The other two were from the two other women saying essentially the same thing, and again, each one was dated, signed and notarized. One was from a typist in the secretarial pool. The other was from a secretary in the attorney general’s office. At the bottom of the typist’s letter was an additional paragraph, underlined in red, separately signed and notarized: a sworn statement that the typist was a student summer worker who was only sixteen when the Senator originally seduced her. Triple wow!
Each of the letters had one thing in common. The senator had been the subject of rumors for years. Each of the three thought she was the only one. Gradually, having met one another over time, they came to realize the truth.
However, outside of the fact that the letters had been in Carpenter’s possession, we couldn’t find any link to him. Each of the letters was addressed, “To Whom It May Concern, and none of the letters gave the senators name. How had he gotten the letters? Who had the girls gone to with the information? How did the letters come to be kept private? And where were those girls now? Why did Carpenter have them?
Josie pointed out that the letters did one thing for sure. “The source of the blackmail information is in Sacramento. Carpenter’s source or boss is in Sacramento. You know what my dad’s going to say. The same thing he said about Carpenter. Even though he didn’t pull the trigger himself, he’s just as much a murderer as Richards. He’s going to say the same thing here. He’ll want to find the Sacramento guy.”
“Just because Carpenter’s got blackmail evidence on Goldberg doesn’t necessarily mean that Goldberg’s in the blackmail business with Carpenter.” I suggested.
“Maybe Carpenter kept the blackmail stuff to protect himself from the senator?” Josie quietly asked, almost to herself.
“So what you think but can’t prove is that Goldberg is the boss and he set a moral climate that led Carpenter to hire Richards and Richards murdered the boat owner?” I asked.
“I think so and that makes Goldberg a partner to murder.” Then she added, “let’s take all this to Dad, I’m really confused.”
We found Smitty in the dining room all by himself. He was sitting at the table, hunched over and slowly beating the table softly with his left hand. His right hand held the uncradled phone. He looked miserable.
“Dad, what’s the matter?”
“The hospital just called. Red died this morning, at seven o’clock.” He looked down for a moment, then looked back up at us. “In my book, he was deliberately murdered, somebody’s got to pay.”
CHAPTER 36
We followed Smitty downstairs and listened in as he told the gang about Red. That raised the stakes a lot. Most of the guys were calling for instant blood letting.
Smitty waited them out. “Slow down, guys. I’ve known Red longer than any of you guys have, and probably better too. Red was one hundred percent in favor of my no-violence plan. You know I’m right. Red had more patience and smarts than most of us put together. Remember how he always bragged about having the patience to teach his wife to ride a bike. He was proud of that. He’d be the first to say let’s get even – but legally.”
He paused a moment, “What we need to do in Red’s memory is work harder and smarter to avenge him.”
He turned to me and said, “Casey, tell the guys what you and Josie found.”
“What we’ve found is a bunch of letters incriminating a California state senator, dating way back. We think they’ve been held by Carpenter as protection against the senator. Maybe that’s how the whole scheme started. The senator cut Carpenter in on the blackmail scheme in self protection. The letters show us that the information on most of the blackmailing is coming from Sacramento. It’s pretty clear that someone in Sacramento provides the blackmail information to the Senator. It’s also pretty clear that individual’s a politician too.”
“What about Red” someone asked.
“We’re gonna have the best damn wake for Red you’ve ever seen,” Smitty said. “Nips is already working on it. It’ll be at the warehouse ’cuz I expect a couple hundred friends of his will come out. Nips is also taking charge of a group of wives to give Red’s wife all the support we can. We’ll go to the funeral as a group and give Red every honor we can.”
“When’s the wake gonna be? Can we bring someone outside of the gang?”
“Absolutely. Everybody liked Red. Bring anyone you want. But it’s gonna be respectful, not a riot. Most of our wives and children will be there. I expect it to be dignified.” Smitty waited for nods and got them.
