“Lutzenberger,” Frade furnished.
“How did you come by this letter?”
“From von Wachtstein. He needed help to deal with his money. I owed him.”
“What for?”
“He warned me they were going to bushwhack me, remember? That gave him a big IOU on me.”
“And are you helping him?”
“My Uncle Humberto is.”
Graham looked at him for amplification.
“Humberto Valdez Duarte,” Frade explained. “Managing director of the Anglo-Argentine Bank. He’s married to my father’s sister. It was their son—my cousin—who got himself killed at Stalingrad spotting artillery, when all he should have been doing was observing.”
“If their son was killed with the Germans at Stalingrad, why is he helping?”
“I suppose the real reason is he figured my IOU to von Wachtstein was a family debt of honor.”
“And you think he can be trusted?”
Frade nodded. “I think he was forced to face the fact that his son was a fool. But he’s not going to do anything to hurt me. Or von Wachtstein.” He paused and chuckled, then added: “I’d bet my life on it.”
“You realize, I suppose, that not only should you have shown me this letter long before this—”
“I thought about that. And decided not to pass it on. I didn’t know what would be done with the information, and I didn’t want General von Wachtstein getting hung on a butcher’s hook as a traitor because of something I’d done.”
“That sort of decision is not yours to make, Major Frade.”
“I generally make all my own decisions,” Frade said. “Deferring only to people I know are smarter than me.”
“Officers senior to you are presumed to be smarter than you.”
“That hasn’t been my experience.”
Graham realized that he was dangerously close to losing his temper, and that would make matters even worse.
“This helping von Wachtstein conceal his money over here, I hope you’re aware, could be considered as treating with or giving aid and comfort to the enemy.”
“I hope that wasn’t a threat.”
“It was a simple statement of fact, Frade.”
Neither said anything for a moment, then Graham asked, “What happened when von Wachtstein went to the ambassador? Let’s get back to that.”
“He told him—this is almost a quote—to be careful when he came back from Uruguay; he needed him. Actually, he said, ‘Germany needs you.’ ”
“Why was von Wachtstein flying to Uruguay in the first place?”
“They have a Fieseler Storch. Like a Cadillac version of the Piper Cub. He goes over there all the time, carrying stuff, people, et cetera.”
“And then what?”
“Lutzenberger calls Boltitz in and shows him a letter from Canaris, which says Boltitz is to regard any orders from Lutzenberger as if they came personally from him.”
“And the orders from Lutzenberger were to lay off von Wachtstein?”