“How do you know?”
“I pieced it together.”
“C’mon, don’t be a schmuck. Where did you hear that?”
“From an eyewitness. That’s all I can tell you. Just don’t print that official Nazi bullshit.”
“When’d you find out about this?”
“I don’t know, Bert, sometime during the night.”
“And you didn’t tip me off?”
Keegan didn’t say anything. Rudman had never seen this expression in his friend’s eyes.
“You consider this eyewitness reliable?”
“As reliable as you can get.”
Rudman’s eyes narrowed.
“It was Reinhardt, wasn’t it? You talked to Reinhardt.”
“I’ve told you all I can. Don’t push me.” He looked down at Vanessa. “Why don’t you go put something on,” he suggested.
“All I’ve got’s my dress from last night.”
“There are half a dozen bathrobes in there. Take one.” She walked out of the room, the sheet dragging along behind her.
“Phew,” Rudman sighed appreciatively.
“Don’t get any ideas,” Keegan said.
“I’ve already got so many ideas I couldn’t ... ah, forget that.” He stopped and waved his hand. “At least talk to Wallingford, okay? See what you can find out for me.”
“Wally isn’t speaking to me right now.”
“What the hell did you do to him? Wally speaks to every body.”
“I didn’t RSVP one of his parties.”
“Ah c’mon. Take him out for a drink or something, Francis, I’m hurting for a lead right now.”
“Believe me, Bert, the guy will not give me the time.”
“Try.”
There was a long silence. Then Keegan quietly said, “All right, I’ll try.”
“Thanks, buddy. I’ll be at the Trib office and then the Imperial Bar.”
“I didn’t know the Imperial had a pressroom,” Keegan said sarcastically.
“The Imperial Bar is a pressroom,” Rudman said. “Everybody in the press corps hangs out there. Goebbels even drops by in the afternoon with his latest proclamation.”
“Well, that’s a break, you don’t even have to go over to the propaganda ministry to pick up his latest lies.”
“It’s a starting place,” Rudman said. “He gives us his lies and we boil out the truth.”
Rudman started for the door, stopped short. “You know,” he said, “this is the first time I’ve ever known you to change your mind about something.”
“Maybe it’s because I want to know the truth myself.” “Well, that’s another first,” Rudman said, and left.
George Gaines was standing inside the door of the embassy when Keegan entered. He looked up sharply, his face drawn up with anger.
“What the hell are you doing here?” the attaché asked harshly.
“I came to see Wally,” Keegan said quietly. “What’s your problem?”
“You are,” the major answered. “You’re everybody here’s problem.”
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know damn well what I mean. Trace spent the night in Landsberg prison. God knows what happened to Reinhardt. And poor old Wally’s been recalled.”
“Recalled!”
Gaines started up the stairs to the offices and Keegan fell in beside him. When one of the Marine guards stepped in front of Keegan, Gaines waved him aside. “It’s okay,” he said.
“That Nazi bastard lifted his passport,” Gaines said as they went to the second floor. “With a little help from you
Keegan cut him off. “Look, I don’t get paid to stick my neck in a noose because Roosevelt snaps his fingers,” he growled angrily. “So Trace spent the night in jail. Big deal. He’s okay, isn’t he?”
“He’s okay,” Gaines begrudgingly admitted.
“If I’d been with Reinhardt I’d be dead now, I wouldn’t just have to worry about my damn passport. I don’t have diplomatic immunity, George.”
“Tell Wally about it. He’s the one whose career just got flushed.” Gaines nodded toward an open door. “There’s his office. Although I don’t think he’s too anxious to talk to you.”
As Keegan started to enter the office a Marine came by carrying a large cardboard box. Keegan stepped around him. Wallingford’s inner door was open and Keegan could see him in the office, taking pictures off the wall.
“It’s all right, Belinda,” Wallingford said. He walked back to his desk, his arms stacked with framed photographs as Keegan entered his room. Wallingford carefully placed the pictures in an open box on his desk. The rest of the room was almost cleared out.
“I heard they gave you the boot,” Keegan said.
“Come by to gloat?”
“Come on, Wally, I didn’t stick Reinhardt in that car with Trace. Hell, I’m going to miss you. You throw the best parties in Europe.”
“That’s all it means to you, isn’t it?”
“No, I’m worried about you. What’re you going to do?”
“Go back to Washington for reassignment. It’s the end of my career.”
“What the hell happened?”
“I screwed up, that’s what happened. Almost got Trace arrested for espionage. We tried to sneak Reinhardt out of the country in an official vehicle but the Gestapo stopped them. Roosevelt apologized to that little freak in the Reichstag and I got recalled. I’m going to have to quit. It’s like getting court-martialed in the army. Win or lose, you’re finished.”
“Didn’t the intelligence people help you?”
Wallingford stared at him for a moment, then sat down on the corner of his desk.
“Listen, Keegan. We don’t have an intelligence system. Every other country in the world is up to their ears in spies but we don’t have a spy among us. And you know why? Because my boss, the mighty Cordell Hull, says it’s ungentlemanly to pry in other country’s’ affairs. Ungentlemanly! So, we play by the Marquis of Queensberry rules and they play with a billy club. That’s what happens when the secretary of state is a gentleman.”
“I’m sorry, pal .
“Hey, it’s your country, too. And I’m not your goddamn pal.”
“C’mon, Wally, we’ve had some pretty good times together. How about those weekends in Paris. That trip down to Monte Carlo last spring .
“Christ, is that what life is to you, just one long goddamn party?! Reinhardt is dead! According to our best sources, they tortured him for hours and when he bit off his own tongue to keep from talking, they forced him to drink battery acid. Of course, we can’t confirm it but it sounds right. Felix is dead and my career’s in the toilet and what the hell difference does it make to you? You’ll find another party to go to.,,
“I’m sorry about Reinhardt. And I do care what happens to you. My friendship for you doesn’t have anything to do with him.”
“I asked you to help me and all you did was worry about your goddamn plane. We could’ve gotten him out.”
“Maybe.”
“What’s it going to take to wake you up and see what’s going on here?”
“I see what’s going on.
“No, no. You don’t see what’s going n. You drive past the bloody storm troopers beating up some pawnbroker or doctor, but you don’t really see it. At least it doesn’t register. You think this can’t happen back home? Let me tell you something, pal, Hitler was absolute dictator of Germany less than a month after Hindenburg appointed him president and the Nazi party had less than forty percent of the vote in the last election. Hitler didn’t have a majority of anything, he was never elected to anything. He just took over. He threw out the Constitution and took over. Every time the arrogant little bastard opens his mouth he insults Americans. And he’s making racism acceptable. Hell, fashion able. Not only here—everywhere, everywhere! The other day I heard a couple of our secretaries giggling over the latest Jewish joke.”