The Secrets of Taylor Creek

by Michael Merson

  “I’ll be, I remember that game,” Jack announced.

  “You should. Nathan Emerson sacked our quarterback three times, helping his team defeat our Blue Devils 48-21.”

  “You know you didn’t need to call anyone. I’d have been happy to tell you everything you’d like to know about me.”

  “Normally, I would’ve Agent Emerson, but you see, I thought it would be impolite to pry since you’re just a stranger and all.”

  “Don’t let that stop you. I’m happy to answer any questions you may have. You just go ahead and ask whenever you like,” Nathan said and smiled once more.

  “Well, thank you for the invitation, and if I decide to do that, I’ll surely find you and ask.”

  The two men stood there, sizing one another up in an uncomfortable silence. Nathan estimated that the prosecutor was slightly shorter than he but with the same build. He also guessed that Ben was senior to him by about eight to ten years.

  “You need something, Agent Emerson? You did come by for a reason, right?” Sheriff Carter asked, breaking the silence.

  “Not really. I was just stopping by to say hello and to say thank you for the file you got for me yesterday. But, it looks like you gentlemen are busy, so I’ll be on my way,” Nathan said as he and Ben continued to lock eyes for a few moments longer. Nathan then smiled and turned to walk out.

  “By the way, you find anything yet?” Ben asked.

  “Nothin’ useful. It’s as quiet as a cemetery around here. But hey, the day isn’t over.”

  “Agent Emerson. How about you drive in accordance with the traffic laws while you’re in town from now on. Doing burnouts in the middle of the road isn’t something we allow,” Sheriff Carter requested.

  “I’ll be sure to do that. I think my foot slipped. It’s a newer car, and I’m still getting used to it,” Nathan said and walked out.

  ***

  “Well, it’s clear he’s doing whatever the hell he wants to in our town,” Ben said as he sat back down visually upset.

  “That ain’t my fault. And that cemetery comment was a bunch of horse shit!”

  “What are you talking about?” Ben asked.

  “Before he barged in, I was about to tell you that Charlie followed him to the cemetery last night. And, well, he got a little carried away when he saw the agent meeting with George and Otis.”

  “So…”

  “So, he fired a few shots at them.”

  “What in the hell does Charlie think he’s doing?!” Ben yelled and stood up once more.

  “He said he was just trying to scare them a little. It worked. I went by their place earlier and found out that they left town early this morning.”

  “Did they have time to tell him anything?”

  “I don’t know. Agent Emerson shot back and hit Charlie.”

  “How bad?” Jack asked.

  “Not bad, he’ll be fine.”

  “That’s too bad,” Jack mumbled.

  “We may not like Charlie, but he gets the dirty work done for us,” Ben said, directing his comment to Jack.

  “I know, but there ain’t much we can do about Agent Emerson until he’s ready to leave,” Jack explained to the men.

  “There is something we can do,” Ben added.

  “What’s that?” Sheriff Carter asked, looking at Ben questionably.

  “Help him.”

  “The hell you say?!” Sheriff Carter yelled.

  “Listen. If he starts reporting back that you’re not cooperating, and he suddenly comes up missing, or he’s found dead, it’s gonna be a big problem. We want to be the ones who report it and appear as though we’re more concerned about his death than anyone else around here. Or, we’ll be the ones the FBI is investigating,” Ben explained.

  “Okay, but what do we do if we decide to kill him? The FBI won’t stop until they get the killer or killers,” Jack added.

  “Then maybe we give them their killer,” Ben suggested as he looked back and forth between the two men.

  “Who do you plan on giving to the FBI?” Jack asked, worried that it could be him that the others wanted to sacrifice for the good of the group.

  “Not you, so stop worrying. It’s simple. I think old Charlie White has served his purpose and worn out his welcome, and I think he’ll fit the bill just fine. He’s becoming more of a problem every day he’s alive. Besides, he did have a shootout with an FBI agent and has the wound to prove it. He’s also been seen with all the dead girls.”

