The young man sat down in the chair next to the table. He started to speak several times, but each time the words fell short of making sense.
Canfield spoke quietly. “Are you sure you want to belong to me?”
The boy looked up from the chair. “You must have loved her a lot.”
“I still do.”
“Then I … still want to belong to you.”
The shaded understatement of the young man’s voice nearly caused Canfield to break. But he had promised himself he would not do that no matter what happened. There was too much left to go through.
“I thank you for that.” He turned back to the window. The street lights had been turned on—every other one as if to remind people that it could happen here, but probably wouldn’t so they could relax.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Why did you go back and change the file?”
There was a long silence before Canfield answered. “I had to.… That sounds funny now—‘I had to.’ It took me eighteen months to make that decision. When I finally did make it, it took less than five minutes to convince myself.” He stopped for a moment wondering if it was necessary to tell the boy. There was no point in not telling him. “On New Year’s Day in nineteen thirty-eight your mother bought me a new Packard Roadster. Twelve cylinders. A beautiful automobile. I took it for a spin on the Southampton road.… I’m not sure what happened—I think the steering wheel locked. I don’t know, but there was an accident. The car rolled over twice before I was thrown clear. It was a wreck, but I was okay. Except for a little blood, I was fine. But it occurred to me that I might have been killed.”
“I remember that. You phoned from somebody’s house and Mom and I drove over and picked you up. You were a mess.”
“That’s right. That was when I made up my mind to go down to Washington and amend the file.”
“I don’t understand.”
Canfield sat on the window seat. “If anything did, happen to me, Scarlett … Kroeger could have played out a horror story and would have if it served him. Janet was vulnerable because she didn’t know anything. So somewhere the truth had to be told.… But told in such a way that would leave neither government any alternative but to have Kroeger eliminated … immediately. Speaking for this country, Kroeger made fools out of a lot of prominent men. Some of those distinguished gentlemen are at the policy level today. Others are manufacturing planes and tanks and ships. By identifying Kroeger as Scarlett, we move into a whole new set of questions. Questions our government won’t want asked now. Or perhaps ever.”
He slowly unbuttoned his tweed overcoat but he did not want to take it off.
“The Scarlatti lawyers have a letter which is to be delivered upon my death or disappearance to the most influential cabinet member of whatever administration is in Washington at the time. Scarlatti lawyers are good at that sort of thing … I knew the war was coming. Everyone did. Remember, it was nineteen thirty-eight.… The letter directs that person to the file and the truth.”
Canfield took a deep breath and looked at the ceiling.
“As you’ll see, I outlined a specific course of action if we were at war and a variation if we weren’t. Only in the last extremity was your mother to be told.”
“Why should anyone pay attention to you after what you did?”
Andrew Scarlett was quick. Canfield liked that.
“There are times when countries … even countries in a state of war have the same objectives. Lines of communication are always open for such purposes … Heinrich Kroeger is a case in point. He represents too great an embarrassment to either side.… The file makes that clear.”
“That seems cynical.”
“It is.… I directed that within forty-eight hours after my death, the Third Reich’s High Command be reached and told that a few of our top personnel in Military Intelligence have long suspected Heinrich Kroeger to be an American citizen.”
Andrew Scarlett leaned forward on the edge of the chair. Canfield went on without apparently noticing the boy’s growing concern.
“Since Kroeger consistently makes underground contacts with a number of Americans, these suspicions are believed to be confirmed. However, as a result of …” Canfield paused to recall the exact wording. “… ‘the death of one Matthew Canfield, a former associate of the man known now as Heinrich Kroeger …’ our government has in its possession … documents which state unequivocably that Heinrich Kroeger is … criminally insane. We want no part of him. Either as a former citizen or as a defector.”