Connolly looked at both of them, waiting for him. But it was impossible now. There were two stories, not one. Why had he thought Oppenheimer would be alone? “I have to see Pawlowski,” he said, improvising.
Oppenheimer stared at him, amazed. “You’ve got a hell of a nerve coming here at a time like this. With personal problems,” he said, almost spitting the p’s.
“His wife’s in the hospital.”
“What are you, her nurse?”
“Actually, I need to see you too, but that can wait.”
“It can.”
“We got the guy. It’s over.”
“Congratulations,” Oppenheimer snapped. “Now get the hell out of here.” Then, controlling himself, “Pawlowski’s at S 10,000-that’s the control bunker for the gadget. You can get him after the test.” He looked at his watch. “If there’s a test. We’ve already postponed it once. Thirty-mile-an-hour winds. Thirty. Anything more than ten and—”
“They said an hour,” Groves said again, reassuring. Then, to Connolly, “I don’t understand. You found—”
“Yes, Mr. Connolly’s solved his case,” Oppenheimer said dismissively, lighting another cigarette. “He seems to think this is a swell time to make a report.” He spoke the slang word as if it were foreign. “If it’s really an hour, we’d better get Kisty away from that tower. We have to clear all personnel at least an hour beforehand.” Groves looked puzzled. “In case a vehicle breaks down and they have to walk. They’d need an hour. It’s six miles to the bunker.”
“And no one guards the gadget?” Groves said.
“No. We’ll give your saboteurs a fighting chance.” He checked his watch again. “They’d better hurry.”
Groves glanced at him, unamused, then back at Connolly, uncomfortable with an audience. “Let’s get out to S 10,000, then,” he said calmly to Oppenheimer. “There’s nothing more we can do here anyway. We’ve got the brass all taken care of.” He gestured toward the Washington visitors. “You get the driver, and I’ll be right along.” He looked at Oppenheimer. “The weather’s going to be fine.”
Oppenheimer, hearing the polite dismissal, smiled. “Okay,” he said, then turned to Connolly. “I’ll send Pawlowski back after the test. No one leaves there now. As long as you’re here, you might as well go up to Compania Hill with the rest of the visitors. Get one of the men to take you. You should be safe there-it’s far enough away-in case our calculations are wrong. Of course, that’s a relative thing, isn’t it? If we’re really off, Enrico thinks it’s possible to ignite the atmosphere. A chain reaction there—”
“That kind of talk is just out of line,” Groves said, annoyed. “I told him.”
“Yes. He told me you told him. I think he might have been joking, you know.”
“Some joke.”
Oppenheimer turned to Connolly. “I’ll send him back. I’m sorry if I’ve been rude. I still say you picked one hell of a time.”
Groves watched him walk out the door. “He hasn’t slept in two days,” Groves said. “We’re all keyed up. This rain didn’t help any.” He brushed his uniform, and Connolly noticed for the first time that it was covered in damp patches.
“I didn’t mean to bother him.”
“Well, bother me. I’ve got the time. This darn waiting’s the worst part. Nothing to do but go over the same thing, over and over. What’s this about solving the case?”
“Eisler was meeting a man called Hector Ramirez,” Connolly began his new story. “Spanish. Maybe Mexican-we don’t know yet. Big guy. Laborer. He even managed to get himself a job on the Hill-construction or maintenance, I guess. Anyway, not a scientist. Eisler appears to have been his only contact, so he may have been trying to scout out some new business.”
“Where is he now?”
“He’s dead.”
“Dead?”
“I killed him.” Connolly felt the bandage on his forehead. “A fight. His head got in the way of some scrap metal.”
“You’re sure it was him?”
“Absolutely. That’s why the fight. He tried to kill me.”
“He tell you anything? Who his friends were? Who he passed—”
Connolly shook his head.
“Wonderful.”
“He’s dead,” Connolly said steadily. “It ends with him.”
Groves sighed. “Now what?”
“Now I’m going to need a story to tell the papers. It was a public fight. I’d say a woman, probably. They’re used to that here. Every Saturday night there’s some kind of trouble like that. Police chief in Santa Fe is a friend of mine. I can fix it with him. But you’ll have to call your boys off. Your friend Lansdale’s already got the net out for me. So give him a call and tell him to keep his hands to himself. I’m a direct report, remember?”
Groves peered at him. “You telling me a story too?”
“General, I’m working for you.”
“You’re working for your country, mister.”
“And both of you are going to get what you wanted all along. You had a security leak and now it’s plugged and nobody ever has to know. Just you and whoever else you want to tell. If it were me, I’d keep it to myself. The guy who did it is dead, and the guy who helped him is dead. And nobody knows why they’re dead. Not even their bosses. Your case is closed. Now all you have to do is seal it.”
Groves looked at him, turning this over. “They’ll try again.”
“Maybe. Make them work for it. I’d say we’ve been lucky. Did you really think you could control a project like this? Thousands of people? They know something, but they don’t know everything. And they don’t know that you know. A poker player would kill for that. That’s what they’re doing in Germany right now, isn’t it? Playing poker? And you’re giving our guy signals.”
“No, Mr. Connolly,” Groves said, looking at his watch. “In about an hour, I’m going to give him the ace.”
Connolly hesitated. “Then he won’t need anything else.”
Groves looked at him. “Such as?”
“A petty crime. That’s all this turned out to be, a crime. Nothing else. Not enough to bother people about.”
“Let me understand you—”
“Nothing else happened. Not Eisler. Not New York. None of it.”
“Why?”
“I think it might be best. For the project.”
“For the project.”
“Yes,” Connolly said, looking directly at him. “Nobody needs to raise any questions now. Not when they have the ace.” He paused. “You won your hand.” Groves stared at him. “They can turn on you too. You give them a spy case and they’ll take the project away from you.”
Groves stood still. “I’ve always played things by the book, Mr. Connolly.”
Connolly looked away. “I assume you want a report?”
“What do you intend to say?”
“General, I’m writing it for you. What do you want it to say?”
Groves still didn’t move, letting the crowded mess buzz around them. “Paper’s a funny thing,” he said finally, shifting his leg. “I’ll want another briefing. Before we decide.”
Connolly nodded.
“Officially, you were brought here to investigate a murder. Nothing else.”
Connolly nodded again. “We had a break there too, by the way. Our Spanish friend liked to beat up queers. We had another case, right on the Hill. The victim identified him. I can get him to testify if it’s necessary, though to tell you the truth, I’d like to keep him out of it. You know how nervous it makes the guys in G-2-they start looking at everybody in the showers, just in case. Anyway, there’s your link to Bruner, if you want to play that angle. Eisler doesn’t have to come into it at all.”
