Swift Justice: The Southern Way (28 page)

“Okay,” replied Perry.

“Keep up the good work, guys,” said Taylor, and then he abruptly hung up the phone.

Perry was pleasantly surprised at the ending compliment. Perry hung up the phone.

Hall spoke in a panic, “Shit, you guys said too much. The hotel owner may have been listening in.”

“Fuck, I didn’t think of that,” replied Perry.

“These SACs are rarely in the field,” said Hall. “They never even consider whether someone would be listening in.”

Perry sighed in frustration. “Oh well, maybe it isn’t such a bad thing if they heard. Maybe it will rattle the Klan.”

“I don’t know,” said Hall. “I don’t like it.”

Jim Bellow, the hotel owner, sat in his office. He had just listened to the whole conversation.

He would need to report this immediately.

Jim Bellow was frantic. He had to tell the Klan about the information he just learned. This would be good for him as he had aspirations for moving up the ranks in the Klan. This discovery could overshadow the fact that he allowed a nigger to stay at this hotel. He would be the laughing stock of jokes for letting a nigger stay at his hotel, so he had to get this information to Klan, preferably, before they found out about the niggers staying in his hotel.

He tried the Sheriff first, but he was not at the police station or his house. He was tempted to call the Judge, but it was not normal to contact the Judge directly as he demanded secrecy. Bellow wasn’t at a high enough level to call him directly, but he could call Acton, who was very approachable.

He called the barbershop, and Acton came to the phone. “Hello,” said Acton.

“Mr. Cox, this is Jim Bellow, from the Walnut Hill Lane Hotel.”

“Yes, what can I do for you?” asked Acton.

“Well, I have some big news for you. The FBI is staying at my hotel, and I heard that they have an informant.”

“What do you mean
informant
?”

“They have an informant that said that the Judge and the Sheriff ordered the hits on the Negroes.”

“No,” Acton said in disbelief. “Who’s the informant?”

“Well, I believe it is Paulie Sawyer.”

“What makes you think it is Paulie?”

“Well, they describe the informant as a guy who was in the hospital. Who do we know that is in the hospital? It has to be Paulie.”

“Holy Shit! You’re kidding. Well, what did they say?”

“They have a tape of Paulie that they hid underneath his hospital bed, and the Sheriff went in there and spoke to Paulie. They gave Paulie a phone number to call the FBI, so I just thought I would let you know.”

“How did you find out about this?”

Jim Bellow did not want to tell Acton that he could listen in on phone conversations at his hotel. “I just overheard them.”

“Oh.”

Jim could tell that Acton didn’t believe him. Acton probably figured out that he listened in to the call. Oh well, thought Jim, it wasn’t the end of the world if he figured it out.

Acton continued. “Hey, thank you very much. Um, are you going to the KOT meeting tonight?”

“Of course, I’m going to the KOT meeting.”

“Okay, this is important news. I’ll get right on it. Thank you.”

“I’m glad to help,” replied Jim.

