“Well, I finally had enough as he was playing with that hand cannon. I just said, ‘Governor, you’ve got to do something.’”
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘We have done something. I’ve sent troops and the best investigators in the state. A governor can’t do much more.’ And then he turned back to the damn belt buckle and played with it some more. ‘Just genius,’ he said. ‘Isn’t it? To think a country so violent and mean could produce a work of art like this. It’s history. Just a piece of a culture that’s been destroyed for good.’ That’s when I told him to put the town under martial law. I had to say it, because General Hanna was standing there right beside me, and I think if Persons had kept showing off his trinkets Hanna would’ve leapt over the desk and choked him. Did you ever hear why they call General Hanna ‘Crack’?”
“I heard he was good with the pistol.”
“He was also good with a baseball bat when he was a strikebreaker,” John said. “He’s who the Birmingham fat cats called when the union bosses came to town. And as Persons kept talking, General Hanna took a deep breath and stood, his face turning red as a beet. You know, in the war he commanded a Pacific jungle unit that inflicted so many casualties he set Army records.”
“Persons will never go for martial law,” I said, dropping a wrench into a toolbox and slamming down the hood of a ’48 Ford truck.
John shook his head. “He said everything was going to be under control. He said you couldn’t judge the situation by some bumps in the road, and said he had great faith in the state investigators.”
“He can’t be talking about ole Smelley.”
“I told him what I suspected about Smelley. But he didn’t buy it. He said Smelley was a good man and was doing a hell of a job.”
We walked outside, and I closed the bay door of the garage, sealing it with a padlock. I found a spot on the edge of the platform of the gas pumps and sat down. My back ached; my feet ached. It was late, but there was still plenty of soft gold light. I lit a cigarette and stretched out my legs.
“So then he offered to send in more troops. But Hanna wasn’t satisfied with that. He knew that was what Persons was going to offer when we drove over this afternoon and was prepared. He knew it was just a political move to keep the newspaper boys off his back. And Hanna told him that. Hanna said he wouldn’t leave the governor’s office till he had a green light to bust up the rackets.”
“You want a Coca-Cola?” I asked John. But John said no. He looked more tired than me. His shirt was soaked through under the suit jacket, and despite his obvious exhaustion he paced underneath the overhang as he talked.
“So then Persons turned to me and ignored Hanna, as if I’d put Hanna up to this. He said, ‘I don’t understand what you want from me, John. I send you the National Guard, and the full cooperation of state investigators. Our acting attorney general is devoting his full time to the investigation into your father’s murder. I can’t do much more. You even went to Washington to ask for help. That move embarrassed our entire state. And, like they said, this is a state matter.’ And that’s when I knew this was going to be a big old pissing match. He was absolutely furious that I’d gone to Washington. He actually said I’d embarrassed the state of Alabama. Can you believe that?”
“And that’s when Hanna let him have it.”
“You bet,” John said. “Hanna stood up as tall as that little fireplug could, those stars on his shoulders, shaven head, and leaned into the desk and said, and I quote, ‘Governor, I mean no disrespect by this but you don’t seem to hear a goddamn word of what’s being said. The local crew of cops in this town is about the sorriest gathering of bastards I’ve ever seen in my life. They don’t want us there, never wanted us there, and won’t get off their fat asses to help. They want Phenix City back to its wicked ways. And that’s fine if that’s what you want, too. But don’t go and blow smoke up our ass and tell Mr. Patterson here that everything is being done. Because, sir, it sure as shit is not. We’re sitting around with our thumbs up our assholes while these hoods and gangsters ride past us every day, pointing and laughing at us like they’re at the goddamn zoo.’”
“He said that?”
“He sure did. He told Persons, ‘They intimidate witnesses and blow up people’s homes. They aren’t scared of us in the least ’cause they all know we’re just there for the news boys to pose for some pictures. So, to the point, sir? Either use us to break this town apart or send us home. I don’t mean to be so frank. But here it is, Gordon. Either shit or get off the pot.’”
“Glad Hanna didn’t bring a baseball bat.”
“Persons couldn’t believe anyone would talk to him like that in the mansion.”
I smiled, finished the cigarette, and squashed it under the sole of my work boot.
“Persons wasn’t behind the desk; he was standing at the side, feeling around that Nazi belt buckle and the little buttons and springs. He said, ‘Can you put this in a report?’ and Hanna said, ‘Goddamn, it’s been five weeks since this man’s father was gunned down. The local police haven’t interviewed a single suspect.’”
I smiled at him, knowing what was about to come, knowing John had told me every detail because I knew where all this was headed.
“Britton gave you the Mr. X records, didn’t he?” I asked.
“Well, Hugh let some of the newspaper boys take a listen this morning. But, for some reason, he wanted a couple of them held back. He wanted me to deliver them to the governor. I guess he thought Persons should be well versed on the entire situation.”
“How long did it take for him to call you?”
John smiled. It was the first time I’d seen him smile since his father’s death. “The governor left a message for me before I pulled into my driveway.”
“And what did it say?”
“Apparently, that recorded conversation he had with Hoyt Shepherd about campaign contributions came through clear as a bell.”
“Can I ask what happens next?”
“I guess he saw the big splash Mr. X made in the afternoon papers. Did you see Hugh was quoted with saying that there was more where that came from? Well, the governor said he had some phone calls to make.”
“WHO THE FUCK IS MR. X?” HOYT SHEPHERD SAID, PULLING a big, fat cigar from the side of his mouth as he spun in the chair of Cobb’s Barber Shop and rattled the front page of the
Jimmie nodded. The barber, a relative of the former mayor, stepped away, added his scissors to the blue Barbicide, and walked over to grab some electric clippers.
“It says right here that this goddamn, mysterious Mr. X turned over plastic recordings of crime kingpin Hoyt Shepherd having intimate phone conversations with known state and local politicians, including Big Jim Folsom, winner of the Democratic ticket for governor. Hell, they even say I had a talk with – get this – an unknown party about the killing of Fate Leburn. Hell, that damn bootlegger’s been dead almost ten years. Who’s digging up this shit on me? Let me tell you one damn thing. Jimmie, are you listening to me?”
Jimmie nodded, dressed in a crisp white shirt and tie, blue suit, and crossed his legs. He acknowledged his partner with a tip of his cigarette. His hair already nicely trimmed and slicked down with a good splash of Vitalis.
“You mark my words, they’re gonna hang me for this. Right? These people, these National Guard Nazis and that green-as-grass prosecutor, Sykes, need a warm body and my fat ass is just the right size.”
Hoyt’s big face turned a hard shade of purple as Mr. Cobb trimmed the hair off the back of his neck and shaved off some black fuzz on his ears. Hoyt’s big jowls flexed and twisted, and when the buzzing of the clippers stopped and Cobb reached for another pair of scissors for a few stray hairs, Hoyt continued: “Let me tell you something. There ain’t no Santa Claus, there ain’t no fucking Easter Bunny, and there ain’t any goddamn Mr. X. It’s the RBA trying to fry my ass for Pat getting himself killed, and they are gonna try every dirty trick in the book till I’m sitting in the hot seat at Kilby waiting for some old boy to flip the switch and grill me up like a side of bacon because it would make a hell of a picture.”
Matthews shifted in his chair and recrossed his legs. He finished the cigarette and stubbed it out in a plastic
