plant and the whistle of the wind and the whine of the tires. At last Madeleine licked her lips again.
“But… but the Office of Federal Security is a respectable government agency! Are you saying that even the U.S. government wants me dead? That’s insane!”
“The OFS is a Johnny-come-lately outfit. It’s got very big very fast, and nobody seems to know how or why; but a lot of people wouldn’t call it so very damned respectable. And the U.S. government is a lot of people wanting a lot of different things. What my chief wants, and those who gave him the instructions he passed down to me, isn’t necessarily what some other people want, the people from whom Bennett takes his orders. I may be getting paranoid, myself, but I think we’d better operate on the assumption that we’ve just witnessed, and forestalled, another attempt on your life; let’s just hope that my chest-beating reaction fools them into thinking we’re dumb enough not to realize it. We’d also better assume that this thing is bigger than I was told—not that I was told very much—and that we have more to worry about than just an occasional hired shotgunner or rifleman or pistoleer hiding in the roadside brush. I made a call before we left, back there, and arranged a meeting with the commanding officer of the support troops, a guy named Jackson—well, you saw him at that picnic area yesterday. We’ll see what he has to say. In the meantime, I need all the information from you I can get. Like, for instance, what’s Dellenbach got against you?”
She looked startled. “Was that the blond man—”
“Jim Dellenbach. He says you used to be a classy broad but you gave yourself too many airs.”
She winced. “God, it’s been eight years! I thought he looked familiar, but the mustache, and all that blood, and he’s put on some weight… Not that I’m in a position to criticize!” She hesitated. “He was the gofer, Matt. You know. Every time Mr. Bennett wanted to ask me more questions, Jim Dellenbach was the man who’d go for me—come for me—take me downtown, and bring me back home afterwards, as long as I had a home. After I found a buyer for the house, and I practically had to give it away”—her voice was bitter—“after I lost my own home I moved in with my folks. It didn’t seem worthwhile trying to find an apartment when… when I didn’t know how long I’d be… around to use it. Or how I’d pay for it. God, after all the years of driving so hard for… for success, day and night, I felt totally lost and meaningless with nothing to do and no plans to make that meant anything until… Just waiting for my damn case to come to trial! Anyway, they kept finding new evidence, new reasons to interrogate me, or making them up. I told you I thought it was a systematic break-the-dame-down campaign, but Mr. Baron said that, legally, we were obliged to cooperate. I told you I’d had to get rid of the cars, too. I couldn’t afford the payments. I was trying desperately to save enough out of the awful financial shambles to stay out of jail and pay for my defense, and I didn’t like to borrow the folks’ beloved old Cadillac too often and leave them stranded. So Dellenbach was the man who ferried me back and forth. And sympathized with me. Oh, he was so friendly and sympathetic; he thought it was a terrible shame the way I was being harassed, a nice lady like me. And of course he gave me advice. He said
he
believed I was telling the truth, but I should be practical. The evidence was really too strong against me. But if I pleaded guilty and said I’d been under the spell of my evil husband and really couldn’t conceive of how I’d come to do such dreadful things against my country and was terribly ashamed of them, if I confessed and threw myself upon the mercy of the court, they’d probably—hush, he wasn’t supposed to tell me this, but he’d heard them talking—they’d probably let me off with a slap on the wrist and a
“But… but the Office of Federal Security is a respectable government agency! Are you saying that even the U.S. government wants me dead? That’s insane!”
“The OFS is a Johnny-come-lately outfit. It’s got very big very fast, and nobody seems to know how or why; but a lot of people wouldn’t call it so very damned respectable. And the U.S. government is a lot of people wanting a lot of different things. What my chief wants, and those who gave him the instructions he passed down to me, isn’t necessarily what some other people want, the people from whom Bennett takes his orders. I may be getting paranoid, myself, but I think we’d better operate on the assumption that we’ve just witnessed, and forestalled, another attempt on your life; let’s just hope that my chest-beating reaction fools them into thinking we’re dumb enough not to realize it. We’d also better assume that this thing is bigger than I was told—not that I was told very much—and that we have more to worry about than just an occasional hired shotgunner or rifleman or pistoleer hiding in the roadside brush. I made a call before we left, back there, and arranged a meeting with the commanding officer of the support troops, a guy named Jackson—well, you saw him at that picnic area yesterday. We’ll see what he has to say. In the meantime, I need all the information from you I can get. Like, for instance, what’s Dellenbach got against you?”
She looked startled. “Was that the blond man—”
“Jim Dellenbach. He says you used to be a classy broad but you gave yourself too many airs.”
She winced. “God, it’s been eight years! I thought he looked familiar, but the mustache, and all that blood, and he’s put on some weight… Not that I’m in a position to criticize!” She hesitated. “He was the gofer, Matt. You know. Every time Mr. Bennett wanted to ask me more questions, Jim Dellenbach was the man who’d go for me—come for me—take me downtown, and bring me back home afterwards, as long as I had a home. After I found a buyer for the house, and I practically had to give it away”—her voice was bitter—“after I lost my own home I moved in with my folks. It didn’t seem worthwhile trying to find an apartment when… when I didn’t know how long I’d be… around to use it. Or how I’d pay for it. God, after all the years of driving so hard for… for success, day and night, I felt totally lost and meaningless with nothing to do and no plans to make that meant anything until… Just waiting for my damn case to come to trial! Anyway, they kept finding new evidence, new reasons to interrogate me, or making them up. I told you I thought it was a systematic break-the-dame-down campaign, but Mr. Baron said that, legally, we were obliged to cooperate. I told you I’d had to get rid of the cars, too. I couldn’t afford the payments. I was trying desperately to save enough out of the awful financial shambles to stay out of jail and pay for my defense, and I didn’t like to borrow the folks’ beloved old Cadillac too often and leave them stranded. So Dellenbach was the man who ferried me back and forth. And sympathized with me. Oh, he was so friendly and sympathetic; he thought it was a terrible shame the way I was being harassed, a nice lady like me. And of course he gave me advice. He said
he
believed I was telling the truth, but I should be practical. The evidence was really too strong against me. But if I pleaded guilty and said I’d been under the spell of my evil husband and really couldn’t conceive of how I’d come to do such dreadful things against my country and was terribly ashamed of them, if I confessed and threw myself upon the mercy of the court, they’d probably—hush, he wasn’t supposed to tell me this, but he’d heard them talking—they’d probably let me off with a slap on the wrist and a
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