The Legacy (13 page)

But why, Bennett? Why go to all that trouble?

Bennett laughed. Youre too young, arent you?

What do you mean? Cole was too fascinated to be insulted by Bennetts condescending tone.

The term Iron Curtain never scared you, did it? Bennett didnt wait for Coles answer. You were born after the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Bay of Pigs. You may have read about them, but you didnt live through them. You never practiced the duck-and-cover maneuver beneath your desk at school in the asinine hope that it would save you from an all-out atomic war. None of that rings a bell, does it?

No, Cole admitted. President Reagan was calling the Soviet Union the evil empire when I was in school, but none of us really paid attention to him. In fact, we thought it sounded pretty silly.

Exactly. Bennett nodded. But you must understand that the communist specter was a constant concern in 1963, a damn huge preoccupation with the public at that time. In fact, it was a potential time bomb. After President Kennedys assassination, senior government officials knew that if enough sentiment was whipped up by conservatives against the Russians or the Cubans, all hell might break loose. They realized that if Russia or Cuba could be linked directly to the assassination, we might have a full-scale atomic war on our hands. Communists were red devils at that point. People in this country were absolutely convinced that the Soviet Union really was an evil empire trying to destroy the American way of life at any cost. By using Cuba as their base ninety miles from the U.S. border. And by using Lee Harvey Oswald and others to assassinate the president. Remember, Oswald had spent time in Minsk and was the only member of the Dallas Fair Play for Cuba Club. Bennett articulated the word club. He had corresponded and conspired with many known communists. That was truth. Bennett paused. When President Johnson approached Chief Justice Earl Warren about heading the commission to review the Kennedy assassination, he warned Warren that if a hurricane of public sentiment whipped up against Khrushchev and Castro, there could be war. Johnson actually called the Atomic Energy Commission to obtain an estimate of how many people could be killed in an atomic attack launched by the Soviets. The AEC told him forty million Americans an hour would die. That blew him away. It scared the shit out of him. Bennetts eyes narrowed. The Warren Commission was the official response to the assassination. The DIA propaganda operation was the unofficial one, and the more important one.

People in this DIA operation found individuals who would make up stories about the assassination and then tell . . . who? Cole asked hesitantly.

Newspaper reporters and writers. Bennett smiled wanly. This country loves conspiracy theories It always has and always will. The members of the operation would have known this and would have taken advantage of it. Supposedly, they actively promoted the Mafia theory immediately to divert attention from Cuba and Russia as fast as they could. It would have been the easiest one to play up, because Bobby Kennedy was going after organized crime very hard at his brothers urging. Oswald and Ruby were known to have ties to the Mafia. This theory effectively took the spotlight away from Cuba and the Soviets. As the weeks and months passed, the operation then promoted other theories as well. By the time the House Select Committee met in 1978 to study both the John Kennedy and Martin Luther King assassinations, there were more theories going around than anyone could possibly get a handle on. If you look at the witnesses who came before that committee to testify with respect to the Kennedy killing, many of them had never testified to the Warren Commission. But, poof, all of a sudden they can remember minute details fourteen years later. And many of the ones who had originally testified changed their stories drastically the second time around. The reporters and writers really picked up on the whole conspiracy phenomenon. Look how many books have been written over the years implicating everyone from the Joint Chiefs to J. Edgar Hoover. Christ, some of them accuse space aliens of the assassinationand some people believe it. One of the best breaks anyone trying to create propaganda got was Jim Garrison, that New Orleans district attorney who tried to frame a local businessman in the conspiracy. Garrison was a certifiable nut case, and he muddied the waters forever.

I thought from what Ive read that Garrison actually unearthed a lot of useful information.

Bennett shook his head violently. His allegations were all trash.

Maybe he worked for the operation, Cole speculated.

I think thats unlikely.

How the hell do you know so much about the operation? Cole asked suspiciously, glancing at Bennetts left index finger.

Bennett folded his arms across his chest, suddenly aware of how agitated he had become over the last few minutes. I dont know anything. I told you, Im just guessing about all of this. Your father and I worked for the DIA, but not in that operation. We just heard rumors from others at the agency. What Im telling you is our own speculation, nothing else.

Were you and my father part of that operation? Cole looked directly into Bennetts eyes. He wanted to see the other mans reaction to the question.

No, I told you, Bennett answered firmly. He stared straight back at Cole as he gave his answer.

Is that why my father confiscated Andrea Sages movie camera? Cole asked. Because he knew the film inside might prove conspiracy?

Think, Cole.

What do you mean? Cole was instantly irritated with himself because Bennett seemed disappointed, as if Cole had somehow let him down. Suddenly Cole didnt want to disappoint Bennett Smith.

If your father had taken the camera from your mother because he was part of the operation, that would imply that the operation was in place before the assassination, and that there was prior knowledge of it, Bennett pointed out. That in fact the operation was part of the assassination. In my heart Ive always believed there was more than one gunman in Dealey Plaza that day, and that a conspiracy did exist. But I never have, and still dont, believe the federal government or any law enforcement agency was involved in the actual killing. I could be convinced that the government was involved in an operation to cover up what happened, but not in the assassination itself.

But

Bennett held up a large hand. I know what youre going to say, that Im naive to think our government couldnt have been involved. I assure you, son, Im not naive. But if you dont agree with me, consider this. Why would your father give you that tape if he had dedicated the last thirty-five years of his life to suppressing what that tape showed? If in fact he was involved with the operation to disseminate propaganda, and therefore the assassination?

Because we arent worried so much about Russia anymore, Cole answered. The tape no longer carries that provocative power. And for obvious reasons, he couldnt be alive when the tape became public. The senior people at the DIA wouldnt have taken kindly to that, so he waited until he died.

