To Kill a President (12 page)

“His grandfather does he know about Bobby being his relation?”

“No his grandmother works with him too but neither of them knows.”

“So how can we change anything I mean sure maybe Bobby can have some influence but what can we do, some doctor and two history graduates?”

“I don’t know but David is desperate to change things he lost his wife the day he was sucked into the wormhole, she was pregnant.  Bobby didn’t think we could change things he said whatever happened happened but we are going to try and then who knows maybe we can save David’s wife too. I mean we owe him that he saved you and he was the one that told me how to find you.”

They both heard a noise in the hall. It was the front door opening.

“Maybe Bobby is back.”  Faraday said.

David popped his head around the door.

“How are you feeling Jane?” he asked.

“Oh I’m okay, are you Bobby or David?”

“I’m David.”

“Faraday told me you saved my life, thank you so much.”

“No thanks required, has Faraday filled you in with what has happened?”

Jane nodded.

“It’s a lot to take in, I arrived here three years ago and I’m not sure I understand what happened.  Anyway I have been out shopping I have bought you both some fresh clothes, hopefully the sizes will be right.  I also got you both a tooth brush.  Please just carry on and help yourselves to a shower.  I can make some food when you are done.”

“Thanks David.” Faraday said.

As David left the room Jane seemed to be more at ease.  “He seems nice.”

“He is Jane, they both are.  We have to help them Jane.”

Jane nodded again. “I know we do, just let me take a shower and we can discuss things.”

Chapter 22

When Bobby arrived at Chauncey’s apartment it was 15:00.  Bobby knocked on the door of Chauncey’s flat.  When Chauncey opened the door Bobby was shocked by the man stood in front of him, his once brown hair now had tufts of grey through it and it was sprawled out in every direction.  His eyes were surrounded by huge dark bags.  Had Bobby not known the man he would have thought he was in his sixties.

“Oh Bobby, it’s only you.  Come in.”  As Bobby entered the apartment two things hit him, firstly the smell of the place was horrific and it looked as though Chauncey hadn’t cleaned or taken out the trash in weeks.  Chauncey also seemed to be jumpy, once Bobby was through the door Chauncey shut it quickly and bolted the door.

“How are you Chauncey?”  Bobby enquired.

“Have you spoken to Meyer?” Chauncey replied.

Bobby nodded.

“Well then you know how I am Bobby!”

“I hear you are being sent to Licavoli?”

Chauncey cleared a space for them both on the two couches, old newspapers and dirty plates were covering them.  As they both sat down Chauncey replied.

“Yeah and I’ll bet I know why.”

“What do you mean Chauncey?”

“It’ll be that bastard Charles Nicoletti’s doing, he’s never liked me.  He’s throwing me to the wolves.”

“Have you been told what your role is?”

Chauncey shook his head. “No but I can guess, I reckon Nicoletti has requested me to carry out the hit.”

“But why you Chauncey I’ve never even seen you hold a gun, can you even shoot?”

“Course I can Bobby, I was in the army.  Anyway I reckon Nicoletti is the man planning the hit, he’s the kind of guy the bosses can trust I mean how many people has he clipped?”

“A fair few from what I’ve heard.”

“Exactly and he’s always thought I was a coward, he’s never trusted me, used to always mention the fact that I deserted the army after Pearl Harbour.  The bosses probably agreed that I was expendable.”

“How do you mean Chauncey, they’re pinning it on that guy Oswald.”

“That’s another thing that stinks, I was asked to make these for a guy in Dallas.”  Bobby watched as Chauncey waded through the papers beside him and then handed Bobby an envelope.  “Take a look.”

Bobby pulled out a selective service card.  These are cards used when the Armed Services are required to carry out a draft when they need more men.  The card had a photograph of a man he recognised as Lee Harvey Oswald.  “So what is this Chauncey?”

“Check the name on the card.”

It had the name Alek James Hidell.

“So what is this for?”  Bobby asked.

“I don’t know, I was just asked to make it, strange thing is I already made a selective service card bearing the same name at the start of the year and I made a drivers license and a passport with the name Lee Harvey Oswald for the same guy.  Some guy had heard about me through that New Orleans private eye, he is working with Marcello just now I can’t remember his name though.”

“Do you mean Guy Bannister?”

“Yeah that’s the guy, he said that Guy had told him how talented I was and that I would be able to organize some fake ID’s.”

“So who was the ID for?”

“Well I don’t know, I guess it was some guy that worked for Bannister.  I never got the name.”

“Did you meet him?”

“No I didn’t even meet Bannister, he wasn’t in I dropped it with this guy, he looked Cuban I think his name was Carlos.  Anyway strange thing is at the start of August I get asked to drop of these pictures at Bannister’s and I recognized the guy in the picture.  It’s the same guy that is on the selective service card and he’s standing holding this old looking rifle.  Anyway I’m on my way to drop them at that Bannister’s office and I walk past the same guy from the picture handing out these leaflets.”  Chauncey got up and walked over to a small table that was also covered in paper and picked up the leaflet.   He handed it to Bobby and sat back down.

The top of the leaflet read “Hands of Cuba!  Join the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.”

“Check the address.”  Chauncey said.

As Bobby looked at the address stamped on the leaflet he read it aloud “544 Camp Street, so what?”

“Well I didn’t notice until I got to the office but Bannister’s office address is 531 Lafayette Street its right on the corner with Camp Street and the number right next to it is 544 Camp Street, it doesn’t matter which door you go through, you end up in Bannister’s office.  So that was strange for a start, Bannister wasn’t available again so I left the picture with this guy Jack you know him?”

