The Cold Six Thousand - James Ellroy [87]
He babied Drac. He coddled Drac. He bared his fangs. He bit Drac back.
Jane helped.
He coaxed assistance from her. He gleaned her expertise. He loved her. She loved him. He called it true. She lied to live. He lied to live. It might serve to undermine his perception.
They lived in L.A. They flew to D.C. They enjoyed work weekends. He wrote briefs. Jane wrote Hertz reports. They toured D.C. and viewed statues.
He tried to show her the Teamster building. She flushed and balked. She was too firm. She played him skewed. She was mock indifferent.
He flashed back to L.A.—one recent chat.
He said, “I can get you work with the Teamsters.” She said, “No.” She was intractable. She came off skewed then.
She knew the Boys. She avoided Vegas. The Boys partied there. They discussed it. Jane was oblique. Jane was mock indifferent.
The Teamsters scared her. He knew it. She knew he knew. She lied. She omitted. He reciprocated.
He studied Jane. He indulged conclusions. Her real name was Arden. She did come from Mississippi. She did go to school in De Kalb.
He was suspicious. She reciprocated.
She viewed some Hughes bill sheets. She studied them. She explained embezzlement detection. She wondered why he cared.
He lied. He used her. She helped him bilk Howard Hughes.
He stole vouchers. He forged ledgers. He retallied accounts. He rerouted payments. He billed to a dummy account.
His account—Chicago—the Mercantile Bank.
He laundered the money. He cut checks. He tithed the SCLC. Pseudonymous checks—sixty grand so far—more checks en route.
Penance payments. Damage control. Covert ops against the FBI.
He donated Mob money. Mr. Hoover kept tabs. He met Bayard Rustin. He paid him.
Mr. Hoover thought he knew Littell. Mr. Hoover misread his commitments. Mr. Hoover spent phone time with Littell. Mr. Hoover misread his loyalty.
Mr. Hoover talked to his correspondents. Mr. Hoover leaked dirt off bug placements. Mr. Hoover attacked Dr. King. Newsmen received invective. They rephrased it. They printed it. They obscured the source.
Mr. Hoover talked. Bayard Rustin talked. Lyle Holly talked. They all talked civil rights.
LBJ pushed his big civil-rights bill. Mr. Hoover loathed it—but:
Age 70 bodes. Forced retirement bodes. LBJ says, “Stay and strut your stuff.”
Mr. Hoover gives thanks. That means quid pro quo. LBJ says, “Now fight my Klan war.”
Mr. Hoover agrees. Mr. Hoover complies. The New Klan is outré. Mr. Hoover knows it.
The Old Klan moved hate tracts. The Old Klan burned crosses. The Old Klan severed balls. Castration was a State crime. Mail fraud was Fed.
The Old Klan rigged postage meters. The Old Klan stole stamps. The Old Klan mailed hate tracts. They thus broke Fed laws.
Their mail content was legal. Their mail methods were fraud. The FBI fought the Old Klan. Their mandate was minutiae. Their anti-Klan credentials were soft.
The New Klan was arson. The New Klan was Murder One. The flash point was Mississippi.
Civil-rights kids converge. “Freedom Summer” descends. The Klan sits ready. New klaverns form. Cops join. Diverse klaverns bond tight.
The White Knights. The Royal Knights. Klextors/Kleagles/Kladds/Kludds/Klokards. Klonklaves and Klonvocations.
Church bombings. Mutilation deaths. Three kids in Neshoba County—missing and presumed dead.
LBJ mandates war. Two hundred agents descend. A hundred for Neshoba—three probable victims—thirty-three agents per vic.
Dr. King visits. Bayard Rustin visits. Bayard Rustin briefs Littell. He checks his atlas. De Kalb adjoins Neshoba. Jane’s school is there.
Mr. Hoover was torn. The war vexed him. The war offended him. The war brought the FBI praise. Mr. Hoover took credit—reluctantly. The war disrupted him.
It was outré. It was invasive. It pissed off his klavernite plants. They infiltrated klaverns. They snitched off mail fraud. They were shrill. They were racist. They subscribed to Bureau “Guidelines”:
“Acceptable Risk” and “Violence Permitted.” “Deniable Actions defined.”
Mr. Hoover was torn. The war ripped him up. LBJ bruised his racist aesthetic. He’d fight back.