  “I agree. Charlie ain’t nothin’ but a loose end who can bury us all if he wants. He needs to be taken care of after all of this is done,” the sheriff explained.

  “I think we all know he’s gonna be a problem in the future.”

  “Ben, I agree Charlie will blackmail us forever after we all get where we want.”

  “How about it, Jack? You agree?”

  “I agree, but I don’t like it. More and more people are getting in the way.”

  “Jack, it’ll be fine. Can you handle it, Sheriff Carter, when the time comes?”

  “I ain’t never liked Charlie. I’ll think of something and take care of it.”

  “Then we’re agreed. I’ll tell the judge,” Ben advised.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Jack asked.

  “Dammit, Jack. Charlie will take care of the FBI agent, my wife, and the sheriff here will take care of Charlie.”

  “That still leaves us one real problem that none of us has got a hold on yet,” Jack said, reminding them.

  “I’m working on solving that. And when I do, I’ll take care of it too,” The sheriff declared.

  Chapter 17

  Nathan waited outside the church for everyone to leave before going in. Preacher was waiting with Iris Snipes near the front of the church. She was a thin but strong woman who appeared older than she was. She was wearing a black dress, and she looked as though she had been crying. Nathan calmly sat down next to her as she began.

  “Delia was a beautiful girl, and she only did what she did to help feed us when I got sick.” She said, pausing to look up at Nathan with wet eyes. Nathan nodded at her and said he understood.

  “She was raped when she was 16 and ended up pregnant. She lost the baby two months in. When she was in the hospital, the sheriff came by with some woman from the North Carolina Eugenics Board and told me that the best thing for me to do was to sign the papers so that Delia could be sent to Mecklenburg County and made so that she couldn’t have no more babies.”

  “Really? Did you sign it?” Nathan asked.

  “Yes. The sheriff said that if I didn’t, that I could be arrested for putting my child in danger because Delia was retarded and couldn’t take care of herself. The lady said that Delia could be raped again and again, and the court may see it as my fault and have me arrested for not looking after her.”

  “They said Delia was mentally retarded and this was the best thing for her? How did they know she was mentally retarded?” Nathan asked.

  “They had a test score or something, and it showed she wasn’t right in her mind, and then they said that she could be taken away and locked in a home somewhere if I didn’t sign. They told me she would not be harmed from the surgery, so I signed. I mean, I just didn’t wants to lose my baby. Pastor Turner, I know what it is to be touched, but I never felt like Delia was touched. They were gonna take her away. I didn’t know what else to do!” She cried.

  “It’s alright, Iris,” Preacher said as he sat next to her and held her in his arms.

  “Can you tell me the rest, Mrs. Iris?” Nathan asked.

  “When Delia came back, she had some money and told me that it was given to her by the woman and sheriff for havin’ the surgery. The next thing I knows is Delia is going out at night and coming home late. I told her she should find a job, and she told me she had one, and that’s when I knew,” Iris said and cried more.

  “I knew it was wrong, but Delia kept saying that it’s only for a little longer until she got enough money to move us
away from here. We were gonna move away right after that night, but she never came home.”

  “Do you know where she was that night?” Nathan asked.

  “No, but it was a party. Delia go to some party once or twice a month. But I don’t know where.”

  “Was Delia ever arrested for doing what she was doing?”

  “No!”

  Nathan sat there for a little longer, listening to Iris share the good memories that she had about Delia. Eventually, Preacher escorted her out of the church and came back to speak to Nathan.

  “I need to go out and see where these girls were found. If the sheriff did anything right, it was marking the locations on a map of where the girls’ bodies were found.”

  “Do you know how to get to those places on the map?” Preacher asked.

  “I think so, but I’m worried about the sheriff following me.”

