Taking the watch she read aloud, “Capt Robert Edward Scarburg, Jr. 5th SF (ABN), RVN, 1968.”
“I gave you this watch Clem, and in exchange you gave me your old cowboy hat.”
“Dadburn Penelope, I been telling you I had an old hat around here sommers, and you jest said it weren’t so. See I told you.”
“Your right Clem, right as rainwater. Who would’ve know’d”, Penelope replied.
“Penelope, thar’s no way he could be makin’ this up. What he’s tellin’ us must have happened. He knows to much about us. I’ve wondered about the watch and the funny money, and in a ways, I can almost remember what he’s sayin’ but I jest can’t get it all to come thru clear.”
“All right,” Captain Scarburg said, “I’m going to prove to you once and for all I have been here before.” Saying this he pulled his Iphone from his pocket. Pressing the Itune App the lyrics and melody of George Strait’s number one country hit from 1987 began softly to play,
“♪All my Ex’s live in Texas and Texas is...♪”
“Yeah... yeah Captain, that does sound like somethin’ I’ve heered afore. It shore is a purty tune.”
“Impossible Clem, pretty or not that tune will not be recorded for another twenty-four years!”
“What? No, that can’t be true?”
“Okay, here it is,” the Captain said touching the Iphoto App. Instantly the screen was filled with the images of Clem and Penelope sitting on the exact same couch they were now sitting on, and Captain Scarburg’s voice on the Iphone saying, “Hey, both of you. Look this way and say cheese.”
“Well, I’ll be,” commented Clem in amazement.
“Captain, what did you come here fer the first time?” asked Penelope.
“Well right now, it’s not important, the problem was taken care of. You do not need to trouble yourself with it. My two grandchildren that’s what is essential now... I must find them. They could be in trouble – I’m talking about real trouble. The kind that could get them killed!”
“By the way Forrest and Olive wuz drivin’ that old green Ford truck of Larry Brocks. They must’ve got it out of his old barn. How in the world did they find it? What wuz they doin’ up at his cattle ranch place anyhow?
“I will explain it all later Clem. Right now finding those kids is my most important job.”
“Captain, they left us a note when they left. It said they wuz goin’ to the ‘Murdock place’ and anyone lookin’ for them would know what that means.”
“Hmmm, say they said the ‘Murdock place’ huh?”
“Yeah, the Murdock place. Do you knows what it means, Captain? And another thang Captain, they done left us some more of your funny money. There were two of them ten-dollar bill looking thangs on the table next to the note they left. You and them must’ve got that fake money at the same place, fer yours and they’ers looks jest alike.”
“I sure do, Clem I know the Murdock place, and don’t worry about those fake ten dollar bills, just keep them as souvenirs, they will be good money someday, and for the second time, thanks, thanks a million, but Clem enough talking, I’ve need to get going.”
“You be careful, ye hear?”
“By the way, Penelope that wouldn’t happen to be chicken and dumplings I smell is it?”
The time was 7:15 Thursday night, November 21, 1963.
Chapter Forty-Eight
THREE HOURS BEFORE THE CAPTAIN’S ‘FLIGHT’
“Is everyone okay?” asked Bud turning to check on Lou and LJ. Both were still unconscious; however, Rocky was beginning to arouse.
“What happened? Where are we? Am I in a dream – no this must be a nightmare!” Rocky said drowsily. “Turn up that radio, I love them bagpipes!”
“Snap out of it Rocky. There isn’t a radio. We should be on the roof of the Texas School Book Depository. It is supposed to be 9:00 Thursday morning, November 21, 1963. I hope we are in Dallas, Texas. Come on, shake the cobwebs out, and help me get LJ and Lou awake. We have to get out – this thing is going to disappear any minute now, and we do not want anyone on the ground seeing this ‘chrome dome’ sitting atop one of their downtown buildings.”
Outside Pegasus, standing on the TSBD building, the four huddled next to a large air-conditioning unit watching their time machine evaporate into thin air. “Okay, men,” instructed Lonnie Joe. “Let’s work our way over to the back fire escape, get down to the ground, and slip into the impound lot.”
