Justification For Killing (63 page)

Ms. White turned to
Forrest and asked, “What is that man doing?”

“
I would tell you Ms
White, but you would never believe me!”

“
Try me, I’ve heard just
about all of them.”

Without thinking, Forrest
answered, “He’s talking on a portable, cordless telephone. We call
it a ‘cell phone’.”

“
Tele... telephone...?
That small gadget...? Forget what I said, I’m wrong, I haven’t
heard it all!”

Walking back across the
handsome, oak parqueted floor they turned toward Captain Scarburg
as he approached the group. He remarked, “Ms. White, we will be
leaving now, it has been a pleasure, oh, by the way, we cut the
telephone lines in the basement. But if someone will just splice
the wires back together, the phones should work fine
again.”

Leaving Ms. White bound
and gagged on the couch Captain Scarburg, Forrest and Olive Marie
slipped down the stairs into the basement. The dead Secret Service
agent remained where he fell in a pool of sticky, blood at the foot
of the stairs; the other unconscious agent was still out cold and
securely trussed hands and feet. Everything seemed in order except
for one minor detail – Anhur was nowhere to be seen - Anhur was
gone!!

Outside the three stood in
the cold and snow as the Captain outlined their next moves. He
began by telling Forrest and Olive Marie he had intended to return
to the Ponderosa once he had found the two of them, but now he had
second thoughts. Tomorrow was going to be one of the most
significant days in the annals of the American historic
experience.

“
What I
am about to say may sound cold, heartless and disrespectful, but I
mean no disrespect to the Office of the President. Not many times
since the formation of the United States in 1776 have there ever
been an opportunity to witness such an event as will happen at
Dealy Plaza tomorrow, and we are aware of it before it takes place.
I think it would hinge on being criminal if I had the means and
ability to allow you two to be present and become part of history
and did not take advantage of it. I want you both to be personally
at that terrible occurrence tomorrow. It will be graphic and
upsetting. This is not a once in a lifetime experience this
never
gets to happen in
anyone’s lifetime. The murder of our President will never occur
again in the foreseeable future, and I will never forgive myself if
I do not allow you to be there, regardless of its horrifying
nature.”

“
Grandpa,” said Olive
Marie, “what do you have in mind?”

“
First, we will leave in
your truck, head to the entrance of the driveway, and get my Jeep
that I have hidden in the bushes and trees growing beside the
entrance to the Murdock estate. It is out of sight, and I’m hoping
the snow covered the tracks, so no one else found it.”

“
I must say,” added
Forrest, “I never envisioned we would get a chance to see the
assassination.”

The Captain explained
again about the famous Zapruder film that was taken by Abraham
Zapruder, a clothing manufacturer with a sewing factory on the
fourth and fifth floor of the Dal-Tel building. His address was 571
Elm Street, just across Houston Street to the east of the Texas
State School Depository. He further said Mr. Zapruder had purchased
his movie camera - a Bell & Howell eight-millimeter Zoomatic at
the Peacock Jewelry Company just a few doors east up Elm Street at
879 Elm. The Captain said he wanted to stop at Peacocks and
purchase an exact model of the Zapruder camera to film the entire
motorcade precisely as Zapruder did. In fact, he did not tell
Forrest or Olive Marie, but he had an idea. He was going to buy not
one but two Bell & Howell movie cameras.

There is a historical
report, a single report buried deeply within the thousands of FBI
and Congressional reports that a young person was seen standing
close to Zapruder’s concrete pedestal. The report further states
this man also filmed the President; however, no one has ever
interviewed this young man, nor has the FBI ever identified him.
After the event of November 22, 1963, he vanished to
history.

The Captain wanted Forrest
to do the honors and film the scene along with Zapruder. Would
Forrest end up being the person seen in some of the pictures filmed
by other witnesses that fateful day? Old photos of that scene today
have been minutely examined using electronic microscopic imaging
trying to identify this unknown person. Although, no one could
recognize this person, anyone at SCAR would have easily identified
him as... as... Forrest.

