“Not unless the office tells me to. In any case, I’m by no means certain that we have anything more than vague suspicions to tell them.”
“Is that your honest opinion?”
“Miss Kolin, I wasn’t sent to Europe to act as a Greek police informer. I was sent to find the rightful claimant to the Schneider Johnson estate and produce him in Philadelphia. Well, that’s what I’m doing. It’s no concern of mine what he is here. He can be a brigand, a bandit, an outlaw, a travelling salesman, or the Metropolitan Archbishop of Salonika, for all I care. In Philadelphia, he’s the rightful claimant to the Schneider Johnson estate, and what he is here doesn’t affect his claim in the least.”
“I should think it would considerably affect his value in court.”
“That’ll be his attorney’s headache, not mine, and he can deal with it how he pleases. Anyway, why should you worry?”
“I thought that you believed in justice.”
“I do. That’s why Franz Schirmer is going to Philadelphia if I can get him there.”
“Justice!” She laughed unpleasantly.
George was already tired; now he began to get annoyed.
“Look, Miss Kolin. You are engaged as an interpreter, not as a legal adviser or my professional conscience. Let’s both stick to our jobs. At the moment, the only thing that matters is that, incredible as it may seem, this man is Franz Schirmer.”