Swift Justice: The Southern Way (33 page)

Yes, he would blow the place up. He couldn’t wait to see everyone panic.

Perry, Hall, Leon, Deron, and Goldstein crammed into the FBI’s room. Goldstein’s room was filled with smoke and inhabitable. Perry’s initial reaction was to leave the hotel immediately after someone planted the smoke bomb, but that would have given the perpetrators a victory. The perpetrators wanted to scare them. If they left right away, they would just continue terrorizing them. No, they had to wait it out for a while.

Before they led the other men into the room, Perry and Hall had hidden their tape recording equipment. This had to remain a secret.

Hall and Perry informed the men that they had to speak in private, so Hall and Perry went into the bathroom. They spoke softly.

“Okay, what do we do with them?” Perry asked Hall. Perry knew that he and Hall had to get to the so-called KOT meeting, but he wasn’t sure what to do with Leon, Deron, and Goldstein.

“Maybe drive the Negroes back to their house and bring the lawyer with us,” replied Hall. “We can’t leave him here at the hotel. He’s a target.”

“Man, these two brothers have already been a target of the Klan. There not going to be safe in their neighborhood. I think we need to keep them with us.”

“What about Goldstein?” asked Hall.

“We need to bring him, too.”

“All right, let’s go tell them,” said Hall.

They walked backed into the bedroom. Perry broke the news to them. “Okay, y’all have to come with us on a stakeout.”

“Sir, what do you mean by stakeout,” asked Deron.

“The Klan is having a big meeting tonight, and we have to stake it out,” replied Perry.

“Whoa, whoa … you’re kidding, right?” asked Leon.

“No, I’m not kidding,” replied Perry. “We have to go to a Klan meeting—”

“Look, sir, just take us home,” Leon interrupted. “Drop us off at home.” Leon sighed. “Are you kidding? We’re a bunch of Negroes. We’re going to get our asses killed if we go to a
Klan
meeting. That is the
last
place we need to be.”

“Look, if I bring you back to your neighborhood, they will try to kill you again,” said Perry.

“But they’re all going to be at the meeting that you’re talking about,” said Leon. “Just take us home. Our chances are better at home.”

“There’s another reason. We don’t have time to take you back home. We need to get there right now. We need to get there well before nine o’clock.”

“What time is the Klan meeting?” asked Leon.

“The meeting is at 10:30,” said Perry.

“Well, you got plenty of time.”

“No, no, no, you don’t understand,” said Perry. “We want to get there early—before anyone else gets there. I have to bring you along, all of you. Plus, I need you to identify the killer.”

“Identify? I don’t even know what he looks like,” said Leon.

“I don’t know. You might be able to identify him,” said Perry.

“Please, please, Mr. Perry, I don’t want to go to a Klan meeting.” Leon sighed. “Where’s it at?”

“It’s by 3041 and Route 12,” said Perry.

“Are you kidding,” Deron interjected this time. “That is so far. That’s about the furthest point from our neighborhood.”

“If we get separated, we are dead,” said Leon. “We are as good as dead.”

“You’re not going to get separated,” said Perry. “You’re going to stay with us.”

“Oh, man, I don’t want to go,” said Leon.

“Look, I don’t really want to bring you either, but we have no choice. We have to get going right now. We can’t wait. I can’t drop you off. We just don’t have time. We’re going to protect you. Don’t worry.”

“I’m worried,” said Leon.

Perry turned his gazed to Goldstein. “Are you okay with this?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Goldstein replied. “I always wanted to see what goes on in a Klan meeting.”

“Good, because we are going to need to use your car again.”

“Okay, before we leave,” said Perry, “we are going to need to make a call to our office.” Perry turned to face Deron and Leon. “We will also call your mother to let her know that you’re safe and with us.”

“Okay,” said Leon.

“Hey guys, look on the bright side,” said Perry. “You can tell you friends that you attended a Klan meeting and survive.”

