Case file

SIGHTINGSAll unconfirmed

Reported to date

1. Sunday · a stage, briefly

   Last confirmed public appearance. Conceded nothing in particular and left through a door that was not the one he came in through.

   Credibility: confirmed

2. Monday · a southern land border

   Reportedly crossed by road, presenting a document that was reportedly not a passport. A passport would have been awkward, as a judge had just asked for all of them.

   Credibility: high

3. Monday night · a private terminal

   A Gulfstream was seen with its engines running and its flight plan filed somewhere warm. The jet has declined to comment.

   Credibility: high, and airborne

4. Tuesday 11:00 · a Federal Police counter

   Did not appear. By midday the documents he did not hand over had been cancelled anyway, which is the bureaucratic equivalent of changing the locks.

   Credibility: documented

5. Undated · an island in Angra dos Reis

   Placed near a property dispute in which a footballer says a mansion changed hands “na mão grande.” He maintains he was merely a witness. Witnesses are famously present.

   Credibility: contested, loudly

6. Ongoing · Florida

   Reported by wire services citing people close to the family. The least confirmed sighting and simultaneously the most believable one, which is the whole problem.

   Credibility: everyone assumes so

Total confirmed sightings since Sunday: zero. Total valid travel documents: also zero. The two facts are believed to be related.