Later that day at 12:30
Forrest would become a part of American history.

Captain Scarburg further
explained once they returned home they could compare the Zapruder
film to the one Forrest was going to take.

Olive Marie did not
realize it at the time, but she too was to become an icon of the
Kennedy assassination

The time was 4:00 a.m.,
Thursday, November 22, 1963.

Chapter
Fifty-One

SUNRISE ON THIS
INAUSPICIOUS DAY - THE EVENT

The snow showers of the
previous night had given way to a drizzly, damp, overcast morning
in Dallas. Although the rays of the morning sun were not apparent,
the fading of the darkness in the parking garage has awakened LJ
and Rocky.

The past few hours had
been spent trying to get some sleep; however, all they could
accomplish were brief moments of fitful sleep with hardly any rest
whatsoever. They had already decided once they left the parking
garage they would find a cafe, grab a bite of breakfast then drive
the few blocks over to Dealy Plaza. They reasoned barricades would
be blocking all the intersections of the motorcade route beginning
roughly around 10:00 a.m., so they wanted to be parked and in the
vicinity of the TSBD long before that time.

Another player in this
day’s events, Mrs. Marie Tippit, wife of Patrolmen J. D. Tippit
felt, for some reason, she should arise early and send her husband
off to his job at the Dallas Police department with a hardy morning
breakfast. This was unusual, normally Tippit had left the house
before Marie awoke, but for some unknown reason, she sensed this
day was going to be different. Maybe it was because her husband had
awakened her when he got home the night before and told her and the
children that he loved them. She thought that was strange. After
breakfast, she kissed him goodbye, and J.D. left the house headed
to police headquarters for his morning shift. Marie followed him
out onto the porch watching as he walked down the sidewalk to his
car. An impending feeling of doom crept over her. J.D. must have
felt that foreboding feeling too - he opened his driver’s door and
hesitating he looked back over the car’s roof at his wife and
mouthed the words, “I love you.” She was seeing him alive for the
last time.

On a morning to be
remembered forever, the participants were going about their
business as usual. Usual may not be quite accurate for later many
would remark, for some unknown reason, the day “felt” different.
When questioned to pinpoint the exact nature of this impression,
none could precisely explain what the “perception” was. They only
could say something was not right - the day just did not feel
“normal.”

It had been snowing north
of town most of the night and raining, off and on, elsewhere in
Dallas. In Fort Worth, it had rained all night, and into the early
morning of this fateful day the rain had changed to a drizzle,
which had stopped. Now the brightness of the sun was slowly
beginning to emerge off the distant eastern horizon. The rays were
beginning to break through the overcast, and the early morning
dampness was giving way to a bright and clear day. It appeared
after all, the President would be able to ride down the streets of
Dallas without the “bubble top” on his limousine and give the
Texans the opportunity to show their love and respect for their
President, John F. Kennedy.

On Houston Street, just a
rocks throw from the Texas School Book Depository, the morning
shift police officers were attending the first roll call of the day
at Police Headquarters. Some fifteen or so officers were told to
report to the Dallas Trade Mart and secure the entire area.
Sergeant Mike Hasty instructed the group of specially selected
officers to be vigilant; the President of the United States will
deliver a speech there at 12:45 p.m. and Sergeant Hasty did not
want any trouble on his watch.

Lee Harvey Oswald
did not return to his boarding house on the eve of the 21st
of November, as was his usual routine. Normally
Oswald stayed at the rooming house during the week and went to be
with his family on the weekends. Bud and Lou had stayed up with
Mrs. Rodgers watching television until she went to bed around 10:00
p.m. They both had studied the Kennedy assassination and knew
Oswald would not return to the boarding house Thursday night. They
were not concerned with Oswald on Thursday night, their purpose was
to search Oswald’s room and see if they could determine if he
possessed a .38 caliber revolver if so, it should have been hidden
somewhere in his room. After getting off work the day before the
assassination, they knew Oswald had asked a fellow worker if he
would mind giving him a ride to the Oak Cliff area, a suburb of
Dallas. His wife Marina and his daughters lived there in a house
owned by the Oswald’s friend Ruth Paine.