“You’re assuming that we’re going to survive,” said Leon.

~~~~

The FBI parked their car a little before mile-marker fifteen. Fortunately, there were no cars around. It was about a quarter to nine, which was more than an hour and a half before the meeting. They pulled to the side of the road. Shining the flashlight, attached to the side of their car, they found an opening to park the cars in the shrubbery. This was only temporary until they scoped out where they needed to be. They hid their cars from the road.

Things were happening so fast, Perry thought. When he called the office, he got another potential major update. A train conductor radioed in that he thought he saw a body lying on the side of the tracks, but he wasn’t sure. The potential body was on the Negro side, by the industrial area.

Perry wasn’t sure if the police got the same wire, so he called the police station. He asked for the Sheriff, but the Sheriff wasn’t around. He asked for Junior, but he wasn’t around either. So he just informed the person at the desk about the call.

“Are they sure it was a body?” asked the dispatcher.

“No,” replied Perry.

“Was it a Negro?”

“I don’t know. I was just calling you in case you haven’t heard about it.”

“Was it on the Negro side?”

“Yes. You should check it out.”

“I’ll do what the fuck I want.”

“Okay, suit yourself.”

Perry reflected how almost every single interaction with the townsfolk was a confrontation. It was exhausting. He was just trying to help them out, and they were giving him a hard time.

Perry gathered himself. He and Hall agreed that Perry would scope out the area. He held a large flashlight with his left hand and held his loaded gun in his right hand. He also had a camera around his neck. He was a little nervous that he would run into a Klan member.

He hiked quickly but carefully through the opening at mile-marker fifteen. As the SAC said, there was a chain spread out across two trees, blocking any car that would drive by. He stepped over the chain and jogged slowly. He didn’t want to leave his team alone for long. He just needed to get a glimpse of the setup, so they would know the best place to hide and observe.

He jogged about thirty yards. There was a perfect path made for cars to drive. On each side of the path was shrubbery and trees. Then there was a massive opening. Clearly, a whole construction crew had spent a considerable amount of time and money constructing this outdoor facility.

Perry was amazed.

In the center, were about twenty rows of large tree logs that had padding stapled to the logs, apparently to make it tolerable to sit on the logs. There was a large center aisle and two side aisles. These seats were positioned at a decline. At the bottom was a stage platform. It was made of wood planks and was elevated about a foot off the ground, but it still was at a lower elevation than the log seats. So people could sit and face down to the stage.

There was a huge cross in the back of the stage in the middle. It was probably about fifteen feet high. All along the sides of the stage and the seating area, were unlit torches. To the sides of the seats, were large empty fields. This must be where everyone parked. The woods surrounded all of this.

It was truly amazing, Perry observed. These people were organized.

He stopped to take a few photographs and ran back up the makeshift road. As he was heading back, he heard a vehicle over by the chain. Oh shit, Perry thought. People were starting to come. He darted to his right, into the shrubbery. He shut off his flashlight and hid.

He saw a red pickup truck drive by with its headlights on. He didn’t recognize the vehicle. Why would he. He just got into town that day. Damn, he wished he brought his binoculars. Fortunately, the truck’s own headlights provided some ability to see. The truck turned right at the driveway, turned left at the large opening, and then headed to the stage area. The driver parked the truck, turned off the headlights, and got out.

Perry struggled to see now that the headlights were off. The person pulled out a flashlight and shined it on the stage, but the flashlight was nothing compared to the headlights. Perry couldn’t see who was at the stage. After about a minute, the person walked back to the car and drove away with the headlights back on.

Perry ducked back into the shrubbery. The truck sped past him and drove over the chain but stopped. The person got out to put the chain back on the hooks. Perry was about twenty yards away and peered over to see if he could see the person. The person was wearing a white hood covering their face. The person raced back into the truck and sped away. Perry tried his hardest to see if he could see the license plate, but all he could see was 23 at the end of the plate, or, at least, he though it looked like a two and a three.

Perry hiked back over to his team. His team was outside the cars and hiding in the shrubbery. The men recognized Perry.

“Did you see that truck?” asked Perry.

“Yes,” said Hall.

“Did you get the plates?” asked Perry.

“No, we couldn’t see it,” replied Hall. “What did you see? Fill us in.”

Perry squatted down, so no one could see him from the road. “Okay, I have a lot to tell you. First, that person in the truck had a hood on and drove to the stage. He was only there for about a minute, and then he left.”

“What did he do?” asked Hall.

“I don’t know. I couldn’t see. It was too far. But I did get a glimpse of some of the license plate. The last two numbers are two and three.”

“Okay, that’s decent information,” said Hall. “We know it is a red pickup truck with license plates that end in a two and three.”

“Yeah, and it was a Chevy truck.”

“Okay, that narrows it down even further,” Hall said encouragingly. “What else did you find?”

“Okay, their setup is amazing. They have a seating area that probably could seat well over a hundred people.” Perry continued to describe the facility that he just witnessed. “The way I see it; our best hiding spot is just before the driveways that lead to the parking areas. We can probably find a good spot where no one will notice us. I estimate that it’s only about fifty yards.”

Hall spoke. “I think we should split up. Perry, you take Leon with you and watch the meeting. I’ll keep Mr. Goldstein and Deron. We’ll observe the people coming in and see if we get some license plates.”

“Okay, sounds good,” said Perry.

“Everyone, it is extremely important that you remain absolutely silent,” said Hall. “If they find out we’re here, who knows what they will do to us. In the darkness, they might not know that we are the FBI.”

“Hey, don’t worry, Deron and I won’t make a peep,” said Leon. “Believe me; we know exactly what would happen to us if they found
us
here.”

“What do you think the person was doing here so early and for such a short time?” asked Hall.

“I don’t know. I really couldn’t see.”

“Okay, we need to check for that red pickup truck again,” said Hall. “Let’s see if it returns.”

“Yeah, something is definitely fishy there,” said Perry.

