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y clucked

“Lieutenant Malone—” Nate said

“Cotton Please You make me feel old”

“That’s an old southern nicknaet it?”

“It’s a story too long to tell right now I’m more interested in why you’re here”

He seemed a little taken aback by my inquiry, but in my newfound state of justifiable paranoia I wanted to know

“That’s real simple, Cotton My family owns this house”

“TellI don’t know Why are you here?”

“He’s the one who ratted me out to my father,” Coleen said “That’s how he knew to come Nate was to meet me here tomorrow”

“Lucky for us all,” Foster said “we came early”

I doubted luck had much to do with any of that

“I came to read Valdez’s files,” Nate said “I understand you have them”

I ignored the observation and gave the rooht, airy furniture and white-pine-paneled walls, which you didn’t seeseemed appropriate and in its place Even Benjamin Foster, who stood with his shoes unscuffed, suit unrumpled, the shirt and bow tie as crisp as when he’d put the

I allowed Nate’s declaration about the files to hang in the air and, staring at Foster, I i at me like a metronome

I heard again what he’d whispered to me outside

Before we entered

This house could be bugged Careful with your words

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

My thoughts raced but held no form

To ht be under electronic surveillance dragged behindto rattle ? And if so, why didn’t he want anyone else to be alerted to the fact? Stephanie’s silence and Jansen’s duplicity were one thing But this guy was quite another I definitely had my hands in more than one cookie jar

Which wasn’t good

Particularly given that I wasn’t a fan of cookies

“We want to read those files,” Nate said again “I know people ould love to knohat they say”

“What people?” I asked

“Nate was involved with King v Jowers,” Coleen said

I knew about the case, which had made the news last Dece Jr against a man named Loyd Jowers It started when Jowers appeared on television and openly clai that involved both the governanized cri house from which Ja to Jowers, Ray was not the triggerman Instead, Jowers claimed to have hired a Memphis police officer to fire the fatal shot Joas supposedly paid 100,000 for the effort by a friend in the mafia Why was never explained, and conveniently that friend had since died He then spiced things up by clai that a special forces tea

But Jowers beat them to it

The whole story stretched beyond the fantastical

Still, the King fa of their doubts and sued Jowers in Meful death

“The whole trial was a joke,” Nate said “There was four weeks of testimony Seventy-plus witnesses Jowers took the Fifth when he testified, but his lawyer conveniently stipulated that all of his previous comments to the ht mind would do that? The Memphis DA had already said that he had no intention of reopening the assassination case, so Jowers could lie aithout fear of any consequences You can count on one hand the nu It was a scripted show designed to air out a preestablished point of view Nothing adversarial about it The King faovernment conspiracy They think James Earl Ray is innocent A patsy So that’s what the evidence showed In the end the jury did their part, finding unani as part of a conspiracy that involved not only other people, but also the government”

“The family went before the cameras afterward,” Coleen said, “and told the world, See, ere right Ray didn’t pull the trigger It was a conspiracy But that trial proved nothing”

Foster stood quiet during the discussion I glanced his way and asked, “Is that your opinion? Was that case a joke?”

“Joas an opportunist, looking to sell his story for money The jury’s verdict merely provided him with much-needed credibility It upped the price for his story Thankfully, he died a o and will not profit from his nonsense”

I heard what they were all saying Trials only worked if there were two opposing sides, each presenting a differing view of the facts in an adversarial hich an impartial jury would then decide between Collusion produced nothing but what the colluders wanted you to hear, the verdict inevitable unless the jury saw through the subterfuge

“I was there,” Nate said “The judge and the jurors constantly fell asleep Hell, I had a hard ti faovernment conspiracy”

“Tell us about Juan Carlos Valdez,” Coleen asked her father “And those files I went to the Dry Tortugas to get”

“I should have never spoken to you about anything,” Foster said

“What did you expect et about it?”