Edge of Eternity (116 page)

*  *  *

Joe Hugo was a pale man with prominent blue eyes. He was somewhere in his thirties. Like all FBI agents he wore excruciatingly conservative clothes: a plain grey suit, a white shirt, a nondescript tie, black toecapped shoes. Cam himself was conventional in his tastes, but his unremarkable brown chalk-stripe suit with wide lapels and flared trousers suddenly seemed radical.

Cam told Hugo he worked for Ehrlichman and said right out: ‘I need a wiretap on Jasper Murray, the television journalist.’

Joe frowned. ‘Tap the office of
This Day
? If
that
story got out . . .’

‘Not his office, his home. The leakers we’re talking about most likely sneak out late in the evening and go to a pay phone and call him at home.’

‘Either way it’s a problem. The FBI doesn’t do black bag jobs any more.’

‘What? Why?’

‘Mr Hoover feels the Bureau is in danger of taking the rap for other people in government.’

Cam could not contradict this. If the FBI was caught burglarizing the home of a journalist, naturally the President would deny all knowledge. That was how things worked. J. Edgar Hoover had been breaking the law for years, but now for some reason he had got a bug up his ass about it. There was no telling with Hoover, seventy-seven years old and no saner than he had ever been.

Cam raised his voice. ‘The President has asked for this wiretap, and the Attorney General is happy to authorize it. Are you going to refuse?’

‘Relax,’ said Hugo. ‘There’s always a way to give the President what he needs.’

‘You mean you’ll do it?’

‘I mean there’s a way.’ Hugo wrote something on a pad and tore off the sheet. ‘Call this guy. He used to do these jobs officially. He’s retired now, which just means he does them unofficially.’

Cam was uncomfortable with the idea of doing things unofficially. What did that mean? he wondered. But he sensed this was not the moment to quibble.

He took the piece of paper. It bore the name ‘Tim Tedder’ and a phone number. ‘I’ll call him today,’ Cam said.

‘From a pay phone,’ said Hugo.

*  *  *

The Mayor of Roath, Mississippi sat in George Jakes’s office at Fawcett Renshaw. His name was Robert Denny, but he said: ‘Call me Denny. Everyone knows Denny. Even my little lady wife calls me Denny.’ He was the kind of man George had been fighting for a decade: an ugly, fat, foul-mouthed, stupid white racist.

His city was building an airport, with help from the government. But recipients of federal funding had to be equal-opportunity employers. And Maria in the Justice Department had learned that the new airport would have no black staff other than skycaps.

This was typical of the kind of work George got.

Denny was as condescending as a man could be. ‘We do things a little differently in the South, George,’ he said.

Don’t I fucking know it, George thought; you thugs broke my arm eleven years ago, and it still aches like a bastard on a cold day.

‘People in Roath wouldn’t have confidence in an airport run by coloureds,’ Denny went on. ‘They would fear things might not be done right, you know, from a safety point of view. I’m sure you understand me.’

You bet I do, you racist fool.

‘Old Renshaw is a good friend of mine.’

Renshaw was not a friend of Denny’s, George knew. The senior partner had met this client just twice. But Denny was hoping to make George nervous.
If you mess up, your boss is going to be real mad at you.

Denny went on: ‘He tells me that you’re the best person in Washington to get the Justice Department off my back.’

George said: ‘Mr Renshaw is right. I am.’

With Denny were two city councillors and three aides, all white. Now they sat back, showing relief. George had reassured them that their problem could be solved.

‘Now,’ George said, ‘there are two ways we could achieve this. We could go to court and challenge the Justice Department’s ruling. They’re not that smart over there, and we can find flaws in their methodology, mistakes in their reports, and bias. Litigation is good for my firm, because our fees would be high.’

‘We can pay,’ said Denny. The airport was clearly a lucrative project.

‘Two snags with litigation,’ George said. ‘One, there are always delays – and you want to get your airport built and operating as soon as you can. Two, no lawyer can put his hand on his heart and tell you what the court’s decision will be. You never know.’

‘Not here in Washington, anyhow,’ said Denny.

