Nosy Tarsee hears that a schism involving three government personalities has taken a curious turn, with the timing proving more interesting than the bureaucratic details.

The first, who bears an uncanny resemblance to a former pares vendor whose social media star has also dimmed, is associated with sending a certain former president packing to The Hague.

The second, whom Tarsee shall call Mr. Clean, is known for his fondness for red jackets and his penchant for putting erring cops under the glare of publicity while administrative proceedings are still underway.

The third is Mr. Yellow, whose relevance to the story comes partly from his reportedly close relationship with Mr. Clean.

Curiously enough, all three men have, in Tarsee’s admittedly unscientific assessment, developed something of a taste for publicity, although each appears to practice the art in his own particular way.

That approach, sources say, once rubbed the former gunslinger the wrong way. His view, Tarsee is told, was that personnel facing administrative charges should be allowed to answer them without being subjected to what could amount to a trial by publicity.

Mr. Clean apparently saw accountability differently, and the disagreement reportedly left some unfinished business between the two men.

Then came the curious business involving a privately owned SUV that appeared, at least to some observers, to have been dressed up as a government vehicle, complete with official-looking trappings.

The vehicle eventually came into the custody of the agency headed by Mr. Yellow, while the driver was required to answer for the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Ordinarily, Tarsee suspects, such a matter might have remained buried beneath memoranda, explanations and the usual bureaucratic throat-clearing. But this one did not quite disappear.

That was when some people began recalling the old disagreement between the former gunslinger and Mr. Clean, as well as the reported closeness between Mr. Clean and the official whose agency handles the SUV matter.

Nobody, of course, is accusing anybody of anything. Tarsee certainly isn’t.

Mr. Yellow may simply have been doing his job. Mr. Clean may have had nothing whatsoever to do with the matter. And the former gunslinger may simply have encountered an unusually energetic piece of government machinery.

Still, appearances can be mischievous things, particularly when an old disagreement, a close friendship and three men who seem rather comfortable around publicity happen to occupy the same paragraph.

Whether those dots belong together is anybody’s guess.