~~~~

Junior arrived home at about 9:30 p.m. He kept the pickup truck in his driveway and went into his house. He sat down on a chair to collect his thoughts. He sighed heavily. The hard part was over. He couldn’t believe all that he accomplished in such a short time.

He was able to kill his father, dump his body on the Negro side of town, dump the patrol car in the lake, and plant the bomb without anyone apparently seeing him other than Henderson, but Henderson thought he was the Sheriff. He set the bomb to go off at 10:45 p.m. He figured that was a perfect time. The meeting was supposed to start at 10:30 p.m., but it usually started late because people were always running late. He figured that the Judge, who would be in full Klan costume, would start his rant at about 10:45 p.m. Then, there would be a big explosion, and the whole town would decent on the Negro areas in a full fledge war. Of course, Junior would make sure that he was far away from the stage to avoid being injured from the explosion.

Okay, but now he had to figure out his next move. He was exhausted and badly wanted to take a nap before the KOT meeting, but that was probably a bad idea. He needed to either clean out the garage to destroy further evidence or somehow establish an alibi. Again, he figured no one was going to be knocking on his door this evening to inspect his garage or tomorrow for that matter. He figured that he could postpone the cleaning activities.

How could he establish an alibi, though? Well, he had to show his face. Should he call the police station to check in, or should he just show up? He liked the idea of just showing up. Maybe there would be some developments on his father’s death. Maybe someone discovered the body. Yes, he would immediately drive over to the police station to see if he could find out what was happening and to establish an alibi.

~~~~

Junior walked into the police station. Finley was managing the desk.

“What’s up Fins?” asked Junior.

“Oh man, this is a crazy night, crazy times.”

“Tell me about it,” replied Junior.

Finley paused. “Hey, have you seen your dad around?”

Perfect, thought Junior. It was great that Finley initiated the inquiry about his father potentially missing. “Ah … no, I haven’t … why?”

“Well, um … we’ve been trying to get a hold of him. Henderson saw him speeding by him by the warehouse. He tried to radio him, but he hasn’t responded.”

“Really?” Junior said trying to act surprised. “Well, I know he’s investigating these crimes. Maybe he’s just not in his car.”

“Yeah, probably,” said Finley.

“What else is going on?” asked Junior.

“Well, we got a call a little while ago from the FBI.”

“FBI?” asked Junior.

“Yes. A train operator saw what he thought was a body on the nigger side of the tracks.”