“Misery pimp,” said Milo.
Bumaya smiled faintly. “I have never heard of that expression. I like it. Yes, that is an apt description.”
“Are we talking big money?”
Bumaya’s smile stretched wider. “One would think, that with all the paperwork bureaucracies require, someone would ascertain that there are only so many hours in a week.”
I said, “Larsen pads his bills.”
“Consultant here, consultant there. To believe his vouchers, he is the busiest man in the world.”
Milo said, “What kind of programs are we talking about?”
“I am familiar only with those in my country and in Lagos. For the most part, we are talking about schools and welfare societies. At least a dozen. When one examines the paperwork in toto, one finds that Larsen was working 150 hours per week.”
“Any of those programs involve prison rehabilitation?” said Milo.
Bumaya smiled.
“What?” said Milo.
“Prison work is how Larsen came to know Laurent Nzabakaza. He obtained Lutheran church funding for a psychological training program to help prisoners in Nzabakaza’s prison overcome their criminal tendencies. Sentries for Justice. Substantial payments to Nzabakaza helped . . . is the expression, ‘grease the runway’?”
“The skids,” said Milo. “Grease the skids.”
“Ah,” said Bumaya. “In any event, the prisoners treated by Sentries for Justice were the exact group armed by Nzabakanza and aimed at Butare. Larsen had already begun an identical program in Lagos, and when the genocide ended his Rwandan activities he began concentrating more on the Nigerian branch.”
One big, dark hand closed around his glass. “I believe I will take another drink.”
Milo took the glass, went to the bar, brought it back, filled high.
Bumaya drank half. “Thank you . . . Larsen attempted to latch himself onto the Bosnian crisis but failed because of too much competition. Recently, he’s expressed considerable interest in the Palestinian issue. Was one of the foreigners who traveled to Jenin to express support for Arafat during the Israeli siege. He supplied the U.N. with stories about the Jenin massacre.”
“The one that never occurred,” said Milo.
“Yes, a brief, but inflammatory international fraud ensued, and Larsen was paid for his consulting. His entrée to that region is likely because a cousin of his—Torvil Larsen—is an official with UNRWA in Gaza. When international conflict arises, Larsen will always be there to make a few dollars. If he is not stopped.”
“You aiming to stop him?” said Milo.
“I,” said Bumaya patting his chest, “am a fact-seeker, not a man of action.”
Milo looked at the photo of the smiling boys. “Where in L.A. are you staying?”
“At the house of a friend.”
Out came Milo’s pad. “Name, address, and phone number.”
“Is that necessary?”
“Why,” said Milo, “would you have a problem telling me?”
Bumaya lowered his eyes. Finished his drink. “I’m staying with Charlotte and David Kabanda.” He spelled the surname slowly. “They are physicians, medical residents at the Veterans Hospital in Westwood.”
“Address?” said Milo.
“Charlotte and David know me as a university classmate. I studied law. They believe I’m a lawyer.”
Milo tapped his pad. “Address.”
Bumaya recited an apartment number on Ohio.
“Phone?”
Bumaya rattled off seven digits. “If you call Charlotte and David and divulge what I’ve told you, they will be confused. They believe I am conducting legal research.”
“Their apartment your sole place of residence?” said Milo.
“Yes, Detective.”
“You’re an envoy but you don’t get hotel chits?”
“We are a very poor country, Detective, struggling to reunify. Mr. Lloyd MacKenzie, our de facto consul, serves us at a discount rate. A genuine humanitarian.”
Milo said, “What else can you tell me about Larsen?”
“I have told you much.”
“Shall I repeat the question?”
“A one-way avenue,” said Bumaya.
“Uh-huh.”
Bumaya showed two rows of even, pearly teeth. “That is all I have to say about the matter.”
“Okay,” said Milo, closing the pad.
“Sir,” said Bumaya, “it is in both our interests to cooperate.”
“Sir,” said Milo, “if there’s something you need to know, I’ll inform you. Meanwhile, be careful. A foreign agent getting involved in an ongoing investigation wouldn’t be a good thing.”
“Detective, I have no intention of—”
“Then we’ll have no problem,” said Milo.