Upstairs the heat hangs torpid. He occupies a single room with a veranda that looks out over the jungle. He can’t complain. Dörsam took care of everything, including finding him a job at the Geographic Institute.

He turns on the fan, throws open the windows. The sharp screeching of the cicadas assails him. There aren’t many distinct sounds here. A region blanketed by the green of the plantations and of the jungle. Sometimes the rumbling of a freight truck on the government road to San José, or the boy who sells bread pedaling to the last house in town and bleating a few lonely notes into the air on his bicycle horn.

When he slits open the envelope, a magazine tumbles out. As if of its own accord, it falls open to the page where Carl put his letter. And he sees his own face.

The photo turned up all over the place back then, even in the New York Times. Him in front of his radio equipment, Princess on the chair next to him, both looking into the camera. Anyone seeing it would think something is wrong either with the dog or with him, because they’re both the same height.

Dear Josef (or Don José? We all had a good laugh about your new name!),

A report on your case has come out in Stern magazine. A real-life account of the German intelligence service’s activities in America. It’s a whole series! There are five more issues to come, I’ll send them to you as soon as I have them. That’s all for now. More soon.

Greetings from your brother, Edith, and the kids

p.s. Täubchen now has her own room on the ground floor. She’s a young lady now!

He lays the magazine out on the table and pulls the lamp closer. His eyes go line by line; he’s not reading, he’s looking for his name. But he doesn’t find it anywhere.

Now he starts over again from the beginning, actually reading this time. It’s the story he already knows, now told from the Germans’ perspective: Vaterlandsliebe—love of the fatherland. Written like a detective novel, as if it were all just entertainment. FBI! You’re under arrest! Why not confess and get it over with? If you talk, you might spare yourself the worst!

No wonder Carl sounded so cheery, almost excited, even. But it’s not entertainment. It’s his life.

Later, in bed, he just looks at the advertisements.

CAKES AND PASTRIES, CONDENSED MILK FOR EVERY OCCASION.

HEUMANN’S SLIMMING GRANULES WILL HELP YOU TOO.

SCHAUMA SHAMPOO—LOTS OF FOAM WITH EVERY USE.

GET MORE ENJOYMENT OUT OF TRAVEL AND FREE TIME—WITH HALLOO WAKEFULNESS TABLETS.

Germany seems to be back on its feet.