“No.” And I wasn’t. I was asking for myself. I did not consider myself on the clock with Pearson, now; but I wanted to know if what I’d learned at Roswell was real-if my stay at the Walker base “guesthouse” had been due to my getting close to the secret of the century: the visitation of earth by aliens.
So I kept at it, sitting forward, asking the big one: “Do you believe in flying saucers, Jim?”
He studied me with unblinking eyes. “You know that much, do you? Does your reporter friend know, as well?”
“There’s been no confirmation.”
Now his gaze shifted to that screened window. Rather distantly, he said, “I thought perhaps the Horten brothers had talked.”
“Who?”
“They were the pilots and engineers responsible.” He shook his head. “We were lucky Hitler was a madman-a difference of a few months, and, hell, forget the V-2s … we might have been facing a fleet of saucer-shaped bombers. Imagine a bomber that could take off without a runway! Particularly in a country like Germany, with their runways reduced to rubble by Allied bombing.”
Trying to follow this, I asked, “Are you saying flying saucers are from … Germany?”
A dry smile tickled the thin lips. “Where did you think they were from-outer space?”
I decided it wasn’t prudent to answer that question out loud, anyway not in a mental hospital.
But I did ask, “Then these stories of flying saucers-are they government disinformation?”
“The Communist threat is very real, Nate,” was his elliptical response. “It requires deals with various devils…. And I still believe there are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Communist agents and fellow travelers in our government-as I was telling my young friend Joe McCarthy.”
“Who?”
His eyes narrowed as he offered me half a smile. “Young senator from Wisconsin. Keep your eye on him. My ability to fight this battle will be limited, now; the presidency is out of my reach, with a nervous breakdown in my history. But other warriors will come forward. I only hope they don’t have to make the abhorrent decisions I, from time to time, have had to make.”
“What kind of decisions, Jim?”
“You’ve implied it yourself. With the Reds a plague on the world landscape, dealing with Nazis is a lesser evil.” He laughed humorlessly. “Then there’s Roswell. To think the Japanese would have engineering minds better than ours-now
“Wait a minute-are you saying that there are Japs working at White Sands, along with the German scientists?”
Forrestal frowned. “I’ve said too much. You must promise me you won’t share any of this with your reporter friend.”
I had a last sip of coffee. “He, uh … he’s not exactly my friend.”
“Well, who is he? Arthur Krock? Marquis Childs? Lyle Wilson, maybe?”
I leaned forward. “Listen … Jim … there’s something difficult I have to get into with you. But first, I want to assure you that nothing we’ve talked about this afternoon will leave this room.”
“I appreciate that. It’s been nice to have someone to talk to, someone I can trust, who doesn’t have the taint of government.”
“… I’m afraid I have a worse taint.”
His eyes tightened. “How is that possible?”
“Oh, it’s possible. You just have to understand that I have never betrayed your confidence, and I never will. I’ve never worked a job for this man that had to do with you. No cross-purposes were involved whatsoever.”
And by now the eyes had widened. “You can’t be serious …
“No! No … sit down before someone in the hall hears us. I deserve a fair hearing. Just let me explain.”
Forrestal was trembling, his hands turned to fists.
“Please,” I said. “Hear me out.”
He looked at me for the longest time; then, finally, he sat.
I told him that I’d done a number of jobs for Pearson in the thirties, and that I had stopped working for him, at that time. I had done a few minor jobs since, mostly having to do with the columnist’s rackets expose in Chicago.
“But when we spoke at Chevy Chase,” I told Forrestal, “and you wanted me to see if you were being watched, I knew if I told you about my past relationship with Pearson, you wouldn’t hire me for the job.”
“And you wanted the money?” he asked, bitterly.
“Sure I did. But I knew that if I even mentioned knowing Pearson, you’d read more conspiracy into it, and get even more bent out of shape.”
His expression softened. “That’s probably true.”
“I also knew that I could ascertain the extent of Pearson’s surveillance because I’d go right to his office and ask him about it. And, if you’ll recall, I uncovered his spy in your house, that maid, who your wife fired accordingly.”
Shaking his head, he studied me with dumb-founded disappointment; then he asked, “Why are you admitting this, at this late date?”
“Because I didn’t want you to hear it from someone else. One of your shrinks, Bernstein, said it might undo what they’ve been trying to accomplish here, if your paranoia got fed by finding out I’d … betrayed you.”
His voice seemed steady again as he asked, “And you’re saying you haven’t betrayed me?”
“I haven’t, and I won’t. Listen, maybe I better, uh … leave right now. Let you mull this over. You can decide whether you want to talk to me about this again, ever.”
“Nonsense.” Forrestal sighed, shook his head, even-amazingly enough-smiled. “It took courage for you to admit this … although frankly how you can work for that monster is beyond me.”
“I don’t judge my clients that way. I’m afraid I mostly judge them by whether or not they can afford me.”
He managed to chuckle at that. “I’m afraid that son of a bitch found my Achilles’ heel. I’ve never been able to overcome an acute sensitivity to criticism of a personal sort. Rational attacks-even irrational ones-on my policy decisions, my public positions, have never bothered me. But challenge my integrity, or call me a coward, and I’m afraid it shakes me to the core.”
“Like that lousy lie about the jewel robbery.”
“Exactly. I simply cannot understand this man’s fanatical viciousness. What possesses Pearson to pursue me into my sickroom, when I’m no longer even holding public office?”
“You said it yourself, at the golf course-he’s a crusader. To Pearson, it’s no different than the difficult decisions you’ve had to make.”
“The age-old question,” Forrestal said. “Do the ends justify the means?”
“I’ve always figured it depends on the ends,” I said, “and it depends on the means.”
“You’re a case-by-case sort of individual.”
“Yeah, and it’s been one damn case after another. Look, Jim … you’ve been very understanding about this. And I’ve taken up too much of your time.”
Forrestal stood. “It was a pleasure seeing you again, Nate, despite this rather bizarre revelation of yours … and, while I won’t pretend I’m overjoyed by what you revealed about that bastard Pearson … I am impressed by your courage in owning up to it.”
“Still friends, then?”
“Yes-but no longer a client.”
“Fair enough,” I laughed. “Oh! I have a gift for you.”
“Well, that’s very thoughtful.”
We walked across the hall to his room and I handed him the brown paper bag.
“I really went all out for the gift-wrapping,” I said.
Forrestal smiled, removing the handsome red-leather, gold-decorated volume from the bag, then said, “Why, this is too extravagant!”
