1525 21 February 1946
“There’s sort of a closet, Jim. They put it in there,” Ziegler said, as he walked across the room and opened a door.
The SIGABA control board and telephone had been installed on a mirror vanity table that looked like it belonged in a museum.
Cronley sat down on a fragile-looking matching chair, picked up the handset, and switched the device on.
“ASA Fulda. The line is secure.”
“J. D. Cronley Six Three One for Colonel Wallace.”
“Hold One.”
“Wallace.”
“J. D. Cronley is on, sir. The line is secure.”
“Where the hell have you been?”
“Touring scenic Nuremberg. What’s going on, Colonel? I’m now allowed to call you ‘Colonel,’ right?”
“Spare me your fucking wiseass wit. What’s going on is that sometime around 0300, person or persons unknown murdered Lieutenant Moriarty.”
“Bonehead was murdered?”
“In your bed, or what used to be your bed, in the Compound. Seven—they’re still counting—shots from a silenced Colt Woodmaster .22.”
“Jesus Christ!”
“Yeah. I’m sorry, Jim. But I thought you’d want to know.”
“Winters is on his way to pick me up, right? When does he get here? Why isn’t he already here, for Christ’s sake?”
“Because you have been ordered, by the President of the United States, to set up protection for Justice Jackson, and that’s the priority.”
“I did that yesterday. At least two of Ostrowski’s people are sitting on him.”
“There’s no reason for you to come here, Jim.”
“Bullshit! Bonehead and I go back to A&M. I recruited him for DCI. Put Winters in a Storch and tell him to come get me.”
“Winters is consoling the widow. And to repeat, there’s no reason for you to come here.”
“Then put Kurt Schröder in a Storch.”
“For the third or maybe fourth time, there’s no reason for you to come here.”
“I’m coming. If you won’t, for some bullshit reason, send Schröder to get me, I’ll drive up there in Mattingly’s fucking Horch!”
There was a long period of silence. Finally Wallace said, “I’ll call when Schröder gets off the ground.”
[FOUR]
Office of the Military Government Liaison Officer
The South German Industrial Development Organization Compound
Pullach, Bavaria