To Kill a President (21 page)

He walked into Bobby’s private office and sat in Bobby’s chair. As soon as he did the phone began ringing.  He answered.  “Hello?”

“Faraday its Jane you were brilliant.”

Faraday blushed.  “I know, what’s going on with you guys?”

“We’ve just got back and seen you on television.  Bobby is telling Nancy about Derrick she’s pretty torn up, apparently he was CIA.”

“You’re kidding?”

“Nope, Bobby was delighted with you. He thinks you may have just saved us all.  He’s got a readymade excuse for Lansky now.  Apparently he is heading up to meet him tomorrow.  Meyer asked him to bring Nancy.  He was really worried but he thinks he can sell your story.  I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks well I couldn’t have done it without that lying bastard Derrick.  How did David get on with Kennedy?”

Jane was silent for a moment.  “I’m guessing it went badly he’s hammered he keeps swearing and calling us all idiots.  We’ll find out when he sobers up I guess.”

“Okay I’ll see you soon.   I’ll wait until the reporters have disappeared.  I love you.”

“I love you too, see you soon.”

As Faraday replaced the receiver it dawned on him that he was supposed to be working at the Carousel Club tonight.  Ruby would have seen him on the news and he would know Faraday had lied to him.  Probably best not to go back, he reasoned.  He waited for around half an hour and saw that the coast was clear.  He left the office and locked the door and he felt quite proud of himself, he would be receiving a hero’s welcome tonight, well from Jane and Bobby anyway.  As he turned the key he felt the gun at his back.

“Open the door Faraday.”  Faraday knew the voice immediately it was Derrick.  Faraday did as he was told and unlocked the door.  “Now keep walking into Bobby’s office we need to have a little chat.”  Again Faraday complied and walked into Bobby’s office as he did so he could hear the front door being locked, but the gun was still at his back, there were two of them.

“Take a seat Faraday.”  Derrick said.

Faraday did so and saw Derrick’s face for the first time as the other man entered the room he recognized him instantly as Gerry Hemming the man from the Carousel Club.

“Didn’t think you’d see me again did you?”  Derrick said.

Faraday was scared now. He could feel his heart racing.  “To be honest I’d hoped I wouldn’t see either of you again.”  He could hear how nervous he sounded.

“You cheeky shit.”  Gerry yelled, he moved towards Faraday and punched him in the jaw.  It still hadn’t healed from their previous encounter, he let out a wail of pain.

“Where’s my picture?”

“It’s in the condo.”  Faraday whimpered.

Gerry hit Faraday hard again, this time in the nose.  The blood rushed from his nose all over the pale blue shirt he was wearing.

“You brought this on yourself Faraday, you loudmouth piece of shit.  You’re on the losing side and we want you to deliver a message to Bobby.”

“Okay anything?”  Faraday managed.

Both men laughed. “Sorry you misunderstood, you are the message.”   

Chapter 44

After Bobby had finished explaining everything to Nancy he took her into David’s room and put her to bed.  She needed to rest up for visiting Meyer Lansky tomorrow.  As he entered the living room he saw that David and Jane were sitting at the table in silence, he had not managed to speak to David but based on his attitude the meeting with Kennedy went badly.  He was about to broach the subject when the telephone rang, he decided he would take the call in the hallway.

“Hello.”

“Well haven’t you been a busy bee.”

“Who is this?”

“Its Edgar, just calling to make sure you can make lunch tomorrow?”

“Really?  You don’t think it might draw some attention if we go out for lunch?”

“I imagine it will, but that is no bad thing, I can use it to our advantage.”

“I have to go and see Lansky tomorrow.”

“Yes I heard well you can at least enjoy a last meal.”  Hoover chuckled.

“Fine what time at?”

“12:30 at the Mayflower.”

Once Bobby had replaced the receiver he decided to brave it and see what had happened with David and Kennedy.  When he entered the living room he saw that there was still an awkward prolonged silence in the room.

“Tell me David what went wrong, what did he say?”

David scowled at Bobby and took a pull on the cigarette he was smoking.  “What went wrong?  Have one fucking guess.”

“I don’t know David. I guess he didn’t believe you?”  Bobby responded.

“No it wasn’t that he believed me alright!  Jane would you care to have a guess?”

Jane shook her head.

“Okay I’ll just tell you then.  I did it, I got him to cancel the JFK visit to Texas, he thinks that Lyndon Johnson is involved in the plot. When he left he was heading back to Washington to talk to Jack and then he was headed after Johnson.”

“But that’s amazing David!”  Jane said.

“It is isn’t it?  After he left I decided to have a few drinks to celebrate and then the phone rang, I answered it and it was Bobby Kennedy.  Would you like to know what he said?”

“I think I can guess.” Bobby replied.

“You had your chance to guess!”  David yelled.  “He told me to put on the news, so I did that and I see Jim Garrison being dragged from the office of Guy Bannister kicking and screaming.  He was saying Bobby Stinson and a girl named Jane Stuart told him JFK would be assassinated on the 22
nd
November, then he started screaming that the CIA were in on the plot.  That is when the reporter began speaking and told the world that Jim had shot Jack Martin and killed him.  He then shot Guy Bannister who was hit in the throat. He has been taken to hospital and is in critical condition.  That is when Kennedy told me that he thought I was crazy and that we had effectively killed Jack Martin by telling lies to an unstable man.  He doesn’t want to hear from us ever again.  So the trip to Dallas is still on.”  Once David had finished his story he took a slurp from the whisky bottle in front of him.

