§ 28
There was only one person whom Peter could
take into his confidence, and that was McGivney. Peter could not conceal
from McGivney the fact that he was troubled over his bereavement; and so
McGivney took him in hand and gave him a "jacking up." It was dangerous
work, this of holding down the Reds; dangerous, because their doctrines
were so insidious, they were so devilishly cunning in their working upon
people's minds. McGivney had seen more than one fellow start fooling
with their ideas and turn into one himself. Peter must guard against
that danger.
"It ain't that," Peter explained. "It ain't their ideas.
It's just that I was soft on that kid."
"Well, it comes to the same thing," said McGivney. "You get
sorry for them, and the first thing you know, you're listening to their
arguments. Now, Peter, you're one of the best men I've got on this
case — and that's saying a good deal, because I've got charge of
seventeen." The rat-faced man was watching Peter, and saw Peter flush
with pleasure. Yes, he continued, Peter had a future before him, he
would make all kinds of money, he would be given responsibility, a
permanent position. But he might throw it all away if he got to fooling
with these Red doctrines. And also, he ought to understand, he could
never fool McGivney; because McGivney had spies on him!
So Peter clenched his hands and braced himself up.
Peter was a real "he-man," and wasn't going to waste
himself. "It's just that I can't help missing the girl!" he
explained; to which the other answered: "Well, that's
only natural. What you want to do is to get yourself another
one."
Peter went on with his work in the office of the Goober
Defense Committee. The time for the trial had come, and
the struggle between the two giants had reached its climax.
The district attorney, who was prosecuting the case, and
who was expecting to become governor of the state on
the strength of it, had the backing of half a dozen of the
shrewdest lawyers in the city, their expenses being paid by
the big business men. A small army of detectives were at
work, and the court where the trial took place was swarming
with spies and agents. Every one of the hundreds of
prospective jurors had been investigated and card-cataloged,
his every weakness and every prejudice recorded; not
merely had his psychology been studied, but his financial
status, and that of his relatives and friends. Peter had
met half a dozen other agents beside McGivney, men who
had come to question him about this or that detail; and
from the conversation of these men he got glimpses of the
endless ramifications of the case. It seemed to him that
the whole of American City had been hired to help send
Jim Goober to the gallows.
Peter was now getting fifty dollars a week and expenses,
in addition to special tips for valuable bits of news. Hardly
a day passed that he didn't get wind of some important
development, and every night he would have to communicate
with McGivney. The prosecution had a secret office,
where there was a telephone operator on duty, and couriers
traveling to the district attorney's office and to Guffey's
office — all this to forestall telephone tapping. Peter would
go from the headquarters of the Goober Defense Committee
to a telephone-booth in some hotel, and there he would
give the secret number, and then his own number, which
was six forty-two. Everybody concerned was known by
numbers, the principal people, both of the prosecution and
of the defense; the name "Goober" was never spoken over
the phone.
After the trial had got started it was hard to get anybody to
work in the office of the Defense Committee — everybody wanted to be in
court! Someone would come in every few minutes, with the latest reports
of sensational developments. The prosecution had succeeded in making
away with the police court records, proving the conviction of its star
witness of having kept a brothel for negroes. The prosecution had
introduced various articles alleged to have been found on the street by
the police after the explosion; one was a spring, supposed to have been
part of a bomb — but it turned out to be a part of a telephone! Also
they had introduced parts of a clock — but it appeared that in their
super-zeal they had introduced the parts of two clocks! There was some excitement like this
every day.
