A long silence. Finally a resigned, “What’s your offer?”
“Believe me, it’s your only chance. Otherwise you’re a dead man,” Gus said, relishing his role. “You take all these papers, walk yourself into the nearest police station and voluntarily give yourself up. We go with you, to make sure you make it there safe and sound. Then you’re on your own.”
“Jesus H. Christ! I can’t do that. It’ll mean the end of everything”
“Yeah – but you’ll be alive!” I pointed out.
“I’ll have to go to trial. Everything will be public. I’d be ruined!”
“Yeah, but you’ll be alive,” I said again.
“And maybe, with luck, you might get out of jail in time to enjoy life again,” Gus added.
“This way – our way – you’ll have a chance,” I said with exaggerated patience. “The other way, you’re dead. That’s pretty final. Again, your choice.”
“What about my money?”
“Keep your money, we don’t want it. You can use it to get yourself a good lawyer. The main thing is – you’ll be alive.”
The senator suddenly whirled around to look at me. Toreallylook at me. “Are you part of the group that tortured me in my home last week?” he asked suspiciously.
“Someone tortured you in your home last week?” Gus deadpanned. “Hey – we don’t know anything about that. But wait – the four guys. Maybe they were part of that.”
A long silence then more to himself than to us, “Do I have any choice? Death or dishonor? Dear God, I don’t want to die!”
“Yes, you have a choice – yes or no. Right now,” I said.
“Now?”
“Yep, right now. Get it over with. Before you lose your nerve. You’re here, the papers are here, and we’re here to make sure you get to the police station safely. Except for one stop on the way. We’ll need to stop at a copy place and get these papers copied, just to be safe. You of all people know how easily officials can lose important papers. These are never going to get lost, no how!”
Within the hour, it was done. Papers all copied. The senator locked up. We were ready to head back to Oakland. One last little detail to finish up: Gus and I called every newspaper in and around Sacramento and made sure they had the story. Nothing could save the senator now.
So much had happened it was hard to believe it was only a little after nine. We debated about staying over for the night but finally decided to have a quick dinner and head back on Gus’s cycle that night.
Over dinner we tried to figure out what Sergeant Horning was planning.
“That idiotic asshole! He’s the world’s worst detective. He couldn’t find a manhole if he fell into it! What’s Smitty doing about it?”
“Nothing! He’s left it up to me. I’ve called Chief O’Meara for help.”
“You know what? I think you better call O’Meara right now and let him know what’s just happened here,” Gus said.
The chief was still at his office. It only took a few minutes to get him up to speed. I left out a few things I didn’t feel he necessarily needed to know. As soon as he found out that the senator had confessed to everything, he said, “That’s great, but I still don’t have any idea about how to forestall your sergeant. Your wedding’s only a couple of days away and the sergeant has complete charge of the case. And didn’t you tell me he already had a warrant? I’m still trying to come up with ideas but it may be hopeless. He might still screw up your wedding.
One disaster after another, Poor Smitty!
CHAPTER 84
By eleven we were back at the party, it was still going strong. Smitty wanted to know if I felt okay. I didn’t know what he was talking about until I remembered that Gus had taken me home sick earlier that day. Or so everyone thought.
We’d raced up to Sacramento, nipped a murder plot in the bud, convinced a senator to give himself up, accompanied him to the police station, notified all the local papers, had dinner, raced back to Oakland and hardly been missed.
Little George pulled Smitty off to one side and started explaining what’d been going on the last three or four hours.
“It was one of them catch twenty-two things for me, you know– damned if I did, damned if I didn’t. I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t want to rat out my guys. I finally decided I had to protect you so I told Casey about it. I know he’s smart and I know he’s completely loyal to you. I kind of thought he’d figure a way out. I knew I went to the right guy!”
Turning to me, Smitty said, “What’s he talking about?”
Starting with the episode in the head, Gus and I took turns relating the whole story. When Gus told him about my idea of making the senator give himself up to the police, Smitty said, “Did it work?”
