I wonder why Dahling doesn't consider offering Winford some kind of immunity deal--in this case (Dahling is a cop, not a prosecutor, so he can't guarantee any such formal deal on his say-so) by offering to keep Winford out of the chain of evidence if he will cooperate in putting farther down the trail to Quisling. The Winford connection just won't appear in any of the documents presented to public trial, his name and the US Army's reputation stay completely out of it--as long as information Winford gives Dahling proves useful for getting his man.
From above, it is clear that there are limits to how much he can threaten Winford--but that's before he talks to Ingrid. Perhaps now Dahling will come back and show Winford the stick before offering the carrot?
Even though Dahling might hit a stone wall dealing with Winford and his perhaps equally corrupt immediate superiors, he does have some options, I'd think. He could report his findings and suspicions to his superiors and it seems quite likely to me King Haakon himself will take a keen and personal interest in tracking down Quisling; a letter from the Norwegian King to Eisenhower or General Lucius Clay or whoever is currently in command of the US occupation forces, perhaps in conjunction with a visit to HQ by a high-ranking Norwegian government official, will light some fires. True, the Americans don't rate Norway extremely high in their priorities, and perhaps it is also true that the
image of Quisling is not burning as brightly in American minds as in British ones--but Quisling's
name is infamous. To the Yanks he's another oily Nazi collaborator; unless he's doing them valuable favors they won't like him either. Whereas the King of Norway is famous for his stalwart allegiance to the victors' cause. He has friends in Britain, as do all the Norwegian soldiers, sailors and airmen who fought side by side with lots of British service people. I would think, however much petty corruption lines the seedy bottom levels of the US occupation forces, the high commanders would feel a personal gratification in nailing Quisling that would tend to offset any embarrassment they felt at the exposure of Yankee low-level graft.
Dahling doesn't have to actually write that report and set the wheels in motion--he just has to mention to Winford that he could, and let Winford do the "math" on how likely he'd be to avoid getting mashed in the gears if Ike or Clay or ....oh heck, to the GoogleMobile, time to do the Bloody Research..
Army Air Force General Joseph T. McNarney held the post of commander in chief, U.S. Forces of Occupation in Germany from November 26, 1945 – January 5, 1947. It's not clear to me whether this meant he also sat as the US top representative on the Allied Control Council or whether someone above him wore that hat but the former seems more likely to me.
McNarney then. I don't think that's a name Winford wants to hear from a Norwegian cop whose words are likely to be read by the King of Norway and from there relayed to Winford's top boss in the hemisphere. If he thinks Dahling might go that way, bye-bye anonymity! He'll get the book thrown at him--maybe not if the Americans decide to cover up their seedy side, but even then bad things might happen to his once bright future...
So then, if Dahling gives his word he'll leave Winford and his operation out of it, Winford finally tells everything he knows. That ought to move Dahling considerably closer to his target.
It is not going to be so easy for Dahling to operate in Tyrol though; unlike Germany and Austria, Italy technically changed sides and the current Italian government is not an Allied occupation authority; rather Italy is one of the second-rank Allies! In practice, this means Dahling will have to be canny, and find local Italians (even Tyrolians) who really didn't like the Fascist regime and therefore would be keen to help him track down Quisling. I bet even in Tyrolia he'll find a fair number of such dyed-in-the-wool antiFascists though he'll have to sort them out from the fake ones who doubtless greatly outnumber them now. Vice versa, Quisling will have some friends--though nowadays they are the ones who most recently had to learn to keep their heads down after the post-German-surrender witchhunt for collaborators and adherents of the so-called "
Italian Social Republic." I'm sure some of them managed to weather that storm.
So in Italy it will be a matter of figuring out who is friend and who is foe. But Quisling probably can't count on staying there too long--he's radioactive. It is only a matter of time before someone, who either endured the Mussolini years in stoic silence or turned against the Fascists perhaps more recently but with some sincerity, to recognize Norway's would be "
Duce" and sound the alarm.
If they don't just go round up a gang of buddies from the Resistance or anti-Fascist rising days and grab him and deal with him as they did Mussolini himself and half of his cabinet...it's kind of funny, considering that Quisling seeing posters comparing his upcoming fate to the deserts Mussolini got, that he'd wind up, in the course of fleeing for his life, in pretty much exactly the same place they caught the Italian dictator!
So I hope Winford tells all and tells it quick, or that should the author think my suggestion that Dahling could or should go back and squeeze the sleaze like a grape is ill-advised or otherwise impractical, that the Norwegian gumshoe gets some other lead, fast. If he goes to Tyrol tomorrow it might already be too late--if Quisling has any survival instinct.