Two by two they walked around the back of the School Book building until they reached the sidewalk on Houston Street. A left on Houston and a mere dozen or so feet they approached the gate to the Dallas City Storage Lot for Impounded Vehicles. It was unlocked and unguarded. Oh, for the trustful days of the 1960s, Bud thought. Trying to act as though they were city employees, they slide the gate open, “Bud?” asked Lou, “which car do we take?”
Answering quickly, “The one that is easiest to steal.”
“Bud, please could we not use the word ‘steal’?”
“Okay, okay, Lou, but let’s not ‘borrow’ one of these on the end, it’s too easy for us to be seen from the street. Now let’s be quick everyone!”
The third automobile from the street was a 1956 Bel-Air Chevrolet. Slipping between the two-parked cars LJ opened the driver’s door, turned his head from side to side and gave the car an admiring once over. Licking his lips he remarked, “I have always loved the ’56 Chevy. Hey, Rocky this one only has 63,000 miles on it!”
“LJ, would you pipe down and quit ogling the car – we’re here to steal it, not buy it! Get in there and see if you can hotwire it.” No sooner had Rocky finished making his remarks to Lonnie Joe, he heard the engine of the Chevy turn over. It turned over a couple of times but did not start. “How did you hotwire this sucker so fast?” Rocky asked.
“Skill, Rocky...just skill,” Lonnie Joe said grinning. “ And the fact the keys were over the visor helped, but darn, this thing has been sitting here too long Rocky. Maybe we need to pick another one.”
“No, give’er another chance. I believe if you ‘goose’ the gas pedal a little she might crank. Slide over,” Rocky said. “Let me give’er a try.”
Lonnie Joe moved over to the passenger’s side while Rocky got behind the wheel. He reached for the ignition and turned the key once more, this time applying a few pumps of gas with the accelerator pedal. Rocky had been correct the engine coughed a couple of times and then fired up. In a minute or so the old two hundred sixty-five horsepower Chevy V-8 was running smoothly.
“How much gas do we have?”
“Fuel gauge shows half a tank. Grab our bag of equipment and throw it into the back seat, we are ready to go. Take out the portable police scanner from the bag – and adjust the frequency to the Dallas police dispatcher: 155.256. We need to know what they are up to at all times.”
A few vehicles down from the ’56 Chevy Bud and Lou had selected a 1949 Ford. It was old, rusty and looked like it had not been washed in ages, but it had one thing going for it – the impound personnel had left its key in the ignition. Who in the heck would want to steal it anyway, the impound workers must have thought. Bud opened the door and turned the key, nothing. The battery was dead. Bud with eyes shut, head in hands, leaned against the steering wheel and thought of the irony: here they were visitors from forty-nine years in the future; approximately twenty-four hours from one of America’s most historic tragedies; illegally trespassing in a Dallas police impound lot attempting to steal a car, and the car, of all things, has a dead battery. ‘For want of a horseshoe nail’, were they kidding? He thought.
Driving up in their ‘ride’ Lonnie Joe rolled down his window and was told about the battery. “What bad luck!” he said. “Try another car, someone is apt to come into this lot at any moment.”
“Bud,” said Lou with no response. “Bud,” again he got no response, “Bud!”
“What!! What is it Lou, for goodness sakes!”
“Bud, you know people have had a habit of keep
ing battery jumper cables in their car’s trunk. Why don’t we look in the trunk of this car and see if maybe there might be a pair of booster cables? If we could find a pair of cables we can get a jump start from Lonnie and Rocky’s car.”
“Are you crazy Lou, who would carry around a pair of cables in their trunk?”
“Gimme the trunk key,” demanded Lou.
As the old 1949 Ford sat there with its motor humming, Lou, grinning, turned to Bud, “You got anything to say Mr. Who-Would-Carry-Cables-In-Their-Trunk know-it-all?”
“Yeah, even a blind hog finds an acorn every once in a while – smart aleck!”
Both teams now had their transportation. “We have to get away from here before being spotted. Let’s go a couple of blocks north on Houston and find a place to stop, then we can finalize our plans.”
“Okay, LJ, Lou and I will follow you and Rocky - lead on.”
