Justification For Killing (20 page)

Before pushing on the
swinging doors, the Captain had an idea. Next to the two ‘saloon’
doors was a cigarette vending machine. The price listed over the
coin slot was thirty-five cents. Fishing change from his pocket he
dropped a quarter and a dime into the money slot and pulled the
handle on a pack of Winstons. The cigarette pack slid out into a
stainless steel tray. Strange, the Captain did not smoke. He did in
his younger days, but he had quit forty years ago way back in 1972,
but it was now 1963 - was he to quit nine years in the future?
There was a lot to time travel that the Captain had to figure
out.

The Captain, with
Clem nervously tagging closely behind, pushed open the doors, which
immediately startled the assembled group of suits around the table.
They all turned in one motion and glared at the uninvited
intruders. A couple of men at the table stuck their right hand
inside their suit coats.
They were not
reaching for their wallets,
the Captain
thought.

The table was illuminated
with a single drop-down incandescent light fixture, barely putting
out enough light to read by. The chairs crowded around the table
were all occupied - one of the men, sitting with his back to the
wall, sporting a grey fedora was - Jack Ruby, yes, Jack Ruby in
person - the future killer of Lee Harvey Oswald.

It was hard to believe,
but there he was - in the flesh and blood. No sir this wasn’t a
picture this was the real deal. Today Ruby was just an ordinary man
in a cheap hundred dollar suit sitting in a bar talking with some
truly extraordinary business acquaintances; however, they wore
handmade Italian suits. Suits with names like Gucci, Brioni and
Borelli. A hundred dollars would not even buy the handkerchiefs
tucked into the breast pockets of those ‘business men’s’
coats.

As the Captain and Clem
approaching the table, Ruby looked up and exclaimed, “Why Clem...
is that you? It’s you ain’t it...? It’s been a while Clem what in
the heck are you doing here? Has something happened to Penelope? Is
everything okay back in Celina?” Before Clem could answer he added,
“Who’s this feller?”

“
Naw, Uncle Jack everthin’
is fine as frog hair... this here’s John Doess. His truck broke
down, and I brung him into town to git some parts to fix hit. John
this here’s my Uncle Jack Ruby; Uncle Jack meet John
Doess.”

Extending his hand across
the table, Jack Ruby, shook Captain Scarburg’s hand, “Nice to meet
you Mr. Doess. Any friend of Clems is a friend of mine. Y’all go
back outside and pull y’all up a chair at an empty table,” Mr. Ruby
said pointing with his finger toward the swinging doors, “and rest
a spell. Clem I’ll talk with you when I finish up my business. What
about something to eat or drink Mr. Doess?”

The Captain answered
politely, “Thank you Mr. Ruby we’re fine, but maybe a drink and a
smoke would be okay.” Reaching into his pants pocket, he pulled out
the red pack of Winstons. Shook a cigarette part way out and placed
the pack to his mouth, and extracted the cigarette with his lips,
using one hand. The other hand he used to take out his Iphone.
Using an exaggerated feigning motion he pretended to be using the
phone as a cigarette lighter. Obviously it wasn’t producing a flame
for his Winston, but it was, in fact, taking a photo after photo of
the group around the table.

One of the men took notice
of the Iphone, but thinking it was one of the newer lighters on the
market remarked, “That’s some fancy Ronson cigarette lighter...
don’t seem to be working to good tho’, here...”, he said reaching
across the table, flipping open the lid of a chrome Zippo and with
the snap of his thumb on the lighter fired up the Captain’s
cigarette.

“
Thanks,” the Captain
managed to say taking a draw from the cigarette as he walked back
through the swinging doors to an empty table. At the same time, the
Captain was holding his breath trying not to cough. He had stopped
smoking a long time ago, and had forgotten how choking those first
few draws of smoke could clog and sear his lungs. He did not forget
one thing though - Ruby did not introduce his friends to
them.

Back in the lounge both
Clem and the Captain’s eyes had now become accustomed to the dim
light, they could see much better than when they first
arrived.