“Jesus David, this thing isn’t an exact science we’ve all been doing our best.  You did great but we thought Garrison would be useful to have on board, fair enough we were probably wrong but I don’t for a minute believe he went into Bannister’s office all guns blazing.  Why would he kill Jack, he was on our side.  I’m going to be out of town tomorrow so will Nancy, I’ll try to keep in touch but I don’t even know if I’ll be coming back from this so you two and Faraday need to get on the same page and figure out what you are going to do.  We don’t have time to get drunk and drown our sorrows every time something goes against us.  In fact we should probably get used to it because we all know that this thing is beyond us, what chance do five people have against the mob, the FBI, possibly the Vice President and the CIA.  No chance at all.  So I’m going to bed because tomorrow I have to meet Hoover and then beg for mercy from Lansky.”  Bobby took his keys from his pocket and tossed them onto the table.  “Go and get Faraday and bring him back the three of you need to start making plans, I might not be here to help with this anymore, depending on how tomorrow goes.”  With that Bobby stormed from the room and went to bed.

“Well come on David, we have work to do.”  Jane stated picking up the keys Bobby had left them.

Chapter 45

As David and Jane headed towards the office it was David that broke the silence.  “Listen Jane, I’m sorry for how I’ve been acting today.  It’s just that, well I had it!  I had changed history, the trip was cancelled and now we’re worse off than when we started.  I don’t blame anyone we are all doing our best I just thought tonight was going to be a celebration.  I started to think about Sharon again, I thought I could save her too.  But the more we do the more I think Bobby was right we can’t change things.  Everything we have done has made things worse.  We are destined to fail, no matter what we do.”

“I don’t think we can do it either David, I think we should have a real discussion as a group, I mean maybe we could focus on solving the case rather than stopping the murder.  What do you think Lansky will do with Bobby?”  Jane asked.

“I really don’t know I mean we are talking about Meyer Lansky here, I don’t imagine he’s very forgiving.  But then again its Bobby let’s be honest without him we wouldn’t have found out anything.  If there’s one man alive that can get out of this its Bobby.”

They arrived at the office and looked through the window, there was no sign of movement. 

“He must be in Bobby’s office.”  David said. 

Jane unlocked the door and shouted “Faraday!”  There was not a sound to be heard. 

“Where the hell is he?”  David asked.  David closed the office door and locked it.  They walked through to Bobby’s office and Jane let out a shriek of horror.

“Faraday!   Oh my God.”

She ran towards him, as he lay on the floor his light blue shirt was a deep dark red, his face was almost unrecognisable it was smothered in blood.  His glasses had been smashed and his left eye that was half open was punctured with the pieces of his glasses.

“Call an ambulance David!”  Jane screamed.  David ran to Bobby’s desk and dialled 911.  After he got off the phone he knelt beside Jane and Faraday.  He felt for a pulse it was strong, he had been given an absolute pounding though.  The ambulance arrived at the office within minutes. David had gone to the pavement in front of the office to wait for their arrival.

The paramedics were both men he knew by appearance, but he could not remember their names.  They rushed into the room and ushered Jane out of the way, they gently lifted Faraday onto the gurney and made their way towards the ambulance, Jane climbed in the back behind him as did David.

It was the beginning of a very long night.

Chapter 46

Nancy had barely said a word since the previous evening.  Bobby could tell she was devastated by the truth about Derrick.  During the flight she sat at the window seat and just stared down at the ground below.  They had agreed that Nancy would wait in the cafe at the airport whilst Bobby met with Hoover.

When Bobby entered the Mayflower Hotel he immediately realised why Hoover ate here, the food smelled delicious.  He was welcomed by the maitre de and taken to Hoover’s table by the wall.  He chose to sit in the chair facing the wall. He didn’t want to be spotted by any journalists hoping for a scoop.  He had arrived slightly early and had to wait five minutes for Hoover. 

When Hoover did arrive he sat directly across from Bobby and said. “You’ve made the same mistake Lincoln made.”

Bobby was initially startled, how could he know?  Until he processed what Hoover had said.  “What do you mean?”

“Never sit with your back to the door. You won’t see the assassin coming.”  Hoover’s bulldog face nodded as if his words were profound.

“I believe Lincoln was watching a play, if he had been watching the door there wouldn’t have been much point in him being there.”

Hoover grimaced he was obviously annoyed by Bobby’s insolence but he recovered politely.  “Have you had a look at the menu?”

“Yes, what would you recommend?”

“The cauliflower cheese is lovely and I think under the circumstances a drop of champagne.”

“Under the circumstances, I didn’t realise we were celebrating?”  Bobby replied.

“Well you will be in the mood for celebrating by the time we have finished.”

The waiter came to the table and Hoover ordered for them both.  The waiter returned within moments with both the food and the champagne.

“That was quick.”  Bobby said almost startled.

“I’ve been eating here for many years Bobby, they know what I like.”

Hoover dug straight in to the cauliflower cheese.  With his mouth still full he started speaking.  “So you’ve been busy since we last met haven’t you Bobby?”

“Yes I suppose I have.”  He replied not wanting to give anything away.

“Let me see we met in Las Vegas since then you paid a visit to Jack Ruby, you tried to shoot someone and were then arrested.  You have visited New Orleans and contributed to a homicide and the downfall of a respected District Attorney, not to mention injuring my former colleague Mr Bannister.  Your friend tried to blackmail the Attorney General before convincing him to stop the trip to Dallas and another of your friends is seriously injured in hospital.  Did I get that about right?”  Hoover smirked.

How the hell does he know so much and what friend in hospital?  “Well nearly only I don’t have a friend in the hospital?”

“I’m afraid you do actually your investigator James Faraday was taken in early this morning, looks like he got himself into a fight after his brief appearance on the news.  I wonder who he could have annoyed.”  Hoover smirked as he spoke the words.