Leandro Sotomayor

Leandro Sotomayor is 41 and a naval lieutenant, adjutant at the Naval Command of Huelva. Born in Cádiz, the son of a harbor pilot and an embroiderer, he entered the Naval Academy at 17 and spent eighteen years in the Navy without commanding a single ship. He speaks of regulations and the flag with the reverence of someone who learned early that order is the only inheritance of a well-bred poor man.

He lives in a modest two-bedroom apartment near the Plaza de las Monjas, in Huelva, with his sick mother, who spends on medicine what he earns. The old woman's room smells of eucalyptus and candles, and the window overlooks a narrow street of whitewashed walls. He wakes at five, polishes his shoes, makes her tea and reaches the Naval Command ten minutes early. On Sundays off, he accompanies his mother to the eight o'clock Mass.

He is thin and rigid in bearing, with a fine, dark face, a thin, well-trimmed mustache, black hair slicked back with brilliantine and deep dark circles. He wears the Navy's navy-blue uniform with gold buttons and lieutenant's braid on the sleeves, and carries his cap under his arm. He is formal, correct down to the last comma, and cites the regulations before answering any question not covered by them.

About the English officer's briefcase, his account is that of a zealous official: he put it in the safe on Friday, in front of the typist, and together they signed the strip across the door, as regulations require. He says that after hours he was at home. He remarks that on Monday morning the photo lab smelled of fresh fixer, and recalls that the only key, besides the commander's, belongs to the woman who works there.

Leandro knows the adjutant who keeps the briefcase and the safe is, in any command, the first person asked. When the detective accuses him of selling the letters to the Germans, he recalls his eighteen years in the Navy, raises his chin and demands an officer to defend him at his side. It could be the wounded pride of a career officer who was never treated as a defendant. It could be someone clinging to regulations because he has nothing else. The detective will have to decide which.