Clandestine

Chapter 25 - New York

Our American trip was nearing its conclusion when we arrived in New York on September 8th. Eleanor and I were in full-blown tourist mode. It reminded me of my sense of awe when I first arrived in America back in 1962. My meeting with Mr. Thomas was in two days and I did a bit of preparation for the appointment, but mostly I simply enjoyed the time with Eleanor. Her favourite part of Manhattan was Central Park, especially beautiful in autumn with the changing colours 

Another special event was to take place on the evening of September 10th, the night before we were to fly back to London. I had tracked down my old friend, Robert Carling, from some old friends in Montreal and by coincidence he was staying in New York City at the same time. I left a message at his hotel room and we agreed to connect the day before our flight back to London.

When I spoke to Robert he was a changed man. Gone was the dour, bitter, pondering soul I had last seen on the streets of London; he was alight with joy and giddy at hearing my voice. We agreed to meet at a fancy downtown restaurant on Monday evening. I did not mention the nature of my business in the city. Instead, I explained that Eleanor and I were enjoying a vacation. Robert was astounded by my reconnection with my childhood love, and I found out that he too had met someone and that she would be accompanying us to dinner on Monday night.

When we arrived at our hotel in New York we were greeted with roses and champagne and upgraded to the finest suite in the establishment, all courtesy of Robert.

The two days in New York went quickly and, as I went to bed on Sunday night in preparation for my meeting with Donald Thomas the next morning, I felt a sense of nervousness and anticipation. Eleanor could tell that I was uneasy and she kept me loose with her irrepressible sense of humour. It was difficult to remain tense when Eleanor was in the room.

I decided to walk to the meeting space rather than take the subway. The office was located on the corner of Broadway and Fifth Avenue. I arrived at 8:45 for our 9 am meeting, and Mr. Thomas was already waiting for me in the lobby.

Our meeting lasted a little over an hour. He presented me with a picture taken from a surveillance camera which showed what the FBI believed to be Lee Harvey Oswald outside the Carousel Club with Jack Ruby. Donald Thomas believed the picture clearly contained my image. I told him that the photo did look like me and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was, because I was in Dallas on that day and did know Jack Ruby. I had been to the Carousel Club many times and was asked to go to Dallas by a man that I met in New York City, named Simon von Hammersfield. I also told him that friends of Simon, whom I had met in Tampa, had asked me to visit both New Orleans and Dallas under the name Lee Harvey Oswald. I did not mention the CIA but I was honest about my association with the Oswald name and that I had met a great number of interesting men in the two years I had spent in the United States for it was a time of great intrigue in the country. I can confirm now that I was involved in some kind of nefarious plot, but at the time I was not aware of the big picture. It is often better in the intelligence game if you don’t ask too many questions.

Mr. Thomas asked me about my known associates during that period and, for the most part, I was forthcoming. I talked about meeting E. Howard Hunt and the Watergate gang down in Florida. Donald had not heard of Simon von Hammersfield and was intrigued when I gave a description of my sponsor.

“Thank you for your story and all of the information,” Donald said. “I promise to keep a record of what you have said, only to corroborate information; I will not pass it over to any other researchers. However, if the information becomes public to a point where I need to hand it over to the authorities I will reveal my source.”

“I’m not concerned.” I replied. “For starters, all of the information that I have  provided has already been proven. We have known for decades about Oswald’s association with the CIA and FBI and that there were many Oswald doubles operating throughout that period. You say that you may have to turn this information over to law enforcement, but this is not really a concern because there is no investigation underway. The case has been closed since the Warren report. It was briefly re-opened in the late 70s by a senate commission, but that report has already been filed. What I have contributed does not make the picture any clearer, nor does it necessarily refute what is understood about the events of November 22, 1963 as I left the night before it happened. All that it really does is confound the picture even further, which is what good counter-intelligence is meant to do. The question of who killed Kennedy will therefore remain unanswered for a long time. It may be that when the federal government releases the final 5% of its documents on Lee Harvey Oswald we will understand the group involved and their motivation, but it may also confuse the picture even more.”