236
WlLLIAM PHILLIPS
vocate individual acts."
"Never mind," said Hastings, as they got up to go. "We may be
back."
For the time being, Robins and Hastings decided they could get
nothing more from the Communists. The next hunting ground was Gi–
anelli's publishing house, World Wide Books, on the ground floor of an
old brownstone on West Twelfth street. They were ushered into a clut–
tered office by a thin, slightly stooped, middle-aged man who said his
name was Baskin, Pierre Baskin. He had a faint foreign accent that
sounded like a blend of several languages.
"What can I do for you? We are in a state of chaos. All operations
have been suspended."
"We're from the FBI. So you know about Gianelli's death. We
have a few questions to ask you."
"I don't know much about Gianelli. I was the office manager. How
was he killed?"
"We're here to ask questions not to answer them. Tell us what you
know. What were his relations with the Communists?"
"I think he had business dealings with them. He went on business
trips to the Soviet Union. He seemed to be sympathetic, but he also
seemed critical."
"How did he get the manuscript he published by the dissident,
Borisovich?"
"I don't know. He kept those things to himself."
From the files of the CIA, Robins and Hastings had already found
out that Gianelli had smuggled the manuscript out of Russia.
"Did he have any close friends, any women friends?"
"There was this woman, I think his wife. That's her picture," he said,
pointing to the wall.
There was a painting of a woman, probably in her twenties, with
wild, blonde hair, and staring eyes, with the name 'Toni' in the right–
hand bottom corner. Robins and Hastings got up and walked over to
the painting to examine it more closely.
"Where is she?" asked Hastings.
"I don't know, but somebody said she's coming here to look at the
business."
"Is there anyone else?"
"He also seemed to have a regular appointment every day at four
o'clock. Somebody said it must have been with a doctor or an analyst. I
heard, I forget how, it was a woman."
"Did he have an appointment book? Could we see it?"
"He kept all those things to himself. But if he had an appointment
book, it would be locked up in his desk. I don't have a key."
