K. Boyd called. In town en route to Florida. Pump Room, 7:00?
Kemper–yes!
Chick Leahy walked up, waving file carbons. “I’ll need the complete Katzenbach folder, with photo attachments, by December 11th. Mr. Tolson’s coming in for an inspection tour, and he wants a CPUSA presentation.”
“You’ll have it.”
“Good. Complete with documents?’
“Some. Mrs. Katzenbach caught me before I finished.”
“Jesus. Did she–?”
“She did not call the Chicago PD, because she knew who I was and what I was doing. Mr. Leahy, half the Commies on earth know the term ‘black bag job.’”
Leahy sighed. “Say it, Ward. I’m going to turn you down, but you’ll feel better if you say it.”
“All right I want a Mob assignment I want a transfer to the Top Hoodlum Program.”
Leahy said, “No. Our THP roster is full. And as special agentin-charge my assessment of you is that you’re best suited for political surveillance, which I consider important work. Mr. Hoover considers domestic Communists more dangerous than the Mafia, and I have to say that I agree with him.”
They stared at each other. Littell broke it off–Leahy would stand there all day if he didn’t
Leahy walked back to his office. Littell shut his cubicle door and got out his bar texts. Civic statutes went unmemorized– Kemper Boyd memories cut them adrift.
Late ‘53: they corner a kidnapper in L.A. The man pulls a gun; he shakes so hard he drops his. Some LAPD men laugh at him. Kemper doctors the report to make him the hero.
They protest the disposition of Tom Agee’s pension–Mr. Hoover wants to award it to Tom’s floozy wife. Kemper talks him into a surviving-daughter disbursement; Helen now has a handsome sinecure.
They arrest Big Pete Bondurant. He makes a gaffe: ribbing Pete in Quebecois French. Bondurant snaps his handcuff chain and goes for his throat.
He runs. Big Pete laughs. Kemper bribes Bondurant into silence on the matter–catered cell food does the trick.
Kemper never judged his fearful side. Kemper said, “We both joined the Bureau to avoid the war, so who’s to judge?” Kemper taught him how to burglarize–a good fear tamper-downer.
Kemper said, “You’re my priest-cop confessor. I’ll reciprocate and hear your confessions, but since my secrets are worse than yours, I’ll always get the better end of the deal.”
Littell closed his textbook. Civil statutes were dead boring.
o o o
The Pump Room was packed. A gale blew off the lake–people seemed to whoosh inside.
Littell secured a back booth. The maître d’ took his drink order: two martinis, straight up. The restaurant was beautiful: colored waiters and a pre-symphony crowd had the place sparkling.
The drinks arrived. Littell arranged them for a quick toast. Boyd walked in, via the hotel lobby.
Littell laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re staying here.”
“My plane doesn’t leave until two a.m., and I needed a place to stretch my legs. Hello, Ward.”
“Hello, Kemper. A valedictory?”
Boyd raised his glass. “To my daughter Claire, your daughter Susan and Helen Agee. May they do well in school and become better attorneys than their fathers.”
They clicked goblets. “Neither of whom ever practiced law.”
“You clerked, though. And I heard you wrote deportation writs that saw litigation.”
“We’re not doing so badly. At least you’re not. So who’s putting you up here?’
“My new temporary employer booked me a room out by Midway, but I decided to splurge and make up the difference out of my pocket And the difference between the Skyliner Motel and the Ambassador-East is pretty steep.”
Littell smiled. “What new temporary employer? Are you working Cointelpro?”
“No, it’s something a good deal more interesting. I’ll tell you a few drinks down the line, when you’re more likely to get blasphemous and say, ‘Jesus Fucking Christ.’”
“I’ll say it now. You’ve just effectively killed small talk, so I will say it fucking now.”
Boyd sipped his martini. “Not yet. You just hit the jackpot on the wayward-daughter front, though. That should cheer you up.”
“Let me guess. Claire’s transferring from Tulane to Notre Dame.”
“No. Helen graduated Tulane a semester early. She’s been accepted at the University of Chicago law school, and she’ll be moving here next month.”