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Valdez shrugged “Not even a hint It was easy to push hi Hate filled him As did the need to be somebody He just lacked opportunity, which I provided I read those books with a smile on my face Nearly every word in thely did exactly anted”

I could see that Coleen was still working away, trying hard to keep her arms and shoulders still

“Why not just kill him afterward, like Ruby did to Oswald?” I asked

“I would have, if he’d , he wanted the credit for capturing the killer He told ht, in his house Nobody then could accuse hi But that capture had to be a corpse Jack Ruby, to his credit, never explained why he killed Oswald, and died quickly in prison Ray, on the other hand, lived a long time and could not keep his ical liar”

I was keeping hi Coleen time, but I orried about the choice of subjects We were drifting closer and closer to forbidden topics Foster’s eyes pleaded with me not to raise any questions about him But I was more concerned hat Valdez was about to do He had not brought us here to chat

Valdez flicked the muzzle of his weapon toward Foster “Get those envelopes”

A tingle of apprehension ran down my spine

I walked over and retrieved them

“Open them”

I tore open the sealed flaps and removed the stacks of paper inside

Each sheet was blank

He chuckled “I thought asI told Oliver, but he didn’t believe me You still have my files”

I nodded “Stored away safely”

At the Mail ’N More in Gainesville, Florida, stashed in a locker I’d rented, paid for six months in advance, where no one would ever find them

“How did you plan to make a deal with Oliver?” he asked me

“I didn’t”

He chuckled again “You have balls, I’ll give you that I watched as you stole that seaplane in the Dry Tortugas, double-crossing me That took nerve”

He stepped away from me and walked over tohere Foster and Coleen sat on the dirty concrete I noticed Coleen stopped all movement and sat still Valdez crouched down in front of Foster, unconcerned that he’d turned his back on e I may have been a rookie, but I was no fool and did not take the bait, deciding to wait until the odds were a little better

He reached down and tore the tape fro to ask you Soet that Double Eagle?”

Foster said nothing

But Coleen’s eyes were unmistakable

She wanted to hear the answer to that question, too

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

I waited for Foster to reply, wondering how he intended to do so

“For an operation like Bishop’s Pawn,” Valdez said, “Jansen had to have reliable and continuous infor Ray in a given place at a given time I moved him around like a player on a chessboard Each ht there, every time Jansen’s field reports talked about a reliable confidential source he used repeatedly Was that you?”

“I loved Martin Luther King I admired him more than any man I’d ever known I still do to this day I never would have betrayed him”

I listened to the words, amazed at the sincerity of the lie

“I stood side by side with hie the country The FBI orking to destroy us”

Valdez pointed a finger “But they knew everything King was doing days in advance I had Ray actively stalking King from the end of March until April 4 I was told precisely where to have him in Memphis at a precise ti house With a clear line of fire to the balcony outside Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel Hoould Jansen have known that?”

“You should have asked him those questions,” Foster said

“I did Several ti”

I noticed how Valdez kept his back to hthim? No ht do I liked the idea of her freeing herself, but I preferred a coordinated attack

Valdez reached over and ripped the tape from her mouth

“What has your father told you?” he asked her

“You never answered him,” she said to her father “Why do you have that coin?”

An ele had entered her voice