“Ab-so-lute-lee! We followed him into the police station and saw him turn over the papers to the cops. Then we made sure every paper in town was tipped off to the story. Tomorrow mornings’ papers’ll crucify him. I can’t wait to see ‘em.
Smitty was silent for a minute then, “So it’s over. The Senator’s a goner. Little George said they’d taken care of the shooter and now we got the Senator behind bars and Carpenter was murdered. I wonder if that’s the end of it all.
“Should be,” I suggested. “We gave almost all the blackmail records and information to the police. There’s gonna be a big stink involving a whole bunch of people named in those papers. We also got rid of some of them, like the donut shop owner and the police chief. They’re gone. I think we did what we set out to do.”
“No question.” Gus answered. “But I gotta give credit where credit’s due – this was totally Casey’s idea. See, he fed me a sampling of what was in the pile to show to the Senator, but he hid the stuff about him being a pedophile down at the bottom of the pile. The Senators gonna have conniptions when he realizes what he’s actually confessed to. It’s gonna be real juicy.”
“Well, I’ll be damned. Casey, looks like you’re really earning your keep. I had no idea this would all end this way.” Smitty sat back. “This calls for a drink, something other than beer.” A couple of bottles of champagne were produced and we toasted.
A little later he leaned over to me and whispered, “What about that other thing, you know, Horning.
I lied to him. “I talked to the chief and he said not to worry.
“Not worry? How in hell can I not worry? I want Josie’s wedding to be perfect and that little shit’s gonna screw everything up, I just know it.”
I grabbed his arm, “Relax,” I whispered. “Go get some sleep. It’ll all work out. The chief’s on your side, he’ll come through.”
I didn’t believe myself. The more I thought about it, the wedding only a couple of days away and the Chief doubtful, the more I was convinced that the wedding was going to be a big fiasco. Especially for Smitty. Arrested for murder at his only daughter’s wedding.
Gus and I were still keyed up. Too keyed up to sleep. We made some coffee and sat down to try some of that relaxing ourselves. All of a sudden it hit me. Oh boy was I ever in trouble. I wondered why Smitty hadn’t said anything about it.
I caught Smitty just as he was leaving.
“What now?” he sighed.
“Smitty,” I groaned. “Josie’s gonna kill me. I forgot the meeting with the priest.”
“Oh hell, Case, I forgot to tell you. It was postponed. Some sort of emergency at the church. Anyway, it’s on for tomorrow morning instead.”
A miracle!
So much was happening in such a short time. Josie and I were going to be swamped on Friday. Meeting with the priest in the morning – who knows how long that’d take. Tuxedo fitting in the afternoon. Meeting my parents and getting them settled. They hadn’t even met Josie yet. The wedding rehearsal in the late afternoon. All that followed by the rehearsal dinner that night.
The first thing Smitty said he did the next morning was to turn on the news looking for the latest on the senator. He wasn’t disappointed. It was all there. How he’d given him
self up, saying he just couldn’t live with himself anymore, that he wanted forgiveness for his sins. Reading the list of all the sins uncovered in the papers he’d volunteered, I didn’t think he’d get much of any forgiveness. The reporters said he’d appeared shocked when the cops quoted what his papers documented about his dalliances with minors.
What wasn’t in his private papers he gave up when interviewed by the police. The blackmail, his lover in the AG’s office, the hired killer, he told everything except about what’d started the whole thing, the murder on my boat. Maybe they’d get to that in a later edition. Meantime, we weren’t exonerated yet. We knew, the chief knew and we had the papers to prove it but no one else knew we were innocent. Most importantly, Horning didn’t know it yet.
Thinking about Horning and his promise to arrest Smitty at the wedding, it seemed like I was watching two trains approaching each other at full speed on the same track. The collision would occur and it would be at our wedding.
The tuxedo place called and wanted to know if I could come in on Saturday instead of Friday and I agreed. As long as it was ready for Sunday and it fit really well, why should I care?