Clearly the courts in Roath were more amenable to Denny’s wishes.

‘Alternatively,’ George said, ‘we could negotiate.’

‘What would that involve?’

‘A phased introduction of more black employees at all levels.’

‘Promise them anything!’ said Denny.

‘They’re not completely stupid, and payments would be tied to compliance.’

‘What do you think they’ll want?’

‘The Justice Department doesn’t really care, so long as they can say they’ve made a difference. But they will consult with black organizations in your town.’ George glanced down at the file on his desk. ‘This case was brought to the Justice Department by Roath Christians for Equal Rights.’

‘Fucking Communists,’ said Denny.

‘The Justice Department will probably agree to any compromise that has the approval of that group. It gets them and you out of the Department’s hair.’

Denny reddened. ‘You better not be telling me I have to negotiate with the goddamn Roath Christians.’

‘It’s the smart way to go if you want a quick solution to your problem.’

Denny bristled.

George added: ‘But you don’t have to see them personally. In fact, I recommend you don’t speak to them at all.’

‘Then who will negotiate with them?’

‘I will,’ said George. ‘I’ll fly down there tomorrow.’

The mayor grinned. ‘And you being, you know, the colour you are, you’ll be able to talk them into backing down.’

George wanted to strangle the dumb prick. ‘I don’t want you to misunderstand me, Mr Mayor – Denny, I should say. You will have to make some real changes. My job is to make sure they’re as painless as possible. But you’re an experienced political leader, and you know the importance of public relations.’

‘That’s the truth.’

‘If there’s any talk of the Roath Christians backing down, it could sabotage the whole deal. Better for you to take the line that you’ve graciously made some small concessions, much against your will, in order to get your airport built for the good of the town.’

‘Gotcha,’ Denny said with a wink.

Without realizing it, Denny had agreed to reverse a decades-old practice and employ more blacks at his airport. This was a small victory, but George relished it. However, Denny would not be happy unless he could tell himself and others that he had pulled a fast one. Best, perhaps, to go along with the delusion.

George winked back.

As the delegation from Tennessee was leaving the office, George’s secretary gave him a strange look and a slip of paper.

It was a typed phone message: ‘There will be a prayer meeting at the Barney Circle Full Gospel Church tomorrow at six.’

The secretary’s look said this was a strange way for a high-powered Washington lawyer to spend the cocktail hour.

George knew the message was from Maria.

*  *  *

Cam did not like Tim Tedder. He wore a safari suit and had a soldier’s short haircut. He had no sideburns, at a time when almost everyone wore sideburns. Cam felt Tedder was too gung-ho. He clearly relished everything clandestine. Cam wondered what Tedder would have said if asked to kill Jasper Murray rather than just wiretap him.

Tedder had no scruples about breaking the law, but he was used to working with the government, and within twenty-four hours he appeared in Cam’s office with a written plan and a budget.

The plan provided for three men to watch Jasper Murray’s apartment over two days to determine his routine. Then they would enter at a time they knew to be safe and plant a transmitter in his phone. They would also place a tape recorder nearby, probably on the roof of the building, in a casing marked ‘50,000 VOLTS – D
O
N
OT
TOUCH’ to discourage investigation. Then they would change the tapes once every twenty-four hours for a month, and Tedder would provide transcripts of all conversations.

The price for all this was five thousand dollars. Cam would get the money from the slush fund operated by the Committee to Re-Elect the President.

Cam took the proposal to Ehrlichman, sharply conscious that he was crossing a line. He had never done anything criminal in his life. Now he was about to become a conspirator in a burglary. It was necessary: the leaks had to be stopped, and the President had said: ‘I don’t give a damn how it’s done.’ All the same, Cameron did not feel good about it. He was jumping off a diving board in the dark, and could not see the water below.

John Erhlichman wrote ‘E’ in the approve box.

Then he added an anxious little note: ‘If done under your assurance that it is not traceable.’

Cam knew what that meant.

If it all went wrong, he was to take the blame.