“Hey, if you see Paulie, you call me
right
away. Okay?”

~~~~

It was near sundown, and the Sheriff sped his patrol car to the barbershop. An emergency, impromptu meeting was called for the key Klan leaders to meet at the barbershop. The Sheriff found out about the meeting when he called the Judge to update the Judge on the latest events. The Judge wasn’t home, but the Judge’s wife told the Sheriff that the guys were meeting at the barbershop.

The Sheriff finally arrived and only saw Acton’s and the Judge’s cars parked outside. He quickly walked into the barbershop and headed straight to the back room. Acton and the Judge immediately stood up and waved the Sheriff over to their table. They looked as if they were in a panic, observed the Sheriff.

“What’s up guys?” asked the Sheriff.

Acton spoke. “Sit down. We got another major problem.”

The Sheriff sat down. “Oh shit, what is it now?” asked the Sheriff.

“We got some updates for you,” said Acton. “However, before I update you, what the fuck were you doing harassing my wife, motherfucker?”

“Whoa, calm down, Acton. I didn’t harass your wife. I’m checking with everyone that the FBI could possibly question.”

“Bullshit, she’s fuckin’ pissed off.”

“Acton, I swear, I wasn’t harassing her. Shit, if you consider this harassment, wait until the FBI starts questioning.” The Sheriff needed to change the subject quickly. “Wait, where’s the rest of the guys?” asked the Sheriff. “Where’s my son and Archie?”

“We couldn’t get a hold of them. We don’t have time.”

“Okay, what’s up?” asked the Sheriff.

The Judge spoke. “You’re right about Paulie. He’s a fuckin’ problem.”

“I know that,” said the Sheriff.

“He’s an informant for the FBI,” said the Judge.

“Na,” said the Sheriff.

“Yeah, he is. He’s talk to the FBI.”

“Well, I suspected it,” said the Sheriff. The Sheriff wanted to remind the men, especially the Judge, that he was already on to Paulie.

“What exactly did you say to Paulie at the hospital?” asked the Judge.

“Why?” asked the Sheriff.

“Because they
taped
your whole conversation,” said Acton.

“What do you mean, I’m on tape?” asked the Sheriff.

Acton continued, “You’re on tape. Everything you said to Paulie is on tape.”

“How did you find out about this?” asked the Sheriff.

“Jim Bellow, the owner of the Walnut Hill Lane Hotel, told us,” replied Acton.

“Shit,” said the Sheriff.

“So what did you say to Paulie,” asked the Judge.

“Well, I don’t remember exactly, but I roughed him up a little bit and told him to keep his mouth shut.”

“Well, Paulie’s a fuckin’ snitch,” said Acton.

“Did you mentioned anything about the KOT meeting tonight?”

“Um … yes. I told him that he needed to make sure he made it tonight.”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” said Acton. “Did you remember if you gave any details as to the time and where it was at?” asked Acton.

“No, I’m positive. I was intentionally vague on the details. I also referred to it as a KOT meeting, so maybe the FBI won’t figure out that KOT stands for Klans of Texas.” The Sheriff wasn’t actually sure about how he phrased the meeting. He couldn’t remember whether he said Klan meeting or KOT meeting or both, but he didn’t want the guys to think that he said anything other than KOT meeting.

“Well, let’s get him,” said the Sheriff.

Acton replied. “We called the hospital already. He’s gone. We had someone go to the house. He’s not there, nor is his wife and two kids. They have left. The car is not there. He’s fled.”

The Judge spoke while looking directly at the Sheriff. “He’s told the FBI that you and I have ordered the hits.”

“Shit,” replied the Sheriff. “We got to get Paulie.”

“Yeah, we got to get him,” said Acton. “We got to kill him.”

The Sheriff, all of a sudden, got an idea. “Hey, do you guys think Paulie did the killings?” asked the Sheriff.

Both men looked at the Sheriff with squinty eyes. “I don’t think so,” said Acton.

“Yeah, you think he killed his brothers?” asked the Judge sarcastically. “Come on, Sheriff.”

The Sheriff realized that he was stepping on a limb on this accusation, but he wanted to explore it further. “Wait a second guys, let’s not rule it out. He could have done the first night’s murders, and he might have done the second night’s as well.”

“Okay, I guess it’s possible that he could have done the first night’s murders,” said the Judge, “but I don’t see him killing his brothers.”

“Hey, maybe when we find him, we can pin it on him,” said Acton.

“Hey, that’s not bad,” said the Sheriff.

“I don’t know, guys,” said the Judge. “I think we need to find the actual killer because it’s just going to keep happening if we don’t.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” said the Sheriff. “I’ll put out a search team for Paulie, and I will continue to investigate the murders. I put Junior on it as well.”

“How’s the investigation going?” asked Acton.

The Sheriff didn’t want to reveal to Acton that he was considering Acton, Archie, and his son. “Well, I got a list of workers at the construction site that were there when Leon got kidnapped. I suspect that one of the people on the list might have done it. I got some decent leads already.”

“Oh yeah, what are they?” asked Acton.

“It’s too early, and it’s too speculative at this point. I don’t want to mislead you.”

“Okay,” said Acton.

“All right, so what are we going to do at the KOT meeting tonight?” asked the Sheriff.

“Okay, we have to control everyone,” replied the Judge. “We got to say: don’t take matters in your own hands. Um … we’re
not
going to call in the National Guard. We can take care of this ourselves. We don’t need any outsiders.” The Judge started speaking loudly, with emotion. “We are going to systematically find the fuckin’ people who did these horrendous crimes, and we will kill them. But we can’t have people taking matters on their own. We will organize it, and get it done.”

Acton responded, “Yeah, but they’re going to give you a hard time on that. They’re losing their confidence in us.”

“Well, we’re going to do the best job we can,” replied the Judge. “But we can’t have people taking matters in their own hands. We got to take control.”

