“Yes. I played backgammon in the casino last night until around ten forty-five, when I came up here to join Señor Reles and his guests for a drink. Mr. Lansky and his brother were among those other guests. And the gentleman in the living room. Mr. Dalitz. Waxey, too. I stayed until about eleven-thirty, when we all left, so that Reles could prepare for his phone call with the president. I’d arranged for my backgammon opponent—Señor García, who owns the Shanghai Theater—to return to the casino and continue our game. Well, I waited, but he didn’t come back. Meanwhile I had a drink with Señor Núñez, the casino manager. Then I went home.”

“At what time was that?”

“Just after twelve-thirty. I remember the time because I’m sure the fireworks ended a few minutes before I got in my car.”

“I see.” The captain lit another cigarillo and allowed some of the smoke to escape from between his extremely white teeth. “So it could have been you who killed Señor Reles, could it not?”

“It could have been, yes. It could have been me who led the attack on the Moncada Barracks, too. But it wasn’t. Max Reles had just given me an extremely well paid job. A job I no longer have. So my motive for killing him looks less than convincing.”

“That’s quite correct, Captain,” said Meyer Lansky. “Max had made Señor Hausner here his general manager.”

Captain Sánchez nodded, as if accepting Lansky’s corroboration of my story; but he wasn’t quite finished with me, and now I was cursing myself for being rash enough to have answered Lansky’s earlier question to me concerning the murder of Max Reles.

“How long did you know the deceased?” asked the captain.

“We first met in Berlin, about twenty years ago. Until a couple of nights ago, I hadn’t seen him since then.”

“And straightaway he offers you a job? He must have thought very highly of you, Señor Hausner.”

“He had his reasons, I suppose.”

“Perhaps you were holding something over his head. Something from the past.”

“You mean like blackmail, Captain?”

“I most certainly do mean that, yes.”

“That might have been true twenty years ago. As a matter of fact, we both had something on each other. But it certainly wasn’t enough to give me any power over the man. Not anymore.”

“And him. Did he hold any power over you?”

“Sure. You could put it that way, why not? He offered me money to work for him. That’s about the most powerful thing there is on this island that I know of.”

The captain pushed his peaked cap onto the back of his head and scratched his forehead. “But I’m still puzzled. Why? Why did he offer you this job?”