A few blocks from downtown the two cars pulled into the huge parking lot of the Lone Star supermarket.
DALLAS POLICE HEADQUARTERS
“Sarge! Sarge! Yelled Patrolman Tommy Jackson running up to the Desk Sergeant’s station in the lobby of the Dallas Police Headquarter building only a couple of blocks south of the Lone Star parking lot.
“Calm down Tom... tell me what’s the problem? The desk sergeant said looking over his desk at the perspiring patrolman.
Removing his handkerchief from his back pocket, Officer Jackson mopped his brow as he began to explain, “Sarge, I was comin’ up Commerce, headin’ east and I glanced over to my left toward the Texas School Book Building...”
“And... and... you got more? I drove by it this morning, didn’t see nothin’ out of the ordinary.”
“Yeah, yeah, Sarge there was somethin’... somethin’ shiny on the roof. The morning sunlight was bouncing off it like it was on fire. It was real shiny Sarge!”
“Ah, Tom, you must’ve seen one of them air vents. They are metal, and aluminum would shine pretty bright in the morning sun.”
“Nah, that wern’t no air vent Sarge... I know what I seen. Just as quick as I get into my patrol car I’m goin’ over there and check it out. I know I saw somethin’ that weren’t normal.”
After roll call, Officer Jackson and his partner Patrolmen Bert Lambert exited the police underground parking lot in their 1960 Ford cruiser and pointed it north on Houston toward the School Book Building. Passing the building Jackson said, “Bert, turn left right here into the police impoundment lot... we can see the top of the building real good from there.”
“Hey Tommy, look here.” Bert said pointed to the two empty car slots as the patrol car pulled into the vehicle storage lot. “Look, there’s been grass growin’ around these two spots. Someone has moved these two cars recently Tommy.”
“Reckon who would be stupid enough to steal cars from a police yard Bert?”
“I don’t know, but this ain’t the actual impoundment lot Tommy, this is the Dallas City Storage Lot. The normal impoundment lot is on the other side of that chain link fence over yonder,” Bert said motioning with his finger to another part of the large area of vehicles parked within the fenced in facility. “Cars left here have been here a long time, sometimes months. Let’s go talk with the Supervisor in charge. Maybe he moved ’em.”
Finding the small wooden building used as the office for the two persons in charge of the impoundment facility Officer Jackson and Lambert began questioning the employees about the disappearance of the two vehicles.
Checking through his card file Mr. Willoughby the lot supervisor, looked over his glasses at the two officers standing in his office, and remarked, “Well I’ll be!! You’re right. There hasn’t been a removal of any vehicles from the Storage Lot in over two months. Those two vehicles must have been stolen. Oh my! This is going to be a stain on my impeccable record... I have never before lost a vehicle under my care. Your the police, do your duty... go find my two missing cars.”
Patrolman Jackson relayed the incident of the two stolen vehicles and their descriptions back to police headquarters. In a matter of minutes, the police dispatcher keyed her mike and announced to all patrol cars in the Dallas metropolitan area:
“Attention all units, attention all units – BOLO for two vehicles stolen from Police Impoundment, one 1956 White over Blue two-door Bel-Air Chevrolet, Texas license CRT-045, expired March 1963 and one black 1949 four door Ford Mainline sedan, Texas license BRY-356, expired July 1962, direction of travel unknown at this time. Be On Look Out, if spotted approach with care occupants may be armed and dangerous.”
As Patrolman Jackson and Lambert were driving away from the impoundment office, Lambert turned and asked Jackson, “Tom, what was it you wanted to see on the Texas School Book buildin’ anyway?”
Glancing up to the roof of the School Book building Patrolman Jackson not seeing anything unusual replied, “Aw, nothing, just thought I saw somethin’ up there this mornin’ but I must’ve been seein’ things. There’s nothing up there. Come on let’s get back on patrol and look for them two stolen cars.”
