“She already has. And since she’s wearing triangles, why don’t you stop calling her ‘Sergeant’?”
“And then?” General Gehlen asked.
“Major Wallace asked Major Derwin from whom he’d heard the rumors, and after some resistance, Derwin produced a typewritten letter he said had been put in his box at the Park Hotel, where he lives.”
“Who was the letter from?” Gehlen asked.
Cronley held up his hand in a Wait gesture.
“It began by saying the water heater explosion was suspicious, and the investigation ‘superficial.’ That set Wallace off. He said that he personally investigated the explosion, that he got there before the CID did, and there was nothing suspicious about it.
“He really lost his temper. He said the only reason he wasn’t getting on the telephone to General Greene, to tell him what an asshole Derwin
was—”
“He used that word?”
“Did he, Dette?”
“Words to that effect, sir,” Claudette said.
“How would she know?” Tiny challenged. “She was in there with you?”
“Let me finish, please, Tiny, then I’ll get to that,” Cronley said. “Wallace said the only reason he wasn’t going to General Greene, who would almost certainly relieve Derwin, was because he was determined to find out who wrote the letter to Derwin, and if Derwin was relieved, whoever wrote it would crawl back in his hole, or words to that effect, and he’d never catch him. He also told Derwin to call off his ‘investigation’ of the allegations in the letter as of that moment.”
“Did Major Wallace have any idea who wrote the letter?” Mannberg asked.
“He thinks it’s someone, one of us, who doesn’t think I should have been named chief, DCI-Europe.”
“That’s what it sounds like to me,” Gehlen said. “And you think Major Derwin will cease his investigation?”
“Yes, sir. I don’t think he wants to cross Major Wallace. You knew Wallace was a Jedburgh?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Did I leave anything out, Dette?”
“Sir, you didn’t get into the tail end of your conversation with Major Wallace.”
“I asked before, was Serg— Miss Colbert in there with you?” Tiny said.
“Fat Freddy put bugs in what was Mattingly’s office, and Wallace’s. Or, actually, Miss Colbert did, when Freddy asked her to.”
“You knew about that?” Tiny asked.
Cronley shook his head.
“I think, when Freddy thinks the moment is right, he’ll tell me.”
“Then how did you find out?” Tiny asked.
“With your permission, sir?” Claudette said, before Cronley could open his mouth. “When Mr. Hessinger ordered me to transcribe what would be said between Mr. Cronley and Major Derwin, I realized I could not do that without Mr. Cronley’s knowledge, so I told him.”
“Afterward?” Mannberg asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Why?”