Appalachian Intrigue

by Archie Meyers

  His brothers didn’t know where Snake was hiding, but they knew that he was as familiar with the mountains around River City as anyone. He had grown up on the side of one of them and was the best hunter in his family. His mother had depended on his squirrel hunting to feed the family when he was younger. He hunted twelve months a year. Legal hunting seasons had never meant anything to Snake. He hunted for food, and his family didn’t just get hungry during the season.

  Chapter 42

  Morgan figured the most logical place for Snake to hide was in the mountains, but unless a search area could be more narrowly defined there wasn’t much chance of finding him in the heavily forested woods. The all-points bulletin (APB) hadn’t produced any results, so a chance sighting by someone who had seen the TV broadcasts was probably the next best hope for catching him.

  In many of his investigations Morgan had been uncanny in his ability to think like the suspect he was chasing, but thinking like Snake was proving challenging. He didn’t seem to plan anything and simply reacted to whatever situation developed. Morgan wanted to do something proactive, but he had no idea what he could do to flush Snake out of hiding.

  Morgan’s intuition was partially correct about Snake hiding in the mountains. He was more accurately hiding under them. For months he had been living in a cave within the city limits of River City. The entrance to the cave was only about a hundred yards from several upscale residences located on a well-traveled city street.

  There was a solid six-foot-tall wooden fence at the back of the manicured lawns and thick underbrush on the mountain side of the fence. The entrance to the cave was a small hole barely large enough for a grown man to squeeze through. The small opening was almost completely camouflaged by the thick underbrush and several large boulders. Snake had never seen evidence of anyone else having been in the cave and was pretty sure the nearby residents didn’t even know it existed. He felt secure inside the cave. He had discovered it when he was a young boy, years before the houses were built. He had always thought of it as his special place and often hid there when he was younger to get away from the torment of his abusive brothers.

  Beyond the narrow entrance, the cave broadened into a room almost as large as the houses on the other side of the fence. A crystal clear, subterranean stream flowed through the center. He never knew the origin of the stream or if it ever rose to the surface. It entered the room from an opening in the cave wall and disappeared into a similar opening in the opposite wall. The stream’s entrance and exit were both too small to allow him to trace it.

  Snake’s living quarters were set up beside the stream. He had a gasoline stove, two lanterns, and an army cot. He also had metal pans, plates, and cutlery and had fashioned a table from sticks he had brought into the cave. It was at least as well equipped as most deer hunting camps, and it had several attractions that deer camps did not have. The year-round temperature did not vary more than a few degrees, and there was permanent protection from rain, snow, and all the other inconveniences of nature.

  The only thing Snake didn’t like about his temporary home was that he had to share it with a colony of bats. He hated the sight of the flying rodents hanging upside down on the cave’s ceiling and really detested the way they whizzed around his head on the way in and out of the cave on their nocturnal feeding sprees.

  Snake wasn’t accustomed to a lot of creature comforts, and the cave had everything he needed. It was a luxury suite compared to his cell in the state prison. He had become as nocturnal as the bats, so he read, or more accurately just looked at the pictures in his comic books during the daylight hours. His library consisted of at least one hundred of the brightly colored books filled with pictures of super heroes. The words in the comic books tested the upper limits of Snake’s literary skill. He was living proof that an individual could be dumb as a wart and still be cunning and devious.

  Since he had started living in the cave, Snake parked his stolen car in the crowded parking lot of a twenty-four-hour superstore located only a few blocks from his hideaway. To keep it from attracting attention, he had been moving it from one spot to another within the same lot every night, but after his last conversation with Rufus, he decided to change cars.

  After dark he drove to the chop shop location on the mountain, removed all personal items, wiped the car down with an old shop cloth, and pushed it over the cliff. It would be the only intact vehicle in the mass of rusting metal. The precautions he had taken probably weren’t necessary. There was little chance it could be traced to him, but he went through the process of removing evidence anyway.

  After pushing the car over the cliff, Snake walked all the way down the dark logging road to the foot of the mountain and crossed the highway. There was a wide wooded area separating the highway from the river. He stayed in the woods, out of sight from the highway and walked upstream about a quarter mile to a boat dock. As he approached, he could see there was no one at the dock. Several boats were moored there, but most were chained and locked. He finally found a small fishing boat that was only secured by a rope. There was a paddle lying in the boat. He got in, pushed it away from the dock, and used the paddle to move several hundred yards up the river before cranking the small outboard motor. Using only moonlight, he guided the boat up the river for about ten miles before pulling to shore inside the city limits of River City. He wiped down the paddle and the boat to remove his fingerprints and then pushed the boat back out into the river to let the current take it away.

  It was only a few blocks from the river to another large shopping center where Snake planned to steal a replacement car. He found a car he liked in the parking lot and used his Swiss Army knife to exchange the license plate with the car parked next to it. Within minutes he had hotwired the car and driven it directly to the superstore where he regularly parked. As he walked back to the cave, he was proud of himself. He had been able to ditch one car and then steal a new one all within one night’s work.

