Finders Keepers, Losers Weep by Carl Douglass

Author:Carl Douglass
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781594333842
Publisher: Publication Consultants
Published: 2013-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

DeLentigo thought about his next call very carefully. He had no requirement to tell the ATF anything since they were not in the same club, and he did not particularly care for the ATF way of doing things. They seemed sloppy, bordering on brutish, most of the time. He knew that he should—by rights—contact Director Ted Coleman at the Hoover Building and leave the investigation in his hands. However, that nuisance that plagued him and was not really useful to a good obedient soldier, cop, or lawyer—his conscience—was nagging at him again. He presumed that the assault on Kennedy had to have come from the President’s Final Battle in the War on Drugs and Illegal Weapons Task Force. Every top federal officer in law enforcement was on that committee; and potentially, any or even all of them were compromised by guilty foreknowledge, or might be culpable at least.

He thought about his next promotion, now somewhat overdue. He would be able to choose among the top cities to be the SAC—New York, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, or San Francisco—they were all his for the choosing as long as he stayed the good obedient soldier, did his job without asking questions, and did not make waves. That was the problem with having a conscience. It might feel the least bit good to do the right thing, but the pain he and his wife would suffer by his so doing would be a high price.

DeLentigo let his conscience get the better of him against his practical judgment. He dialed Assistant FBI Director Phil Craig’s number in Washington at the WMFO, more commonly known by insiders as “Buzzard Point”. The name derived from the uninviting spit of land on which the Washington Field Office—second largest in the country after New York City—was located. DeLentigo had known Phil Craig since the academy—and unlike most academy friendships—theirs had endured; and they had kept up over the years. He trusted Phil which was more than he could say of any of his other high ranking FBI acquaintances.

“Washington Metropolitan Field Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Craig’s office,” the administrative assistant’s stock telephone reply answered.

“May I speak to the assistant director, please? This is SAC Oscar DeLentigo from Alaska.”

When Craig came on the line, DeLentigo came right to the point after the briefest of courtesies.

“Phil, this is Oscar.”

“Hi, Oscar, how’s the fishing up there?”

“Just okay, Phil. Been too heavily fished to be all that good any more. How goes the political war from Buzzard’s Point?”

“Same as always. I keep one step ahead…some days.”

“Look, I called about a real thorny problem. I hate to involve you, but I have nowhere else to turn.”

Phil dropped his bantering tone immediately. He knew his friend.

“Sounds like a political problem, how can I help?”

He stayed mostly quiet during the remainder of the thirty minute telephone call while DeLentigo went over everything he knew about the Randolph Kennedy affair. Occasionally, Craig would interrupt for a brief clarification of some detail, but then allowed Oscar to continue his narrative.

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