Crane was grinning broadly now. "This is just the attitude I want. Look-you've answered the first question yourself. I want you because you're a professional homicide prosecutor, and not a politician or a bureaucrat. You've been in charge of hundreds of homicide investigations. The whole Kennedy material has never been approached from that perspective by a real pro, ever. That's what was wrong with the Warren operation."

"I thought Warren was a DA once," offered Karp.

"Yeah, back when Pluto was a pup. He'd been wearing a black dress for a while by then, and that changes you. Besides, he had another agenda going."

"Oh? Like for instance?"

Crane paused, frowned briefly. "I'll get to that. Also there was Jim Garrison and the Clay Shaw thing, but that was a conspiracy case. Garrison had to show that Shaw, a prominent New Orleans businessman, had been in on the assassination planning. There was all kinds of weird stuff there, too, that Shaw was a homosexual who had a liaison with Oswald and a nut named David Ferrie-all hard to prove, and frankly, screwed up. Anyway, the fact that you're not interested in political wheeling and dealing is a big plus as far as I'm concerned. That's what I'm for; I'll run interference while the both of you do the real investigative work. Now, as to the possibilities for really doing something: I think they're good. The journalistic material has reached a critical mass. That stuff has to be examined by a professional team, and either tossed out for good or confirmed. And the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Church committee, has come up with some amazing stuff. I think that's part of what's triggering the House reinvestigation."

"It's been in the papers," said Karp.

"Not what I'm talking about, and it won't be, either," said Crane.