*  *  *

George left his office at five-thirty and drove to Barney Circle, a low-rent residential neighbourhood east of Capitol Hill. The church was a shack on a lot surrounded by a high chicken-wire fence. Inside, the rows of hard chairs were half full. The worshippers were all black, mostly women. It was a good place for a clandestine meeting: an FBI agent in here would be as conspicuous as a turd on a tablecloth.

One of the women turned around, and George recognized Maria Summers. He sat next to her.

‘What is it?’ he whispered. ‘What’s the emergency?’

She put her finger to her lips. ‘Afterwards,’ she said.

He smiled wryly. He would have to sit through an hour of prayers. Well, it would probably do his soul good.

George was delighted to be part of this cloak-and-dagger plot with Maria. His work at Fawcett Renshaw did not satisfy his passion for justice. He was helping to advance the cause of equality for blacks, but piecemeal, and slowly. He was now thirty-six, old enough to know that youthful dreams of a better world are rarely fulfilled, but all the same he thought he ought to be able to do more than get a few extra blacks hired at Roath airport.

A robed pastor entered and began with an extempore prayer that lasted ten or fifteen minutes. Then he invited the congregation to sit in silence and hold their own conversations with God. ‘We will be glad to hear the voice of any man who feels moved by the Holy Spirit to share his prayers with the rest of us. In accordance with the teaching of the Apostle Paul, women remain silent in the church.’

George nudged Maria, knowing she would be bristling at that piece of sanctified sexism.

George’s mother adored Maria. George suspected that Jacky thought she might have been like Maria, if she had been born a generation later. She might have had a good education and a high-powered job and a black dress with a row of pearls.

During the prayers George’s thoughts wandered to Verena. She had disappeared into the Black Panthers. He would have liked to believe that she was responsible for the more humane side of their mission, such as cooking free breakfasts for inner-city schoolchildren whose mothers spent the early mornings cleaning white people’s offices. But, knowing Verena, she might just as easily be robbing banks.

The pastor closed the meeting with another long prayer. As soon as he said ‘Amen’, the members of the congregation turned to one another and began to chat. The hum of their conversations was loud, and George felt he could talk to Maria without fear of being overheard.

Maria said immediately: ‘They’re going to tap Jasper Murray’s home phone. One of Ehrlichman’s boys came over from the White House.’

‘Obviously Jasper’s last TV show triggered this.’

‘You bet your socks.’

‘And it’s not really Jasper they’re after.’

‘I know. It’s the person who’s giving him information. It’s me.’

‘I’ll see Jasper tonight and warn him to be careful what he says on his home phone.’

‘Thanks.’ She looked around. ‘We’re not as unobtrusive as I’d hoped.’

‘Why not?’

‘We’re too well dressed. We obviously don’t belong here.’

‘And my secretary now thinks I’m born again. Let’s get out of here.’

‘We can’t leave together. You go first.’

George left the little church and drove back towards the White House.

Maria was not the only insider leaking to the press, he reflected: there were many. George figured that the President’s casual disregard of the law had shocked some government workers into breaking a lifelong discretion. Nixon’s criminality was particularly horrifying in a President who had campaigned on a law-and-order ticket. George felt as if the American people were victims of a gigantic hoax.

George tried to think where would be the best place to meet Jasper. Last time he had simply gone to the office of
This Day.
Doing that once might not have been dangerous, but he should avoid a repeat visit. He did not want to be seen with Jasper too often by Washington insiders. On the other hand, their meeting had to seem casual, not furtive, just in case they were spotted.

He drove to the parking garage nearest to Jasper’s office. A block of spaces on the third floor was reserved for the staff of
This Day.
George parked nearby and went to a pay phone.

Jasper was at his desk.

George did not give his name. ‘It’s Friday night,’ he said without preamble. ‘When were you thinking of leaving the office?’

‘Soon.’

‘Now would be good.’

‘Okay.’

George hung up.

A few minutes later, Jasper came out of the elevator, a big man with a mane of fair hair, carrying a raincoat. He walked to his vehicle, a bronze Lincoln Continental with a black fabric roof.

George got into the Lincoln beside him and told him about the wiretap.

Jasper said: ‘I’ll have to take the phone to pieces, and remove the bug.’