A Sorority of Angels by Gus Leodas

sounded like a familiar voice call his name, a woman’s voice. He strained to listen again. The bell rang. Would she call out again? She did. With recognition, he relaxed, put the gun in a drawer, and turned on lights. He unlatched and opened the door.
    Pilar panicked thinking he was out after driving in to see him. She held Roberto’s hand. Roberto held the volleyball from the pool set.
    “What are you doing here? Come in.”
    “I thought you weren’t home.” She and Roberto entered and Tomayo locked the door. “You’re dressed. Are you going out tonight?”
    “I was. But no longer.”
    “Mistress night?”
    Tomayo smiled. “Excuse me. I have to make a phone call.” He left. Roberto, half asleep, curled up on the sofa and prepared for sleep. Pilar looked around the familiar apartment, a perfect bachelor’s apartment masculine and seductive with soft rugs. Tomayo came out. “Pilar, I’m all yours.”
    “Sorry to disrupt your plans. I had to see you. I brought Roberto because he wouldn’t let me leave.”
    “Did anything go wrong?” They sat.
    “I tried again with Uncle Rafael yesterday and again today. It’s hopeless. We must act to help him.”
    “We already talked about that. Control yourself. You’re acting flighty.”
    “I came up with a solution, a good solution. I’ll need your help.”
    “What solution?”
    Pilar then checked Roberto, asleep. She stood, walked around the sofa, and faced Tomayo. She said it calmly.
    “I’m going to assassinate Steinerman and that’s final.”

 
    Flabbergasted, Tomayo said, “What are you, crazy? You are crazy!”
    “I’m serious. I can’t do it alone.” Pilar remained calm.
    “There is no way that I’ll help you. Good God!”
    “Do you want Uncle Rafael dead?”
    “No, and you’re not committing murder, not for him, not for Argentina. Your children are more important. Why am I having this discussion with you? Why am I acting as if you’re serious, sane?”
    “I’m serious. We won’t get caught. I figured out a way that will work, an unsolved mystery, a permanent cold case.”
    “We? Who’s we?”
    “You and me.”
    Tomayo tried to settle his temper. “All right, all right. I’ll be patient and hear you out to end this stupid discussion. Why do you need my help?”
    “Because the way it’s to be done. I can’t do it alone.”
    “Meaning that if I don’t help you, you can’t go through with it?”
    “Yes. I need you.”
    “I refuse to help you. What now?”
    She shrugged, hopeless. “I can’t do it.”
    “You haven’t lost all logic. Case closed.” He shook his head in awe. “For the hell of it, what was your grand design, your mad scheme?”
    She reached over and removed the volleyball from under Roberto’s arms.
    “Every morning Uncle Rafael, Steinerman, and Marichal begin the day with a swim, their routine for the last three mornings. I thought I’d call Uncle Rafael from my balcony to come over and talk to me. He should. It’s far enough away from the pool so he’ll be safe.”
    “Safe?” Curiosity wrinkled his face as he looked at her askew. “Safe from what?”
    “From the explosion’s impact when we blow up the pool.”
    He leaped to his feet at the same time he exclaimed, “What!”
    Pilar talked unfazed by his reaction.
    “Steinerman and Marichal will dive in without Uncle Rafael, to swim without him, and when he reaches my balcony, boom! It’s easy. Goodbye Steinerman and Marichal end of problem. Whom will they blame, a mother of three, the President’s niece? No, Tomayo, no! It will be an unsolved mystery. Uncle Rafael, in time, may suspect us. By then he’ll realize Steinerman and Marichal were traitors and Carlos’s murderers. Nothing will be done.”
    Tomayo remained rattled and astounded.
    “I cannot believe I’m listening to this. Please, tell me your plan to blow them up. Where will you get the bomb, the explosives? Who’ll set it off?” He sat again.
    “That’s where you come in.”
    His