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.