THE SCARLATTI INHERITANCE
PART 0
CHAPTER I
October 10, 1944-Washington, DX.
The brigadier general sat stiffly on the deacon’s bench, preferring the hard
surface of the pine to the soft leather of the armchairs. It was nine twenty
in the morning and he had not slept well, no more than an hour.
As each half hour had been marked by the single chime of the small mantel
clock, he had found himself, to his surprise, wanting the time to pass more
swiftly. Because nine thirty had to come, he wanted to reckon with iL
At nine thirty he was to appear before the secretary of state, Cordell S.
Hull.
As he sat in the secretalys outer office, facing the large black door with
its gleaming brass hardware, he fingered the white folder, which he had
taken out of his affach6 case. When the time came for him to produce it, he
did not want an awkward moment of silence while he opened the case to
extract the folder. He wanted to be able to thrust it, if necessary, into
the hands of the secretary of state with assurance.
On the other hand, Hun might not ask for it. He might demand only a verbal
explanation and then proceed to use the authority of his office to term the
spoken words unacceptable If such was the case the brigadier could do no
more than protest Mildly, to be sure. The information in the folder did not
constitute proof, only data that could or could not bolster the conjectures
he had made.
The brigadier general looked at his watch. It was nine twenty-four and he
wondered if HuIrs reputation for
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punctuality would apply to his appointment. He had reached his own office at
seven thirty, approximately half an hour before his normal arrival time.
Normal, that was, except for periods of crisis when he often stayed through
the night awaiting the latest development of critical information. These
past three days were not unlike those periods of crisis. In a different way.
His memorandum to the secretary, the memorandum that had resulted in his
appointment this morning, might put him to the test. Ways could be found to
place him out of communication, far from any center of influence. He might
well be made to appear a total incompetent. But be knew he was right.
He bent the top of the folder back, just enough to read the typed title
page: “Canfield, Matthew. Major, United States Army Reserve. Department of
Military Intelligence.”
Canfield, Matthew. . . . Matthew Canfield. He was the proof.
A buzzer rang on the intercom on the desk of a middle-aged receptionist.
“Brigadier General Ellis?” She barely looked up from tb~, paper
Right here.-
“Ibe secretary will see you now.”
Ellis looked at his wristwatch. It was nine thirty-two.
He rose, walked toward the ominous black-enameled door, and opened it.
“Youll forgive me, General Ellis. I felt that the nature of your memorandum
required the presence of a third party. May I introduce Undersecretary
Brayduck?”
The brigadier was startled. He had not anticipated a third party; he had
specifically requested that the audience be between the secretary and
himself alone.
Undersecretary Brayduck stood about ton feet to the right of Hull’s desk.
He obviously was one of those White House.-State Department university men
so prevalent in the Roosevelt administration. Even his clothes-the light
gray flannels and the wide herringbone jacket-were casway emphasized m the
silent counterpoint to the creased uniform of the brigadier.
“Certainly, Mr. Secretary. Mr. Brayduck.” 71be
brigadier nodded.
Cordell S. Hull sat behind the wide desk. His familiar
4
features-the very light skin, almost white, the thinning white hair, the
steel-rimmed pince-nez in front of his blue-green eyes-all seemed larger
than life because they were an everyday image. The newspapers and the motion
picture newsreels were rarely without photographs of him. Even the more
inclusive election posters-ponderously asking, Do you want to change horses
in the middle of the stream?-had his reassuring, intelligent face
prominently displayed beneath Roosevelt’s; sometimes more prominently than
the unknown Harry Truman’s.
Brayduck took a tobacco pouch out of his pocket and began stuffing his
pipe. Hull arranged several papers on his desk and slowly opened a folder,
identical to the one in the brigadier’s hand, and looked down at it. Ellis
recognized it. It was the confidential memorandum he had had hand-delivered
to the secretary of state.
Brayduck lit his pipe and the odor of the tobacco caused Ellis to look at
the man once again. That smell belonged to one of those strange mixtures
considered so original by the university people but generally offensive to
anyone else in the room. Brigadier Ellis would be re.lieved when the war
was over. Roosevelt would then be out and so would the so-called
intellectuals and their badsmelling tobaccos.
