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“From you?”

“I helped”

“Killing two ex-FBI agents What will your superiors say?”

“What did yours say when you did what you did?”

A moment of silence confirmed that he knehat I meant

“They said good job I spoke to Hoover directly, in fact”

“That was unusual”

“To say the least But he asked to speak with me”

I waited for more

“Oliver took ht What a strange place Every room was packed with antiques So s on the floor and throw rugs on top of the rugs, which I’ve always thought really odd Everywhere there were photos, paintings, cartoons, etchings, even busts, all of Hoover The house was a shrine to hi in the middle of it”

The lawyer in me had to ask, “What did he want?”

“My assessment of Eric S Galt or, as he knew him, James Earl Ray This was about three months before the assassination, maybe late January 1968 I told him that Ray could do the job and, if needed, also take the blame”

It eird discussing this, but ather infor dead?”

“He ra was involved with the Soviets, and how Moscoas trying to topple the Aovern he told hi because he could He hated change and considered civil rights dangerous He particularly hated, as he called theroes who do not know their place’”

“Did he personally order the kill?”

Valdez nodded “I ht in the eye and told him that I wanted him to say the words If not, then he could find another way”

“Was Oliver there?”

“Not in the room Outside Hoover and I spoke alone, which is the only way he would haveto his speeches He liked to talk But in the end, I only wanted to hear the words”

I waited

“He told me to kill the burrhead”

I closed my eyes and shuddered at the i Oliver and Jansen and Bruce Lael’s tape, I ht not have believed this psychopath

But I kneas telling the truth

“He told me to make it happen, then make sure Ray died so his corpse could take the blame”

“You do realize that you’re no better than he was”

“Unlike the dead director, I’ve never pretended to be anything other than what I am”

“There was no need to kill Nate Perry”

“It seeet your attention Let’s be honest with each other, you had no intention of voluntarily giving us anything You want to keep it all to show to your superiors”

“Why not shoot me, instead of Nate?”

“Oliver would not have been happy He wanted those files And I needed Oliver’s help to get out of the country” He paused “But things have changed, haven’t they? That’s no longer possible, and you still have my coin”

“Where are Coleen and her father?”

“Myfor you I now have them both”

“I’ you down”

He chuckled and shifted his aro, if I don’t return exactly ten hter will have a bullet placed in their heads”

I heard sirens in the distance

The local police were converging on a double murder scene at Disney World That meant plenty of backup to take this man down

But not in the next ten minutes

I considered the threat level fro Nate had proven toThe number of people left to corroborate the tape I still possessed indling Lael was gone Oliver and Jansen dead That left two Foster and theup, and the other who made it happen