~~~~

While the Klan was having their meeting at the barbershop, Perry was speaking with the SAC at a phone booth outside the hotel. The SAC called the room and was ready to speak again, but Perry politely cut him off. He said, “Mr. Taylor, this phone line is not secure. I will call you in about five minutes from a payphone.” The SAC had hesitated but eventually agreed.

“Mr. Taylor, this is Perry.”

“Yeah, you think the phone lines are not secured?” asked Joe Taylor, the SAC.

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me on the first call?”

Perry couldn’t believe that the SAC was berating Perry over this when the SAC should have known that and warned Perry. Nevertheless, Perry had to defend himself. “Well, I didn’t think of it, Mr. Taylor. You had kind of surprised me there, and I didn’t think of it.” Damn, Perry thought that was a horrible response. It made Perry look weak and unsure of himself. Perry needed to recover. “We don’t think it’s secured. The owner is probably listening in, so I’m calling you from a payphone.”

“So what did we say on the last call?” asked Taylor.

“Well, we talked about the possible informant,” replied Perry.

“Do you think they heard it?”

“I don’t think we mentioned any names, but they probably could figure it out, though.” Perry needed to change the subject. “But anyway, so why did you call me?” asked Perry.

“Well, good news: your informant, Paul Sawyer, is singing like a canary. He wants to come in. He wants protection.”

“Really,” Perry said in shock.

“Yeah, you must have really scared the shit out of him. He thinks the Klan is going to kill him tonight. He’s on his way to Austin right now as we speak with his whole family.”

“Really, what did he say?” asked Perry.

“He says that he can hand us the Judge, the Sheriff, and an Acton Cox.”

“Who’s that?”

“Acton Cox is a local barber that is the leader of the local Klan.”

“Oh yeah, I met him earlier today,” replied Perry. “He seemed like an asshole.”

“Yeah, he’s more than an asshole,” said Taylor. “Anyway, Paul Sawyer claims he can give us detail information about the Klan in Dodge County and maybe the whole State because of the Judge. This is going to be great. We are going to bring down the whole town.”

“Wow, I hope he gets to Austin safely,” said Perry. “Is he going unescorted?”

“Yeah, we got a bunch of cars heading over to Dodge County right now and one of them will probably meet Paul Sawyer half way.”

“Shit, I hope the Klan doesn’t get to him before us,” said Perry. He immediately regretted cursing to such a high-level official.

“I agree, but they have their hands full in Dodge County. I think he has a pretty good head start on them.”

“Ah … I hate to bring this up again, Mr. Taylor, but if the owner of the hotel listened into our previous conversation, the Klan may know.”

“Let’s hope not,” replied Taylor sternly.

“Well, this is great news,” said Perry. “So what do you want me to do?”

“Well, I got some more news. It keeps getting better.”

“Okay,” replied Perry.

“This Paul Sawyer told us that they are having a big Klan meeting tonight at ten-thirty p.m. They call it a KOT meeting, which stands for Klans of Texas.”

“Wow, this is great news,” said Perry. “Where’s is it at?”

“It is hard to find, so make sure you write this down. It is near the intersection of FM 3041 and Route 12, which is the northwest corner of the county. The meeting is in a heavily wooded area just off of FM 3041. It is located right by mile-marker fifteen. You turn north at the mile marker, and there will be a slight opening, just large enough for one vehicle. Normally there is a chain across the opening about fifty yards in. On a meeting night, someone will be guarding the opening and will only let in Klan members.”

“As if anyone else would even try to go to a Klan meeting,” interjected Perry. Perry was getting excited. This was tremendous news.

“Yeah, right, I don’t think any Negroes would be attending a meeting like that,” said Taylor.

“So what do you want me to do?” asked Perry.

“Well, obviously I want you to attend the Klan meeting from a distance and learn as much as you can about the Klan.”

“Yeah, this is going to be perfect,” said Perry. “We should be able to find out their whole plan on how they are going to handle the racial crisis in town.”

“Be careful, and call in frequently.” Taylor said as he hung up the phone.

The Sheriff’s head was spinning. Everything was happening so fast. It was hard to keep up with the madness. It seemed like every hour a new tragedy transpired. The Sheriff wondered when it was going to stop.