The Brain Trust. Pinks, every one of them.
But first the war.
Hull looked up at the brigadier. “Needless to say, General, your memorandum
is very disturbing.”
“The. information was disturbing to me, Mr. Secretary.*#
“No doubt. No doubt. The question would appear to be, Is there any
foundation for your conclusions? I mean, anything concrete?”
“I believe so, sir.’.’
“How many others in Intelligence know about this, Eliisr’ Brayduck
interrupted and the absence of the word “General” was not lost on the
brigadier.
“rve spoken to no one. I didn’t think rd be speaking to anyone but the
secretary this morning, to be perfectly frank with you.”
“Mr. Brayduck has my confidence, General Ellis. He’s here at my request. My
orders, if you like.”
“I understand.”
cordeli Hull leaned back in his chair. “Withotit of-
5
fense, I wonder if you do. . . . ‘You send a classified memorandum,
delivered under the highest priority to this office-to my own person, to be
exact-and the substance of what you say is nothing short of incredible.”
“A preposterous charge you admit you can’t prove,” interjected Brayduck,
sucking on his pipe as he approached the desk.
“Thafs precisely why we’re here.” Hull had requested Brayduck’s presence
but he was not going to suffer undue interference, much less insolence.
Brayduck, however, was not to be put off. “Mr. Secretary, Army
Intelligent:e is hardly without its inaccuracies. We’ve learned that at
great cost. My only concern is to prevent another inaccuracy, a misinformed
speculation, from becoming ammunition for this administration’s political
opponents. There’s an election less than four weeks awayl”
Hun shifted his large head no more than several inches. He did not look at
Brayduck as he spoke. “You don’t have to remind me of such pragmatic
considerations. . . . However, I may have to remind you that we have other
responsibilities…. Other than those to practical politics. Do I make
myself clear?”
“Of course.” Brayduck stopped in his tracks.
Hull continued. “As I understand -your memorandum, General Ellis, you
submit that an influential member of the German High Command is an American
citizen operating under the assumed name-and a name wellknown to us–of
Heinrich Kroeger.”
“I do, sir. Except that I qualified my statement by saying he ndght be.”
“You also imply that Heinrich Kroeger is associated with, or connected to,
a number of large corporations in this country. industries involved with
government contracts, armaments appropriations.”
“Yes, Mr. Secretary. Except, again, I stated that he was, not -necessarily
is.”
“Tenses have ways of becoming bluffed with such accusations.” Cordell Hull
took off his steel-rimmed spectacles and placed them beside the folder.
“Especially in time of war.”
Undersecretary Brayduck struck a match and spoke between puffs on his pipe.
“You also state quite clearly that you have no specific proof.”
6
“I have what I believe would be termed circumstantial evidence. Of such a
nature I felt I’d be derelict in my duty if I didn’t bring it to the
secretary’s attention.” The brigadier took a deep breath before continuing.
He knew that once he began he was committed.
“I’d like to point out a few salient facts about Heinrich Kroeger. . . . To
begin with, the dossier on ‘ him is incomplete. He’s received no party
recognition as most of the others have. And yet when others have come and
gone, be’s remained at the center. Obviously he has a great deal of
influence with Hitler.”
“We know this.” Hull did not like restatements of known information simply
to bolster an argumenL
“The -name itself, Mr. Secretary. Heinrich is as common as William or John,
and Kroeger no more unusual than Smith or Jones in our own country.”
“Oh, come, General.” Brayduck’s pipe was curling smoke. “Such an inference
would make half our field commanders suspect.”
Ellis turned and gave Brayduck the full benefit of his military scorn. “I
believe the fact is relevant, Mr. Undersecretary.”
Hull began to wonder if it had been such a good idea to have Brayduck
preseuL “There’s no point in being hostile, gentlemem”
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Mr. Secretary.- Brayduck again would not
accept a rebuke. “I believe my function here this morning is that of the