Littell taped Bayard Rustin. Bayard praised King. Littell met Bayard sans tape. Bayard waxed sad that day. Bayard showed him the letter.
"King, look into your heart."
"King, like all frauds, your end is approaching."
"You are a colossal fraud, and an evil, vicious one at that."
"King, there is only one thing left for you to do."
They met in Lafayette Park. Bayard showed him the letter. He read it. He went queasy. He walked.
He met Bayard one more time. Lafayette Park again. They talked sans tape. It sparked him. It scared him.
Tails.
Dwight Holly had him tailed. Mr. Hoover said so. Vegas tails--preRABBIT Holly was BLUE RABBIT. Holly ran BLACK RABBIT Holly hated him. Spot tails meant checks. Spot tails meant notes. Spot tails meant data accrued.
He met Jane in Vegas--that one bad time--potential tails were out. He met Janice--their first time--potential tails were out.
Holly pulled the tails. Holly pulled them pre-RABBIT. Mr. Hoover said so. Holly ran RABBIT. Holly had juice. Holly could tail-reinstate.
He met Bayard. They had two meets sans tape. He ran tail checks. None were visible. None were obvious. None were probable or certified.
Bayard said, "Come to Selma. You'll see history."
He did it.
He flew down. He used fake ID. He forged a press card. He ducked the marchers. He ducked the cops. He joined a press crew.
He watched. He fretted tails. He saw Bloody Sunday.
Highway 80. The Edmund Pettus Bridge. Sheriff Clark's posse--horses and patrol cars with rebel bumper-flags.
Clark braced the marchers. Clark said disperse in two minutes. The posse charged one minute in. They charged with tear gas and billy clubs. They charged with bullwhips and barbed-wire saps.
The posse hit the marchers. The posse cut through them. The posse mowed them down. He watched. He hid behind cameras. He saw saps rip noses. He saw whips sever ears.
He hid. Meek CRUSADER RABBIT Unworthy of brave RED and PINK.
He flew back to Vegas. He thought about tails. He thought about Mr. Hoover. Mr. Hoover pledged memos--RABBIT details--Mr. Hoover sent none.
Let's extrapolate. Let's grow some fear.
Mr. Hoover is busy. He's deep in BLACK RABBIT BLUE RABBIT counsels him. BLUE hates CRUSADER. BLUE hoards memorandums. BLUE restricts their flow.
Or: Mr. Hoover has plans. They're draconian. They supersede suicide letters. Why disturb CRUSADER? Why risk his specious reproach?
Don't tweak him with knowledge. Don't risk his betrayal. Don't test his silly ideals.
Or: BLUE has a puppet--WILD RABBIT on strings--WILD RABBIT works alone. WILD runs Klansmen. WILD might run autonomous. WILD might run outright rogue.
Mr. Hoover knows it. BLUE knows it--so why tell CRUSADER that?
Need-to-know. Read-and-burn. Compartments. Sealed access. Loveand-hide.
He had Jane. Jane survived her Vegas trip. Jane never went back. They went back to their rules. They resealed their compartments. They hid in L.A.
They ignored their fight. They revived their game. He lied. She lied. They codified. Their code said we aired it. Their code said it hurt. Their code said we survived Dallas.
Jane knew he taped Bobby. Jane knew he bilked Howard Hughes. Jane knew the Boys. Jane knew the Life. Jane feared the Teamsters for real.
Compartments. Sealed access. Love-and-lie. The love worked. The lies hurt. The seal cracked.
He traveled. He sealed off Vegas. He compartmentalized. He met Barb. He joined her fan club. He sat ringside.
They were prom dates. Admiration and earnest chats. Chaste drinks and her show.
Pete rotated through--Vietnam to Vegas--they all socialized. Barb rotated with him. Her eyes went from pinholed to bright.
Pills. Her secret. Her Pete's-gone-rotation delight.
All men loved her. He told Pete. Pete said he knew that. Barb grew. Barb changed while he watched her. Barb changed her ridiculous lounge act.
She put out more knock-knees. She put out more ad-libs and goofs. I'm six feet tall. I can't sing. I know terrible things.
He loved her. He loved her more than Janice and Jane.
Janice was Vegas. Jane was L.A. He rotated through. Compartments: candor and lies/separate disclosures.
Janice spilled her secrets. Janice never lied. She bragged about sex. She proved her points. She flaunted her prowess.
She talked too much. She enticed men. She lived for the thrill. She thought she controlled men. Her stories disproved it. She confused prowess with heart.
She divorced Wayne Senior. She ditched his name. She went back to "Lukens." She earned her two million. She paid with cramps. She paid with a limp.
She fought back. She played golf. She broke par as a gimp. She never cried. She never whined. She never complained.
They met at her cottage. They made love. They talked.
Janice talked. He listened.
She fucked a Negro man. Wayne Senior found out and killed him. She fucked Clark Kinman. Wayne Senior watched. She fucked bellboys on dares and bets.
She fucked Wayne Junior. She paid.
She talked too much. She drank too much. She limped through A-club tennis. She was pure will unconsidered. She was inimical to Jane.
Janice talked. Janice digressed. Janice discussed Wayne Senior. He was bad. He was cruel. He'd do ANYTHING.
Janice talked. Janice scared him. Wayne Senior was FATHER RABBIT.