“Now,” Smitty continued, “we got a lot on our plate. I think we’re going to end up in Sacramento, based on what Casey and Josie’ve found out. But first we’ll concentrate on Carpenter, for several reasons. He’s here and he’s now. He knows about us and he’s hurting us. So we go after him first. I think the best way is to trick him into admitting the murders using the blackmail evidence we stole. The chief agrees with me.”
“So you can see, the chief and we have a lot in common,” he finished. “He’s a real ally for us and we have to be fair to him and also use him as best we can. What the chief wants is any link we can find between Carpenter and Richards, no matter how inconsequential it may seem. He can tap into department records to get a lot of information that’s not available to us— tax records, property records, prison records, arrest records, and on and on and on. One of the things he’s planning on doing is contacting his sister city of Richmond and getting Richards’ house searched.”
Smitty stopped for a minute, while a small smile formed on his face.
Gus spoke up, “I saw Red give the finger to a police chief once.”
Somebody said, “What happened?”
“The chief laughed and gave it back. It was at a motorcycle meet.”
Smitty said, “It’s true. I was there; the chief had just beaten Red in a race.”
Then he added, “a couple more ideas. The chief suggested we contact theChronicleand theTribune and see if they could find any old stories about Carpenter, or if they an obituary already prepared in case of his death. The chief was trying to get Carpenter’s fingerprints so he could run them and he was also checking nation-wide records against his name.
One other long shot the chief mentioned is the FBI. If Carpenter ever applied for a government job or ran for public office, he should be on record. The chief said he had a contact at the FBI and would try that angle.”
All of a sudden it was as if we’d shifted into high gear, sparked by Red’s death. Smitty enlarged our field of research
“How about credit checks, “I asked.
“Good idea. We’ll do that too. And I’ve got another idea,” Smitty said. “Does anyone know if blackmailing a state senator is a federal offense? Something the FBI’d be interested in?”
Hesitantly I spoke up, “I think what the FBI can and can’t do is a matter of public record. I can call them, tell them I’m writing a book and need that information. I bet they’ve got a public relations officer who’d be happy to tell me.”
“Do it!”
Great! Carried away by Smitty’s enthusiasm for his own idea, I’d just volunteered to lie to the FBI. I wondered how many years in jail you get for lying to the FBI, even if it’s only a little white lie.
CHAPTER 37
Josie had taken advantage of my time with Smitty and gone to the kitchen. The guys were all downstairs talking about what we were going to do and drinking beer. I could hear some of them telling stories about the crazy scrapes they used to get into with Red. The only personal scrape I’d gotten into with Red was when he taught me how to ride a bike. But Smitty was right; he was a real likable guy.
I headed for the kitchen and found Josie sitting at the table, crying.
I sat down beside her, and took her hands in mine.
“Red?’
“Yes. I was starting dinner when, all of a sudden it came over me that poor Red was gone. The guys all seem so callous, nobody’s mourning him.”
“Actually they
are, in their own way. They’re all downstairs telling each other about personal memories they have about Red. They’re celebrating his life by reminiscing about the good times they had with him. It’s really kinda’ touching.”
“That’s nice. I feel a little better,” she said and dried her eyes.
“I better fix something for the guys to eat,” she said.
“We got home so late and we’ve been so busy, and then the news about poor Red, I forgot all about prepping dinner. I’ll throw something together quick and easy.”
She ended up fixing macaroni and cheese. The talk around the table was about Smitty’s plan. He may have convinced them that they had to avoid violence, but there was a lot of talk about what was and wasn’t violence. Several also said if Smitty’s plan didn’t work, they knew another way.
A little later, when Smitty came back, all that talk went away.
“I’ve e-mailed information about Carpenter to every English-speaking chapter in the world,” Smitty announced, joining us.
All over the world? Somebody had told me there were chapters all over the world, but I never imagined they were that closely linked.