Taking a right on Houston the patrol car headed back into downtown Dallas towards Dealy Plaza. Little did the two police officers realize if they had, by chance, turned left instead of making a right turn, in a couple of blocks they would have discovered both of their stolen vehicles parked side by side in the Lone Star supermarket’s parking lot. The ‘possibly armed and dangerous’ thieves would have been leaning against the hood and front fenders of the Chevy talking strategy about their next move. So it is with chance, fate or just pure ole dumb luck.
LONE STAR PARKING LOT
Standing next to the open driver’s door of the ‘borrowed’ blue and white ’56 Chevy Rocky heard the Dallas police dispatcher broadcast the BOLO for their two stolen cars. “Guys! Guys! Did you all hear that?”
Turning from their conversation Lou responded to Rocky’s question with a question of his own, “What Rocky? What did you hear?”
Rocky related the All Points Bulletin he had just heard on the police scanner. He told them the police had just been given a Be On the Look Out order, which gave an exact description of their two cars, right down to the license plate numbers.
“Okay,” said Lonnie Joe, “now we know what we must do – we’ve got to ditch these two cars and find two more. We will need to get them from the same impoundment place.” He proceeded to tell the others he had noticed there had been a number of older municipal cars parked at the end of the second row of vehicles. He indicated they were probably being replaced by newer models and suggested they return to the impoundment lot, replace the ’56 Chevy and the ’49 Ford, and ‘borrow’ a couple of the Dallas city vehicles. His reasoning: the municipal cars would not be missed since they all looked alike. He suggested Bud go to the impoundment lot supervisor’s office and engage the two employees in conversation. He could pretend to be investigating the two ‘stolen’ vehicles. In the meantime he, Rocky and Lou would ‘appropriate’ two ‘new’ vehicles.
Not much of a plan, he admitted, but it was a plan. Right now they had to get these two cars off the supermarket parking lot and out of sight. It was just a matter of time before a police cruiser came by and recognized them from the BOLO.
Forty-five minutes later they were back parked in the same spot in the Lone Star supermarket parking lot sporting different vehicles.
They had quickly driven back to the impound lot, parked the Chevy and Ford in their old spaces. Some of the city cars had only been parked in the lot a few weeks, so it was rather easy to find two in decent shape and suitable to their needs. It was also exceptionally neighborly of the storage personnel to leave the keys in the ignition making their ‘borrowing’ quite easy. It was so effortless; in fact, they shopped down the row looking for two cars with gas gages registering more than a half tank of gas. The municipal vehicles were not much to look at. Both cars selected were cheap 1954, black, four-door, Ford Mainlines, equipped with factory supplied, two hundred thirty-nine cubic inch engines, o
ne hundred-thirty horsepower, flathead V-8s. This was the hottest engine in 1954 low-priced Ford autos. For a motley crew of 2012 car thieves plying their trade in 1963, these two cars were perfect.
THE CAROUSEL CLUB
“Everyone set? LJ you and Rocky, get over to Jack Ruby’s place and put the ‘bug’ on our Mafia friends. Lou and I will head over to Lee Harvey Oswald rooming house and see if we can rent a room. Just remember, be at the cow pasture no later than 11:55 Saturday. Pegasus is going to leave with or without us. One more thing – make sure your cellphones are set for ‘Vibrate’, you can only talk to each other as long as you are within five miles of the Texas School Book Depository. Good luck to us all!” The four formed a circle and each extended his arm and grasped the others hand. “On three - one - two - three - SCAR!!” They all hollered at the same time, reminiscent of their days on the athletic field.
Back into their car Lou was behind the steering wheel, “Okay Bud, which way to Oswald’s rooming house?”
“Pull back out onto Houston and turn left. We have to drive down to North Berkley Avenue; it’s only about two miles. At Berkley, we will hang a left. The rooming house will be at 1026, which will be just around the corner on our left.”
“Okay,” said Bud, “we’re off!”
In the other black Ford sedan, a similar conversation was taking place; however, their destination was Jack Ruby’s club on the corner of Field and Commerce Street. “Rocky, follow Bud and Lou until we come to Commerce. Turn left, and we should see Ruby’s Carousel Club in four or five blocks. It will be on our right. A parking garage is just past the entrance to the club, pull in there, and we will go inside Ruby’s place with our surveillance equipment.”
Justification For Killing Page 40
