice of words. The one thing we’re not doing is playing.”

The priest gathered his thoughts for a moment, then said, “All right, speaking bluntly: When your Aunt Beatriz lost control, your Uncle Humberto and your father were agreed that she should not be kept in the hospital any longer than necessary. A ‘nervous breakdown’ was one thing, perhaps even to be expected under the circumstances. An indefinite period of hospitalization in the psychiatric ward of the German Hospital was something else. ‘What would people think? She could never raise her head in society again.’ ”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake!” Frade said disgustedly.

“Unfortunately, may God forgive them, it’s true,” the priest said. “The solution finally reached was that she would be released from the German Hospital, and as long as she could be controlled by drugs and kept under supervision, she would be allowed to remain at home.”

“She doesn’t seem to be very controlled to me,” Frade said.

“Relatively speaking,” the priest said carefully, “she’s farther down the road to recovery than any of us thought would be the case. In the beginning, when we took her from the hospital, Cletus, your Aunt Beatriz was much sicker than she is today.

“But, as I was saying, in the event that she would not show improvement, or grew worse, another means to deal with the situation was put in place. There is a hospital operated by the Little Sisters of Santa María del Pilar in Mendoza. It’s a nursing order, and the sisters—some of whom, including the Mother Superior, are physicians—have experience in dealing with the mentally ill—”

“Cutting to the chase,” Clete interrupted. He saw on everyone’s face that no one understood that, but went on anyway. “You’re suggesting I put Frau Frogger in a psychiatric hospital in Mendoza? What’s the difference between that

and putting her in the German Hospital in Buenos Aires? She would either escape—”

“Let me finish, please, Cletus,” the priest said, not very patiently.

“Sorry,” Clete said, but it was clear he wasn’t.

“That wine you’re drinking comes from one of your vineyards, Don Guillermo, which is in the foothills of the Andes near Mendoza. On the property is a rather nice house, Casa Montagna, designed by an Italian architect for your Granduncle Guillermo in the Piedmont style. It sits on the side of a mountain overlooking the vineyards and the bodega. No one lives there, not even the Don Guillermo manager, but there is a small staff so that it will be ready on short notice should we need it for Beatriz. I can’t remember your father ever going there or even mentioning it. I learned of it—went there—only after he had offered it to Humberto for Beatriz.”

“I don’t understand,” Clete said.