“I don’t know how far Carpenter’s reach is, or how far back he goes. The chief’s only been able to trace him back about twelve years so far. No sign of where he came from before that. He could have come from Europe, for all we know.”
Josie asked her dad, “Has he found out anything about the guys that tried to break in here last night?”
“Not much. The car’s registered to a corporation that seems to be a dummy of some sort. He’s having tough sledding trying to find out who’s behind the corporation. You know, one corporation leads to another and then another, and so on. But he’s working on it.”
CHAPTER 38
The guys stayed in the living room for quite a while, talking mostly about Red. Josie and I talked for a little while in the kitchen, then headed for bed.
As I was undressing I heard the house phone ring. I could hear Smitty answering it and then start cussing.
Now what, I thought. Must be something bad; it takes a lot to break Smitty’s calm. I headed back down. Most of the guys were there too.
“Crap. That was the chief. He’s had a couple of his boys checking up on Carpenter’s house off and on all day. He said it looks like trouble’s brewing. There’s been a lot of activity at the house for the last couple hours. Several cars. His cop thinks there’re twelve or fifteen men there. The cop told the chief that it looked like they’re planning on going somewhere tonight. The chief said his man hadn’t seen any weapons yet but some of the guys could be carrying”
“Are they headed here?”
“Don’t know yet, but the chief seems to think this is where they’d be heading,” Smitty said, looking concerned. “If they’re heading here, maybe that’s what those guys were doing here last night. Maybe they were casing the place for tonight.”
“He also said his hands are tied. He can’t really help us, at least not publicly. He’s gonna keep an eye on ’em for us and track them if they leave, but he can’t stop them.”
“For all the chief knows they may be getting together for a poker party. He can’t do anything until they do something illegal, so it’s up to us if they head this way. The only thing I can imagine is that they think they can take over my house with a show of force and get his papers back.”
He went on “I’ve been kinda’ expecting something like this ever since the two guys tried to case the house. I got kind of a plan to nip them in the bud – without violence.”
He nodded to Josie.
“It’s pretty complicated and involves all of us. I don’t have time to go over all the details so I’m asking you guys to do what I tell you and not waste a lot of time asking questions. Okay?”
One of the guys said, “Let’s get at it.” Nobody argued.
“First, somebody get on the horn and call the Richmond branch. Use my name. Outline the problem and ask them to get a couple of guys up to keep an eye on Carpenter’s house for me. Tell them to keep in cell phone contact. I want to know the minute Carpenters’ guys start moving. I want them to tail the group and keep us informed about where they’re going.
Be sure and tell them that a couple of friendly cops are watching the place, that the El Cerrito police chief’s a buddy of ours and working with us.
“Next thing is for you, Nips. Call the warehouse and get everyone up here right away. Be sure and tell them to be super quiet. Don’t want the neighbors to think World War Three’s broken out. And tell them to bring some iron with them, just in case. Crowd control stuff like shotguns”, he added.
Somehow, shotguns and “iron” didn’t add up to “no violence” in my book. What the hell was he planning?
Smitty became a whirlwind of action.
He glanced at Josie. “If he’s coming with guns, he’s either so scared or so mad he doesn’t care about the outcome. We need to control the situation so that it never happens. You know what I mean? We need to stop them in their tracks, before they get near the house. We have to figure out a way to neutralize his weapons before he uses them.”
“If there’s that many coming, they’re probably planning to split up and approach the house from different directions, coming up each street,” one of the guys offered
“I think you’re right. Okay, how do we use that against them?” He gave everyone a moment to think, but the room remained silent.
“No other ideas? Then I’m going with my plan, and we need to step on it. What I’ve come up with is a trick. I agree that they’ll split up. We need to take care of them separately. I’ve got an idea that might work. Actually it has to work.”
Nervous laughter.
“Those klieg lights we used last year, they still in the yard?”
“Yeah,” Les spoke up. “I think there’re three or four of ’em, way over in the far corner.”
