“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.”
Groves took a piece of candy out of his pocket and looked at it thoughtfully as he crinkled the wrapper. “Nice and tidy, isn’t it?” he said. “It’s not often things end up being so neat.”
“Almost never.”
“But that’s the way it is,” he said, a question.
“And the way everybody wants it to be,” Connolly said, looking at him coolly. “Isn’t it what you asked for the first time we met?”
“I never thought you’d do it.”
“I was lucky. Maybe we’re both lucky.”
Groves looked up at him. “Why do I always feel I’m making a bargain with you?”
“Because you’re about to make one. I need a favor.”
“What kind of favor?” he said guardedly.
“I said before that no one knows about this except you. But there is one other person. Me. In fact, I’m the only one who’s public at all. I killed a man. I’m going to have to explain that. And I’m going to have to make everybody believe just what we want them to believe-what happened to Bruner, what happened to Ramirez, all of it.”
“But you said-”
“And I’ll do it. I’m good at it. The Manhattan Project is the best-kept secret of the war. Maybe ever. Nothing ever happened. You and Oppenheimer can take a bow. You deserve it. But the war’s never going to end for you. Not now. Maybe you like it that way. But I want out.”
Groves looked at him, puzzled. “Are you asking for a discharge?”
Connolly smiled. “I’m not in the army, General.”
“Well?”
“But I do have a file now. I want you to close it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just that. Lose me somewhere. You’ve been spying on me ever since this started. You didn’t think I could do it, but you couldn’t trust me not to. So somebody had to watch. But then you couldn’t trust them either, so you got them watching each other. You’ve got your own chain reaction going, and it’s not going to stop now. You watching Oppenheimer too?”
“That’s enough,” Groves said, angry.