We went and met with the priest, Father Murphy, who turned out to be a youngish, rather casual basketball-playing type of a guy. He felt more like a brother than a father, age-wise anyway. And he was really easy to get along with. We invited him to the rehearsal dinner, which turned out to be a good thing.
My parents. Did I mention they’d originally come from the Midwest. They also came with a bias against motorcycle gangs. During the rehearsal it was very apparent, at least to me. My mother even physically drew away a little from Smitty when she first met him. Fortunately Father Murphy noticed it too and went out of his way to smooth the ground between them. At one point he put his arm over Smitty’s shoulders and led him over to my mom “You know, Mrs. Alton, Smitty’s been a great source of aid to our church. I can’t tell you how many times he’s helped out some of our neediest families.”
Then, just to further confuse my folks, Chief O’Meara introduced himself to them, and of course, he had nothing but high praise for Smitty. First a priest? Then a police chief? Not at all what they’d expected.
By the time we arrived at the rehearsal dinner, Mom had warmed up to Smitty. Enough so that he could turn on his charm and win her over. The crowning touch was when he kissed her hand. I don’t think anyone had ever done that to her before. I know it sounds corny, but she loved it.
So the dinner was a success. Gus acted as Master of Ceremonies and ended the dinner choreographing a very nice series of toasts. The last thing he said got a lot of laughs from the party – and a huge sigh of relief from me.
“Casey, you have no idea how lucky you are! If we’d just had one more day! One of the traditions in our group (I think he said group instead of gang out of deference to my mother), is to give the groom an all-night bachelor party. I’ve been to lots of them and let me tell you, they’re something!” A long pause, then he added, “Something to avoid, if you possibly can!”
Smitty had arranged lodging for my mom and dad at a nearby inn. After dinner, Father Murphy insisted on taking them there and picking them up for the wedding the next afternoon.
Smitty insisted that I stay with him at his place. It wouldn’t be seemly, he said, for me to stay at Josie’s place the night before the wedding. As it was, Josie had a couple of her bridesmaids staying with her. I couldn’t help thinking that someone should write a book about Smitty. What a study in contrasts! From Devil chief to worrying about appearing seemly.”
He was still going nuts, worrying about being arrested during the wedding ceremony. I called the chief again and he said, “Casey, I’m doing my best. Trouble is I don’t really know anyone over there that well. Horning’s still got an arrest warrant he can serve anytime he sees fit. He can serve it on Sunday and say he just found Smitty. That’s completely legal. If only the papers had said something about Carpenter being behind the murder on your boat— but they didn’t. I can’t promise anything but I’m still trying.”
He’d been on my speaker phone and Smitty heard it all.
“Maybe I just shouldn’t go to the wedding,” he mumbled as he was about to hit the sack. “If I’m not there, hecan’t arrest me.”
“You can’t miss your daughter’s wedding, Smitty. You’re giving her away. Youhave to go!” I protested.
“But if her wedding’s ruined, that’s all she’ll remember for the rest of her life. Her dad arrested for murder at her wedding!”
“Smitty – something’ll happen. If I have to, I’ll tackle Horning myself!”
“Oh, sure, and get yourself arrested too? Some wedding!”
However he did get a chuckle at the thought of little me tackling a policeman. His mood lightened up a little.
CHAPTER 85
Saturday was a complete blur. Tuxedo fitting, time with my parents, showed them Smitty’s boat and Josie’s house, got a haircut, totally forgot about lunch until my parents dropped some hints. Somehow I got through it.
Our wedding day dawned with beautiful weather. Smitty got me to the church on time. Josie was already there, making the final adjustment to her wedding gown. Smitty, my parents and I were waiting outside in front of the church.
Chief O’Meara and a friend of his were standing off to one side. The chief in full uniform, his friend in a conservative blue suit. His wife and kids were already in the church. I wondered why the chief was standing outside. Smitty spotted several Oakland police cars parked in the street He asked me if I thought they were for him. I turned to the chief and he called me over.