The following morning,
Friday the 22nd, Oswald leaves Oak Cliff and rides into work with a
neighbor, Brian Cleland, who would later testify to the Warren
Commission Oswald got into his car with a long brown bag. Mr.
Cleland said Oswald said the bag contained curtain rods for his
room. Later, employees of the Book Depository will testify when he
arrived they did not see Oswald bring a bag into the
building.

After roll call at Police
Headquarters, the patrolmen leave to begin their shift. Patrolmen
J. D. Tippit is one of those officers. He is in patrol car Number
Twenty-Five.

Lou and Bud said goodbye
to Mrs. Rodgers and left the boarding house. They had intended to
leave earlier; however, Mrs. Rodgers insisted they join her for
breakfast. She was such a lovely lady, how could they refuse. After
their last cup of coffee, they left the house a few minutes after
eight. Their intent was to get to Dealy Plaza, just a mere 2.6
miles away, and obtain an advantageous spot on the corner of Elm
Street and Houston Street to observe Oswald when he leaves the
Texas School Book Depository.

As Bud and Lou drove
to the vicinity of Dealy Plaza, Lonnie Joe had left a large tip on
one of the tables of the
Silver Spur
Cafe
. He had been flirting with a cute,
blonde waitress. He and Rocky had just finished breakfast and were
preparing to make their way to rendezvous with Lou and Bud at Dealy
Plaza. At the door, Lonnie Joe turned and looked back at the
waitress. She smiled, turned her head slightly and winked.
Darn, I would have to be from the year 2012. That
is forty-nine years in the future – she’d have to be nearly seventy
now. Oh, well,
Lonnie Joe thought as he
pushed the glass door open and stepped out into the cool, damp
Dallas morning.
Time-travel sure has some
definite drawbacks,
he
thought
.

It was a few minutes
after eight a.m. The morning sun was just beginning to peep around
a corner of one of the skyscrapers in downtown Fort Worth as
President Kennedy walked out onto the sidewalk in front of the
Texas Hotel. His destination was a large group of well-wishers
gathered in a parking lot across the street - little does he
realize this was to be the last sunrise he will ever witness. Later
he will return to the Texas Hotel and give a breakfast speech to
the Ft. Worth Chamber of Commerce. On the elevator to the Sam
Houston banquet room, a Secret Service agent overhears the
President say, under his breath, “I wish this were the last one of
these things I ever had to attend.”
‘Be
careful what you wish for, you might get it,
’ isn’t that the saying?

At about the same time the
President was walking across the brick paved Main Street to the
awaiting throng of well wishers, Richard Nixon on the other side of
town boards United Airline flight 221 heading back to Washington,
D.C.

It was almost eight-thirty
as Bud and Lou drive the couple of miles back into downtown Dallas
to the Steven Austin Hotel. They pull into the parking lot of this
twelve-story hotel, find a spot close to Houston Street and sit
back and wait for the arrival of Lonnie Joe and Rocky.

BELL &
HOWELL

Fifteen minutes later
Captain Scarburg, Olive Marie and Forrest arrive at Peacock Jewelry
879 Elm Street. The old warehouse built in 1908 had been converted
into a luxurious, modern jewelry and quality merchandise shop.
Entering the jewelry store a young salesman seeks them out. The
Captain explains he is there to purchase a home movie camera. The
salesman escort the three over to the electronics counter, which
was filled with a number of home movie and single reflex cameras of
every description and price range.

“
What did you have in
mind, Sir?” The clerk asked.

“
Do you know Mr. Zapruder,
the man who owns the clothing factory on the end of the block on
Houston Street?”