“Holy smokes, I can’t believe I haven’t heard about this.”

“It’s one of the most amazing stories of the war,” Charlie agreed.

“So was your dad holding up one finger to signify the First Army Group?” she asked.

“Oh, I hadn’t thought that,” he said. “Maybe. I thought it was something else. Huh. You may be right.”

“How did your dad even know about it? You confided in him?”

“Believe it or not, he told me,” Charlie said. He pointed to an exit. “I’m going to get some gas,” he said.

“He did?” she asked.

“Yeah, one night, maybe ten years ago? It was late, we were in his study drinking scotch. Turns out he knew about it because he helped with the pneumatic-rubber construction. Dad made a lot of money during the war, doing these…odd jobs. For the Allies.”

“And then violated some promise and spilled the beans.”

“We were drinking,” Charlie said.

“Yeah, well,” said Margaret. “People do stupid things when they drink too much.”

Charlie looked at his wife to see if she was speaking about his obvious general problem or alluding more specifically to the Lola incident. Although he still had not told her about it; had Charlotte? She didn’t return the glance. He pulled into a gas station and an attendant ran out.

“Fill ’er up,” Charlie said. He turned back to Margaret, who was powdering her nose. “You want to use the facilities?” he asked her.

“Sure,” she said.

A few minutes later, she returned to the car and stood outside his window. “Find your flask? Feeling better?”

“I’m fine,” he said sheepishly.

“Why don’t I drive so you can keep drinking.”

He slid over to the passenger side. Margaret got behind the wheel, handed the attendant a five-dollar bill from her purse, and started driving.

“Anyway, it was a deception campaign,” Charlie said to his wife, who was staring at the road.

“What did you think it was?” Margaret finally asked.

“Huh?” Charlie asked.

“You said you thought it was something else when your dad raised his index finger—what did you think it was?”

“Oh,” Charlie said. “Dad loved this essay Orwell wrote after the war about how the Krauts and Japs lost because their rulers weren’t able to see the reality in front of them, facts plain to any dispassionate eye. The quote was ‘To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.’”

“He touched your nose,” Margaret said.

“Right,” Charlie said. “I thought he was referring to something obvious that we’re missing.”

“So, a deception campaign,” Margaret said. “Something in front of our noses that we’re missing. What are we missing? Lola? Powell? Giancana?”

“I don’t know,” Charlie said.

“Lot of deception, I guess,” Margaret said pointedly.