  “Leave your room and walk out toward Taylor Creek on Friday at nine, and I’ll have my boys pick you up in their boat. They’ll take you out on the water. You can get to all the locations by traveling on the water. It’ll be difficult for anyone to follow you if you’re on a boat.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “After hearing Iris, I am. You just keep an eye on my boys.”

  “I will,” Nathan assured him.

  ***

  The night was warm. Nathan opened his bedroom window and laid in the bed with a bag of ice on his shoulder. He watched the Wednesday night movie on NBC Fear Strikes Out. It was the true story of the life of Jimmy Piersall, who battled mental illness to achieve stardom in major league baseball. No one knew that the strong independent FBI agent was a sucker for underdog stories; no one but his mother anyway.

  When the show ended, he got up and walked over to the television, turned it off, walked back to the bed, sat down, and reached over and turned the lamp off before lying down. He laid there for about two hours, not falling asleep. He got up and walked over to the window and peered out the side of the curtain and observed the dark figure of a man standing in the shadows once again. It wasn’t the sheriff, and it wasn’t Walters. He assumed that it was the same person who watched him the night of the shooting at the cemetery.

  Maybe he was the shooter… Perhaps I should go down and introduce myself. No, not yet. There’s still too much to do, he thought to himself.

  He then walked over toward the door and placed a chair in front of it, wedging it under the knob. He figured it would buy him more time than the cola bottle in case someone tried to come in while he was asleep. He laid back down and started thinking about the case again, and many of the same questions that he didn’t have answers to kept coming up.

  Who was the new tail? Is he the shooter? Why was Delia sent to Mecklenburg County for the sterilization surgery? How do the Four Horsemen fit in to the girls’ deaths?

  ***

  Stormie was sitting in the living room, flipping through the owner’s manual of her new car when she heard Ben pull into the driveway. He didn’t come in right away, and Stormie assumed that he was looking over her latest purchase that was parked out front. She had prepared for his arrival and had already sent Sissy upstairs and told her not to come out when he got home. Stormie decided that tonight, any discussion that they were going to have was not going to be so one-sided. Benjamin Arrington would hear what she had to say.

  Ben entered through the front door and set his briefcase down on the floor and turned around and was momentarily startled to find Stormie sitting there.

  “I guess someone decided to buy herself a new car,” he said.

  “Somebody did decide to buy herself a new car.”

  “What was wrong with the old one?”

  “You just said it; it was old.”

  “I meant…”

  “I know what you meant. As a matter of fact, I know a lot. And because of all that I know, I’ve decided to get rid of a lot of old stuff and start new,” Stormie declared as she sat the owner’s manual down on the table beside her.

  “I find it hard to believe that you would go and spend my money on a new car without discussing it with me first,” Ben said as he walked toward her.

  His money! Stormie thought to herself as she started to get upset.

  “Your money? I believe that I am the one with all the money, and according to the bank, I still am. I put my money into my account every month, and then I put some of that money into our account,” she said flatly as she stood and brushed past Ben.

  “That’s not how I see it. According to the laws of North Carolina, I’m entitled to half of the money. So, what was once all of yours is now half mine,” he explained.

  “All the money we have is MINE! All the money you have is MINE, as well! I had it when I met you! It was left to ME by my parents, and if YOU think that YOU are gonna take it, YOU are sadly mistaken! If you remember, I intentionally left MY MONEY in the bank in Alabama, and on occasions, I have some of MY MONEY put into OUR account here in North Carolina. So, when it comes to MY MONEY, it’s better you keep your mouth shut and seem a fool than to open it and remove all doubt,” Stormie announced defiantly.

  “YOU STUPID FUCKING COUNTRY GIRL! Do you think that you’re smarter than me? I’ll take all the MONEY if I decide to do so, and there’s not a DAMNED THING you can do about it!” Ben yelled.

  “You SON-OF-A-BITCH! No judge in Alabama would ever allow it!” Stormie screamed and started toward him.

  Ben stepped forward into her approach and backhanded her across the face sending her over the chair. He then reached down and grabbed her by the shirt and lifted her up, and drew his hand into a fist as he prepared to hit her again.