  Chapter 43

  Rufus and Elroy had not talked to Snake since they had temporarily suspended the chop shop operation, but they closely followed the news to see if he had been arrested. They were convinced that he had shot Dex and were surprised that he had thus far avoided arrest. He hadn’t gotten smarter, but he had apparently become more cunning and cautious since his previous incarcerations.

  Snake’s only entertainment in the cave, other than his comic books, was a small battery-operated TV. By sitting near the cave’s entrance he could get local TV reception. He used earplugs to suppress the sound. He followed developments on the case by watching the news in the morning, afternoon, and evening. With the leaks coming out of the mayor’s office, it was almost like being tuned into the police radio band. He laughed at some of the reported responses to the APB. He had supposedly been sighted in Lexington, Tupelo, and Waycross. He didn’t even know in what states those cities were located. In fact, he had never been far enough away from River City to lose local TV reception.

  Snake was ready for the chop shop to get back in business. He was quickly running out of money and had no other source of income. After waiting two weeks he violated Rufus’s strict orders and called him at home. When Rufus answered, Snake simply said, “Call me,” and hung up. A few minutes later Rufus returned his call, and he was furious that Snake had called him at home. He launched into a tirade of verbal abuse, but as usual, Snake wasn’t fazed by his brother’s diatribe.

  “Damn it, Rufus, you’ens ain’t called me in nigh on two weeks. I’s ain’t got no money, and I’s needs smokes. Ain’t you’ens needin’ any cars?”

  “Snake, you idiot, has you not been eyeballing the news? We’s gonna stay shet down til it be safe. Dem cops still be atter you.”

  Snake tried to protest, but Rufus had already hung up.

  He was broke and he needed cigarettes, food, and gas. That night after midnight he drove across the nearby state line into Georgia and spotted a
service station and convenience store sitting several hundred yards from any other buildings.

  He pulled up and stopped at the pump with the least visibility from inside the store. There were no other customers at the pumps, and he didn’t see any inside the store. An older Asian man was the only clerk on duty.

  Snake pointed to the rack behind the counter and said, “Gimme a pak of dem Malberrys.”

  The clerk turned his back to get the Marlboros from the rack, and when he turned back around Snake was pointing a pistol at him. “Open up dat dere cash box and fill up this here sack.”

  The clerk hesitated, and Snake reached across the counter and hit him on the shoulder with the barrel of the pistol. The man cried out in pain, and Snake pointed the gun directly between his eyes. The register was opened, and Snake jumped over the counter and told the clerk to lie face down on the floor. He pulled a roll of duct tape from the pocket of his cargo pants and taped the man’s hands behind his back. Then he taped his ankles together before rolling him over and putting tape over his mouth.

  Snake filled the paper sack with the money in the cash drawer, picked up several cartons of cigarettes from a display counter, and started walking toward the door. He turned around and said, “Ifen you moves yor ass ’fore I’m gone, I’s come back and kill you dead.”

  Snake ran to his car and was several miles away before a customer discovered the clerk still lying behind the counter. When the responding officer arrived, the store clerk told him he had not seen the robber’s car and didn’t know which way he came from or where he was headed when he left the station. By that time, Snake had already crossed over the state line and was back in Tennessee. He pulled into a service station, took forty dollars from his paper sack, and filled up his car. Then he drove to an all-night store and bought a fresh supply of comic books and the food he would need for the next few days.

  Snake was back in his cave before 3:00 a.m. He sat down and counted his money for the first time. After his purchases at the store and the gas station he still had about seventy dollars. Maybe he didn’t need Rufus and Elroy anymore. He had made as much that night as they paid him for a night’s work, and he didn’t have to listen to their abuse.

  Still keyed up from the robbery and not sleepy, Snake got his TV and moved to the front of the cave. As soon as he turned it on, Dex was doing one of his new EaseFast commercials, and it ruined the good mood he had been in since the robbery. It made him furious when he was reminded that he was living in a hole in the ground and could only go outside after dark, while Dex was appearing on television and making big money. Snake truly believed that Dex was responsible for everything that had gone wrong in his life. If it wasn’t for him, he would have never gone to juvenile detention, would still be in the “automobile business,” and wouldn’t have to rob gas stations to get money for food. Snake vowed once again that he would still get even with Dex.

  He couldn’t believe Dex had survived the gunshot. The muzzle of the pistol was almost touching his chest when Snake pulled the trigger, and he still didn’t die. The next time he went after him it would be with something bigger than the .22-caliber pistol that had failed to kill Dex. He was going to steal something a lot more powerful before he tried it again. Snake wished now that he had also shot Marie. The television news had reported that she had saved Dex’s life, and she was also responsible for his problems in high school. She ran to her boyfriend when he tried to kiss her. He had been watching television when she made the remark about being in love with Dex. It almost made him smash his TV.

  After he shot Dex, Snake watched television nonstop to see if he was going to survive the gunshot. He was mad at himself for firing only one shot and for not making sure that Dex was mortally wounded. He had been ready to go after him again, but he had to wait until Dex was released from the hospital. Even Snake wasn’t crazy enough to attempt a hit in the hospital while Dex was under constant police protection.