“
Excuse me for a moment
fellows,” Ruby said to the men at his table as he got up and
followed Clem and the Captain through the swinging doors a minute
or two later. He motioned to the platinum blond waitress sitting on
a stool at the end of the bar. Once he had gained her attention he
pointed to the Captain and Clem and returned to his ‘guests’ at the
table. Picking up her order pad she nonchalantly walked over to
their table.

Placed her pen to her pad,
without looking up said, “Yeah?”

“
Just a Ginger Ale for me.
What about you Clem?”

“
Do you
have them
Nehi
Orange drinks? You do? Okay, gimme one
of’em.”

The cute, young, waitress
left the table and returned to the bar to get their drinks. The
Captain inched his chair over closer to Clem. Speaking in a quiet
voice that was almost a whisper he asked, “Clem did you know those
fellows talking with your Uncle Jack?”

“
Naw, John like I said, me
and Uncle Jack ain’t real close. My Aunt Janie, Uncle Jack’s sister
done told me, ‘You don’t want to know his friends.’ Fer as she
could tell, most of the crowd Jack runs with “were no-goods.” I
don’t know Jack’s pals, but from the looks of them duds them
fellers wuz wearin’ I’d say bein’ a ‘no-good’ pays purty well.
Thems some fine threads.”

“
Sure
wish I knew who they are,” ‘John’ said softly. Inwardly, he was
grinning.
Don’t know who they are but I
sure got some good pictures of them
, he
thought.

“
John, our waitress is
know’d as Kandy... shes from up Celina way... I’ve know’d her most
all her life, her real name is Linda Lou Dearmann. I bet ya John
she knows who them fellas are.”

The Captain felt
around in his pocket - he only had eighteen dollars on him. Why
didn’t I bring some more money? I guess I was figuring
Pegasus
might have
landed back in the Dark Ages. Grinning, he said to Clem, “You
suppose there is an ATM in here?”

“
What? What’s a ATM? John,
you sometimes talk crazy.”

Without an answer, he
thought, Clem’s right, what am I thinking... an ATM... for goodness
sake! They haven’t even been invented yet!

Handing a ten dollar bill
to Clem he quietly said, “Clem slip this ten spot to... to... Kandy
and see if she will give you the names of those fellows in back at
Jack’s table.”

Leroy, the bartender slid
the Ginger Ale and Nehi Orange across the bar to Kandy. She brought
their drinks and turned to go back to the stool at the end of the
bar when Clem reached out and grabbed her arm. Turning she angrily
said, “Hey, watch them hands mister!”

“
I’m sorrie Linda – its
me, Clem... Clem Ruby.”

“
Oh, it’s you Clem, sorry,
I didn’t recognize you in this dim light. How you been
doin’?”

“
Good... good Linda Lou. I
wanted to give you a tip, here it tis,” he said slipping the money
into her hand. “Sit fer a spell, I need to pick yer brain about
somethin’.” Straightening her apron and skirt with her hand she
slipped into the chair near Clem.

“
What do you need to know
Clem?”

“
Nothin’ much... who’s
them fellers back there with Uncle Jack? Do you know
them?”

“
Yeah, but Clem don’t get
messed up with that bunch. They’re not our type of people. Those
guys are connected.”

“
Connected... connected? I
never seed them connected to nothin’?” Clem asked.

Before Clem could respond
‘John’ answered, “Gangsters’ Clem! They are connected to
gangsters!”

“
Mister,” she said to the
Captain, “these guys are not just gangsters they are part of ‘the
mob’ I would advise y’all not mess with them if you can help
it.”

“
The ‘mob’ shucks Linda
you talk as crazy as John. What’s ‘the mob’?”

“
By ‘the mob’ Linda, you
mean organized crime like the ‘Cosa Nostra’, Captain Scarburg
asked?

“
Yeah, that’s them, but
I’ll deny it if you said I told you.”

“
Don’t worry Linda, we’re
not going to tell. Do you know their names?”

“
Yeah, they been comin’ in
here for the past five or six months. Usually one or two at a time
– today’s the first time I’ve seen’em all together at
once.”

“
Could you give me their
names Linda?”