Bennett smiled. Maybe you arent worried about Russia anymore, but plenty of people within the Department of Defense and the CIA still are, including me. Youre naive if you think Russia is no longer a legitimate threat.

Thats not the point, Cole argued. The point is that the Dealey Tape wouldnt cause a world war anymore, even in the unlikely event it led to proving Russia was involved with Kennedys assassination.

You arent understanding my point, son. You dont work for thirty-five years to suppress something, then suddenly go against your training.

Cole was unconvinced. Then why did my father take the movie camera from Andrea Sage, and why didnt he turn the film over to his superiors on the Dallas police force immediately?

Bennett shook his head. I honestly dont know. Until this afternoon I wasnt certain he had actually taken the film from her. I thought Andrea might have made the whole thing up, as everyone else thought she had. Bennett shrugged. Maybe your father realized the dire implications of that film instantly and felt it was better held in his hands than anyone elses. Maybe in the hours immediately following the assassination he viewed it and realized how valuable it could become and wanted to profit from it. Orand this is what I really thinkhe fell in love with your mother the second he saw her, and he was trying to protect her, knowing that she could be in danger if people thought she really had made the film. Remember how many people connected with the assassination met with mysterious and violent deaths afterward. There was the hooker who was babbling in a hospital about someone wanting to kill the president a few days before the assassination. They found her dead on a lonely road. And there was Bowers, the guy who was up in the train tower overlooking the area behind the grassy knoll the day of the assassination. He died in a suspicious car accident. Maybe your father anticipated the danger. His ability to instantly grasp a situation and understand its long-term implications was incredible. He was a very intelligent man.

Cole felt a lump rising in his throat. Did he really love . . . He hesitated. Andrea Sage? He couldnt decide whether to refer to her as Andrea or his mother. The emotional disconnect from her was still strong.

More than anything, son. He told me it was love at first sight many times. Andrea was a real stunner, Ill tell you. Thats where you get your looks, not from your father. Bennett chuckled. She was an intelligent woman, too. She was all he talked about when we were away on missions. I told you before that he didnt usually do irrational things, but in Andreas case he did, and he never regretted it. Bennett took a deep breath. Half of him died the day he found out shed been murdered. I was there with him. But he realized he had to get on with his life. One way he did that was to start taking a big interest in you, through your aunt.

Cole gazed toward the Lassiter. Really?

Yes. He knew everything about you. About how you were such a good fly fisherman, how you loved this river, how you were a star football player at the University of Minnesota and a hotshot Wall Street trader after college. He talked to your aunt every few weeks to get an update on you no matter where in the world he was. But he always told her not to let you know he called. I dont know why he was like that. Maybe he thought it would be easier that way. Maybe he figured hed been away from you for so long, you would resent him if he tried to speak to you directly. Anyway, I heard every damned detail of those phone conversations. He probably made up a few things, too. Bennett smiled warmly. But I enjoyed it. I never had children of my own, so I sort of adopted you from a distance.

The two men glanced at each other, then quickly looked away.

How much longer until we reach the mouth of the river? Bennett asked after several minutes of silence.

A few more hours. Cole stood up from the rock on which he had been sitting. Wed better get going.

BENNETT SMITH SIPPED his Jack Daniels and gestured at an emblem mounted on the wall behind the bar. It read KRO BAR. Beneath the letters was a large black crow and in its talons was a long metal bar, curved at one end. Bennett elbowed Cole, who sat on an adjacent stool nursing a beer. I like that, Bennett remarked, pointing at the emblem again. A crow holding a crowbar, and the spelling is incorrect in either case just to add a little spice.

Cole smiled. Bennett was slurring his words.

Its like life, Bennett continued. There are always two sides to every story. Its always a guessing game. This place could be named for the bird or the hunk of metal its holding. I bet if you asked the owner what he named the place for, hed give you a different answer depending on the day.

Cole laughed loudly. The pearls of wisdom had continued all the way down the river that afternoon. There was one every few minutes, and he had enjoyed them all. He glanced at Bennett, an imposing man with that tall, broad build and the unkempt shock of curly yellow hair. A man of above-average intelligence, Cole judged. No rocket scientist, but someone who seemed to possess more important qualities than a sky-high IQ. Qualities like sincerity, honesty and loyalty.

They had reached the mouth of the Lassiter at Lake Superior around five, as darkness was beginning to fall over the territory. Then they had hitchhiked back to the Lassiter headwaters to retrieve their vehicles, eaten at the Erdman Diner across State 7the lonely road connecting the tiny town of Hubbard to the outside worldand afterward walked across the road to the Kro Bar for drinks. Bennett had turned out to be excellent company. In between the pearls of wisdom, he had continued to answer questions about Jim Egan and Andrea Sage. The more alcohol Bennett consumed, the more Cole learned, and everything was good. Coles bitterness over being abandoned was dulling with each answerand each beer.

This place is starting to get crowded, Cole observed, raising his voice as someone fed quarters into the jukebox and the first selection began to play. It was after nine-fifteen. When they had first arrived after their meal of homemade stew across the road at the Erdman Diner, the place was almost deserted. Now it was packed with locals from all corners of Oswego County. Cole turned back toward Bennett. Bennett, you have an interesting way of looking at life. Cole heard himself slurring a word or two as well.

Ill take that as a compliment, son, he said, winking at Cole.

As you should, Cole assured him.

Bennett finished his whiskey, caught the eye of the scraggly-haired bartender and ordered another drink for himself and another beer for Cole. I dont usually say things like this, but I really enjoyed coming down the river with you today, Cole. It was like being with your father again.