“Okay, take off and find ’em. They’re pretty heavy, so take a couple of guys with you. I need three of them up here and operable ASAP”
“Will do. I’m sure they’re there, and there’s a truck to haul them in.”
“Take off!” Smitty tells him. To the rest of us, he continued thinking out loud. “I’m figuring they’re planning on something tonight. They haven’t left El Cerrito yet, so I’m betting they’ll try to force the house when they think we’re asleep. Two, three in the morning. That gives us a few hours to get ready. Carpenter’s been pretty lucky so far but his luck’s about to run out. I don’t think he’s as good planner as he probably thinks he is. The murder on the boat was a mistake, the attack on Red was a mistake and the first approach to our house was a mistake. Ten to one whatever he’s planning now is a mistake too.”
I had no idea what Smitty might be planning. One thing’s clear: the guy’s devious.
While Les and a couple of the guys were pulling out, some of the other guys showed up. As they coasted into the garage, dismounted and came into the rec room, I noticed they were all carrying large duffel bags. I was pretty sure what was in them, and as it turned out, I was right. Each guy emptied his bag on the floor, very carefully. Between them, there was enough firepower to start a small revolution.
There were a lot of small arms and a few rifles, but mostly what looked like sawed off, double barreled shotguns. Smitty’d told them to bring their crowd control stuff. I guess this was it. Josie looked worried. Smitty noticed and came over.
“Don’t worry honey,” he said, putting an arm around her. “This is just for scare purposes. With any luck at all we won’t have to fire a single shot.”
Josie looked somewhat reassured – until she heard his next words.
“Okay, guys, I want you to clean your shotguns and load ’em. I also want each of you to carry a sidearm. You’re all experts with guns. I’m counting on you to use your guns to scare the SOBs, not to do any damage.”
“I don’t like this.” Josie whispered to me.
CHAPTER 39
“God I hate waiting. Jesus, if those guys don’t get back with the klieg lights soon, this ain’t gonna work. I gotta phone the warehouse and see if they’re on their way.”
He still hadn’t told us what his big plan was, so there was no way we could help him. Josie brought him some coffee and the guys kept peppering him with questions about his plan. He kept saying it all depended on the klieg lights.
As he waited for someone at the warehouse to answer, he kept pacing. Finally someone answered. “Did Les and the guys find the searchlights?”
“Yeah. They’re on the way up.”
“Did they find out if they still work?”
“They didn’t plug them in, but the janitor said they work. He ran them for us at the party last year. He says they’re perfect.”
“How long ago did they leave?
“I’d say twenty minutes or so. Should be getting close to you about now.”
Smitty hung up, looking relieved. Turning to us, he said, “Okay, here’s my plan. As soon as the lights get here, we’re gonna set them up outside on the streets. There are three streets converging just above our house. You’ll place the lights at the head of each street coming up here, pointing down the street. Somebody go down to the garage and get every extension cord you can find. I want each light rigged so that we can turn them on all at once, on cue. Les can do that. How many guys we got here?”
Twenty-three, it turned out.
“Great. I want you to divide up into three groups of about six or seven and be ready to go out onto the streets, with your guns.”
Just then Smitty’s phone rang. It was one of the Richmond gang calling to tell him that the group from Carpenter’s house was moving. He said there was quite a few of them, crowded into three cars. They’d just turned off the freeway heading toward Oakland.
“That’s what I figured,” Smitty said after he’d hung up. “They must be heading here. I bet that’s why that car was here the other night. Scouting the streets. Here’s what I think they’re gonna do. They’re in three cars. They have to come up one of the streets, maybe they’ll come up all three of them. I bet they’ll take one car to each of the streets coming up. They’ll get within two or three blocks, park them and come the rest of the way on foot, as quietly as they can. It’ll be after two in the morning. The street’ll be dark. What they don’t know is that we’ll be waiting for them – with a surprise! When they get within a few yards of the place, we’ll light ’em up with the searchlights. They’ll be temporarily blinded.”
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