Wanderley Assunção

Wanderley Assunção is 41 and has headed the businessman's security since September. Born in Bauru, the son of a railroad worker, he joined the Military Police at 22 and left as a sergeant last year after eighteen years in uniform. He speaks in protocol and routine, treats the detective as a colleague and describes himself as a professional who doesn't improvise and doesn't allow anyone to improvise near him.

He lives in a two-bedroom apartment on the south side, on a street of identical buildings, with a vinyl sofa, a tube television and a shelf of shooting and street-race trophies. He wakes at five, does sit-ups, drinks black coffee and reaches work before everyone. On Sundays he has lunch with his sister and plays dominoes with the barracks buddies he still sees.

He is tall and broad-shouldered, white, with military bearing, a buzz cut of black hair, gray temples and a trimmed mustache. He wears a cheap but well-pressed navy suit, a narrow tie and a steel wristwatch, and a black two-way radio is usually clipped to his waist. He speaks in short sentences, in a firm voice, and uses the right verb for each situation, like someone who learned to write incident reports.

About the house, his account is that of a technical chief: he handles security for the Magazine Alvorada and the family's house, with routine and protocol. He says the driver, in debt, asked for six months' salary in advance on Friday and got a very loud no. About the van workshop, he said the assistant told him the owner vanished on Monday morning, and that she was the one who painted the cross.

Wanderley knows the man who set the boss's route is, in any investigation, the first who must explain a route that ended in an ambush. When the detective accuses him of handing over the businessman, he raises his chin, recalls his eighteen years in uniform and says he will only answer with a lawyer. It could be the pride of an ex-sergeant treated as a defendant by colleagues. It could be someone hiding behind protocol. The detective will have to decide which.