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> Deputy Sheriff Christopher Look Jr. persisted in his statement that he had seen a black car, like Kennedy's black 1967 Oldsmobile, go down the dirt road toward the bridge at 12:40 a.m. At that hour, Look was returning home from his weekend job as guard at the Edgartown Yacht Club. He insisted that the car, which, like Kennedy's, had a license plate beginning with the letter L, came out of School Road, which leads to the cottage where Kennedy's party had taken place. The car then crossed the intersection, drove onto a farmer's dirt lane on the other side, and hesitated for a minute. Thinking the driver might be lost, Look, still dressed in his uniform, stepped from his own vehicle and walked toward the black car, which was about 70 ft. away. The driver of the car thereupon backed out of the lane onto the main road and drove the other way—toward Dike Bridge. Look says that a man was driving the car and that a woman was on the front seat beside him. He is uncertain whether or not there was still a third person in the car.
Look had told the same story to Edgartown police even before Kennedy's car was brought out of the water. After the Senator's television statement, it seemed logical to assume that Look had not seen Kennedy's car but a second automobile that Kennedy and his two friends had taken to return to the scene in their attempt to rescue Mary Jo. Edgartown police believe that there were only two cars available to the Kennedy party: a white Valiant and a larger black car. If Kennedy's car went over the bridge when he said that it did, then the white Valiant would have been the only car that the men could have used. Look maintains that it was not by any means the Valiant he saw at 12:40. "I know black from white," he said indignantly.
>There is even more reason to doubt Kennedy's explanation for his dangerous swim from Chappaquiddick to Martha's Vineyard after the accident. Though regular ferry service stops at midnight, a 100 phone call from the Chappaquiddick dock will bring the ferry out at any time in response to any kind of emergency. A sign is visible for anyone to see, and the cost is only slightly higher than during regular hours (500 per passenger v. 150). "We come out after midnight for any legitimate reason," says Gared Grant, the ferry operator. "It doesn't have to be a case of accident or injury. Our contract with the town of Edgartown requires us to respond to calls after midnight." There is, however, one hitch. When a caller asks for special ferry service, the telephone operator routinely switches the call to the Edgartown police department, which asks if any injury is involved in the request. The question then might be: What do you tell the police operator when you think a woman may have drowned and you have neglected to report it?
None of this constitutes proof that Kennedy was not telling the truth, and a full explanation by the Senator—or a real investigation by the authorities —might answer many questions. Until that time, it remains legitimate to wonder about the large and little mysteries that surround the case.
Politics after Chappaquiddick