69.
(Las Vegas, Miami, Port Sulphur, Saigon, Saravan, Dac To, Dak Sut, Muang Kao, 3/21--6/15/65)
Rotation: East to west--V to V--Vietnam to Vegas.
He flew west--rotation 1--Barb met his plane. She sparkled. She beamed. She refuted that letter.
The letter bugged him. Jerky words and the lines "up & down." He thought about pills--lounge-popcorn uppers and reds to come down.
No/nyet/nein. Noi in Viet. Barb radiated. Barb fucking glowed.
They glowed three years in. They glowed with crazy shit concurrent. Barb got better. Barb got stronger. Barb got X-ray eyes.
She saw through show people. She saw through the Life. The Life was rigged. The men took the risks. The men had the fun. The men conspired. The men served causes. The women served tea.
Barb said it: "I peaked early. I extorted JFK." Barb said it: "You've got Cuba. I've got the Sultan's Lounge."
She didn't nag him. She didn't play shrew. She just said she'd changed.
They hashed it out. He sensed cabin fever. Vegas hemmed her in. He sold dope batch #1. He bought two tickets east.
They booked to Miami. They took the cat. They booked a suite at the Doral. The cat leveled it.
He clawed the drapes. He shit on chairs. He killed terrace birds. He bootjacked their room-service food.
They caught Dino. They caught Shecky Green. They got ringside seats. They slept late and made love.
They talked. He laid out Vietnam. He lied. He downplayed the killing. He downplayed the slaves.
Barb pressed him. Barb tripped him up. Barb nailed his lies. He said fuck it. He cut loose. He disclosed.
Barb said, "All that for Cuba?"
They got some rays. They ran into Jimmy H. They went out for stone crabs. Jimmy fumed. Jimmy fugued. Jimmy ran nonstop boo-hoo.
His legal woes. Sam G. in stir. His ripe hemorrhoids.
Pete bored in. Pete pumped him. Pete worked his mood. Pete pumped angles. Pete pumped oblique.
It's Kansas City. It's '56. Danny Bruvick fucks you.
Jimmy cut loose--six fucks!/six cocksuckers!/six Arden cunts! Jimmy dished on Arden. Jimmy tossed a bomb: Arden Bruvick--that cunt--she was Jules Schiffrin's ex.
Pete said, "Excuse me." Pete walked to the John. Pete found a throne. Pete sat down. Pete hashed it all through.
Jules Schiffrin--Mob money man--dead in '60. The "real" fund books--Schiffrin's property. Arden Bruvick: bookkeeper.
It's '56. It's K.C. Danny Bruvick splits. Jimmy fugues out. Cops bust Arden. The T&C Corp bails her. Carlos M. owns T&C.
Cut to: '59--New Orleans--J.P. Mesplede passes through. Mesplede sees Arden--with some Carlos goon.
Cut to: 1960--Wisconsin--Ward Littell steals the books. Schiffrin heartattacks and drops dead.
Cut to: Fall '63. Carlos taps Ward. Carlos says this: You got the books. Jimmy don't know it. The Boys and I do. We know you. We own you. You'll sell Drac our hotels. You'll work the books. You'll dredge up data. You'll funnel skim through.
Cut to: Dallas--hit time--Arden meets Ward. She works for Jack Ruby. She keeps his books. She's seen the safe house. She's seen the targets. She's seen the crew.
Ward falls for Arden. Carlos wants her dead. Ward makes Arden "Jane." Ward hides "Jane." Ward brews fund-book schemes.
So: Did Carlos find Arden? Did Carlos pledge mercy? IF YOU SPY ON LITTELL? Arden was a bookkeeper. Arden knew Schiffrin. Arden lived with Littell.
Sound logic, but: He saw Ward with "Jane." They were real. He knew it.
It scared him. He teethed on it. He riffed: Real deals with women could be undercut--and thus shot to shit.
Barb saw him pump Jimmy. Barb gauged his john run. Barb got halfway hip. He filled her in. He abridged it. He omitted Carlos. He omitted Big D.
Barb loved it. Barb loved secrets. Barb held them tough. They discussed it. He told her--I'll probe up more stuff.
He called Fred Otash. Otash weighed in. Otash said I'm on it--don't sweat. I'll buy more cops. I'll put out more search fees. My cops will check files and call back.
They schmoozed. Otash had news. Otash said Ward hired him. Ward craved dirt. Ward bought a dirt search--let's find the old scandal-rag files.
Pete riffed on his Arden search. Pete said don't tell Ward--don't clue Ward in. Otash played ball. Otash had Arden pix already. Otash knew Arden was Jane.
Pete teethed on it. Pete sifted it. Pete lived with it. Pete ran rotations.
Vegas was good--100%. White horse hits. The word expands. Clients accrue: Sniffers/tasters/junkies/skin-popper geeks.
The street pushers worked. The street pushers proselytized. They wore flash threads. They drove jig rigs. They glorified "H." They glamorized it. They accessorized it. They Tupperwared it.
They cruised the projects. They drew crowds. They sniffed powdered milk and bopped strong. They debunked that addiction jive.
They wore pendants. They wore processed hair. They carried mock-gold guns. They lied. They said spooks ran the biz. They denied that the White Man existed.