  Chapter 44

  The Lexus was traveling way too fast on the rural highway’s rain-slicked surface. The teenager, behind the wheel of his mother’s two-year-old Lexus, had his left hand on the steering wheel while his right was cuddling the girl close by his side. The road wasn’t his primary focus, and he didn’t see the sharp curve until he was already in it. He slammed on the brakes, and the Lexus had almost completed its second 360-degree spin when it left the road and struck a telephone pole. The two kids escaped with only minor injuries, but the Lexus was not as lucky. The entire right front of the car was demolished.

  The insurance company appraiser calculated the cost of repairs at a little over forty-seven hundred dollars using all new parts. The independent body shop, where the car had been towed, agreed to repair the car based on the estimate.

  However, the woman who owned the car came by the shop and told the owner she was going to have it towed to the Lexus dealer. The shop owner really wanted to make the repairs, so he played his ace in the hole.

  “Lady, I’ll absorb your deductible if you’ll let us repair it.”

  “I have a five-hundred-dollar deductible. How can you do that?”

  “The appraiser figured new parts, and I can use replacement parts just like what was on the car. I guarantee your car will look just as good and you’ll save five hundred dollars.”

  “But isn’t that cheating the insurance company?”

  “No. The insurance company doesn’t care how you repair the car, or even if you decide not to repair it. They’re on the hook for the amount of the estimate, and that’s all they care about.”

  “But if the used parts are as good as new ones, why didn’t the appraiser figure on using them?”

  “Now, that gets to the crux of the situation. The court makes them use new parts. They can’t seem to understand that a car does not lose value when a two-year-old fender from the damaged car is replaced with a two-year-old undamaged fender from another car.”

  “I just don’t understand all this. Are you sure it’s okay?”

  “Lady, if you had to buy an automobile one new part at a time, the cost would approach the national debt. The insurance companies know what’s going on. They just spread the cost out and pass it on with higher premiums. Save your five hundred dollars and let us worry about the parts.”

  Conversations like this take place every day, and most transactions for used parts are with legitimate salvage dealers. But there is also an opportunity for chop shop operators like the Wilson brothers to significantly undercut the legitimate dealers who have to buy the wrecked cars from which their parts are salvaged.

  The Wilson brothers had never bought a car in their lives. Rufus and Elroy were flat broke. When they received the order for Lexus parts, they decided to accept it and at least temporarily reopen for business. Rufus called Snake and told him the model of Lexus they needed and warned him to be careful. The last thing they needed was for the police to follow him to the mountain and discover their operation. Three brothers in the state penitentiary at the same time might be a Tennessee state record.

  That night Snake roamed through most of the large parking lots in town searching for the correct make and model of Lexus. He hadn’t had any luck and was about ready to quit for the evening when he spotted one. He had to hide the car he was driving so he drove two blocks away and parked it at a twenty-four-hour pharmacy. He ran back to the lot to get the Lexus, but it was no longer there.

  Now completely disgruntled, Snake started to walk back to his car, but before he got out of the lot another Lexus like the one he was searching for pulled in. It passed where he was standing, and he saw it was being driven by an elderly woman who was alone in the car. He watched as it moved up and down the long parking lanes as the driver apparently searched for a space close to the store in which she planned to shop. Snake easily kept up with it by walking diagonally across the lanes and was only a few feet away when he saw the woman pull in a
nd park between two SUVs.

  Snake grabbed her when she opened the door, clamped his hand over her mouth, and forced her to sit on the pavement between the SUVs. He showed her the pistol he was holding and said, “I’s ain’t gonna hurt you lessen you holler out or try to run. Ifen you do, I’s blow your head plum off.”

  The elderly lady was too old to run and too scared to scream. She sat there and trembled as he took a roll of duct tape from the pocket of his cargo pants and put a piece over her mouth. He then wrapped the tape around her ankles and wrists. She was completely immobilized when he took her keys, got in the Lexus, and headed for the mountain.

  Snake figured he would be far away before anyone discovered the old woman sitting between the vans. Unfortunately for him, she was spotted only moments later when a man started to pull into the vacant parking space. He removed the tape from her mouth, and she told him what had happened. He immediately called 9-1-1 on his cell phone and let the woman give the operator a description of her car, including the tag number.

  Within minutes, a police officer in his cruiser spotted the Lexus, moved up behind the speeding car, and confirmed the tag number. He flipped on his blue flashing lights and gave pursuit. Snake assumed the cop was trying to stop him for speeding since he didn’t think there had been enough time for the carjacking to be reported. However, it really didn’t matter because he had no intention of pulling over. With his record, he might as well just drive himself up to the prison gate and save the cop the trouble of arresting him.

  He slammed the gas pedal to the floorboard, and the Lexus responded. The police cruiser was no match for the high-powered Lexus as the cars screamed through the city streets. The Lexus handled the corners with ease, and when they hit the highway leading out of the city, it was gradually moving away from the cruiser.