The Passenger (The Passenger, #1)(104)

Western smiled. Are you a character witness?

Hardly. If anything it sort of went the other way.

How is that?

His lawyer’s name is Jack Wasserman. He’s an immigration lawyer from Washington. About three years ago Wasserman came over to my table and sat down. He pulled a moneyclip out of his pocket and began counting hundred dollar bills onto the tablecloth. He counted out thirty-two hundred dollars and shuffled it up and pushed it over. He said: That’s thirty-two hundred dollars. No particular reason for the amount. What I’d like for you to do is to write me a check for it.

What did you do?

I got out my checkbook.

I dont understand.

If he had a check from me he could use it as evidence that I had retained him as counsel and that in turn would give us attorney-client privileges.

Why did he think that you’d need them?

He didnt. He just didnt know that we wouldnt. These people dont like to leave things to chance.

You wouldnt have to have a contract or anything?

Anybody can draw up a contract and predate it. But a check goes to the bank. I wrote him the check and put the cash in a bank in Florida. Here comes the food.

They ate quietly. Kline was a frugal wine-drinker and they would leave half the bottle on the table. They ordered coffee.

Have you been by the bar?

No. I called.

No one looking for you.

They check in occasionally.

You dont believe they’re going away I hope.

No. Probably I dont. They just know that I’m not there.

They. Them.

Yes.

What is it that you think is going to happen?

To me.

To you.

I dont know.

Well, you’re probably not going to be assassinated.

That’s reassuring.

You’re just going to jail.

I keep waiting for you to tell me something helpful.

I wish I could.

How many people have you helped to change identities?

Two.

Where are they now?

They’re dead now.

Wonderful.

Not much to do with me. One of them was a relative. The other was a drug user who od’d. Probably a hotshot. They were buying time but time is hard to buy and it tends to be expensive.

Why were you helping them?

Family. Always trouble.

Sorry.

The Kennedys.

Yes. You dont believe that Oswald killed JFK.

It’s not a matter of belief.

Was this a matter of sleuthing? Or inside information.

Both. You start at the beginning. Fundamental facts. In this case the most fundamental facts are the ballistics of Oswald’s rifle. A cheap mail-order rifle with a cheap scope sight. No evidence that Oswald ever even sighted it in. Or even that he knew how to. We know that one of the rounds missed the limousine entirely and struck the curb. Supposedly it hit a wire. Which is questionable of course. There’s no evidence that Oswald knew anything about guns. Including how to shoot one. He had a marksman rating but marksman means they make you stand out there until you hit something. Expert is the rating that actually means something. I dont know what power the scope was. Four. Six. It’s not important. What we know is that it was a piece of junk. In keeping with the rifle. The rifle was a 6.5 Mannlicher-Carcano. They couldnt even get the name right. Carcano is the name of the manufacturer. A mannlicher is a style of rifle where the forestock extends pretty much the length of the barrel. Presumably to keep you from burning your hand. So it’s like calling a Colt revolver a revolver Colt. Maybe you could say it like that in Italian, I dont know. Prior to the shooting no one had ever even heard of this wretched piece of gear. The fact that it fires a bullet of about .25 caliber doesnt really mean anything. Military rounds have been getting smaller for some time. But they’ve also been getting faster. And faster is what counts. Speed kills.

Energy increases equally with mass but it increases with the square of the speed.

Yes. I keep forgetting that you know all this stuff. The Carcano has a muzzle velocity of something less than two thousand feet per second. You could handload a rimfire .22 to pretty close to that speed. Not that you’d want to. I’ve studied the autopsy photos. A lot of people have seen them. Of course there’s no doubt that it’s Kennedy. You can see his face clearly. The whole back of his skull is gone and the cerebellum is hanging out on the table. The drawings on the other hand are different. They show the section of skull that the round took out as more to the upper side. I think I’m going to go with the photos. If you look at frame 313 of the Zapruder film you will see a cloud of blood and brain-matter that half obscures the figures of the Kennedys. The material explodes up and to the right for a distance of quite a few feet. It even splattered some of the motorcycle cops. The Carcano could no more have done that than a BB gun could. The frames that follow show Jackie climbing onto the trunk of the limousine and a secret service agent climbing onto the trunk from the rear. They are reaching out to each other. But that’s not what’s going on. The story finally was that Jackie was trying to retrieve a handful of her husband’s brains that had plopped down onto the decklid of the limousine. Which supposedly she does. Then she sits next to her dead husband covered in brains and blood and supposedly holding these brains cupped in her hands all the way to Parkland Hospital where she gives them to a doctor. Or so the doctor testified. You look troubled.