He promised that the stopover would take no more than twenty minutes. He said, I’ll put you on the next plane back to Jack.
Miami twinkled below. He had crucial work in Omaha– postponed by this six-hour detour.
The race was too close to call. Nixon might have a slight edge–with eighteen days left to go.
He called Laura from the departure lounge. She lit into his Kennedy ties. Claire kept saying that Laura ached for a Nixon victory.
Claire said FBI men questioned her last month. Their sole topic was Ward Littell’s politics.
The agents intimidated her. They cautioned her not to mention the interview to her father.
Claire broke the promise and called him three days ago. He called Ward immediately.
His phone rang and rang. The rings had a distinct wiretap pitch.
He called Court Meade to check on Ward’s whereabouts. Meade said Ward kicked the SAC’s door down and vanished.
Claire called him in Omaha last night. She said the Bureau got Helen’s law school grant revoked.
Mr. Hoover stopped calling him two days ago. It all connected somehow. The campaign had him running too fast to be scared.
Crosswinds roughed up their descent. The plane taxied in with a flshtailing whoosh.
Kemper checked his window. He saw Pete standing outside, with the ground crew. The men were palming cash rolls and fawning at the big guy with the money.
Landing stairs locked in. Kemper crowded up to the door.
The co-pilot cranked it open. There’s Pete–with a baggage cart parked on the runway, right below them.
Kemper took the steps three at a time. Pete grabbed him and cupped a yell. “Your plane’s delayed! We’ve got half an hour!”
Kemper jumped on the cart. Pete gunned it. They dodged luggage piles and swung around to a janitor’s hut.
A baggage handler got the door. Pete slipped him twenty dollars.
A linen tablecloth was draped over a workbench. On it: gin, vermouth, a glass and six sheets of paper.
Pete said, “Read through that.”
Kemper skimmed the top page. His hackles jumped immediately.
Howard Hughes lent Dick Nixon’s kid brother $200,000. Check photostats, bookkeeping notes and bank slips proved it. Somebody compiled an itemized list: Nixon-proffered legislation linked to Hughes government contracts.
Kemper mixed a drink. His hands shook. He spilled Beefeater’s all over the workbench.
He looked at Pete. “You haven’t asked for money.”
“If I wanted money, I would have called Jimmy.”
“I’ll tell Jack he’s got a friend in Miami.”
“Tell him to let us invade Cuba, and I’ll call it even.”
The martini was gorgeously dry. The janitor’s hut glowed like the Carlyle.
“Keep an eye on Wilfredo Delsol. It’s anticlimactic now, but I think he might be screwing up.”
Pete said, “Call Bobby. I want to hear you put the little fuck in hock to me.”
DOCUMENT INSERT: 10/23/60. Cleveland Plain Dealer headline:
HUGHES-NIXON LOAN REVELATIONS ROCK CAMPAIGN
DOCUMENT INSERT: 10/24/60. Chicago Tribune subhead:
KENNEDY BLASTS NIXON-HUGHES “COLLUSION”
DOCUMENT INSERT: 10/28/60. Los Angeles Herald-Express headline and subhead:
NIXON DENIES INFLUENCE-PEDDLING ACCUSATIONS
HUGHES LOAN BROUHAHA CUTS VEEP’S LEAD IN POLLS
DOCUMENT INSERT: 10/26/60. New York Journal-American subhead:
NIXON CALLS LOAN FLAP “TEMPEST IN TEAPOT”
DOCUMENT INSERT: 10/28/60. San Francisco Chronicle headline:
NIXON BROTHER CALLS HUGHES LOAN “NON-POLITICAL”
DOCUMENT INSERT: 10/29/60. Kansas City Star subhead:
KENNEDY BLASTS NIXON FOR HUGHES LOAN
DOCUMENT INSERT: 11/3/60. Boston Globe headline:
GALLUP POLL PREZ’L RACE DEAD HEAT!
53
(Lake Geneva, 11/5/60)
Littell ran through his checklist.
Goggles, earplugs, wire cutters, glass cutter–check. Magnet strips, gloves, shotgun, ammunition–check.
Waterproof-fuse dynamite–check. Acoustical baffling, hammer, nails–check.
Check: You wiped every print-sustaining surface in this motel room.
Check: You left your check-out cash on the dresser.
Check: You avoided all contact with your fellow motel tenants.
He ran through his three-week precaution list.
You changed motels every other day–in zigzag patterns throughout southern Wisconsin.
You wore fake beards and fake mustaches at all times.
You changed rental cars at odd intervals. You took buses between car-rental pickups. You secured said cars at distant sites: Des Moines, Minneapolis and Green Bay.
You rented said cars with fake ID.
You paid cash.
You parked said cars nowhere near the motels you checked into.
You made no motel-room phone calls. You print-wiped every surface before you checked out.