  “STOP RIGHT THERE OR I’LL BLOW YOUR HEAD CLEAN OFF!” Sissy screamed from the bottom of the stairs.

  Ben slowly turned around and found Sissy standing there at the smart end of the shotgun. He glared at her and then let Stormie go.

  “From now on, we’ll discuss what you can buy. You can keep the car for now. Besides, I may like to drive it on one of my trips,” he explained as he walked out the door laughing.

  Stormie sat on the floor and held her face until she heard him pull out of the driveway. Sissy helped her up. She looked Sissy in the eye once she was on her feet.

  “I’m leaving him!” She declared.

  Chapter 18

  Thursday, July 8, 1965

  Nathan woke up around seven in the morning. He had decided late last night to drive the five and a half hours to Charlotte to find out where Delia had the surgery. If anything, he could go by and speak to someone with the Eugenics Board.

  The roads leading from Beaufort to Charlotte had very little traffic to contend with, and Nathan was enjoying the drive as he sped down the highway. The GT350 with its Wimbledon White and Guardsman Blue rocker stripes were but a blur to pedestrians along the roadway. He waited until he was closer to Charlotte before really pushing the mustang. After all, he had to finally lose his shadow that was having trouble keeping up with him. He decided that he had toyed with him long enough, and it was time to say good-bye.

  As he climbed a small hill, he immediately turned off onto a side road at the top of it and sped out of view from the main road. He then took a few back roads that he was familiar with, and before long, he was in Charlotte. He passed his office and thought about going inside, but he decided against it. Agent Smith would question him about the unofficial investigation, and Nathan was sure that he wouldn’t be happy with anything he had to say.

  Nathan soon found the Mecklenburg County Courthouse and the office of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina that was located inside. Nathan was familiar with the Eugenics Board of North Carolina and how they came to be. The board had been formed in July of 1933, and they handled cases in North Carolina relating to the sterilization of people deemed mentally defective. Nathan felt, like many others, that most of the people that were judged by the board to be mentally defective were people from the black communities. Eventually, people who were viewed as criminals or had
a lack of moral character were processed through the Eugenics Board as well.

  Nathan introduced himself to the receptionist, and she told him that someone would be with him in a few minutes. While he waited, he walked around the waiting area and observed the many photos that were hanging on the wall. Suddenly, he stopped at one in particular. He saw someone he recognized in one of the pictures. Judge Ridge was standing there with a group of men receiving an award. He looked closer at the photo and saw Ben Arrington standing in the background behind the men getting the awards. The picture was dated January 1964 with an inscription below the date:

  District Attorney Thomas Jefferson Ridge is recognized for 10 years of service as a member of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina.

  A short time later, a woman came out and greeted him. She was very polite and spoke to Nathan at great lengths about the board. She even provided information regarding people whom the board had deemed necessary for sterilization in the past 5 years. Nathan thanked her for her time and excused himself.

  He rushed past the receptionist, out into the main hallway, and located the bathroom. He hurried inside and found an empty stall where he quickly looked over the list. After a few minutes, he dropped the list to his side and finally allowed himself a chance to breathe. All three girls’ names were on the list.

  Finally, a lead! He thought to himself.

  Nathan walked out of the bathroom and left the courthouse. On the sidewalk, he stood for a moment and looked around and saw a diner across the way. He decided to go inside for lunch. He was satisfied with the discovery of another piece of the puzzle.

  The diner was crowded. Nathan thought that everyone appeared to be either a witness, a defendant, a lawyer, or a judge. Either way, he assumed that they all had business at the courthouse. At some of the tables sat attorneys, in their uncomfortably warm suits, reviewed court briefs with other lawyers over burgers and fries while other lawyers discussed plea deals and defense strategies with their clients. Nathan sat down at a table that had not yet been cleared off. He waited patiently before being greeted by a waitress, who apparently was overworked and in a hurry.