LP. Fine, yes, I'm glad you appreciate that.
Q. Uh, it's really what might be called your extra-mural activities. In particular you took a week's leave over the period beginning 15 June this year.
LP. That's right, I did, yes.
Q. Which you spent in New York City.
LP. About three days, yes. Then I did some walking in the Appalachians.
Q. What was your business in New York?
LP. It's like I said, I was on vacation.
Q. Did you, uh, during your stay there, did you, uh, meet a man called John McGill on the steps of the American Museum of Natural History?
LP. Not that I recall.
Q. Did you hand over an envelope to the aforesaid John McGill?
LP. No.
Q. I'm now about to show you a series of photographs. Would you examine these, please, and can you identify the parties?
LP. Well yes, that's me, obviously, and that's the guy called McGill. I guess you've been following me around.
Q. You admit to having met him?
LP. Yes I did, well there's the evidence I guess. I'd forgotten all about that.
Q. I'm sure of that, sir. Now, can you explain the circumstances of that meeting?
LP. It's coming back now. He's a journalist. He has a lot of contacts or so he tells me, and being a journalist that would make sense. He said he could put in a word for me about an enquiry I was making.
Q. About?
LP. About a lady.
Q. Yes, a lady.
[Interjection by Agent Miller: ] So who's the dame, buster?
[Non-interview dialogue between agents Gruber and Miller]
Q. Sorry about that, sir. Would you like to tell us about the lady?
LP. A German girl I knew pre-war. Her name is Lisa. Or was. I wanted to find out what happened to her, whether she came through.
Q. How were you introduced to McGill?
LP. It was through a man called Jurgen Rosenblum. We met in 1941 in Camp Sherbrooke, that was an enemy alien camp in Canada, before they sorted out who their friends and enemies really were. Jurgen and I met by chance again a couple of years ago.
Q. Does the address 238 West 28th Street mean anything to you?
LP. No.
Q. Would it surprise you to know that John McGill's real name is Andrei Sobolev and that his working address is 238 West 28th Street and that this is the address of Amtorg, ah, otherwise known as the Soviet Trade Delegation?
[Silence]
Q. Sir?
LP. Yes, I'm shattered.
Q. What was in the envelope you gave him?
LP. Well it wasn't nuclear secrets if that's what you're thinking. It was information about Lisa which might help to trace her. Her friends pre-war, the university classes she attended and so on.
Q. Did you have an emotional attachment to this Lisa?
LP. It was a long time ago.
Q. Yes, sir. Would you like to answer my question?
LP. I can't say what my feelings are now.
Q. [Agent Miller]: Were you screwing her, for Christ's sake?
[Gruber to Miller]: Shut up.
LP. There was another woman in the meantime but that broke up. The war did funny things to some of us not that King Kong here would understand that even if I could explain it. Lisa was a link to my past.
Q. Has it occurred to you, um, huh, sir, did you think, has it occurred to you that if you had an emotional attachment to this Lisa, and she was found alive and well in the Soviet sector, that you would become a prime target for Soviet blackmail?
LP. No. I guess I'm a bit naive about stuff like that.
Q. [Agent Miller]. Or (expletive) smart. Maybe there were atomic secrets in that envelope and the dame story is a cover.
Q. During that vacation, did you have any other business in New York or elsewhere?
LP. No.
Q. Did you visit the, were you at, did the Soviets, did you, er, visit the Soviet consulate during your vacation?
LP. Oh God, I did, this must look very bad. Yes I did.
[Agent Miller]: Here we (expletive) go again.
LP. I have a brother in Soviet Armenia. I was trying to get an exit visa to let him visit here. I've saved enough money that I could pay for his air fare. I haven't seen him in twenty years. He's all the family I have.
[Agent Miller]: Another frigging weak link.
LP. Not at all. Army Intelligence have known about Anastas from day one.
Q. One last thing, Doctor Petrosian. May we have permission to search your flat?
LP. No, I don't want you to do that.
Q. Why not?
LP. Because there are things in it I'd rather you didn't find.
Q. Um huh. Thank you for your co-operation, sir. Have a good day.
Findhorn was looking puzzled. 'Things he'd rather they didn't find?'
Romella said, 'Maybe the diaries. But keep reading.'
Q. Thank you for agreeing to assist us in our enquiry, Mrs Morgenstern.
KM. That's okay, glad to help. What's this about?
Q. You are acquainted with Lev Baruch Petrosian?
KM. Is this about Lev? Yes, I've known Lev a long time.
Q. And how long is that?
KM. Over a decade now. We met in Santa Fe in the early forties.
Q. When he was working on the bomb?
KM. I know that now, but I didn't know it then. Why are you asking about Lev?
Q. What exactly was your relationship with Doctor Petrosian?
KM. We were friends.
Q. Close?
KM. Yes.
Q. Was it an intimate relationship?
KM. I'm sorry but I don't think that's any of your business.
Q. Then Petrosian went off to the South.
KM. Yes, and we sort of lost touch. He came back to Los Alamos in the fifties.
Q. By which time you were married.
KM. Yes.
Q. [Agent Miller] To Mr Morgenstern.
KM. Got it in one.
Q. When you met Petrosian again in the fifties, did you resume your friendship with him?
KM. Yes.
Q. [Agent Miller] Were you lovers?
KM. You've got a damn nerve.
Q. Mrs Morgenstern, how much did Doctor Petrosian reveal to you about his work at Los Alamos, either in the forties or fifties?
KM. Not a thing. It was secret work. Of course everybody in Santa Fe knew there was some secret army work going on but we never had an inkling of what it was.
Q. Did he ever talk about Russia?
KM. No. We talked movies, not politics. Wait a minute, yes, I think he said something about how he admired the fight the Russian people were putting up. That was during the war.