“Yeah he helps with the private eye stuff, Jack Martin he’s a good ole boy, enjoys a drink.”

“So I went back the way I came and went past that guy from the picture and he was having a fight in the street with that Carlos guy I’d met at the office the last time I’d been there.  He was yelling at the guy saying that he shouldn’t be handing out this communist propaganda and that he had pledged allegiance to some Anti-Castro group.  But they work in the same office isn’t that strange.  Next thing I knew this cop showed up and the guy was taken away.  And now there’s this other guy using the Alek James Hidell name I mean who is Oswald?”

“This guy in the picture is definitely Oswald.”  Bobby stated.

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve met him once, briefly.”  Bobby lied.

“Oh yeah?  Where?”

Bobby just named the first place that popped into his head “The Carousel Club”.

“You’re kidding!”

“No, why?”

“Well that’s where this is going, to some guy called Jack Ruby.  I was going to ask if you could drop it off, I don’t have time to go to Dallas and I don’t want to drop it in the post.”

“Yeah sure, I think I could do with meeting Jack anyway.”

Chapter 23

It was 21:00 by the time Bobby got back to his condo.  As he entered through the front door he could see a light coming from the living room, he took this as a good sign.  As he walked into the living room he saw David, Faraday and Jane sitting at the table by the window. They each had an empty plate in front of them and he could see that there were two bottles of wine on the table that were empty and a bottle of Jack Daniels that was half empty.

“Do you people do nothing but drink!”  Bobby asked sarcastically.

“Come on and join us Bobby you haven’t met Jane yet and we are celebrating the engagement again since she didn’t get to last night.”  David replied.

“I must admit I could use a drink after the day I’ve had.  Hi Jane nice to meet you, how are you feeling?” 

“Yeah I’m much better Bobby thanks.  I’ve been hearing a lot about you.  You’ve led quite a life!”

“And sadly it is all true, my hip is killing me David can you get me a glass.”

As Bobby slumped at the table, David ran to the kitchen and appeared back with an extra glass for Bobby.  “Have you eaten Bobby?” David asked.

“No but I think the drink will do me.”

“So how did it go?” Faraday asked.

“Before we discuss this how much do you know Jane?”  Bobby asked.

“Everything, I’m on board!” Jane replied.

“Okay then, well to be honest I don’t think I am on board anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” David yelled.

“This thing is already way too big for us to stop and I’ve only been looking into it since yesterday.  I don’t know who else is involved but at the moment the people I know for certain would take all of us out without even thinking about it and they’d probably throw my grandparents in for good measure.  There is a reason this JFK thing has never really been solved and that’s because the people behind it have the power.”

There was silence around the table.

“Well at least tell us what you found out and then we can discuss what options we have available to us?” Jane reasoned.

“What I’ve found out is that outside the four of us and my grandmother, there is no one we can trust.  I’m even regretting hiring Derrick, I never met him as a kid but Hoover seemed to know something about him.”

“Hoover, you met J. Edgar Hoover!  What’s he like?”  Jane asked excitedly.

“He’s a prick!  A faggot prick!  That is now officially involved in the plot to kill Kennedy!”

Jane was silent, seemingly stunned by the outburst.  “What do you mean he’s involved?” David asked.

“Meyer has some dirt on him, some pictures of him involved in homo activity, so he told Edgar when the hit was and that the assassin is Lee Harvey Oswald.  The best part is I have to represent Oswald if he lives long enough to get to the Police HQ, which we all know he will.  Even if he has another lawyer, Hoover is going to ensure that I am appointed.”  Bobby downed the glass of bourbon in front of him and poured another.

“Wait you said you would represent him?”  Faraday asked.

“I didn’t really get much of a choice.  It was either I do it or Marcello has me killed.”

“Who’s Marcello?” Jane asked.

“He’s the mob boss in New Orleans.”  Bobby stated.

“Well your day hasn’t been a total bust then we now know for sure that Oswald is a patsy!”  David stated.

“Well actually no we don’t.  I was talking to Chauncey. He’s the guy who sorts out the fake documents, which reminds me.”  Bobby pulled out two envelopes from his jacket pockets and gave them to Faraday and Jane.  “These are for you.  You’ll need ID at some stage.  Anyway Chauncey tells me that Oswald has links with this private eye in New Orleans, who also works for Marcello.  So Oswald is definitely involved.  Turns out he was running this Fair Play for Cuba group out of Bannister’s office and then seemed to get in a street fight with one of Bannister’s guys.  Sounds pretty weird.  Anyway seems that someone requested some ID at the start of the year, he works out of Bannister’s office and requested a driver’s license and a passport in the name of Lee Harvey Oswald and a selective service card under the name Alek James Hidell and now someone has requested the exact same selective service card.”  Bobby pulled out the card and laid it on the desk.

“Wait I’m sure I read this in the book, I think Hidell was the name that Oswald bought the rifle under, he had it sent to some PO Box.”  Faraday stated.

“Yeah that sounds right.”  David concurred.

“Well yeah I remember that story too, the only thing is why would Oswald need a fake drivers license in his own name?  I think that the first cards were ordered for someone else.”  Bobby stated.

“Well how do we find out who the cards went to?” Jane asked.

“To be honest I don’t think we can.  But we can find out who this card is going to.  I’m going to drop it off with Jack Ruby tonight, he ordered it from Chauncey.  If one of you could keep an eye on his movements for the rest of the night and maybe tomorrow if needs be we can see who he gives it to.”