but if he was dead , the missing commanderprovided the reason to call in an old debt and goafter a charge d'affaires named washburn and do sowithout any connection to george marcus delavane.even if `` johnny reb '' was caught and every man ina grey to black operation had to assume the possibility nomention could be made of an internationalconspiracy of generals ... . major norman washburn , iv , might or might not know the fate of connalfitzpatrick but everything else he might say underthe needles especially about thecommander would be of value .