JEH: If my bedtime reading improves, I’ll know you’ve succeeded.
KB: Yes, Sir.
JEH: We have Ward Littell to thank for that entire Big Brother snafu.
KB: I passed through Chicago and saw Littell two days ago, Sir.
JEH: Continue.
KB: I had initially thought that his THP expulsion might push him toward taking antiMob actions on his own, so I decided to check up on him.
JEH: And?
KB: And my concerns were groundless. Littell seems to be suffering his Red Squad work in silence, and the only change of habit that I could detect was that he’s begun an affair with Tom Agee’s daughter Helen.
JEH: An affair of a sexual nature?
KB: Yes, Sir.
JEH: Is the girl of age?
KB: She’s twenty-one, Sir.
JEH: I want you to keep an eye on Littell.
KB: I will, Sir. And while I have you, could I bring up a tangential matter?
JEH: Certainly.
KB: It involves the Cuban political situation.
JEH: Continue.
KB: In the course of my Florida visits I’ve met several pro-Batista and pro-Castro Cuban refugees. Now, apparently Castro is going Communist. I’ve learned that undesirables of varying political stripes will be expelled from Cuba and granted asylum in the U.S., with most of them settling in Miami. Would you like information on them?
JEH: Do you have an information source?
KB: Yes, Sir.
JEH: But you’d rather not reveal it?
KB: Yes, Sir.
JEH: I hope they’re paying you.
KB: It’s an ambiguous situation, Sir.
JEH: You’re an ambiguous man. And yes, any and all Cuban emigre intelligence would be appreciated. Have you anything to add? I’m due at a meeting.
KB: One last thing, Sir. Did you know that the brothers’ father had an illegitimate daughter with Gloria Swanson?
JEH: No, I did not know that. You’re certain?
KB: Reasonably. Should I follow up on it?
JEH: Yes. But avoid any personal entanglements that might upset your incursion.
KB: Yes, Sir.
JEH: Forewarned is forearmed. You have a tendency to adopt people, such as the morally-impaired Ward Littell. Don’t extend that tendency toward the Kennedys. I suspect that their powers of seduction exceed even your own.
KB: I’ll be careful, Sir.
JEH: Good day, Mr. Boyd.
KB: Good day, Sir.
19
(Los Angeles, 1/18/59)
Dick Steisel said, “If Mr. Hughes is so tight with J. Edgar Hoover, have him call off the goddamn process servers.”
Pete scoped out his office. The client photos were boffo– Hughes shared a wall with some South American dictators and bongo player Preston Epps.
“He won’t ask Hoover for favors. He figures he hasn’t kissed his ass enough yet.”
“He can’t keep dodging subpoenas forever. He should simply divest TWA, earn his three or four hundred million and get on to his next conquest.”
Pete rocked his chair and put his feet up on Steisel’s desk. “He doesn’t see things that way.”
“And how do you see things?”
“The way he pays me to.”
“Which means, in this instance?”
“Which means I’m going to call Central Casting, bag a halfdozen actors and have them made up as Mr. Hughes, then send them out in Hughes Aircraft limos. I’m going to tell them to hit some night spots, throw some cash around and talk up their travel plans. Timbuktu, Nairobi–who gives a shit? It’ll buy us some time.”
Steisel sifted through desk clutter. “TWA aside, you should know that most of the Hush-Hush articles you’ve sent over for vetting are libelous. Here’s an example from that Spade Cooley piece. ‘Does Ella Mae Cooley have “Everlast” stamped across her chest? She should, because Spade’s been bopping bluegrass ballads on her already dangerously dented decolletage! It seems that Ella Mae told Spade she wanted to join a free love cult! Spade responded with fiddle-honed fisticuffs, and now Ella Mae has been sporting brutally black-and-blue blistered bosomage.’ You see Pete, there’s a no loophole rhetoric or–”
Steisel moaned and droned. Pete shut him out and daydreamed.
Kemper Boyd called him yesterday. He said, “I’ve got you a lead on a magazine stringer. His name’s Lenny Sands, and he’s playing a junket engagement at the Cal-Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe. Go talk to him–I think he’d be perfect for Hush-Hush. But–he’s tight with Ward Littell, and I know you’ll figure out he’s FBI-connected. And you should also know that Littell has an eyeball witness on the Gretzler job. Mr. Hoover told him to forget about it, but Littell’s the volatile type. I don’t want you to even mention Littell to Lenny.”