“
The one sitting on Jack’s
right is Sam Giordino. They call him “Sam Silver,” he’s from
Chicago. Next to Sam is Johnny Russolli out of Las Vegas, and I
believe he has something to do with the mob in Hollywood. Next, the
guy smoking the cigar is Carlos Mancini. I believe I have heard
he’s from New Orleans. And the guy wearing the sunglasses is Angelo
Marino from somewhere up north, Philadelphia I think. Next is Santo
Riccocante from Tampa, Florida. I’ve heard them call him “Joe.”
Next to Riccocante, and to the left of Jack is a new man, and
sitting beside him is a slim build man. Slim is the one wearing the
hat. I have never seen either of them before – the new guy looks to
clean cut to be part of that bunch, and his name doesn’t end with a
vowel either. If you want my opinion, that slim guy looks kind of
shifty though. He definitely fits in with that crowd.”

“
You get the new guy’s
name Linda?”

“
Kind’of, one of them
called him ‘the handler’ and another called him Donald or David
Pherson. He had a middle name like Atwood, Atlay or something... it
started with an ‘A’, but that’s about all I got.”

“
Yeah, I’ve heard his
name.” The Captain responded. “It’s David Atlay Pherson. Pherson
worked undercover for the CIA in Cuba in ’59 and 1960, he returned
to the U.S. in 1960 and was involved in organizing the Bay of Pigs
fiasco. During this period, he worked with J. Howard Huntley in
attempts to have Fidel Castro murdered. I remember reading where he
said there were four reasons why the Bay of Pigs invasion failed:
first, was the place of the landing was wrong, and secondly,
Ambassador Adlai Stevenson was embarrassed by having to deny to the
Cuban Foreign Minister that the CIA had nothing to do with the
pre-invasion air strikes, when, in fact, they were being flown by
CIA pilots, and third he thought the Pentagon should manage the
invasion openly and not by a secret army. But last and most
importantly, the decision by President Kennedy to cancel air cover
at the last minute was the key to the whole disaster. I’ve read a
lot about him but never put a face to his name.”

“
So he works for the
government, huh?” said Linda.

“
Yeah Pherson is CIA, but
what about Mr. Slim? Ever seen him before?

“
Nah,” she replied, “I
believe this is the first time he has been in here too. He don’t
say much neither, kind of quiet. Never got a good look at him
neither kept his hat on and his head down. He talks so quiet I
can’t understand whats he saying.”

Linda gave Clem the names,
and as she did so the Captain was writing them down on a piece of a
light rose-colored napkin imprinted with the name of the Carousel
Club. When she finished naming the ‘guests’, he handed the paper to
Clem, “Put this in your pocket. Something might happen to me
tomorrow. If I can get home, I will need these names. If I don’t
get back, you tear this list up and burn the pieces!”

“
Wait a minute – as I was
leaving the table one of them called Slim by the name Dan or maybe
it was Danny, I’m really not sure.”

“
Okay thanks Linda, do you
know what the ‘gentlemen’ are talking about?”

“
No, I really don’t, I
just get bits and pieces when I carry food and drinks to their
table but whatever it is I believe it’s something big. I knew
something was up when all five of those guys showed up here this
morning. Usually they only come in one or two at a time. Since they
are all here at once, I got the feeling whatever it is will happen
tomorrow. And another thing... one of them said something I
couldn’t hear but the one smoking the cigar, Carlos,
answered.”

“
Did you hear his
answer?”

“
Yes, some of it, but not
all. I caught the part when he said something... “Was the
Justification For Killing”, and he mentioned someone’s name, but I
didn’t catch it. It could have been just initials, and not a name,
I’m sorry I really wasn’t too interested. But as I sat his drink on
the table I did notice something written on a napkin.”

“
What Linda, what did you
read?”

“
I dunno, it just said
MK-ULTRA.”

“
Thanks
Linda.” Captain Scarburg said. Then he thought,
MK-ULTRA, what in the devil do you suppose that means? I have
never heard of it.
“Linda, could the
initials you heard have been JFK?”

“
Hmmm... you know, now
that you mention it, I believe it was. But another thing, that
funny name, it was written on one of our pink napkins. He saw me
glance at it, so he wadded it up and stuck it in his
pocket.”