Part 56 (1/2)
”Tell me.”
”I can't. I can't lie to you, so I can't say anything.”
”Let's try again. What do you know about this?”
She took a sip of beer, cleared her throat, and said, ”I don't know what your purpose here is, but I think the CIA does. They certainly weren't going to tell me. I think everyone has little pieces of this, and no one is telling anyone else what they know.”
That was probably true. I wondered if even Karl had the whole picture. I said to Susan, ”Meet and greet doesn't quite cut it.”
”Well, obviously there was more to it. I was asked to brief you about the country without it sounding like I was briefing you. More like acclimating you and making sure you were good to go.” She added, ”You figured that out.”
”Okay, aside from the resident CIA guy in Saigon, did you speak to anyone from the American emba.s.sy in Hanoi?”
”Yes, I did. The American military attache. Colonel Marc Goodman. He flew to Saigon and spoke to me.”
”About what?”
”He just wanted to be sure I had the right stuff.”
”To do what?”
”To... win your confidence.”
”I'm not getting a clear picture.”
”You're putting me on the spot.”
”My life is on the spot, lady. Talk to me.”
”I wasn't supposed to travel with you. But I was supposed to offer to meet you here in Hue, to tell you I had to go there anyway on business or whatever. Then I was to say I would meet you again in Hanoi.”
”What if I didn't like you?”
”Most men like me.”
”I'm sure. And what was the point of you meeting me here in Hue?”
”To see if I could help you, to report on your health, your att.i.tude, any problems with the police, the outcome of your rendezvous, and so forth. You know that.”
”Okay. Did this military attache guy, Colonel Goodman, and the CIA guy talk to each other in Saigon?”
”They did. But I wasn't there for that meeting.”
”You understand that a military attache is actually Military Intelligence?”
She nodded.
”Who's the CIA guy in Saigon?”
”I can't tell you.”
Apparently everyone was in on this, but me. Army Intelligence and the CIA were talking to each other about a CID/FBI case that they weren't supposed to know anything about; but obviously they did. What was the connection? Actually, the more I thought about Mr. Conway at Dulles, the more he seemed less FBI and more military; but they wanted to give the appearance of FBI involvement so that it seemed more like a homicide case and less like an international problem. Not only was Colonel Mang running around pa.s.sing himself off as one thing when he was another, but so was Mr. Conway. And so was Susan. By this time, I wouldn't have been surprised to discover that I was working for Colonel Mang.
”Paul?”
”What?”
”Are you angry with me?”
”Not yet. Okay, so when they motivated you to use your many charms to win my confidence, what did they tell you to motivate you?” you?”
”National security. My patriotic duty. Stuff like that.”
”What else?”
”Do you still love me?”
”More than ever. What else?”
”I've already told you a few times. It has to do with the emerging relations.h.i.+p between America and Vietnam. Business. Oil. Trade. Cheap labor. They don't want it screwed up. Neither do I.”
”Who's trying to screw it up?”
”I told you that, too. The hard-liners in Hanoi, and maybe in Was.h.i.+ngton.”
”And did they tell you that my mission was going to help or hurt that cause?”
”They indicated that you could help.”
”I guess they did, or you'd have already pushed me off the roof of the Rex.”
”Don't be silly. I was told to help you.”
”If I told you what I was doing here, do you think that my little piece of the puzzle and the little piece of the puzzle that you have might fit together?”
”I don't know.”
”Do you want to swap pieces of the puzzle? You go first.”
”I have no need to know why you're here, and no desire to know.”
”Or, you already know.”
”I don't. Are you p.i.s.sed off at me?”
”Not yet.”
”Still love me?”
”More than ever.”