“Chief, I’d like you to meet the groom, Casey Alton.” His use of the word Chief momentarily confused me. He continued, “Casey, this is Chief Jordan of the Oakland police,” and he gave me a huge wink. I could only hope.
As I was starting to wonder where all the gang was, I heard the unmistakable rumble of lots of motorcycles.
In a moment they rounded the corner and approached the church, two by two, the same formation they’d used at Red’s funeral. They parked across from each other forming an aisle way from the church to the parking lot. As they formed, I counted them: twenty-four beautifully shined bikes, each one mounted by a tuxedoed rider. I knew they’d be wearing tuxes, but I hadn’t expected this.
So far there’d been no sign of Horning, except for the police cars parked beyond the parking area. Smitty was now utterly beside himself with worry.
The gang filed into the church and took their places escorting the guests to their seats. My parents were escorted to the front row and I was more than ready to walk to the front of the church with Gus beside me. Josie and her bridesmaids came through a side door. Smitty went and took her arm, ready to follow us into the church. He was obviously very nervous, kept glancing around as if he was expecting Horning to pop up in the church.
A little jostling went on as everyone settled into their proper places, then the organ started. Gus and I started our marathon trek to the altar, and the bridesmaids followed.
Just as Smitty and Josie started down the aisle, there was a loud commotion at the door behind them. The whole audience turned sharply around to see who was destroying the ceremony. The swinging doors at the rear of the church were rudely thrown open and Sergeant Horning, along with two uniformed policemen, strode through the door. Horning bulled his way past the ushers and reached out for Smitty’s arm, saying loud enough for everyone in the church to hear, “Eugene Smith, I have a warrant for your arrest for the murder of Joseph Mitchell. Officers, handcuff him!”
I could hear Smitty clear from the end of the aisle. “You miserable prick. I’ll get you for this!”
Josie turned pale and tried to hit the sergeant.
At that moment, Chief O’Meara and his friend stood up in the last row of pews. The chief’s friend, in a loud official sounding voice, said, “Officer Horning!”
Not turning around, the sergeant said, “Everybody shut up! This man�
�s a dangerous criminal. I don’t care what’s going on here. I’m cuffing and arresting him.” You could see how pleased he was at humiliating Smitty.
“No, actually, you’re not, Horning!” again from the Chief’s friend.
One of the uniformed police swung around to shut the speaker up. Instantly, he grabbed Horning’s arm and whispered into his ear.
“What the hell?” Horning said as he swiveled toward the speaker. His jaw dropped down as he instantly recognized the Oakland Chief.
“Chief, what the hell are you doing here?”
“What the hell I’m doing here is arresting you!”
“Arrestingme? You can’t do that.”
“Oh, yes I can. Officers, I’m officially ordering you to arrest Sergeant Horning for disobeying orders and concealing evidence, among other things.”
The looks on the uniformed policemen’s faces was the stuff of high comedy: conspicuous relief, followed almost immediately by gut-level satisfaction. They obviously enjoyed cuffing the sergeant. The San Francisco Police Chief ostentatiously held the warrant high in the air and deliberately tore it up.
The church was paralyzed into silence. Everyone had heard Horning’s charges against Smitty, followed by the Oakland police chief’s charges against Horning. The gang recovered first. They broke into applause, and it wasn’t long before the whole congregation joined them – with the notable exception of my parents and the priest. They were simply bewildered.
The gang left their seats and gathered around Smitty and Josie, anxious to shake his hand and congratulate him on finally getting rid of his nemesis. The two chiefs insisted they hadn’t planned the timing of the arrest to embarrass the sergeant or to benefit Smitty. It has just happened that way. The Oakland chief said that Horning had been under investigation for some time for any number of department infractions. This thing with Smitty was the last straw.
Smitty was bouncing back and forth from hilarity to about as close as anyone could remember seeing him come to tears of relief. He thanked both chiefs effusively and hugged Josie over and over again.
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